Ariel Posen on his new Fender Custom Shop signature Stratocaster: “I felt like my sound was right there immediately!”
If you’ve spent any time in the presence of Ariel Posen playing guitar – whether online or in the flesh – you’ll know that he is one of the most expressive and spellbinding guitar players on the scene right now.
READ MORE: Halestorm pick their five most underrated rock and metal bands
It was entirely fitting then that the Canadian guitarist teamed up with Fender Custom Shop to create a limited edition signature instrument. But Posen’s signature Strat has certainly turned heads – even among those who aren’t fans of the 39-year-old – not just because it’s drop dead gorgeous, because that’s a given for the Custom Shop, but because it was a very unique and unconventional take on a Strat.
So instead of the classic recipe of three single coils and a synchronized tremolo, Posen opted to spec his guitar with a pair of P-90s, a hardtail bridge and even the knob layout was streamlined – with just a single master volume and tone for both pickups.
“I’ve been digging the two-pickup set up on a Strat-style guitar for a long time,” Posen explains of his decision. “I found after years and years of playing Strats, I think I just don’t connect with the three single coils as much. I find I don’t play like myself as much.”
Image: Press
Usually the default for a two-pickup guitar is to rock with humbuckers, but Posen’s experience playing a Jazzmaster sold him on the benefit of two single coils.
“I didn’t want to do two humbuckers as I really like low-output pickups,” Posen adds. “I knew I loved the sound of a Jazzmaster neck pickup (and the neck pickup in my Strat is wired to the spec of my actual JM). So when we started talking about the bridge pickup, the suggestion of P-90s came up and traditionally, I wasn’t always gravitating towards them, but decided to try it again and immediately connected with it. The way it complimented the JM-derived pickup was beautiful and I felt like my sound was right there immediately!”
The pickups themselves are unique to this guitar too, and were created for Ariel by Fender’s pickup guru Tim Shaw.
“Tim was amazing to work with,” Ariel gushes. “I said what I didn’t like, and said what I loved, and he kind of gave me an ‘anything is possible’ perspective. Lots of calls back and forth to discuss. It’s hard to describe sound with words, but we managed to do it and when the first set was ready in the prototype, it was just ‘it’.”
Image: Press
One For The Road
The prototype Ariel mentions is a guitar that Ariel has been seen a lot with over the last couple of years – it was here that all the important stuff of the final guitar was tested and refined.
“That was the prototype for the signature,” he confirms. “I had been messing around with some Strats, throwing different configurations of pickups in them. Each time I would talk to my friend at Fender, I’d talk about my experimenting and eventually they just said, ‘What if we just did a model?’ That kept the experimentation going.
“It took about two and a half years from originally chatting – these things take a while! So yeah, the Custom Shop Strat you’re referring to was the first official prototype. We kinda nailed it right on the first try, minus some cosmetic stuff. But the core elements and the sound was there first try.”
The cosmetic stuff he mentions were pretty minor, but they all add up. “The Lake Placid Blue on the first was a little ‘too’ blue,” he admits. “I also decided not to go matching headstock. That was based on the look of my Jazzmaster, and while it looks great on that, I just never connected with the look of it the same way on the Strat! Much happier with what I ended up going with.”
If you’ve seen Ariel at shows in recent years you’ll notice that he has a thing for blue guitars, in addition to his Jazzmaster, he also owns a blue Mule Mulecaster…
“I do like blue!” he chuckles. “If you’re gonna do a signature model, it should represent your aesthetic. My other Strat that the neck of this guitar is based on is a beautiful sunburst with a heavy relic but I feel like it’s the most common looking finish on a guitar, especially a Strat. I just wanted to lean into what was true to myself and authentic. I also think it looks nice!”
Image: Press
Hard Lines
Perhaps the other biggest departure from the traditional Strat recipe on Ariel’s signature is the lack of vibrato – a decision that’s been borne out from hard lessons learned on the road.
“I love vibrato-equipped guitars; however, as a touring musician and someone who’s in the studio a lot, or other higher pressure situations, I didn’t want to lean on a guitar that had a floating system of any kind,” he explains. “I used to love having the whammy on a Strat but every time I’d break a string, the guitar becomes unusable. In the middle of a show, you’re kind of stuck. It was a decision out of necessity, and maybe this is crazy, but I feel like there’s a little more resonance in the sound of the guitar where it’s hard-tailed. Maybe I made that up, but I’ve just been digging that set up more on Strat the last few years!”
Another thing that you won’t find anywhere on Ariel’s signature Strat is… well… a signature… “Honestly, I didn’t even discuss it,” he explains of the lack of his name anywhere on the guitar. “It’s not a big deal to me. They would have put it on if I asked! The guitar is unique and people will know that it’s my model, but also, I’d love for people to want to use it as a tool and not just play it because it is or isn’t a signature model of someone!”
That’s not to say that Ariel is taking this moment in his career lightly however, far from it – he understands what a moment it is for any guitar player to have a signature Fender guitar.
“I can’t say it was something I planned on doing,” he admits. “Sure, it’s a dream, but not something I was actively chasing with anyone. In fact, I never assumed I’d have this opportunity, so when it came up, I was just as surprised as anyone else would be.
“I truly believe that it is a really great and solid instrument, and a really fresh take on something that has been done the same way so many times before. I can’t say enough how grateful I am – I definitely don’t take the opportunity for granted. It’s not something that everyone gets to do and I’m incredibly grateful to be able to experience it! A milestone indeed.”
Find out more about the Ariel Posen Strat at fender.com
The post Ariel Posen on his new Fender Custom Shop signature Stratocaster: “I felt like my sound was right there immediately!” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Source: www.guitar-bass.net
