Fender Launches New “Sports Car” of Guitars With the American Ultra II

In 2019, Fender launched the American Ultra line, while the company was already ahead on some new features, which eventually made their way into the new American Ultra II series. Fender showcased the new line during a special preview in New York City on October 9, featuring Ultra II ambassadors bassist, singer, and songwriter Annie Clements and guitarist and vocalist Isaiah Sharkey. 

The new series features a Fender Stratocaster, Stratocaster HSS, Telecaster, Meteora, Jazz Bass, Jazz Bass V, Meteora Bass, and Precision Bass with upgraded features including a quartersawn maple neck in a modern “D” shape; an ebony or maple fingerboard with Luminlay glow-in-the-dark side dots and Ultra rolled edges; a sculpted neck heel and sleek rear body contours for added comfort while playing; and noiseless Ultra II Noiseless pickups that deliver a classic Fender single-coil sound.

“With the work and heart that went into creating the American Ultra II series, there’s a lot of soul in these guitars,” said Justin Norvell, EVP of product at Fender, in a statement. “We refer to it as the ‘sports car’ of the Fender lineup. It’s designed to push boundaries and redefine what a Fender guitar can be, catering to both traditionalists and those exploring new, faster, and more intricate playing styles. This is a guitar that doesn’t fight you; instead, it gets out of the way, allowing you to focus purely on your performance, whether you’re playing soulful solos, fast riffs, or complex chord progressions.”

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The Fender team shared the story of how the American Ultra II started piecing together after the original launch during the panel discussion in New York City, including Norvell, Clements, Sharkey, moderator Andrew Magnotta of iHeartMedia, and Jason Klein, artists relations lead at Fender.

“Fender has always been a company of change,” said Norvell. “So while people are thinking about the Stratocaster, the Telecaster and thinking it’s unchanged if you want to get into the specs of each instrument [in] 1954, there was a completely different wood, neck shape than 1957, 1959, and 1960. It’s always been ‘How do I make it relevant today? How do I make it better? How do I make it play better, sound better, look better?’”

He added, “We were excited to just keep on the path. It’s not something new or radical. This is the spirit of what Fender has been since 1946.”

Developing the American Ultra II series features that were in their infancy when the first Ultra series was launched in 2019 was similar to producing an album, says Norvell.

“So we started with Ultra one, and we were trying to make this double album,” said Norvell. “We were done with one album, and we put that out, and that was Ultra one, but we had these other songs that were in various states of being written. So Ultra II is like ‘Use Your Illusion II’ (Guns N’ Roses’ 1991 album). With Ultra one, we were already halfway down the road with some cool things and wanted to see those through. Some of the pickup designs, the preamp design of the basses, the Luminlay dots, and all of those things were already happening, but … they just weren’t there.”

Klein said the Ultra II is even more versatile than its predecessor. “All these different sounds, all of these different genres, need a guitar that can do all of that,” he said of the updated features. “I think it speaks to an artist that’s busy and jumping into so many different spaces. With this bass, you can dial into a sound with mid-frequency controls in seconds that you would need two basses for, or the Strat, bringing in the neck pickup in any position gives so many different sounds. So rather than having one definitive sound like a ’54 Strat, this can do so much more.”

For Sharkey, who has been working on his third album Black Sunshine, the main feature of the Ultra II Stratocaster that drew him in was the comfort of the guitar while playing. “It’s hard to find a guitar that fits your hand,” said Sharkey. “Everybody’s hands are different, and the neck profile on this guitar is dope. I like that there’s more of a satin finish on the back, so you’re not getting stuck when your hand is sweating, and as far as the pickups go, you can have all these different wide ranges of sounds. It’s just really versatile and clean.”

Clements who has upcoming dates with Little Big Town, and has toured with Maren Morris, Amos Lee, Jennifer Nettles, and more said she will also be bringing the Ultra II Precision Bass out during her upcoming shows with Sugarland since the instrument gives her the flexibility she needs on the road without too many extras. She recently went from the soundstage, where she shot the promotional poster for the Ultra II to the airport to fly to a private gig without much more than her Ultra II bass.

“I didn’t have a pedalboard—anything—and I took it to an event, and I was able to just plug it in direct and it sounded f–king awesome,” said Clements. “I can go into a private gig situation that’s smaller, and I’m going to be taking that out in a couple of weeks with Sugarland, and we’re playing arenas. What’s great about the Ultra II is that it is so versatile with a pickup configuration, that I can onboard dial in the cut that I need to get if we’re in an arena or if we’re playing some of these markets where you don’t know what you’re walking into.”

Before the panel ended, Clements joined Sharkey on a stripped-back performance of his 2022 single “Stay,” inspired by the Isleys’ 1977 song “Voyage to Atlantis” and a conversation with a woman he once met on a cruise ship.

“That’s what takes Fender back to the beginning,” says Norvell of the new design and features of the Ultra II. “Leo Fender was not a guitar player. He didn’t know what was right or what wasn’t possible, so he leaned on artists and said, ‘You know what sounds good Do you like this—do you like that? What works? What doesn’t work?’ And that kind of dialog is where you’re at right now. It’s what we do.”

Photo: The Fender American Ultra II Series, Courtesy of Fender