UPDATE: The Reason Why Tom Decided to Release "Soul Power" is he made Fender agree to donate 100s of guitars to Charities that he backs that provides instruments to prison inmates for rehabilitation as well as for school programs so children can be given the opportunity to learn to play in order to better express themselves. 🔴Reverb: reverb.com/item/33339020?_aid=growsumo&gs_partner=Trogly 💰New to Reverb? Get $10 on Me ➡️ reverb.grsm.io/earn10 👕 Merch: teespring.com/basic-logo-4245?pid=211 🎸New Guitar Day Program: troglysguitarshow.com/help-appraisals/ngd/
@Trogly Niiiice!!!! Looks great and it somewhat looks like you are holding my Nuno Bettencourt Washburn N6 model with black paint and brushed aluminum finish and the N6 decal. I also have a pretty much original rule run Washburn N4 that is been run through the mill and looks just like Nuno's original N4.
One of the reasons it is $1,200 besides being a signature model is that it comes with a hard case- i have 2 $1200+ MIM Fenders - one is kurt cobain jag ( which does come with an awesome kurt cobain book), and a 60s jazzmaster - foesta red, matching headstock from 2018- they both came with a hardcase ...most MIMs come with gig bags. Conversely in order to keep the price point sub $1200 - the American Performer series from 2018 came with just a gig bag and that was for an american made guitar. Great video
Tom has stated that he doesn't own very expensive guitars and if you expect a crazy pedal board he actually only works with about 6ish pedals for all his crazy noise. Dude is a legend.
Floyd Rose setup (or any floating tremolo) is not hard, but rather long and tedious. On the other hand once you done, it will be rock solid... until humidity or temperature changes.
"once you done, it will be Rock Solid... until humidity or temperature changes" Ha, ha, that's kinda funny but I don' mind Floyds either. I keep the plate level with a post-its papers square. SuperVee's BladeRunner is super stable too especially if you wind the strings UP like SuperVee advises for the fatter strings too.
Tom Morello has also said the reason he used the Telecaster for all drop D stuff with Rage (Killing in the Name etc) was because he didn't really know how to change tunings on the Floyd on Arm the Homeless, and it was a pain.
Ikr, at the moment this is the only western production model Strat that has a matching headstock along with the hideous Parallel Universe Jazzstrat. I wish I lived in Japan. They know how to spec a Fender.
Me too. The thing is though, it that it’s so peiced together with random parts, it’s going to be hard to get remotely close to the same tone, but if they somehow did then I’d be after it the day is came out
@@Dylan-bx2fs The closest guitar I can find to start with the arm the homeless is at Kramer pacer in lake placid blue. But good luck finding one and if you do it would be a shame to modify it
He is not my style of music but I respect that guy just about more than anybody else. There never has been and never will be another Tom Morello. He is a true beast on a guitar.
Do you think Fender could have forgotten to add your Certificate Of Authenticity since they forgot to pack your Soul Power decal? Could be something you could call them about and look into. Seems weird a $1,300 MIM signature model wouldn't come with one since they usually do. I know the new Jim Root MIM Jazzmasters are getting one when they ship and they cost the same amount.
While a bit older, I’ve got Flea’s signature Fender Jazz bass (not the new active one) which was MIM and never came with a certificate which is disappointing. Was it worth the new price, probably not. Thankfully I didn’t buy it brand new lol
My MIM Brad Paisley Signature Tele didn’t come with a certificate either. I bought it brand new in 2017 the week it was released. It’s in the same price range as all the others mentioned.
