NAMM 2025: Fender is making an occasion out of its return to NAMM with the launch of the Standard Series, the most affordable Fender electric guitars and bass guitars you can get – maybe the most affordable of all time.
All the hits are here. There is the Telecaster, the Stratocaster, the Stratocaster HSS, and the Precision Bass and Jazz Bass are here, too. And they are priced from £499/$599, which at first looked like a typo.
Indeed, it is a price so low it had us scrambling to see how close it was to today’s range of Squier guitars – a price that all but guarantees these Indonesian-made models will be a player-friendly unit-shifter for the Big F.
Squier, of course, is Fender’s own budget brand. For many players Squier is the ultimate brand for cheap electric guitars, and yet here is Fender almost taking on itself at its own game. But when you look at those prices. There is a gap in the market for quality electrics at this price, an S-style shape, or maybe a T-style…
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Anyway, what does your money get you? Well, it gets you a classic Fender design. All of the Standard series instruments have a solid poplar body, a bolt-on maple neck, topped with either a maple or an Indian laurel fingerboard. Think of the Player II Series, only scaled down a little (no rosewood fingerboards with rolled edges, no chambered ash at this price).
The necks are carved into a Modern C profile and given a smooth satin finish, which, like the price, is going to be a crowdpleaser. Totally on brand for Fender, these guitars have a 25.5” scale length, with 9.5” radius fingerboards. The basses have a 34” scale. Again, don’t believe the price; these are genuine Fender instruments, with that same feel.
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The Stratocasters have a synchronised two-point tremolo system. The Telecaster has a six-saddle string-through-body hardtail bridge with satin chrome saddles. In time-honoured fashion, the Telecaster’s volume, tone and three-way pickup selector sits on a metal plate.
There’s a Butterscotch Blonde “blackguard” model for all the O.G. Tele superfans, but it is also offered in Olympic White, Three-Colour Sunburst and Aqua Marine Metallic.
And you have a pair of Tele single-coils with a high-output ceramic magnet. That is a leitmotif of this series; the pickups are all ceramic, a little hotter to make them more rock friendly.
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The Strat finish options include Aqua Marine Metallic, Candy Cola, Olympic White and Three-Colour Sunburst. The Strat HSS arrives in Aqua Marine Metallic, Candy Cola and, for the David Gilmour enthusiasts out there, Black. All the guitars have sealed die-cast chrome tuners with hex-style buttons.
As for the basses, the Jazz Bass comes in Aqua Marine Metallic, Black, Three-Colour Sunburst and Olympic White, the P-Bass in Candy Cola, Olympic White, Black and Three-Colour Sunburst.
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Never mind the price – Candy Cola, Aqua Marine Metallic, these are right up there with some of the nicest solid-colour finishes in the hallowed Fender colour chart.
The Standard series is available to preorder from dealers now, shipping February, see Fender for more details.
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