Fender Japan Junior Collection: Shorter scale and satin finishes
94% smaller!
5,0 / 5,0 | 
The Fender Japan Junior Collection, features classic models in cool satin pastel colours and with shorter scale lengths. These could be perfect for a lot of players, but it looks like they may never make it out of Japan.
Fender Japan Junior Collection
This latest Junior Collection announcement sees Fender Japan pushing out yet more interesting models. The range of guitars and basses all feature slightly smaller bodies and shorter scale lengths. The site quotes around 94% of the standard body size for most of the models. Plus, a 24″ scale for the guitars and a 30″ scale for the basses. Along with some very understated satin finishes. Whose colours include Satin Surf Green, Satin Daphne Blue, Satin Shell Pink, and Satin Vintage White.
Chambered body and new pickups
The body of Stratocaster and the Jazz Bass have what they describe as built in “cavity design”, i.e. chambered or hollowed out similar to the Gibson Weight Relief. This should save further weight, together with the size being shrunk to 94% of the original dimensions. The body wood is Basswood aka. Linde. Not always the most popular tone wood among guitarists, but one they often use on their Squier range. I really like Basswood myself, and it isn’t pretty but I think it sounds good. It works really well with gain tones, and you see it used a lot on high-end or boutique guitars these days.
Also new are the Fender Junior Collection pickups. Unfortunately, it is not yet known exactly how they sound, as Fender has not yet released a video with the new models.
Made in Japan for Japan with Japan prices. FFS!
Currently, everything is becoming more and more expensive worldwide. Electric guitars are no exception and for years the costs for the Fender models have been rising – including those from Japan. The guitars start at the equivalent of 980 USD. (119900 yen for Tele and Strat, 130900 yen for Jazzmaster and Jazz Bass – the usual surcharge for offsets.)
Unfortunately, this is yet another example of a set of Fender models which are only being made available for the Japanese market. Which I feel is a huge mistake, as I am sure musicians in Europe and the USA would enjoy this take on some classic models. They could be perfect for smaller players, and they will have a slightly different tone as they are smaller. I think Fender Japan has some great models, and I believe they could sell these designs worldwide. Lots of players wold lap these up, as they look well thought out. So come on Fender, start releasing the good stuff worldwide.
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More Fender Information
- Stratocaster: Fender
- Telecasters : Fender
- Jazzmasters: Fender
- Basses: Fender
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