As a big fan of Tom and Soul Power guitar, I think I should leave a comment about the original Fender model since you mentioned you struggled to find all the info on it :) It just happen to me that Soul Power was the guitar that became my dream instrument. I managed to get AST-65 Aerodyne Strat first and as you mentioned original Soul Power have similar features but not an exact copy of MIJ Aerodyne. AST doesn't have a flat top body, features vintage tuners and doesn't have a chrome pickguard, while bearing color-matched headstock and Aerodyne lettering on it. A couple years after I got lucky to get the real Fender Deluxe Soul Power :) The original Soul Power model (according to Fender's own specifications) is called American Deluxe Designer Edition Black 'n Chrome Stratocaster. The limited run of 120 guitars was made for Guitar Center in El Cerrito in June 2001. Those had stock 2-point deluxe Fender Tremolo, 2 Fender Vintage (I don't know why on most of the occasions people never call the exact model of the Noiseless pickup) Noiseless in neck and mid positions and Hot Noiseless in the bridge. Mind you that they have Noiseless written in silver on the pickup covers, while production model of Vintage Noiseless has those inscriptions in gold. Actually the one you used picture of might be the one I have, because I ordered mine from that guitar web shop ;) Now as far as Tom's modifications, of course he modified his Fender Deluxe with an original Ibanez Edge tremolo, since it is what he got used to in the first place and added a toggle 3-way killswitch, like the one he used on all other guitars since RATM days. Hot Noiseless bridge pickup was changed to an early revision of Seymour Duncan Hot Rails, which has Seymour Duncan name under the second rail and the pickup cover itself is satin and not glossy like the current revision - again another little detail that is missing on his signature guitar. And the neck profile is different on the original Soul Power as well. His signature uses Modern C 9.5-14'', while original Deluxe is listed as simple 9.5"" 241mm. One more thing - there's also a similar model from early 2000s, but it has "Special Edition" decal on the back of the headstock, which is a budget version so to say to a Designer Series. P.S. Now you get why Tom's die hard fans like me shake their heads a bit while looking at that signature guitar, because it doesn't have the proper Floyd Rose system, silver lettering on the pickups and probably neck profile. And I mean I was really happy back in 2020 when the announcement was made, but in my opinion signature guitar has to be an exact copy of the instrument in terms of look, features and details. Regardless, I'm still glad that this guitar is somewhat affordable and has all the needed features.
One of the big hurdles would have probably been allowing Fender to use an Ibanez bridge on a fender guitar :) The rest of the specs could have been copied easily I am sure, but I would say that having a 9.5-14 radius is a good compromise and nobody would know the difference just by looking at it casually. There are many signature models that aren't exact copies of the originals though, this is just another one of them I guess.
This is more like a recreation of a famous modified guitar, with features aimed towards modern players and within production limitations (not to mention using a trem that isn't the proprietary in house model of a rival company). A Tom Morello tribute guitar really, with everything you need to sound like the man.
Had Fender done more Strats and Tele's like this early on I would have been more interested in them. To me a Les Paul is a work of art with it's carved top, binding on the body and the way they lay it all out. At the same time I always thought Strats were plain, cheap looking and just not appealing to me at all, and Teles were worse lol. But now at 55 I have seen some great looking examples of both and the only Strats or Tele's I will buy are either like their sunburst version, which is odd because I hate that on a LP lol. or some other type of transparent finish, if it is a solid color I hate them, UNLESS they have binding and other appointments such as what this Tele in the video has.
Lawyer Morty duuuuuude double bling guitars with binding on the neck are my turn on, I found a double bound thinline tele at my store a while back but it was too much for me 😂
@@powdershredder1136 yeah i know how it is to find you dream gear but not being able to afford it. One day i was at a guitar store and i saw a guitar pick
When you disconnected the cable from the guitar and started making effects with it I lost it. It’s 5 am here and I think I woke up the family I laughed so loud. Thanks for enlightening us, keep pushin.
_World Tour_ was the first game I played when I was a kid and it's one of my favourites, as it was the first game that got me into so many of my favourite bands and my second is probably _Guitar Hero: Van Halen_ since it got me into a lot more of VH's stuff and also introduced me to Eddie's insanity but 3 also has a special place for me
For ease of use in the future just put a block of whatever you have under the back of the floyd and it will help when trying to get the strings back in the tuners
I bought a "trem block"since I mostly play Floyd's it was like 20$ off Amazon and has a soft underneath pad so you can't scratch the paint and stays in place. It was worth the buy after restringing one time... ive done all the cheap ways but that little block is the best if you like floyds
It just isn't. Locking tuners doe nothing to stabilise the tuning when using a trem. It's nut binding that is the issue there. Locking tuners are to make string changes easier and take less time to bed in.
