Fender Noventa Series From £759
How Myles Kennedy was inspired by the digital and vintage worlds on his new album
Another new Fender range? I can’t keep up!
Yes, indeed! This is the Limited Edition Noventa lineup, a trio of guitars unveiled at ‘Not The NAMM Show’ earlier this year, and officially just released. As you can see, each model is a twist on the Big F’s Stratocaster, Tele and Jazzmaster formats.
So, who are these aimed at?
Fender’s blanket description for the Noventa Series is that it combines classic Fender style and dynamic single-coil pickups to deliver powerful tones, modern playability and dashing good looks. Make of that what you will, but we’d say these cover a pretty broad church in terms of visual appeal and tone, and, of course, the price point.
Are they all completely different?
There’s a number of common features across the Noventa range. Obviously, this starts with the pickups, but the bodies are all alder and the necks are onesize-fits-all Modern C shapes with 21 frets and 241mm (9.5-inch) radius fingerboards. The ’board’s wood changes depending on which finish you choose, but there are two options: maple or pau ferro.
Tell us more about each model…
The Tele is the biggest visual departure from the Tele we know and love. With its single pickup and ‘half’ pickguard it’s a pinch of Esquire and a dash of La Cabronita, combined into something different. It comes in three classic finishes: 2-Color Sunburst, Fiesta Red and Vintage Blonde, with a pau ferro fingerboard on the ’burst, and maple ’boards on the other two. As well as that, it’s got a modified ‘cut’ Telecaster bridge with three brass saddles.
What about the Strat?
Again, you get the Noventa pickups and a choice of three colours, this time Crimson Red Transparent, Daphne Blue and Surf Green, with a set menu of pau ferro fingerboard on the red, maple on the others. Like the Tele, we think this one is primed for being a no-fuss rocker, with its single volume and tone controls, three-way switching and fixed six-saddle bridge.
That Jazzmaster has a lot going on!
A trio of chunky pickups means there’s not a lot of floor space between the neck and the bridge. You get a five-way switch (positioned horizontally on the lower horn) on the Jazzmaster, too, giving you bridge, bridge/ middle, middle, middle/neck and neck switching options. Maintaining the Jazzmaster’s alt-rock credibility is the inclusion of an Adjusto-Matic bridge, but unlike the Strat you still get the classic JM vibrato. Finish options here are Fiesta Red/maple, Surf Green/maple and Walnut/ pau ferro. We love that Fender has kept the ‘spaghetti’ logo here, too.
Down to business – how much and when?
Fender has played a bit of a blinder here. The Noventa range is a Limited Edition release, but we’re pretty sure that limitation is time rather than a strict headcount, and we’d say it’s set its sights on those looking for midlevel workhorse guitars. The Telecaster costs £759, the Stratocaster is £799 and the Jazzmaster is £889. These are already finding their way into stores, so you should be able to try them by the time you read this.
From his time in Alter Bridge, with Slash, former band Mayfield Four and now a solo career, Myles Kennedy has decades of experience around great vintage gear. During lockdown, as he demoed his new solo album, The Ides Of March, he became so inspired by a Fender Tweed amp he’d never tried before that it became key to the record. But there was a twist; it wasn’t the real thing.
“On the demos, the only guitar sound I kept gravitating towards was Universal Audio’s [Fender] ’55 [Tweed] Deluxe plug-in,” Myles says. “And it’s an amazing plug-in, it sounds just like an old Deluxe. What was interesting was I listened to the demos and I liked the way that kind of amp sounds with these songs, so I went on a hunt for that particular era of Deluxes. I think it’s the 5E3 circuit; it’s simple, but it’s such an incredible sound. There’s a reason Billy Gibbons uses those and so many guys gravitate towards those amps.”
After tracking down a vintage Deluxe model, Myles continued the 50s theme of his new album with a ’52 Telecaster (pictured above) in impeccable condition, and a ’58 ES-335, of which he comments: “I don’t even know how to articulate what a special guitar it is. Most of the solos were played with that guitar – the solo on Worried Mind, the solos on The Ides Of March and A Thousand Words. It’s those PAFs, that period of PAFs from about 1958 to 1961…”
A 1954 Fender lap steel rounded out the vintage class, but Myles’ experience with the amps and compressor plug-ins that shaped the album has made him more creative in the longer term.
“I have to say that discovering this stuff was a big part of this record because I was so inspired by it. It was a whole new world of all these toys – things that sounded so good and were so stimulating for me.” [RL]