An ex head of the Fender Custom Shop has seemingly issued a message to his former employer with a new S-style build.
After a court ruling gave Fender legal protection over its Stratocaster body design, Thomann, PRS, Yamaha and more have since received cease-and-desist letters, leaving the body shape’s place in the market uncertain.
Mike Eldred, who ran the Fender Custom Shop in the 1990s, has apparently reacted to the unpopular legal strategy. He’s unveiled his first S-Style guitar under his new firm, El Cabron.
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Not only does its familiar S-shape fly in the face of Fender’s legal wrangles, but it also features an important message.
“Never let a corporation tell you what the rules are,” it says in all capitals. It’s serving Tom Morello’s Arm the Homeless guitar. Ironically, that’s an S-type too.
El Cabron’s Black Corp electric guitar features a Gotoh 510 tremolo, a single humbucker bridge pickup, and a single volume control. If anything, it’s a little more G&L Rampage than vintage Stratocaster. The message comes through all the same.
To top it off, the guitar also features Banksy artwork beneath the trem. It depicts a masked protester throwing a bouquet of flowers and is intended to symbolize prioritizing peace and love over anger and violence.
During his time in Fender’s ranks, Eldred built guitars for a feast of celebrated players, including Eric Clapton, Brad Paisley, John Mayer and Keith Urban.
Eldred isn’t the only former Fender employee to take aim at the firm. Ex-Masterbuilder John Cruz also recently teamed up with Chinese guitar maker Farida for another S-style.
One of the smaller firms targeted by Fender’s campaign was LsL Instruments. It has since unveiled an all-new design, which it hopes will offset the lawsuit’s impact. In an age of small brands pushing the needle on new, original body shapes, it could signal the start of a wider industry trend.