@@nsjohnston there's something to be said of locking tuners with tuning stability due to there being no wraps around the tuner, so if you do a dive there isn't the issue of the wraps around the post coming back to tension in a slightly different place putting you out of tune, but I agree most of the issue is binding in the nut and on this guitar it's just for faster string changes
My very first quality guitar was a beautiful blue/purpleish mexican strat from craigslist for 300$ Being an ignorant noob, i didnt know what to look for in a used guitar, so I took my used strat to a luthier, and ended up paying 80$ to the ahole luthier for a setup, only to find out the truss rod was dead and the tech couldnt set up my guitar. I was frustrated. So, I bought a flawless, brand new 2014 mexican strat neck, paid about 200$, and learned how to do a basic set up myself, so i didn't have to blow another 80+ to the luthier who still took my money just to tell me he couldnt set it up. That guitar was stellar. Like brand new, and played so easy. Fell on hard times, and sold it for $300, even though i put almost 300$ into it. The guy who bought it got a killer deal, and I got ripped off, and lost my guitar. I still kick myself over it. Loved that guitar. I really should've refused payment to the luthier. Idk why I didn't
I believe the Floyd on the original guitar was actually an Ibanez Edge unit that Tom fitted himself. Having played Edges against original Floyd rose trems, they have a very different feel. The Edge feels a lot more responsive IMO.
This sig remind me a lot the John 5 Triple Deluxe Telecaster : black body with binding, chrome pickguard, rosewood fingerboard with vintage satin back finish, fender looking tuners and the matching headstock
Thanks for the coverage on this guitar. I really like the stock look without the sticker and think sales will benefit from the option to leave it off. Those stickers alone will probably become collectible!
John Clark I believe you are correct about the stickers becoming collectible on their and they will also add value to the guitars in the future if the sticker is still with it. This is exactly what has happened over the years with the Joe Strummer Signature Tele.
Agreed. I can understand putting it on if you're just a huge Tom Morello fan and want your guitar to look exactly the same. But in general, I hate the look of any kind of writing or decals on a guitar (unless you're SRV)
I like the guitar without the "soul power" sticker...with it...it's a $1200 wall hanger. I am guessing Morello used a Fender Elite neck with the compound radius...the chrome "Fender" head badge says that, they were not MIM. It would be worth buying Tom's guitar...a budget replica?? I would pass but it would look great in a case on the wall if you are a big Morello fan. VERY sharp looking rig. Thanks Trog!
Such a cool guitar! Tom Morello has always been a big influence to me. I played Tony Hawks Pro Skate 2 and the opening played Guerilla Radio. I also played Guitar hero 3 later and fell in love with a lot of new music because of that game as well.
AndrewJsGuitar I think Guitar Hero the game (and 3 in particular) is responsible for selling more actual guitars than any individual guitarist in the last 20 years. The Tony Hawk games definitely had amazing soundtracks.
The Fender Mexico factory is under rated. I have a Jackson from there that feels and sounds as good as anything I've ever played. And the specs are on the higher end as well.
Look how long it took him to notice they were hippos!! LOL Seriously, I am sure he does but maybe during the video he just wasn't thinking about that or just didn't want to bring it up?
My Elite 18 strat came with the most recent noiseless Fender pickups..they do not sound like Humbucker at all..but.. it's a boring tone that SUCKS. There is no way l would deal with 60 cycle NOISE.. so.. yesterday a set of Zexcoils were delivered.. best noisless available to my knowledge.. not installed YET.. wish me luck!
@@primeDecomposition that depends on the pots i run my Gen 1's on 250k pots i get more or less the strat tones in like on clean but with distortion like a PAF. the higher the pot value the brighter they are.
@@alwaysopen7970 Yeah, America's more forward about their permanent underclass and the people who dont give a fuck about them, also....p.s......cute Police Department, Fire Department, and libraries you got there........commie 😉
I personally love the fact that the "soul power" is not permanently installed. I love Tom, I love the Floyd Rose, love the humbucker in the bridge, love the color, love it all. It's the first strat I'd ever consider owning. And the fact that it's routed for 2 full sized humbuckers makes me love it even more. I'm going to be keeping a keen eye out for one of these on the used market. I'll give the SD bridge pickup a shot, but have a feeling I'll throw a real humbucker in the bridge, get rid of the middle pickup, and then potentially another humbucker in the neck (I've started working on putting a small LCD in the place of the neck humbucker on my Ibanez project guitar and using an MSGEQ7 chip to display a live EQ graph of what's being played on the LCD screen. Might do that to this one). Then put a real killswitch in, as in like a real button. Customize the paint a little bit and bam. Killer axe.
