The Fender Katana is an electric guitar built by Fender. It was designed by marketing director Dan Smith in 1985.[1] The Katana was designed to compete with the unconventionally-shaped guitars of the era, such as the Jackson Randy Rhoads, and to satisfy Fender dealers who were suffering from the competition those instruments offered.[citation needed] The Katana did not sell as well as Fender hoped, and it was discontinued in 1986 before being reissued as a Masterbuilt Custom Shop model as part of the Prestige collection three decades later.
| Fender Katana | |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Fender |
| Period | 1985–1986 - 2016-present |
| Construction | |
| Body type | Solid |
| Neck joint | Glued-in |
| Scale | 24.75 in (629 mm) |
| Woods | |
| Neck | Maple |
| Fretboard | Rosewood |
| Hardware | |
| Bridge | 2-point System I (1985), American Vintage 6-screw or Floyd Rose locking vibrato (2016). |
| Pickup(s) | 2 humbuckers |
The Katana has a maple glued-in neck with bound rosewood fingerboard, offset triangle markers, a 629mm (24.75") scale with 22 frets, a truss rod adjuster at the headstock end. It features a string clamp, an arrow-head-shape headstock and a neck that matches the body color. The guitar has a pair of open-coil humbucking pickups with black bobbins, master volume/TBX tone controls and a 3-way pickup selector, all on body, and a side-mounted jack socket. It also has a 2-point System I locking vibrato unit.
A less expensive Squier version of the Katana - much more commonly available in the used market - was also made, with a single humbucking pickup, a bolt-on short scale neck, vintage-style 6-screw tremolo bridge and a single volume control. It was also available as a bass model with a split-coil P-Bass humbucker, 4-saddle bridge and a medium 32"-inch scale maple neck with a 20-fret rosewood fretboard.
References
edit- ^ Navarret, Benoît; Battier, Marc; Bruguière, Philippe; Gonin, Philippe (2022-04-29). Quand la guitare [s’]électrise! [When the guitar [becomes] electrified!] (in French). Sorbonne Université Presses. p. 196. ISBN 979-10-231-2373-9. Retrieved 2024-11-17.
External links
edit- Fender Katana at TheGuitarCollection.org
 | This article relating to electric guitars is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |