Sonic Youth Get Their Own Fender Signature Guitars

Posted on Jun 15th 2009 3:00PM by Linda Laban
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When Fender Musical Instruments approached Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo with an offer to create their own signature guitar models, they jumped at the chance. Oddly, the premier art rock band's guitarists have always favored Fender Jazzmasters over say Telecasters or Stratocasters, more commonly used by rock guitarists.

"These are the guitars that have defined the sound of Sonic Youth for more than 20 years. Although we love all guitars, Jazzmasters are the ones we've modified and perfected for our uses over the years," Moore and Ranaldo said in a statement on Fender's website.

Moore's Sonic Jazzmaster and Ranaldo's Sonic Jazzblaster are available July 1, and come in a satin nitrocellulose lacquer finish, with a single volume knob and three-way switch. Each Sonic Youth Jazzmaster includes a custom sticker sheet and a 24-page book (designed by Ranaldo) with illustrations, gear information, interviews, set lists, tuning charts and documentation from Sonic Youth's guitar techs.

"The Thurston Jazzmaster and Lee Jazzblaster guitars fully reflect the current state of the guitars we play in 2009. In fact, we couldn't wait to get our hands on these axes," the statement continues. "The prototypes of our Fender models have already been thrust into action during the recording of our latest album, 'The Eternal,' and have already begun to acquire the scrapes and scars of live performance. These guitars rock Sonic style!"