I got to see Tom last year. I was in the front row and it was amazing. He mostly covered Rage stuff with the Arm the Homeless guitar. His tech was constantly messing with his pedal board and amp to get the right sounds for each song.
I personally like that they ship it without the decal. Just gives you more options. Someone may buy that guitar not because they're a Tom Morello fan, but just because it's a cool guitar, and even if they are, they may just want the same model of guitar, but not an exact replica.
I bought a Dunlop original cry baby wah because I thought it would do the pitch change like in the solo on "like a stone." Realized I wasted 80$ that day. Plugged it back into my amp a while later to give it a chance. After all I did spend money on it. To my surprise I really grew quite fond of it. Got me into playing soul and r&b and getting into the hip/hop guitar tones. From a guy that likes infant annihilator, that wah was and still is the holder of one of my favorite memories from a 13-17 year old guitar player me. Got a long way to go.
When I was a teen in the 90s I bought the. Digitech Whammy, used for $75. I didn’t know what to do with it, other than make weird noises or play RATM songs. I’d have been better off with a wah like you but I really wish I still had that pedal.
I just played one of these at Guitar Center... Absolutely loved it. That being said, if anyone ever did an "Arm The Homeless" sig or reissue, I'd buy it in a heartbeat. Finance, whatever. I want one.
I needed a Strat with a Floyd but I needed a beefier sound, which always put me off buying Strats in the past. That Hot Rails pick up adds a lot to it. I really like it. It's a beast. I also really like the neck. I love the look of it without the decal. Very cool.
Sadly, I didn't find this out until AFTER I published the video - but he did it because it allowed him to get fender to donate 100s of guitars to charities that he supports. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-_D4PhwPCZ5c.html
@@Trog Know its hard, but maybe re-post or edit this in? People can't help but post this "he he he's a hypocrite" on anything related to this guitar. Its annoying, especially cause this is a really highly spec'd guitar for not a lot of money. His interview explaining his logic shows he kinda forced Fender to keep the price low and demanded it be higher spec in order to give people the opportunity to get this much in their guitar. This could easily have been 2k with the specs it has.
While I disagree with his politics and find irony in the price of the instrument, he still deserves to earn a living from the products and music he puts out, as does any other musician. It’s a wicked guitar, I wish I wasn’t left handed because I’d play the shit out of it.
I dont agree with Tom Morello politically at all, but this guitar looks sick and if I had the money I'd totally buy one, I love the Aerodyne style of Fenders, I have an Aerodyne Jazz Bass myself and the look of it is incredible, I'd probably have the color changed though
I love Mexican Strats! They take a lot of pride in those guitars coming out of that factory. I have a 93 Mexican Duo Sonic that was among the first guitars to come out of the Mexican Fender factory.
The reason why MIM are so good is that 80% of the employees actually play the guitar. Even PRS it is only 20% and all others are far, far less.Guys at the MIM factory when given a guitar to do their bit hand it back to the last guy if they spot even small things.
Hi Austin, just a lil suggestion here on a floyd. It's better to keep the bridge floatin before taking all of the strings down. U can do it by putting thing under the tremolo bridge to keep it in place.
I love Tom Morello's guitar playing and I can see why he did the signature series. But I think this is also one of those Floyd Rose Strat style guitars that you could get anywhere and upgrade the pickups and add the kill switch without having to spend over $1000. It would feel more authentic to me to make my own guitar.
Trogly, I've been watching you for years. You're editing has developed so much and your playing too keep it up. If someone deserves that million right now it's you.
trogly, with a floyd setup -[ to be able to keep it in a standard tuning not drop d or c or b. just standard either E or Eb, D etc] youre gonna want that trem claw in the back parallel with the wall that its screwed into. also, to increase tuning stability, stabilizers are worth their weight in gold. either the hipshot tremsetter [tremsetter is best but requires light body modification. or a "tremendus" stabilizer. [just needs to be screwed into the trem cavity.]
I'm ok without the soul power moniker. That's Tom's deal. It's cool, but I actually prefer the guitar without soul power across the body. ( But I don't wear clothes with names and stuff on it either.😐) I really like the guitar 👌
It's a classy looking instrument and sounds crisp. The combo of locking tuners and double-locking trem does seem a bit odd, not least because it must add to the overall cost of the instrument, for no tangible reason. Saying that, I've always wondered what a hybrid setup with a Floyd bridge paired with locking tuners, a roller string tree and a wide graphite nut would be like...
