New Fenders! More new Fenders?
You bet it is! Fender are definitely on a mission to provide every guitarist on earth with their perfect idea of a Fender guitar, and this brand new range but just be that for you!
Let me introduce you to Fender’s newest offerings, the American Pro Classic range!
Contents
What is the American Professional Classic Range?
Which Guitar and Bass Models are in the American Professional Classic Range?
What’s Different about the American Professional Classic Range?
Who are the Fender American Professional Classic Range For?
What is the American Professional Classic Range?
The American Pro Classic range is a brand new collection of Fender guitars and basses. These are all built in Corona, California and are intended to be a more vintage-reflecting take on their existing American Professional Range.
Which Guitar and Bass Models are in the American Professional Classic Range?
This is classic Fender stuff. All of the usual suspects are in attendance, along with some prized offsets and one or two surprises. Here’s the rundown of all of the models in the range:
- American Professional Classic Stratocaster
- American Professional Classic HSS Stratocaster
- American Professional Classic Telecaster
- American Professional Classic Hotshot Telecaster
- American Professional Classic Jazzmaster
- American Professional Classic Jaguar
- American Professional Classic Precision Bass
- American Professional Classic Jazz Bass
- American Professional Classic Mustang Bass
What’s Different about the American Professional Classic Range?
So, what are the main differences here? Here’s a rundown…
- Brand new faded finishes
- New Coastline pickups - each model has its own specific set
- Classic Gear tuners - vintage look, updated performance
- Medium jumbo frets on a 9.5” radius fingerboard
- Greasebucket tone system - dials back on treble without adding bass and mud
- 42.8mm nut - relatively wide for Fender
- Mustang bridges on the Jazzmaster and Jag
- Full ashtray on Tele, with three-barrel saddles
- 6-screw tremolo bridge on the Strats
- Gig bags (as opposed to a hard case)
As you can see, it’s an effective mix of old preferences and modern improvements.
Coastline Pickups
Every guitar and bass in the range has new Coastline pickups. These will obviously confer to the guitar in question, so the Strat has a trio of Coastline ‘57 pickups (and a Coastline humbucker for the HSS one) whereas the Jazzmaster has a pair of Coastline ‘65 Jazzmaster models, and so on.
What’s different about these new Coastline pickups? At their heart, it’s their output. These are deliberately low-output pickups, compared to modern day equivalents. I think this is a great idea for fans of vintage Fender tone. After all, those immortal chiming Strat tones are the product of low-powered 50s examples, not the more hotly wound 60s models.
From having a blast on a few myself, I can confirm that the Coastline pickups have a brightness and twang that’s very characteristically ‘Fender’. The humbucker on the HSS Strat is medium output, not hugely hot, and that seems to make sense in relation to the project as a whole.
You want vintage Fender tone? Look here!
Finishes
It’s nice to see a smattering of unusual finishes here in amongst the obligatory Butterscotch Blonde and 3-Tone Sunburst. There’s a raft of new Faded finishes, based on classic Fender hues from the golden era. They’ve been chosen well (who else loves the Faded Sherwood Green Metallic?), and pickguards are varied in order to match the body finish. The biggest surprise to me might be ‘Faded Black’ (somehow it’s not just ‘grey’), but here’s a full list of finishes, which don’t all appear on every model:
- Faded Black
- Faded Lake Placid Blue
- 3 Tone Sunburst
- Faded Dakota Red
- Faded Firemist Gold
- Faded Sherwood Green Metallic
- Butterscotch Blonde
We’ve managed to secure a limited run of Pearlescent white Strats too, as a little exclusive! I’m told that these are limited edition, so don’t hang about if you want one. They are gorgeous, with interesting sheens of colour showing up from different lighting sources. It’s not just a white Strat!
Circuits on the Offsets
A word on the offsets. Fender do like monkeying about with the offset circuits, don’t they? It’s always interesting to see how they interpret them within a new range, so here’s the skinny on what’s on these ones:
The Jaguar loses the rhythm/treble dual circuit, and opts for a 3-way toggle switch pickup selector. The famous ‘strangle switch’ remains, moved to the upper horn in place of the discarded rhythm circuit thumbwheels.
The Jazzmaster simply has a three way selector, so no twin circuit here. Hey, even the Sonic Youth guys removed the circuits from their guitars, and those guys are the ultimate offset players!
Who are the Fender American Professional Classic Range For?
With so many Fender variants out there right now, who is the customer for these ones?
Well, the price is right for these, particularly considering their American origin. There’s no hard case, but in reality, how many people would rather have the gig bag and keep the price low? I know I would!
I see these being a popular choice for gigging players in indie, rock, country and blues bands. They are vintage enough to fit in, looks wise (mostly: an HSS Strat will always look ‘hot-rodded’!), and sonically, they’ll be a great fit for anything that isn’t extreme. The decisions to have medium jumbo frets make these all super-playable, and giving the offsets the Mustang bridge is exactly the right move for reliability. As much as I love a good Jaguar, I am not a fan of the historical bridge. That’s one vintage element I’m happy to leave to posterity, and here, Fender seem to agree!
The Perfect Blend
The Fender American Professional Classic range will be, to many guitarists, the perfect blend of modern and vintage. It’s increasingly what we want from our classic guitars, isn’t it? We want them to look and sound mostly like golden era Fenders, but we might need certain elements to be more user-friendly than ‘strictly vintage instruments’ can deliver.
Fender now have a vintage-/modern hybrid range in a number of their price tiers: the Vintera from Fender Mexico, the Ultra-Luxe Vintage range (released only a few months back) and now this one, in between the two. These American Professional Classic guitars are definitely more ‘classic’ than the Ultra-Luxe models, and I love seeing the Jaguar and Mustang bass included, so there are exclusive elements in here. The colour choices are also fun - not to mention relatively bold for Fender - and the new pickups sound excellent. All in all, a well-deserved success for a company who know how to really dial in their offerings to different customer bases.
Click to View the Fender American Professional Classic Range
