Fender launches new flagship American Professional Series guitars
Top brass for Fender guitars gathered in New York City on Thursday to celebrate the launch of its new American Professional Series — a collection of revamped classic models.
According to Fender, the reimagined designs are replacing the American Standard this month as the renowned guitar manufacturer’s flagship series.
Andy Mooney, the CEO of Fender, discussed the new line with Yahoo News at a gallery space in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District. He called it a massive update to what’s been Fender’s bedrock guitar series for years.
“We’ve pretty much changed almost everything other than the base form,” he explained. “If you think about the most important thing on a guitar being the tactile feel, which is determined by the neck shape and the position and scale of the frets, both of those have changed. If you think about the sonic quality, the pickups have changed.”
The American Standard series launched in 1987 and has been the crown jewel of Fender’s collections for nearly 30 years. Going forward, its availability will be limited.
Mooney said the American Professional Series is the result of three years of development that included getting feedback from literally hundreds of working musicians.
And though there have been significant changes (such as unique treble-bleed circuits) to virtually all of their most popular models — the Stratocaster, the Telecaster, the Jaguar, Precision Basses, Jazz Basses, etc. — his personal favorite is the new Jazzmaster, which is being elevated to the professional level for the first time.
“I have a ’66 Jazzmaster. I love that guitar, but it’s a vintage guitar and there were a lot of things that I believed Leo would’ve improved to that guitar if he’d been with the company today,” Mooney said. “It’s truly a player’s guitar. It’s everything that the Jazzmaster should’ve become.”
Allen Abbassi, the product development manager for Fender’s electric guitars and basses, told Yahoo News that this new Jazzmaster changes include V-Mod pickups, brass Mustang saddles, narrow-tall frets and a contemporary “deep C”-shaped neck profile.
“Under the hood,” he said, “we did a lot of really cool updates to the guitar for this year.”
Justin Norvell, the vice president of electric guitars and basses for Fender, characterized the American Professional Series as classic designs with a “modern twist.” He said Fender guitars, which have been around for 60 years, are used across every genre, but music is always changing so the company needs to keep up with the times.
“This is the culmination of our craftsmanship, our knowledge, our technology, and the best Fenders that we can make,” he told Yahoo News. “We make our art at Fender so people can make their art, which is their music. We love inspiring people to make music and be that creative tool. Nothing is more expressive than the electric guitar.”
The American Professional Series will make its official debut on January 19 in Anaheim, Calif.
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