I have to admit that before yesterday, I had absolutely no idea that this guitar even existed. I only discovered it by watching a video of Juliana Vieira doing a demo of the BOSS RC-10R rhythm/looper.
When I looked at the guitar, I thought it was a Gretsch or a 335 but then I saw the distinctive Fender headstock and thought What? When did Fender do a hollowbody?
It turns out that back in 1966, in response to the popularity of the Epiphone Casino, Fender enlisted Roger Rossmeisl, a German luthier who designed guitars for Rickenbacker to design them a hollowbody guitar that could compete with the likes of Ephiphone and Gretsch. The guitar went through a few iterations in its original production run from 1966-1972. Then Fender discontinued production.(1)
But in 2013, Fender reissued the Coronado II, which was the dual-humbucker version of the Coronado that featured a Tune-O-Matic bridge and what Fender called Fidelitron humbuckers. Those pickups made me think the guitar was a Gretsch at first because they look like the TV Jones pickups. But then I looked at the body an thought that it bore a real resemblance to an ES-335. The block inlays on the neck further reinforced that, but the headstock gave its away.
When I saw that it was a Fender, I literally laughed out loud. As I mentioned in the title, I love schizo guitars. I personally have a Godin Artisan ST-V which, from a distance, looks like a Strat with a long upper horn. But on close inspection it’s nothing like a Strat. But it’s so cool to play! Another one that comes to mind is the Gibson Firebird which looks like a backwards Fender Jaguar but at the same time looks like an Explorer “Lite.”
Though Wikipedia says that the guitar is still in production, I couldn’t find any new guitars in the major online shops, and there is absolutely no information to be found on the Fender website. All the guitars that I found on sale are on the used market. And there aren’t that many.
With the re-issue, when Fender released the Coronado II, it’s as if it was again responding to the popularity of another manufacturer’s release, namely the Gretsch 5xxx Electromatic line. I bought one back in late 2011. I got it for $549. The Coronado went for $100 more – of course Fender’s charging more. 🙂
The ones I’ve found are in pretty good shape at around $600. I might just have to pull the trigger on one of these in the near future.
Here’s Juliana Vieira’s demo of the BOSS RC-10R.
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1 Fender Coronado. Wikipedia
Guitar Gear 