Welcome to the Fender Forum.. A UK based discussion board where you can talk about everything to do with Fender guitars, amps and effects. Whether you're into blues, metal or jazz, electric or acoustic, play a Strat, Tele, Squier or a Gibson, a Blues Jr. amplifier or a Marshall Stack; you can discuss it all on Fender Forum.

Tuesday 26th June

Nice new bluesy lick of the month added, the recent forum software mess up has been sorted, and we're ready to get the guitar gallery full of your 12-string Strats, Thinline Teles, Jags and Pro Reverbs - and everything else in between; send them in.

 Thursday 24th May - MAJOR UPDATE

Look, look.. it's all shiny and new. The forum software has been updated, and the whole site has been reworked so it's congruent throughout. This is the update we were waiting for - we can now add regular content like Fender news and the "Lick of the month"..

It's not all up yet - I wanted to get this page up as quickly as possible to replace the damn ugly old one. I still have to put up the other pages, and rework the menu graphics.. Should be done in the next day or two.. In the meantime, the forum is fully functional - so get in there and speak about some music

The Fender “Splato” Stratocaster Guitar

This is the Fender “Splato” Stratocaster® guitar. Pardon the slightly inelegant name, but you simply have to see this unbelievable instrument to believe it. Wrought in aluminium and coloured fluid, it’s a work of art. And even that might be an understatement.

The guitar was designed by—and will soon belong to—Jimmy Stout of Palmdale, Calif., who entered Guitar World magazine’s 2004 “Design Your Dream Guitar” contest. He submitted an idea he had several months earlier for a radically customized Stratocaster guitar design. He won, which meant that his guitar would actually be built in Fender’s famous Corona, Calif., Custom Shop.

Revered 20-year Custom Shop veteran Scott Buehl, often referred to without hyperbole as a Fender “Uber Builder,” accepted the daunting task of building Stout’s guitar. He began in January 2005; the instrument was completed 18 months and a good portion of his sanity later...

...The fluid chambers are made of Lexan®, a highly durable polycarbonate thermoplastic resin (wouldn’t you just know it)—a superhero version of Plexiglas used in bullet-proof glass. And if you don’t think heating and forming it was a bear, think again.

The body itself has a formed exterior—formed, that is, by Buehl beating a sheet of 5052 aluminium alloy with a hammer until he had a Stratocaster-shaped front and back he could weld together. The strutted interior is made of aircraft-grade 6061 structural aluminium. “It even looks like the inside of an aircraft in there,” Buehl said.

The maple neck has an ebony fingerboard with stainless steel inlays, topped by a large chrome-plated 5052 aluminium headstock. Throw on hardware including a Seymour Duncan® Pearly Gates bridge pickup and two Fender Noiseless Stratocaster pickups with modified lipstick covers, and the magnificent job was done.

To read the full article visit http://www.fender.com/news/index.php?display_article=135