Fender Builds One-of-a-Kind Race Car Guitar
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| (Click for a close-up of the body) |
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| Son Seals |
August 26, 1999
On Sunday, August 22, legendary blues artist Son Seals played in front of a
crowd of over 70,000 people, providing some local color to the festivities at
the 1st Annual Chicago Grand Prix, sponsored by Target. Seals, a name synonymous
with the Chicago blues community, played an extended set before the race, capped
off by "Sweet Home Chicago" to spark the local crowd into a frenzy inside
the venue. To commemorate the inaugural race, a custom-made Fender guitar was
built for Son to perform with, which was hand-carved in the shape of a race car.
With Target being the sponsor of the annual Grand Prix, the guitar was likened
to Target Racing Team's own two-time defending CART championship race car. Literally
joining the racing and guitar worlds together, artist Troy Lee of racing helmet
design fame was brought in for the custom paint-job.
Over 200 hours were spent designing and building the guitar at Fender's Custom
Shop in Corona, California. In addition to Troy Lee, the rest of the Fender pit
crew was comprised of Todd Krause, who designed and built the guitar, and George
Amicay, who did the wood carving by hand.
"Target loved the idea and wanted the guitar for their race, so we built
it for them and had a great time," said Mike Eldred, Director of Fender's
Custom Shop. The guitar itself was not inexpensive to build, but still only a
fraction of the cost for the real thing. "And hey," added Eldred, "this
one gets better gas mileage! Really though, the whole idea was Jimmy Vasser's.
It was Target's race, it was in Chicago, and they wanted some real blues power
to kick it off and get their team going."
It looks like the guitar did give them a little jump start . . . the Target
Racing team won the event. Rookie sensation Juan Montoya of Columbia set a first-year
record, logging his second consecutive victory, and sixth of the season. Team
captain Jimmy Vasser finished the race in third.
No further immediate plans have been made for this one-of-a-kind guitar, but
it may soon find a way to the auction block to benefit a charity.
For more information, visit Fender's web site at www.fender.com.
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