Fender’s $20,000 Joe Strummer Telecaster Confuses Me

It’s kind of the anti-thesis of punk, but also a major Gibson move?

Image credit: Fender

I’m a self admitted Fender fanboy. I tend to be far more attracted to their guitars, their marketing, and use their instruments in all my music projects. But even they are not immune to some Gibson-level price inflation. While I have no doubts that their newest “Master Built” guitar is a brilliant instrument to play, it seems counterintuitive to release a $20,000 collector’s edition signature guitar for a punk rock icon. Strummer, from my favorite band The Clash, was notoriously anti-capitalist and anti-materialist. Though he was not a perfect human being himself, it just feels like the constant recycling of expensive Strummer signature models by Fender is the antithesis of the man’s legacy.

Now who am I to speak for him or his family, I’m only a fan from far away. So take my complaints with a grain of salt. But after the highly priced Esquire signature model from a few years back, what I really want to see is an affordable Strummer signature model! Why not one made in Mexico or overseas in the vein of Tom DeLonge’s recent successful signature models? That’s what punk fans will actually pay for and use!

For a brand that’s been so focused on the youth movement in the electric guitar space, is this of their few cash grabs to target the aging boomer population? Afterall, those original hardcore Clash fans are certainly in the financial prime, but not physical prime, of their lives. That’s why it feels so Gibson-like, where Big G has released how many Slash/Mustaine/Bonamassa/Hammett signatures to dig into the 50+ crowd’s pockets.

Thankfully these sorts of releases aren’t exactly too prevalent in the Fender catalog, and they certainly don’t market them as heavily as Gibson. Which is an interesting discussion topic in and of itself. Gibson tends to whack you over the head with a plethora of ads and content around their custom shop recreations. I’ve never seen so much coverage of $10,000 – $30,000 guitars as I have these last few years from Gibson. So while I have my opinionated and unreasonable qualms with Fender’s use of Strummer’s name here, at least they basically announced it and then never spoke about it again.

This is another interesting release in a long line of releases that are monetizing the aging the guitar population. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to own this guitar, but I don’t have $20,000 to invest in this instead of a new car or mortgage down payment. Hell, this guitar could cover the rest of my student loans! But all that goes to say is that this guitar is clearly not made, nor marketed for people like me. For reference, I’m a 28 year old guy working in the ocean science industry. And that is why I have some reservations about the guitar. Because Joe Strummer really represented more of the “everyman” and non-pretentious working class in his persona and music. So the least Fender could do is release a Joe Strummer signature Telecaster that might actually end up in the hands of today’s working class who still love The Clash and Strummer’s messaging?

Into The Clash and Strummer? I’d recommend reading this biography I just finished up on Strummer, which dives deep into his younger and post-Clash years!