⚠️ 1988 Heartfield RR-9 Dark Blue Sparkle! On-Board Effects! ☢️

⚠️ 1988 Heartfield RR-9 Dark Blue Sparkle! On-Board Effects! ☢️

WOW!!! Talk about a guitar well ahead of its time! Fender’s new moniker on instruments built for the music and glamor of the 80’s. This is a truly unique instrument in so many ways, not the least a built in Ibanez Tube Screamer, right on board allowing for truly unique capability to put out a completely saturated sound to a PA system without anything else but your guitar to control the T-808 while playing on-stage!

I remember seeing this guitar in a shop the month they were released, and a group of 4-5 players trying it out and literally laughing out load at the notion of Fender trying to enter the superstrat market after it had been underway for a decade before they started to wade in (and then creating a brand name separate from Fender in case they tanked, which they did, at least on initial release). The notion of on board effects had been tried before with truly laughable results …. BUT HERE’S THE THING….

THEY ACTUALLY GOT IT RIGHT! AND NOT ONLY A LITTLE RIGHT, BUT ALL THE WAY RIGHT!!!

Fender should have released these guitars under their true Brand name and owned the solid designs. The Active slanted Fender spaced Humbucker is a monster 👹 with searing tone, on both sides and ends of the neck. The 2 point pivot Tremelo, while not quite the quality of a Floyd Rose, was an incredibly well-designed unit that held tune well and has very smooth articulation, especially in comparison to the awkward and clunky standard Fender 6-screw vibrato on Strats for over 30 years. With the only real let down on the guitar being the locking tuners (not their fault, they are great quality and actually did a pretty good job) versus a true locking-nut.

But the star on this guitar is the onboard effects. With a distortion circuit that was licensed by Ibanez using a true TS-808 Tube Screamer as its design with decent controls over depth and drive of the circuit. Further the guitar has three active modes Single Coils, Overdrive, and Distortion (Tube Screamer) to select the mode for the single Fender Active Humbucker pick-up

This Heartfield RR-9 electric guitar is a great addition to any musician's collection and the finish although initially looks black, it is actual a Translucent Dark Blue with a Teal/Purple Metalflake in the paint. It comes alive when hit with intense stage lights, as the Blue tone becomes apparent and the Metalflake reflects in a rainbow of color. This is an absolutely unique guitar that any collector should try to add to their collection as it does NOT disappoint!