FENDER PLAYER PLUS METEORA HH

The First Coming
What was idea behind the
original Meteora?
F
ender’s Partrallel Universe
models have been
consistently interesting;
guitars that could have existed
in Fender’s history that never
did... now brought to life. The
original limited run Meteora
was a US model and took a leaf
out of the standard Telecaster
in the same way the HH model
nods to the Thinline’s Wide
Range humbuckers. Designed
by Josh Hurst of Fender’s
Research & Development
department, the idea was to
introduce an unfamiliar shape
but with the familiar Tele
confi guration. “I think the
guitar is more or less designed
for people who are not
traditional guitar consumers,”
said Hurst. “They’re not into
traditional guitar shapes – they
want something that’s a little
bit diff erent, a little more edgy
– more futuristic looking.”
for us. Low but still resonant;
it’s acoustically satisfying.
It would be easy to assume from
the telltale off set pole pieces the
pickups here are Fender’s modern
take on its Wide Range humbucker
found in some Thinline Teles, but
these are a new Fireball model.
Quelle est la diff érence? Fender
says they “blend the perfect
amount of gain with great
string-to-string note clarity”,
a description that would
certainly fi t WR ’buckers.
If you’re turned off by the lack of
chime and articulation with some
humbuckers, these could be very
good news indeed. Bright, crunchy
and articulate with a heavy dose of
Orange Rockerverb gain; the mids
really ring out and it feels open,
rather than compressed. That
makes for a great neck pickup that
won’t get sludgy in the mix with
chord work, and could well win
some of the P-90 gang round,
perhaps less so for those who
want super chunk palm muting.
All of which makes the S1
switching fi t in perfectly
here – while the loss of low
end is always noticeable
when playing clean, there’s
none of the abrupt switch to
thin overly steely tones that
can give coil-splitting a bad
rep. And wherever you stand
on the look of the Meteora,
the tones are highly likeable.
Rob Laing
FENDER VINTERA 70S
TELECASTER THINLINE
This Shell Pink option offers
similar-voiced Wide Range
humbuckers to the
Meteora. But the
vintage 7.25” radius
maple fretboard and
hardtail make for a
different proposition
elsewhere.
HAGSTROM
FANTOMEN
If they’re good enough for
Ghost’s Nameless Ghouls,
they’re good enough for
us. This 25.5” scale
model also features
Lundgren
humbuckers with
coil splitting.
EPIPHONE EXTURA
PROPHECY
The Explorer blueprint
reworked: Fishman Fluence
active pickups access PAF
and single-coil tones and
the body features the
deeper cutaway
of Gibson’s cult
Futura model.
ALSO TRY...
£1179
£679
£799
FEATURES
SOUND QUALITY
VALUE FOR MONEY
BUILD QUALITY
USABILITY
OVERALL RATING
SUMMARY
A GREAT NECK PICKUP THAT
WON’T GET SLUDGY IN THE MIX
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86
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