4.52am Issue: 036 1st June 2017 - The U2 Joshua Tree Edition

FENDER STRATOCASTER
The Edge Signature Guitar
Compared to the majority of his
contemporaries, the Edge was
particularly slow in having a Signature
guitar, amplifier or anything else, and it is
only recently that he has put his name to
anything, gear-wise, at all.
Whilst a Gibson Explorer and a Vox AC30
or twelve would have been the obvious
choice for me, the Strat became his go to
guitar in the late ‘80s and it is right that
Fender have replicated his understated
black Strat with a beautifully put together
guitar.
Based on a ‘70s Strat, we have the
beautiful (OK to me beautiful) large CBS
style headstock along with a quartersawn
maple neck. This is slightly larger than
the usual Fender C and with a 9.5” radius
is a total joy to play.
The body is alder, and totally
understated, with a beautifully applied
urethane finish. This, I guess, is a little
surprising with the majority of Fender’s
high end guitars going the nitro-cellulose
route these days, but as the guitar was
designed with Mr Edge’s input, it
probably matters little to him.
In terms of the sounds on offer it is the
real deal. Two Fat 50s pickups at the
neck and middle give all of those great
Strat tones, but the added boost comes
from a DiMarzio® FS-1 at the bridge
which has that little bit of oomph any
gigging musician will appreciate.
Other than that, it has a love-it-orloathe-it
2-point Tremolo, Deluxe
tuners and comes with a case and
some other goodies, as you would
expect.
As a standard Strat, this is perfect.
Price is around that of an American
Strat and whilst it has a signature on
the headstock, it is unobtrusive enough
not to cause offence or embarrassment
if you aren’t a fan.
This is simply put, an excellent Strat
and everybody needs one of those.