Fender Pawn Shop is the name of a new line of guitars, basses and amps that embody the groovy pop-art sensibilities of the type of vintage axes and gear you might find hanging around in an out-of-the-way pawn shop or resale store, like the some of the slightly quirky and unique designs from makers like Mosrite, Goya, the Japanese Teisco company, or tasty Italian treats from Eko; but with full-on Fender quality, tone and playability. Fender calls them the “guitars that never were but should have been,” but now they do indeed exist, with funky takes on Fender classics like the Telecaster, Stratocaster and short-scale Mustang; a few more guitars and basses with eccentric designs that are reminiscent of some earlier Fender models; and two totally cool boutique-style low-wattage tabletop amps that look a bit like vintage radios, but kick out some serious tube tone. Start with the Pawn Shop Fender ’51, which looks like a Tele-Strat hybrid and sounds like a beast, with a Strat-style body, Tele neck, and Tele-style dual-knob chrome control plate, which is loaded a with three-position rotary pickup selector knob in place of the more familiar blade switch; and a master volume with push-pull coil split to get single-coil or humbucking tones from the Fender Enforcer pickup at the bridge. Between that and the Texas Special single-coil in the neck position and the ‘70s-style hardtail bridge, you’ve got a versatile axe that screams cool before you even plug it in! The Pawn Shop Fender ’72 takes its inspiration from the legendary semi-hollow ’72 Tele Custom, but with a sweet semi-hollow Strat-type body, dual humbuckers (a vintage-style Wide Range at the neck and a beefy Enforcer at the bridge), and a center-detent pickup blend knob in place of the blade switch. The Pawn Shop Offset Special is another semi-hollow f-holed beauty, with offset waist, dual JZHB humbuckers, and vintage-style floating tremolo whammy system. The ‘70s Stratocaster Deluxe combines an Enforcer humbucker at the bridge with a Tele single-coil and Jazz Bass-style control layout; while the Mustang Special, based on the 24’ short-scale classic with a modified offset body, offers an incredible array of tones via the pickup toggle switch and a super-cool three-way coil selector slider for each of the twin humbuckers, resulting in 15 different sonic options! The Pawn Shop Jaguarillo is like a Fender Jaguar on steroids, with an angled three-pickup HSS configuration (humbucker/single/single), streamlined control layout, and vintage-style floating trem. Then there’s the Pawn Shop Super-Sonic, based on the late-‘90s Squier Super-Sonic, with a reverse-style body that looks like an inverted Jazzmaster, a 24” scale length, dual back-slanted Atomic humbuckers, and vintage-style synchronized tremolo. Pawn Shop basses include the humbucking short-scale (30”) Mustang Bass with retro racing stripe; the Reverse Jaguar Bass, with reverse body, headstock and massive dual humbuckers; and the short-scale baritone HSS Pawn Shop Bass VI, with a meaty humbucker, dual screaming single-coils, and floating tremolo for deep down whammy action. Plug ‘em into the Pawn Shop amps, either the Greta, a two-watt dual-tube beauty with 4” speaker and VU meter, or the Excelsior, a 13-watt powerhouse with 15” speaker. These Fender Pawn Shop specials are destined to be retro-cool classics - check them out today!
