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Fender The Edge Strat

U2’s iconic guitarist The Edge is the latest artist to co-design a signature guitar with Fender, and the Stratocaster is his instrument of choice.

Fender The Edge Strat

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This collaboration is not surprising, and it’s not just because The Edge has been known for using Strats, rather the U2 guitarist is currently holding a position as one of the company’s board of directors.

While The Edge is not primarily a Strat guy, he has put the instrument to good use in many of U2’s songs including “Bad” and “Still Haven’t Found” and “Where The Streets Have No Name”, just to name a few. The story goes that he often plugged his Strat on a Vox AC30 with an analog delay to create his distinct sonic textures, which went on to influence so many other guitarists.

Fast forward to today, Fender and The Edge have joined forces to craft a Stratocaster that would carry the guitarist’s alias – and so The Edge Strat was conceived and now made available. According to the press release, this new signature guitar is replacing his favorite vintage Fender Strat, and is being used on tour.

Ironically, there’s really nothing particularly out of the ordinary with this new Strat, one glance at it and you’ll see that it is still very much the same as the countless other SSS configuration Stratocasters that have already been released. The main difference being the use of a DiMarzio FS-1 pickup on the bridge position, which mimics the one found on the artist’s original 1973 Stratocaster.

The guitar’s familiar double cutaway body is crafted from alder and wrapped in black gloss polyurethane finish. Even the black finish that was use was not different from the black they use on standard models, and this to me is odd because The Edge is known for his standout style and playing. Still, since he himself co-designed this instrument, it maybe his preference to keep the guitar design and color within familiar territory.

Quarter-sawn maple is used for the neck, to ensure reliability and road worthiness. Everything about the neck follows the specs that the artist wanted, including the standard 25.5″ scale length, modern “C” profile, 9.5″ fingerboard radius, and 1.685″ nut width. It has a total of 21 frets and comes with the same Large ’70s Style headstock as found on his vintage Strat.

Giving The Edge Strat its other voice include two Custom Shop Fat 50s single-coil pickups with flat-staggered pole pieces for personalized string response, which sit on the neck and middle position. Other features include black dot inlays, 2-Point deluxe synchronized tremolo with “Pop-In” arm, deluxe cast/sealed locking tuners, and a 3-ply mint green pickguard.

The MSRP for the new The Edge Strat is $1,799.99, and it comes with a special black and gray tweed hardshell case. For more information, you can head over to Fender.

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