What other beauties are there in Fender’s new American Vintage II range? We take a look at a selection from the 12-strong series
AMERICAN VINTAGE II ’57 STRATOCASTER £1,999
Reflecting the original pre-rosewood fingerboard Stratocaster style, this is the earliest-spec Strat in the new range. That said, both alder and ash bodies are listed and we’re presuming the 2-Color Sunburst will be ash, and the Seafoam Green and Vintage Blonde will be alder. All the new guitars use the original 184mm (7.25-inch) fingerboard radius with 21 vintage tall frets, while this specific Strat comes with Pure Vintage ’57 Strat single coils on a single-ply pickguard and has a vibrato with cold‐rolled steel block and bent steel saddles.
AMERICAN VINTAGE II ’63 TELECASTER £2,049
Over a decade after the basis for our reviewed ’51 Telecaster, things had changed on Fender’s original solidbody with a new ‘round-lam’ rosewood fingerboard with ‘clay’ dots, alder body and threaded steel saddles replacing the earlier brass types. While the 3-Color Sunburst and Surf Green colours are over an alder body, the Crimson Red Transparent finish is, unusually, over a mahogany body. Pickups follow the model year: Pure Vintage ’63 single coils. Sadly, there’s no edge-bound Telecaster Custom in the new range.
AMERICAN VINTAGE II ’66 JAZZMASTER £2,249
The lone offset guitar in the new range (there is also a ’66 Jazz Bass), with no sign of the Jaguar, we get three colour options – 3-Color Sunburst, Lake Placid Blue and Dakota Red, all with colourmatched headstocks – over an alder-only body. The round-lam rosewood fingerboard comes with the post-’65 additions of binding and block inlays. Of course, it retains the dual rhythm and lead circuits, not to mention that classic two-piece vibrato that continues to enthuse and infuriate us players in equal measure.
AMERICAN VINTAGE II ‘72 TELECASTER THINLINE £2,249
A ‘Gibson in Fender clothing’ was pretty much the thinking with this Thinline, originally introduced in late 1971, with its dual Seth Lover-designed humbuckers, replicated here as CuNiFe Wide-Range picku
