that ended up in the hands of Jimi
Hendrix, or Eric Clapton. Think of
the music that was created and
recorded on those guitars
that is now a part of our
cultural DNA.
[Gene] The Tele on the
[CG]
bottom side makes the most sense for a guy
worked
who is sitting in a chair in the studio, or sitting
and tracking in front of a computer. Tele’s don’t [Mike] My role was basically getting it off
slide out of your lap as much because they have the ground, writing it up, presenting it to the
a square edge to them. Then, on the upper builders, presenting it to the company, getting
side you’ve got all the comfort of a Strat with the agreements signed, getting the specs all
the arm contours. Really it was just ripping a dialed in, getting it into the shop and prototyped,
vintage Tele and a vintage Strat straight up the and then to interface with marketing for the
middle and smashing them together to create consumer facing message, of which they did
a fun mash-up. And on the bridge pickup, you a fantastic job!
know a Tele bridge pickup can always kick a
little more butt than a Strat bridge pickup. It’s [Gene] It’s nice when somebody has an
just a bigger coil thing that’s closer to the P90 excellent idea and they execute it so well that it
range. We knew we wanted to have a tremolo, feels so good for everyone involved. It felt like
and I figured since I was doing that I might as being part of a band. Mike did a great job!
well go with the staggered tuners to help with
string tension at the nut and tuning stability.
[CG] Mike, what are some of the things you’d
like people to know about the Custom Shop?
[CG] When you look at the finish, it gives you
a late 50’s kind of vibe. The whole instrument [Mike] In the Leo Fender era, Fender was a
fits together so well that when you first look at custom shop. Our roots go all the way back
it you almost don’t realize what it is, then all to Leo Fender, because he was constantly
of a sudden it hits you and you can’t believe building custom instruments for artists. If you
what you are looking at! Did you go through look through the history books you’ll see Leo
different versions during the design process to sitting with artists as they tried out instruments
get to this final production model, or did you that were built specifically for them, and
just know exactly what you wanted right from you’ll find photographs on the Internet of
the start? artists playing instruments that were never in
production. Those were custom versions just
[Gene] This was one of those cases where we for them. Even before the custom color option
just knew right from the start what we wanted was official, you could order guitars in custom
to create. We built so many Strats and Teles colors, all the way back to 1954.
when I was working at Fender, eating up that
vintage vibe on a daily basis. When it came to We have machinery that was purchased by Leo
put together the Stelecaster it was fairly easy, Fender that we still use! We have tools and dies
especially once I was able to look at tracings that make parts like pickguards and bridges
drawn out on paper. that are the original tooling. There’s built-in
mojo! We have a guy in the Relic department
[CG] Mike, can you describe your role and the now named Herbie who was a neck-sander
development side of this project? from the 60’s through the 90’s. You can bet
he sanded necks that were on the guitars
Gene,
as
a
you
Senior
Master Builder there from
1993 to 1999. What is it like to be a part of
this legacy?
[Gene] I felt extremely thankful to be a part
of the Custom Shop. Everything that went on
during that John Page era was so full of artistic
development. Everybody was their own little
miniature shop in a way. As long as the end
product represented Fender and fit what the
customer wanted, then it was a win/win. A lot
of the stuff that the Master Builders made back
then was hand-built. We didn’t have the CNC
machines at our fingertips to be able to do a lot
of the stuff that we can today.
Coming back to be a part of the 30 th Anniversary
Project was pretty humbling. Mike Lewis called
me and started pitching the idea of bringing a
team back, and I just thought it was beyond
cool! It felt like there was some affirmation of
our work, because often the builder is also
a struggling artist in many ways. So, it felt
like there was some credibility to our work,
like we had done something real and made
a difference.
[CG] The retail price on this instrument
is $5,450.00 which is pretty reasonable
considering the craftsmanship that went in
designing and building it. What part did pricing
play into the vision for this project?
[Mike] The majority of the work on the
Founders Project guitars was going to be done
by the Custom Build team, with a little bit of help
here and there from some of the Master Builders
and/or George Blanda and Ralph Esposito.
When you are building one of something like
Masterbuilt instruments, the price is going