HANK MARVIN STRATOCASTER SERIES
Then it became the Fender (not Squier) Special Series Strat, with Korean manufacture for a very brief period. It was a Squier Standard Strat from late 1984 up until 1987, produced at Fuji Gen-Gakki in Japan. What did change more noticeably was its branding, and briefly, also its country of origin. The basic aura of this model only casually evolved between 1983 and late 1991, when the second wave of MIJ Squiers launched. The SST-30 provided a template for the replacement Squier model, which was standardised into a vague '50s format with maple neck, and a vague '60s format with rosewood fingerboard. The SST-30 spec had then essentially gone global in late 1984, after Fender opted to drop their spectacularly well-featured Squier JV and SQ series Strats as prohibitively expensive to produce. But in production terms it had a descendency traceable back to 1983, when the SST-30 model was born - at that time available only on the Japanese domestic market. So that's where the guitar came from as a marketing concept. THE PRODUCTION ROOTS OF THE SQUIER MARVIN
All it really required, apart from the signature, was a one-piece maple neck, a Fiesta Red finish, and a single-ply white scratchplate. So what better way to kick off the new MIJ Squier production run than with a fully signed, Hank Marvin signature Strat in Fiesta Red? It was an easy adaptation of the planned product. There wasn't any marketing gameplan for the new Japanese Squiers at that stage, and the Silver Series identity was yet to be dreamed up. Meanwhile, however, Fender had been gearing up to take some select Squier production back to the well-respected Fuji Gen-Gakki factory in Japan, for the first time since the Squier operation moved to Korea in 1987.
But the '91 Korean Squier itself never carried a Marvin signature, or any inference of an endorsement. The initial Hank Marvin ads actually tied in the guitar tutor book with the Korean Strat, and Hank's signature appeared on the page. Initially, in summer '91, Marvin began endorsing the bog standard Korean Squier, which was not a great match, since it wasn't available in his trademark colour of Fiesta Red. The Lead Shad duly gave a Korean Squier a good old twanging and was happy to recommend it. The bespoke plan was thus rapidly dumped, but the idea of Hank actually endorsing an existing Squier Strat was of great interest to Fender. There would be an endorsement deal built in, which would benefit everyone.Īrbiter took this request seriously enough to get a costing for a bespoke instrument, but such a product could not compete economically with Fender's existing Squier guitars.
And as an aside, he asked if it would be possible to additionally produce an inexpensive guitar of decent quality, that he could recommend for the kids using the tutor. In the throes of all this, Hank had also been fronting a guitar tutor book for youngsters taking their first steps on the instrument. So, the decision was made to keep the neck and middle Duncans, and swap the bridge pickup for a DiMarzio FS1 'Fat Strat', which had previously been a preferred lead solution for Monsieur Marvin. The problem? The bridge unit didn't have enough body to deliver the legandary Shadows lead tone. Then in '91 the USA sig prototype had come close to settling on three custom wound Seymour Duncans - within the vintage ballpark spec-wise, but on the hot side. This was confirmed by The Guitar Magazine (Jan '91), when it was still part of International Musician & Recording World. The guitar had initially, in 1990, been fitted with three Fender Lace Sensors (Red). Hank had trialled the prototype, but was not wholly convinced by the pickup arrangement. The USA model - intended for the high end of the market - was at the prototype stage, and had already been allotted a deep-contoured '58 body styling, a bird's-eye maple neck, gold-plated metalwork, and the obligatory Fiesta Red nitro finish. Communications that primarily concerned the progress of a Fender USA Hank Marvin signature Strat. The commercial side of the story began in the first half of 1991, with communications between Hank, Fender, and Fender's UK distributor, Arbiter.
Part of the reason why is that the 'Hank' was barely any different from the Silver Series - which I have retro-reviewed - and I also included the Squier Hank Marvin's original ad in the Hank Marvin Precursor post.īut given the recent interest in this specific model, I thought it was about time I dug into the annals of time for a proper look at its pedigree and origins. You may be surprised, given my shameless interest in Squier Strats of the 'eighties and 'nineties, that I've never previously retro-reviewed the well-praised Hank Marvin signature model.
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