Mark Speer Stratocaster | Fender Music Australia | RRP $2499
Mark Speer’s new Fender Limited Edition Stratocaster is a spectacle of sight and sound. Featuring oh-so 70s aesthetics and design, this guitar is also heavily influenced by Mark’s needs on stage and in the studio. Subtle additions like jumbo stainless steels frets have come from having worn down multiple sets of frets on his main stage guitar, and his choice of pickups have come from an accidental, phasey re-wire that has carried through to this new Fender signature model.
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Mark Speer’s Limited Edition Mark Speer Stratocaster is comprised of a Select Ash body, beautifully finished in a natural, see-through finish, coupled with a maple neck featuring a Custom “C” shape. The natural finish, while having been available for decades, was hugely popular in the 70s, placing the aesthetic and style of Mark’s guitar firmly in that era. Another 70s addition is the bullet-style truss rod adjustment, as well as the three-point neck plate, with Leo Fender’s ingenious “Micro-Tilt” adjustment. A slightly oversized headstock is another nod to the past, and Mark Speer’s Strat features Fender’s classic tremolo system at the other end. Graph Tech string trees and saddles are a special addition, adding a little extra harmonic content, differentiating itself from steel saddles and trees.
The Strat’s fretboard has a 7.25” radius, familiar to vintage Strat fans, the Custom-C shape toeing the line between modern and vintage feel. 21 frets and a classic double cutaway Fender design offer unparalleled access.
The Fender Limited Edition Mark Speer Stratocaster features a HSH configuration, though the two humbuckers are DiMarzio’s Pro Track pickups, humbucker design in a single-coil sized configuration. The humbucker set is completed with a (70s style, of course) single-coil in the middle position. These are controlled by a five way switch with both in phase and out of phase controls in the two and four positions, flanked by the bridge pickup at Position 1, the middle pickup at Position 3 and the neck pickup at Position 5.
Khruangbin
In the hands, the Mark Speer Strat feels great; both familiar and new, an overly inspiring feeling, something that Mark and Laura from Khruangbin have pushed for in their signature models. While Mark’s tones are easily accessible with a guitar that borrows heavily from his main stage guitar of the last decade, it’s also a sonic palette for you to craft your own soundscape.
The gloss finish feels comfortable but not sticky, especially around the neck, the Custom-C shape being hefty enough to help me grab ahold of notes but not so big that it’s a baseball bat feeling neck. The jumbo frets, while entirely a pragmatic addition, elevate the Strat into the current day, with easier access to fretting and really allowing you to wail a little more, particularly helpful when soloing and playing leads, or when flitting around playing impressive arpeggios and sparkling ear worms like Mark does in Khruangbin.
The soft belly carve and contoured body, both staples of the Fender Stratocaster, make the guitar comfortable whether sitting or standing, the Ash body having a little extra weight than the more common Alder, though not uncomfortably so like Mahogany. The additional weight provides some more heft to your tone, as well as resonance, the controlled sound being thanks to the Graph Tech saddles. This subtle change affecting the guitar’s sustain and tonality, the strings resonating in a unique way.
The DiMarzio humbuckers expand the guitar’s sonics at both the top and bottom end. The build of the guitar provides a balanced sound, and every ounce of this is captured by the humbucker, the Pro Track pickups both bucking hum and offering balanced bottom end and crisp, bright high end. The pickup selection differs slightly from a conventional Strat and, while still employing a five-way switch, the positions offer both in and out of phase tones.
The in phase position (Position 2; Bridge and Middle pickup) offers bite, snarl and weight, while the out of phase (Position 4; Neck and middle pickup, out of phase) give the guitar a bright and brittle tonality, ideal for cutting through leads or adding exotic, otherworldly sounds like Mark.
Mark Speer Limited Edition Stratocaster
The Mark Speer Limited Edition Stratocaster is really something special. Having played his own Fender Stratocaster onstage for almost every show with Khurangbin, this guitar has evolved through the needs, requirements and demands of a world-class guitar player. This guitar is for a working musician, designed from the ground up to be relied on night after night, gig after gig.
Featuring aesthetic design and additions from the 70s, Mark Speer’s Strat is not unlike Khruangbin, pulling influence from all time, space and music across the world. Tying together the best of Fender’s history like an Ash body, phasey switching options and vintage style tremolo, and combining it with modern appointments like jumbo frets and Graph Tech hardware, this is a Strat for the ages; a Strat for those looking to push musical boundaries.
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