Fender Concert Series: Vincent
The Fender Concert Series features concert memories from our Fender News readers. Read what Vincent had to say about his best-ever concert…
I can honestly say that the best and most memorable concert I’ve ever seen was Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble at the age of 17.
Stevie was really at the height of his career back then, and I was just a teenager soaking up all these great blues artists.
I first heard of Stevie when I was like 14 or 15, when I asked my guitar teacher to record a tape with his music because I always heard him talking about Stevie. Well, I can say that he blew me away and from then on, I had the idea of wanting to see him live. My guitar teacher said he probably wouldn’t be alive for long, because he had a serious health condition back then.
So I was hoping that wouldn’t be the case. And thank God it wasn’t. Read more
Full-Scale Stratocaster® Guitar Rock Band™ Controller
In a case of videogame art imitating musical life to near perfection, you can now get a Rock Band™ videogame controller that has what is in effect a real Stratocaster® guitar body.
Available as of September 2009, the Rock Band Wireless Wooden Fender Stratocaster guitar controller is an actual wooden replica of a Stratocaster guitar and is compatible with all three versions of the hugely popular top-selling game—Rock Band™, Rock Band™ 2 and the Beatles: Rock Band™ (and other rhythm and music video games). The controller was co-developed by Fender and San Diego-based Mad Catz® Inc., which is the official third-party developer of Rock Band™ peripherals and accessories.
The device is a full-scale replica of the real instrument, with a body, neck and headstock made from real Stratocaster wooden “blanks” and bridge and tuners built using genuine metal parts and fittings. The controller is assembled at a Fender facility comes in hand-painted gloss Three-color Sunburst—perhaps the most classic Stratocaster finish—buffed and applied to each model in the same manner as a real Stratocaster. The “fingerboard” boasts a high-resolution “rosewood finish” decal, concealing two sets of premium fret buttons.
On the front of the controller, the tremolo arm (or “whammy bar”) sits near the “start” and “back” buttons, which are disguised as volume and tone controls. The premium fret buttons and strum bar deliver quiet operation and reliable game play, and the traditional Stratocaster ¼” output jack can connect to an optional Rock Band™ overdrive pedal. The back of the controller has a headset jack for online play and communicating with friends.
The Rock Band™ Wireless Wooden Fender Stratocaster guitar controller (the only wooden replica controller compatible with Xbox® gaming systems) uses the same secure wireless technology found in the official wireless Microsoft Xbox® 360 controller. It connects directly to the system and doesn’t require an external dongle or adaptor. Finally, the controller comes with three AA batteries and an official Fender guitar strap.
Fender Bass – Secrets To Buying The Right One For You
April 16, 2009 by Editor
Filed under Bass Guitar
Electric guitars have been popular almost since their invention. One brand that stands out above the others is Fender Bass. It is known as a best buy bass guitar for its quality and reliability and is known to so many musicians and fans just by the name alone as the must-have bass guitar.
The Fender brand has been around since 1946, ever since Leo Fender created his electronic solid body bass and opened his California-based company. While other firms produced electric basses, Fender’s were the first to Read more
Fender Guitar Fest Rocks AZ Schools
For the fourth year running, downtown Mesa, Ariz., resonated with the ring of guitars as student guitar ensembles from eight Phoenix-area middle schools and high schools participated in the annual Fender Guitar Festival.
Held at a new venue this time, the spaciously modern Mesa Arts Center, the March 25-26 event gave students from eight Valley schools a two-day immersion in guitar performance, instruction and maintenance presented by staff from Fender headquarters in neighboring Scottsdale, Ariz. Read more
Fender loses battle to trademark 3 guitar shapes
Scottsdale-based Fender Musical Instruments Corp. has lost a six-year legal battle to trademark the shapes of three of its most famous guitars.
The federal Trademark Trial and Appeal Board agreed with 17 smaller guitar companies that the shapes of the Stratocaster, Telecaster and Precision Bass have been so widely used for so long in the U.S. music industry that Fender alone does not own them.
The board, part of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, denied Fender’s applications to register two-dimensional outlines of the guitar designs as its trademarks. The board published its decision March 25.
The first in the history of Fender AMP and the impact of software
How’d you like to boot up your computer and instantly have decades of famous Fender sounds at your fingertips? How’d you like to be a mere mouse click away from the quintessential sparkle of a ’65 Twin Reverb®, the seismic roar of a Bassman® 300 PRO through an 8×10 PRO series cab, the oceanic ambience of a vintage ’63 Fender Reverb unit or the modern versatility of a 1×12 Super-Sonic™ combo?
Many highly sought-after classic and modern Fender amps and effects are now officially available for the first time in digital form with the February 2009 debut of the “AmpliTube® Fender” package from Italian music software company IK Multimedia. Read more
Fender released four new acoustic guitars
April 9, 2009 by Editor
Filed under Acoustic Guitar
Fender Acoustics is deee-lighted to introduce four new acoustic guitars for spring 2009; a California™ series model and three Classic Design series models. Let the full, resonant sound of destiny ring beneath your fingers as you strum the:
Kingman™ 10. With a solid cedar top and rosewood back and sides, the Kingman 10 sounds punchy and smooth. It boasts beautiful “white tropical sunset” fingerboard inlays and a Polynesian surf glyph rosette. Like the other three new models, it has scalloped “X” bracing; other features include an all-solid rosewood bridge plate, gold hardware and a Fishman® Aero™ pickup system with built-in tuner. Read more