Dude, there’s a WAYYY easier way to take the strings off a Floyd. You just hold the whammy bar all the way back as you remove the springs on the back of the guitar, then slowly just pull the Floyd out of the cavity and off the posts. Just be careful!
I love Tom Morello and Audioslave (And RATM, and Night Watchmen), but I actually am glad that Fender didn't have Soul Power written on the guitar it makes it feel more mine where I can do what *I* want to the guitar rather than feel like I'm playing Tom's guitar.
I love this guitar, Ive spent over 800 euro on my Mexican strat for a very similar spec. Ive just got to install a kill switch and I’m there! Thank for the excellent videos as always.
I think the decal for the soul power will probably tend to peel off under heavy use, think they should have painted it on, and offered a no text version as an 2nd option. Who the heck would be offended by "soul power" anyway? If we are talking iconic 90s fenders I would much rather have a signature model of Billy Corgan's "Bat Strat"
When I take strings off my guitar with a Floyd Rose I fill the gap below the trem with playing cards. When the strings are removed they hold the trem in roughly the right place for when I restring. Saves a lot of pain getting it back in tune
Just a little nugget of "imo' As I now have and really like this guitar I guess the locking tuners and string tree may have some appeal to tradition Strat purists whom might prefer to remove the clamps off the nut as the Floyd does function much like the traditional synchronized trem or they may even block it all together I mine is used with the neck and middle upgraded with Fender V Mod pickups for more traditional strat tone I wish the Killswitch was the button type and might mod it I love Floyd Rose bridges so Overall though I think this is for me the most versatile proper Fender Strat I can think of
That is a nice one. I'd hardtail it, get rid of the nut locks, drop an arcade killswitch instead of the second tone knob, rewire the existing killswitch to put the neck and middle pickups in series/parallel. Nice stuff.
crush537 i think it took me 30 minutes total to set up one for my friend and that was the first time I’d ever touched one. To be fair all the intonation adjustments were minor, but still not a lot of work.
Josh Battershell I had a fake one that came with a fake Jackson copy I wanted it becuse I never had a Floyd and yes I have a real deal Jackson but it was alright I figured how to set it up myself after I found out don't have pushing up put it flush with the body ended up throwing the axe away becuse it was shit it was a fun learning experience I'd buy another i one
I’m so happy that I’m not alone, when i bought my guitar with a floating bridge(an Ibanez) i was 14, which was 2 years ago, the employee and the other guy who was also buying a guitar were saying something about how much of a burden floating bridges are, but a year later i came back to that store to buy 11’s gauge of strings(for my epiphone for an experimental thing for my tone), because they were the only ones who had some available, he asked about who would change the strings on my ibanez, i told him “i do” and he was surprised
Really glad they have the stencil ..instead of stuck with it in the paint... I’ll end up buying one whenever someone wants to sell a used one for a price that I like. Seems like all of the new ones are 1299.00.. seems like a 6-700 range guitar to me.
I disagree, locking tuners is never overkill, it should be on every guitar, when you're used to them and go back to non locking, such a hastle to change strings.
I actually really like it, but I think I would have said no if presented with the idea before it came out. Hey, guitar is supposed to be a fun time, and I know I would have fun with this one 👍
It's true that the Aerodyne Strats don't have the comfort carve on the top, BUT, the top is not flat. It is curved so it's pretty much just as good or better than the comfort carve.
That's a Floyd Rose 1000 I'm sure. It's a Special, but without the crappy zync saddles, it's what comes on Jacksons/Charvels already and they're not bad, but not amazing either. Really, these mods are easily replicated in an original MIJ model (regardless whether his is an US-made or MIJ, should be better than MIM either way) used, for considerably less than this.
$1300 for a guitar with locking tuners, schaller strap locks, a Korean made Floyd Rose, a geniune SD pickup, and an artist name is an absolute steal. Who cares if it's made in Mexico?
Wow! No, I absolutely did not know Bulls on Parade was done with a tele! And I wouldn't have guessed that either. You learn something new everyday, especially on Trogly's channel. Trivia on Parade!
