ONE OF GUITARIST’S THREE MOD SHOP GUITARS
If all this has whetted your appetite for owning a Mod Shop-built guitar, you’re in luck as we persuaded Fender to let us try the service out for real – with one lucky winner taking home their choice of one of the staff-designed Mod Shop guitars below. To enter, follow the instructions (right) then if you are lucky enough to be drawn as the winner here’s what happens next.You’ll choose the guitar you want to be built from the selection of three below and Fender will have it made. Please note that build and shipping time to the UK will be eight to 10 weeks and we’ll also review and photograph the finished instrument at Guitarist before speeding it on to you to enjoy, along with a few studio images of your new pride and joy as a memento.We promise it will be worth the wait! Now, all you have to do is pick which one you like most...
Sherwood Jazzmaster (Jamie’s Build)
“I opted to take the classic Fender Jazzmaster, which we so often see in the guise of a historic reissue, and give it a high-end, modern twist that hopefully still looks classic. To that end, I chose a solid rosewood ‘Deep C’ profile neck with contemporary Standard Staggered tuners and matched it to an alder body finished in Sherwood Green metallic finish with a tortoiseshell scratchguard and black plastic parts to tie the dark, chocolate-brown rosewood neck in with the body. There was only one choice of pickups available, but I’ve liked all the V-Mod series pickups I’ve heard so far and they match the contemporary tilt to the design. To finish it off, I spec’d 10-gauge strings instead of nines to help the classic bridge work to best advantage.”
70s Blonde Strat (David’s Build)
“My choice is a tribute to a mid-70s hardtail Strat I bought in the 80s and sold in a fit of madness in the early 2000s. The build is as close as I can get to the original using the custom options – the real thing’s significant roadwear added a lot of mojo, but relicing isn’t on the menu here. It has a roasted pine body (not the original’s ash); it’s nice to have some grain showing through a translucent finish. The finish is Butterscotch Blonde with black plastics, a characteristic of many mid-70s Strats, as is the large headstock and rosewood ’board. I chose Custom Shop ’69 pickups to get as close as possible to the originals, in date at least. The neck has a modern C profile, and I went for classic tuners. There’s something about a hardtail Strat that you have to experience to really appreciate.”
Bigsby-loaded Tele (Nev’s Build)
“I’ve never had the nerve to go for a Bigsbyequipped Tele, but with that option on offer, why not? Like Jamie, I opted for a solid rosewood ‘Deep C’ profile neck, again simply because the choice was there and it could lend a slight sonic twist as well as that unique look. Pickup-wise, I
