The American Design Experience
From their modular designs to their interchangeable pickups, Stratocasters are made to be personalized. After all, Leo Fender's philosophy was that a guitar should be something the player wants to play, something that suits him perfectly. He created some of the most successful and beloved instruments of the 20th century thanks, in part, to his steadfast dedication to an instrument's form and function, which ultimately led to their unique modular designs allowing players to modify various elements of their instruments quickly and easily.
This was the philosophy of the Fender American Design Experience, which began in 2011 at the Fender Visitor Center in Corona, adjacent to Fender’s factory. There, players have been able to hand-select instrument bodies and necks, and personally design their own unique instrument, before having it built and delivered to them within a matter of months.
“We live in an era of personalization, and few things make a greater statement about people than the music they listen to - your music and how it represents your individual identity,” said Justin Norvell, Vice President of Marketing for Fender. “Fender's entire existence embodies that very concept, because its instruments have always been modular in construction, which has always made them ideal for individual personalization. And the American Design Experience is the next level of that whole concept - built to an individual player's specs straight from the factory floor.”
“We live in an era of personalization, and few things make a greater statement about people than the music they listen to - your music and how it represents your individual identity,” said Justin Norvell, Vice President of Marketing for Fender. “Fender's entire existence embodies that very concept, because its instruments have always been modular in construction, which has always made them ideal for individual personalization. And the American Design Experience is the next level of that whole concept - built to an individual player's specs straight from the factory floor.”
Since March 2014, Fender provided this program only to people throughout the United States via an innovative guitar builder interface on its website. Users were able to select body and neck styles and materials, hardware, finishes, pickup and electronics configurations and more, that led them to more than a million potential design outcomes. It was simple to switch bodies and necks and hardware and see any combination almost instantly. As for what any choice might sound like, each pickup, each wood selection, had an accompanying description of its sonic characteristics.
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“In many ways the American Design Experience fulfills an ideal held by Leo Fender himself when he started experimenting in the '40s and '50s, laying the foundation of what would soon become iconic musical instruments,” said Justin Norvell. “Essentially, modularity was built into Fender guitars and basses from the very beginning. As the company grew, we've tried to stay close to these roots. The Internet affords the opportunity to increase that scale for more people. But every customization has always been nothing more than a couple of screws away. This further levels the playing field where you can build a signature instrument to your specs.” Once the user designed his dream guitar he could save his creation, download high resolution desktop wallpaper, and buy it.
Each guitar was accompanied with the company's limited lifetime warranty, a hard shell case, a certificate of authenticity with a dedicated serial number, an official Fender product manual, a collectible American Design Experience booklet, strap, polishing cloth, instrument cable and adjustment wrenches.
Each guitar was accompanied with the company's limited lifetime warranty, a hard shell case, a certificate of authenticity with a dedicated serial number, an official Fender product manual, a collectible American Design Experience booklet, strap, polishing cloth, instrument cable and adjustment wrenches.
The Mod Shop
However 1.3 million options were way too confusing for the consumer, as stated by Fender CEO Andy Mooney. So, in June 2016, Fender reconstituted that idea as Mod Shop, reducing the options originally to 70,000 (110,000 in 2019). “The big changes that we made are that we made the consumer interface much easier to navigate, and we cut the delivery time down from 90 days to 30 days. Because even though you personalize it, you can wait for so long, but not 90 days,” said Andy.
With the new Mod Shop there were six points of hands-on inspection to ensure that all Mod Shop instruments were exactly what the customer wanted, from before and after the buffing process, during the assembly of the body and neck, and during the wiring and setup process. Each Mod Shop order came with a personalized spec sheet, so the user knew he was getting exactly what he ordered. |
“The more comfortable you are with your guitar, the better you play,” said Andy Mooney. “Mod Shop grants you the ability and convenience to create a factory-manufactured model truly tailored to your personal preferences. With Mod Shop, you get exactly what you want, in every way.”