which Fender has embraced several of Thorn’s bold
signature moves.
“I was afraid that, ‘Oh boy, here we go. I’m going to
be building ’52 Teles and ’65 Strats for the rest of my
life!’” Thorn tells us. “But no, that couldn’t be further
from the truth. Let’s put it this way: no one has said
‘don’t do that’ to me yet.”
More to the point, the Custom Shop’s open-
armed reception of Thorn’s skill and ethos seems
to have taken very much a ‘do do that’ line. From
programming Fender’s CNCs, to developing new
tooling, to introducing an entirely new vibrato design
to the Fender catalogue (the VibraDyne, paired
with Thorn’s own Brass Knuckle bridge design), to
building the first new Coronados made in the USA
since the early 80s, to entirely revamping almost
every aspect of the fretting shop, Thorn has already
played a major role in the works above and beyond
the guitars he himself has created as Principal Master
Builder. And even there, a major dose of Thorn
continues to shine through beneath the iconic
Fender logo.
Take, for example, the sly introduction of his own
California Special as one of the first new Fender body
shapes in aeons to join the iconic lineup of Telecaster,Stratocaster, Jazzmaster and Mustang. Thorn takes up
the tale...
“Here’s the truth. We got an email in June or July,
saying: ‘The NAMM Show’s coming up, start working
on your NAMM Show stuff! The space allotment’s
approximately a half-dozen guitars, so build whatever
you want, and make them Fenders.’ That’s how it
read, period. So I’m just, ‘I’m doin’ it, and if I get in
trouble, so be it!’ I ran the bodies myself on the CNC
in the wee hours. I was assembling it on my bench
when my director, Chris Fleming, comes in and goes:
‘What’s that?’
“And I kind of felt caught. My face got red a little
bit, but man, it’s painted, I’m putting it together, and
I just said: ‘It’s called the California Special.’ And he
just looks at me and goes: ‘Huh. How’d you do that?’
and walked away.
“And I was kinda like, ‘I guess it’s going to the show.
I guess it’s good to go!’ We took orders for them and
I was answering questions from the sales guys, so
I was like, ‘Okay, it’s in the mix now!’ So, it’s a model
that can only be ordered Master Built through me as
a builder, for now, though it’d be fine with me if any
of the other guys wanted to do them.”
Fender is a big corporation, but so far, Ron Thorn
has not found the typical attitude we associate with
such levels of business to be reflected at all in the
work going on in the trenches.
Or, as he puts it: “It’s still a hot-rod shop here.
These guys are still willing to take chances, and are
digging it, and are cool about it. Everybody’s a player.
No one wears a tie here.”“IT’S STILL A HOT-ROD SHOP HERE.
THESE GUYS ARE STILL WILLING
TO TAKE CHANCES, AND ARE COOL
ABOUT IT. EVERYBODY’S A PLAYER.
NO ONE WEARS A TIE HERE”
ABOVE From intricate inlays
to new body shapes, there’s
very little the Fender Custom
Shop’s Principal Master
Builder hasn’t turned his
hand to during his career
SHOP TALK
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