FEATURE
FENDER CUSTOM SHOP FOUNDERS DESIGN STELECASTER Doug Doppler
[Mike]
When
the
30 th
Anniversary rolled around, I was sitting
around with the resident master
builders and the idea came up –
what if we bring back some of the
original builders to do something? In the
We expect to see
a lot of unique guitars at Winter NAMM, but
nothing prepared me for the Fender Stelecaster
– the most iconic guitar I’d never seen. Half
Strat and half Tele, this instrument combines
the looks and features of Fender’s most iconic
builds into one jaw dropping instrument. The
moment I saw this guitar I knew what it was,
but still couldn’t believe my eyes. Without a
doubt, this is the coolest guitar I’ve ever seen.
Nearly as engaging as this instrument is to look
at, is the story behind it. To commemorate the
30 th Anniversary of the Fender Custom Shop,
Fender brought back eight of the founding
master builders to design an instrument
reflecting their respective takes on the Fender
heritage. Believing our readers would want to
know more about how this instrument came to
be, we reached out to our friends at Fender to
see if they could set up an interview with former
Master Builder Gene Baker and Mike Lewis,
the VP of Product Development for the Fender
Custom Shop. We’d like to extend a big thank
you to Gene and Mike for taking the time to tell
this story as only they can.
[Doug Doppler for CG] It is very rare for a
manufacturer to pay homage to its history by
bringing back the people who actually helped
craft it. How did this project come together?
early days, the Fender Custom Shop was just
a fledgling little business. We didn’t know if we [Mike] There have been a lot of Strat / Tele
were going to have enough business to keep us hybrids in the past. Whether it was a Strat
going for the next month! People would sleep with a Tele neck, Tele’s with 3 pickups and a
there, work on the weekends, and do whatever Strat-ish looking pickguard or whatever. When
it took to create new things. It was a very much Gene Baker described his idea to me, I was
a little community, and some of these original like, “Wow!” That design just works the best
guys came up with a lot of the stuff that we still of any I’ve seen. It makes the most sense for
use today – techniques, pickups, designs, etc. a way to combine the two guitars. When I did
There’s a lot of love and reverence for those the original photo composite mock-up of the
original builders among the current residents guitar, it became “seeing is believing”. That’s
and staff. It was a great reunion for everybody how you know that it really works. And Gene
– the resident builders, the founding builders, had the same reaction to it when he saw the
and myself. The feeling of talking with all these mock-up. He said, “That’s exactly it!” He had
guys again and corresponding back and forth some suggestions about tweaks that we could
on the project is almost indescribable. I think make, and we went back and forth with the
it’s probably the coolest thing that we’ve color of the body a few times. I made several
ever done. different mock-ups.
[CG] The Stelecaster is both ingenious and [CG] What was it like to finally see this
obvious at the same time. What is the history instrument on the wall at NAMM?
of that design?
[Mike] The experience of actually seeing the
[Gene] Well, it’s interesting. Mike Bump, who instrument at NAMM was incredible. Like it is
is now the head of Research and Development with many other guitar projects, you dream
for Fender guitars displayed something similar something up, you draw it up, you spec it out,
at NAMM in ’97 or ’98, but it was never released and you put it into the shop – and then you see
for production. It was more of a Tele body on one! It’s like you’re giving birth to a child – it’s an
the top with a Strat horn on the bottom, but he amazing feeling.
had the headstock thing already going. I think
at that time he used a big peg-head Strat and [CG] Gene, tell us how you came up with
then just a standard Tele, whereas mine was the design?
headed more towards a 50’s vibe.
40
Mar Apr 2017
CollectibleGuitar.com