Fender Alternate Reality Sixty-Six

Discussion of newer designs, copies and reissue offset-waist instruments.
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ThePearDream
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Fender Alternate Reality Sixty-Six

Post by ThePearDream » Wed Jan 23, 2019 6:04 pm

Doug
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Embenny
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Re: Fender Alternate Reality Sixty-Six

Post by Embenny » Wed Jan 23, 2019 6:18 pm

Oh man! I've been talking about making a Jazz Bass guitar for years! That looks amazing.
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Re: Fender Alternate Reality Sixty-Six

Post by Tehz_ » Wed Jan 23, 2019 7:16 pm

I kind of dig it...definitely interested in playing one at least!

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Re: Fender Alternate Reality Sixty-Six

Post by Stephen_42 » Wed Jan 23, 2019 7:32 pm

Holy fucking balls that's cool. I'm already eating my words about predicting NAMM would be boring!

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Re: Fender Alternate Reality Sixty-Six

Post by Embenny » Wed Jan 23, 2019 8:42 pm

The funny thing is that its basic format is straight up Jaguarillo - the single lower control plate, the 5-way in the pickguard, the S/S/H configuration, the light blue finish with mint guard.

But it's A) far more unique, and B) far more attractive, and I say that as a Jaguarillo owner.

It skips the Offset trem (a minus to me) but also skips the TOM bridge (a plus), going instead with a Fender bridge that can easily match the fretboard radius (a big plus). And it's obviously full scale, which is neither here nor there to me but probably widens its appeal.

Also, because they went with a strat bridge, they kept the butt of the guitar truncated, kinda like the Pawn Shop Mustang of a few year ago, so I bet this thing will fit in a regular case instead of needing a Jaguar/Jazzmaster case for a giant rear end.
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Re: Fender Alternate Reality Sixty-Six

Post by marqueemoon » Wed Jan 23, 2019 8:44 pm

John Squire signature model. :shifty:

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Re: Fender Alternate Reality Sixty-Six

Post by wooderson » Wed Jan 23, 2019 9:33 pm

I don't really understand the selling point of this over a HSS Strat.

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Re: Fender Alternate Reality Sixty-Six

Post by Larry Mal » Wed Jan 23, 2019 9:37 pm

mbene085 wrote:
Wed Jan 23, 2019 8:42 pm

...but also skips the TOM bridge (a plus),
I guess I gotta be the asshole about it. I highlighted the one thing that gives me a little hope about it.

This is more Fender doing what I call my "Taco Bell" thing, rearranging the same tired ingredients differently and calling it a new dish. It isn't. It's totally lame.

On another thread there is Ron Thorn, who genuinely made up some new hardware and new ideas for his NAMM guitars. Honestly, all I need to hear is that he's doing something somewhat new with the pickups on there (he may be) and I'm swooning at the thought that Fender has commissioned what I would call a new design with a new vision.

This looks like nothing more to me than what Fender has been doing for decades, drifting, aimless, just slapping shit together that they have laying around and hoping for the best.

"Ooh! Boss! Boss! I know! Let's get a Telecaster pickup- in the middle position! Yeah! And we'll put it on a Jazz bass body, yeah! But with a Strat tremolo, so it totally rocks, and with that humbucker in the bridge it'll be totally cool-"

"Sure, whatever. Calm down- you're just an intern around here, don't get all excited. Just get it done by next week for the fucking NAMM show and close the door quietly on the way out. Fuck. I'm watching Netflix in here."
wooderson wrote:
Wed Jan 23, 2019 9:33 pm
I don't really understand the selling point of this over a HSS Strat.
I guess because it has a slightly different shape to the guitar, and a Telecaster pickup instead of a Strat one... will that sound good? You don't know. Is that something people wanted? You don't know. Why did they do it?

They have to appear to be doing something different, I guess, but they don't really know how. There is no actual design vision at Fender. Hasn't been for a long time. I'm glad they started bringing some new people in. It's been embarrassing for some time now.
Back in those days, everyone knew that if you were talking about Destiny's Child, you were talking about Beyonce, LaTavia, LeToya, and Larry.

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Re: Fender Alternate Reality Sixty-Six

Post by Embenny » Wed Jan 23, 2019 9:51 pm

Larry Mal wrote:
Wed Jan 23, 2019 9:37 pm

On another thread there is Ron Thorn, who genuinely made up some new hardware and new ideas for his NAMM guitars. Honestly, all I need to hear is that he's doing something somewhat new with the pickups on there (he may be) and I'm swooning at the thought that Fender has commissioned what I would call a new design with a new vision.
Well, I know one cool thing he's doing with the pickups - position 1 (all the way to the bridge) is the two rear Strat pickups in series, while the "middle" pickup is the single strat bridge pickup on its own. So essentially, you have the Marr 4-way trick, but the two series coils are together in the bridge position for a bridge humbucker tone.

This isn't so different from having something like a Duncan Stag Mag and splitting it, but I've read in a number of places that holding two single coils up next to each other changes the magnetic field so that each coil on its own won't sound quite like it "should." I think his design lets you get a true Fender bridge tone, in addition to the series/humbucker tone, because the two pickups have a small amount of space between them, like in a Yamaha SG-3.

I'd definitely be curious to try one out and hear how that sounds.
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Re: Fender Alternate Reality Sixty-Six

Post by Larry Mal » Wed Jan 23, 2019 9:58 pm

I'm into it. We have talked before about how pickup technology kind of bottlenecked a while back there, I'd love to hear some stuff about different or mixed magnets, in addition to the positioning and switching that you mention.

What I'd really love to hear is some ideas about capturing more high end than your typical Alnico 5 pickup can do, or some novel noise reduction ideas, or both, or...

Well, sky's the limit, right?

What I don't want to see is just more "throw it at the wall and hope for the best" bullshit like I see with this stupid guitar.
Back in those days, everyone knew that if you were talking about Destiny's Child, you were talking about Beyonce, LaTavia, LeToya, and Larry.

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Re: Fender Alternate Reality Sixty-Six

Post by 2fLAz » Thu Jan 24, 2019 4:51 am

musicman sabre II ?

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Re: Fender Alternate Reality Sixty-Six

Post by B » Thu Jan 24, 2019 5:06 am

Gotta be honest, I kinda dig this.

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Re: Fender Alternate Reality Sixty-Six

Post by CROSS_guitars » Thu Jan 24, 2019 5:20 am

It's kinda' got a bit of this going on.
Would be fun to mod one to look like this.

Image

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Re: Fender Alternate Reality Sixty-Six

Post by smjenkins » Thu Jan 24, 2019 7:48 am

I could see modding this to having three lipsticks and a rotary switch in the lower horn (ala XII). That would be pretty sweet. Also would be better with a rosewood neck and matching headstock.

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Re: Fender Alternate Reality Sixty-Six

Post by thenewromance » Thu Jan 24, 2019 9:08 am

I don't know. Had someone told me about this in words, I'd have imagined it to be sorta awesome. Now that I see it, even though it has a lot of what I like, naaahhiiidon't know. At least it's not beyond expensive, as their Acousticaster Tele, and I appreciate the Alternate Reality idea. Wish it had an offset trem. Good they're aiming for new names and not only calling it Stratocaster Double Plus or something.

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