You don’t need me to tell you that Fender has been in the news a lot lately – and not because of the guitars it’s building.
And it’s a shame, because the top-level legal wranglings threaten to overshadow the hard work of the company’s product teams, who have dreamed up five really quite exciting new Squier Paranormal models.
For everyone who moans that Fender treads out the same old Strats every year, the Paranormal lineup is the antidote, offering new twists on classic formulas or model mashups that have never seen the light of day.
Four new electric guitars and one bass make up the range: the Stratocaster Deluxe, Troublemaker Telecaster Deluxe Bigsby, Electric VI, Baritone Jazzmaster HH and Precision Bass Thinline SJ.
Squier Paranormal Stratocaster Deluxe ($479)
In my opinion, HS guitars are the best of both worlds: big, punchy tones at the bridge and warm, but not wooly, rhythms at the neck. The Stratocaster Deluxe delivers this combo via a Tele neck pickup with an alnico humbucker at the bridge, complete with coil-split on the tone control.
It’s a looker alright, with an oversized ’70s-inspired Strat headstock and skirted amp-style knobs.
Playability is pretty uniform with a satin-finished C-shaped neck, 9.5” radius fingerboard and vintage-style trem and tuners.
It reminds me a bit of the Pawn Shop ’51 from the early 2010s. But classier in its Vintage White, 3-Color Sunburst and Lake Placid Blue finish options. Just don’t copy its body shape, mmkay?
Squier Paranormal Troublemaker Telecaster Deluxe Bigsby ($509)
The Strat may be the troublemaker right now, but Squier’s sly nod to the Gibson Les Paul is one of its best-selling Paranormal models, and returns here with a Bigsby B50 vibrato. Again, it’s a dapper look, with a bound body in Black and Honey Sunburst finishes.
In another tip of the hat to Gibson, there are independent volume and tone controls, but these add coil-splits for each pickup via push/pull on the tone knobs.
Elsewhere, you get pearloid block inlays, bound laurel fingerboard, Adjusto-Matic bridge and a slim, satin C neck profile.
Squier Paranormal Electric VI ($509)
The Electric XII 12-string is one of Fender’s greatest cult creations, in part owing to its appearance on Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven. But for the Paranormal series, Team Squier asked: ‘What if it were a six-string, too?’
Enter the Electric VI: a six-string guitar with split-coil VI alnico pickups and a four-way rotary switch, spanning bridge, both pickups in phase, both out of phase, and neck only.
There are parts borrowed from other Fender designs, too: a Mustang-style trem, Coronado-inspired headstock and Electric XII-style control plate. The scale length is a shorter 24.75”, while finishes include 3-Color Sunburst and Daphne Blue.
Squier Paranormal Baritone Jazzmaster HH ($479)
This is arguably the most on-trend model in the lineup, as Squier (at long last) jumps on the heavy offset bandwagon. The 27” scale is made for B-to-B tuning, and paired with alnico humbuckers for added chonk.
In modern metal styling, the rest of the guitar is no-nonsense: three-way toggle, Adjust-O-Matic bridge and stopbar tailpiece, C-shaped neck and vintage-style tuners.
There’s a nice pair of finish options for this one: Oxblood and Seafoam Green.
Squier Paranormal Precision Bass Thinline SJ ($479)
Just the one four-string in this drop, but it’s a doozy: a lightweight semi-hollow take on the P-Bass, which features an unconventional SJ pickup combination: ’51 P-Bass pickup in the neck, and a Jazz Bass single in the bridge, controlled via a three-way blade.
The thinline construction may have you thinking this is only suited for a certain style, but that pickup combo seems destined for wider sonic plains.
Olive, Vintage White and 3-Color Sunburst are your color choices here.
All five Paranormal models are available now. See Fender.com for more.
