February 03, 2004
February 3, 2004, Fender Custom Shop and Art Guitar Background (TW)
Email sent today to Claudette and Mike.
Claudette: Put together some info regarding Fender Custom Shop Art Guitars thinking it might give you a better idea of the process and the possibilities.
The Fender company has been around since 1946. They have and still make two major models that have made them famous - the Stratocaster and the Telecaster. All of Mike's guitars are Stratocasters (the Stratocaster was introduced in 1954, making 2004 the Strat's 50th Anniversary). In 1987, Fender started a new production branch it called "The Custom Shop". It was founded by two Fender employees, John Page and Michael Stevens (these gentlemen built two of the guitars in Mike's collection - the double-neck instrument [the first official Custom Shop guitar] by Michael Stevens and the 1988 "Mary Kaye" Strat, the first Custom Shop instrument sold to the public) by John Page and Michael Stevens. The Custom Shop was started in order to build custom instruments that couldn't be made on the production line, primarily for famous recording artists. It quickly expanded into the making of unique instruments for the general public. Today, the Custom Shop has between 30-40 employees (maybe more) and employs several well known guitar makers (luthiers) who are called "Master Builders" (or, Senior Master Builders, depending upon tenure). If a customer wants an instrument that is outside of what the Fender production line can create, the customer orders a Custom Shop guitar that will be built by a Master Builder. Fender calls its Custom Shop, "The Dream Factory". They will, literally, make any sort of guitar a customer can imagine. Such instruments are called Master Built guitars. Some of the Master Built guitars require the services of contract artists, such as Pamelina H. When a Master Built instrument is essentially "art" oriented, it is known as an "Art Guitar". Many different types of artistic techniques can be applied to the construction of an Art Guitar, such as the painting done by Pamelina H, the wood carving done by George Amicay, the inlay work of Ron Thorn, and the airbrush artwork of Dan Schultz. These artists are brought into the project by the Master Builder who is actually building the guitar. Probably the best way to get a feel for the possibilities of an Art Guitar is to look at the instruments created in conjunction with the Cleveland, Ohio, charity promotion, GuitarMania. This News Desk article will provide some background on GuitarMania: ARTICLE. This link will take you directly to a photo gallery of GuitarMania Art Guitars: GUITARMANIA GALLERY. You'll recognize one of Mike's guitars - PROUD. The Fender Custom Shop is recreating some of the GuitarMania instruments, such as PROUD. They are painted by Pamelina H.
As you know, Mike wants to have Fender Custom Shop Master Builder Todd Krause create an Art Guitar in your honor. The instrument will also serve as the Custom Shop Art Guitar of Mike's collection. While PROUD is an excellent Art Guitar, the thinking was to have the Custom Shop build one to spec incorporating the artwork of various artists that, over the years, have become well known contributors to famous Custom Shop Art Guitars. In a sense, an attempt to build the "ultimate" Art Guitar - an instrument that would showcase the possibilities and skills of these well-known artists.
Pamelina H: the best known Fender Custom Shop artist. Pamelina has had a hand in virtually every famous Custom Shop Art Guitar, including the three most famous, the Playboy, the Harley, and the Monterey (you can see examples of the artwork of those three instruments and more on Pamelina's website). Pamelina is famous for both her actual artwork on the instruments and her pre-execution design work. Ron Thorn: a superb inlay artist whose work is often featured in guitar magazines and catalogs. Although "inlay" work is most often used on the fretboard, he also does stunning work on the bodies of guitars. An excellent example of his work can be seen in this News Desk article: Koicaster. George Amicay: look at any of Mike's Strats and you'll see that the Stratocaster has a standard shape - body, neck and headstock. However, it doesn't have to be that way. George Amicay is a superb wood carver who can do two things - alter the basic body shape per design or carve images into the surface of the instrument. I've attached a few images of his work to this email. Dan Schultz: an excellent airbrush artist. You can see a fine example of his work on the Koicaster - he is responsible for the non-inlay artwork on the instrument, such as the pagoda shadow and the other non-koi elements of the Koi pond on the front and back of the body and on the back of the instrument's neck (the dragonfly).
Artists such as those discussed above may contribute their talents to the instrument, but it is built by a Fender Custom Shop Master Builder, or Senior Master Builder. We will have Senior Master Builder Todd Krause build La Claudette. Todd has many years experience working with the above artists and has produced many stunning instruments, such as the Koicaster. It will be Todd's task to execute the design that you and Pamelina develop and to coordinate the work of the various artists involved.
The Art Guitar is essentially what some call a "glass case" instrument - they are created to be looked at, not played. They are functional instruments, they could be played, but that's not the primary intent. Instead, the raw instrument serves as a canvas for artistic expression. Many believe, myself included, that the shape of the classic Stratocaster, with its smooth, almost sensual curves, is an excellent three dimensional sculpture that affords artists an opportunity to take that basic attractive shape and modify its three dimensional aspects (as in the work of George Amicay) or alter its two dimensional surfaces (as in the work of Pamelina, Thorn and Schultz) to create a unique work of art. The guitar, as canvas, has six surfaces that can be worked - the front and back of its three basic components - the body, the neck, and the headstock. Although obviously most often seen only from the front in a standard display, the back surfaces need not, and perhaps shouldn't be, ignored, as you can see in the work on the Koicaster. All six of the surfaces can be painted, all six can receive inlay work, and five can be carved - I'm not familiar with any wood carving work having been done to the neck. Though I can't say it's not possible, altering either surface of the neck might have a negative effect on the "playability" of the instrument, which, while not the primary intent, is still a consideration.
Attachments: Amicay1: "Regina Del Mare" Each instrument features the hand-carving of George Amicay.   |