The Ultra II Meteora: From Concept Guitar to Cutting-Edge Creation

For a guitar-maker with a history as rich as Fender, it’s hard to beat the classics. There’s a reason Leo Fender’s original body shapes – the Telecaster, Stratocaster, Jazzmaster, Jaguar – remain among the most iconic designs of all time, virtually unchanged since the 50s and 60s.

“In the guitar world, it’s really difficult to establish a new shape. There are only a handful of times this happens and lives,” says Tim Shaw, Chief Engineer at Fender. But every once in a while a design comes along that simply cannot be denied. Enter the Meteora. Described by Allen Abbassi, Director of Product Marketing, as “a futuristic, forward-thinking version of the Jazzmaster,” the Meteora can be traced back to the sketches of Fender engineer Josh Hurst in 2011. An inventor, guitar-builder and player, Hurst is also a fine artist with a penchant for drawing futuristic guitar shapes and an eye for vintage car designs from the 50s, which inspired many of Leo’s originals. “I wanted to make something that was unbelievably traditional and very familiar to Fender,” Hurst said. “And then I wanted to make something that was crazy futuristic to say, ‘This is where it could lead.’”

A prototype of the Meteora quietly debuted at the 2011 NAMM show. However, it wasn’t until a few years later, when the radical offset model caught the eye of Joey Brasler, VP of Product, that the Meteora went from a ‘concept car guitar’ to a fully fleshed out musical instrument. It was originally released as part of the Parallel Universe Series, a limited run of hybrid models that combine the DNA of Fender classics. The Meteora was so unique that it surprised one of the most innovative guitarists around – Slipknot’s Jim Root – who took it for a blind test drive. “I'm so used to playing my [signature] models, which is not like a traditional Tele; but this feels like a weird Jazzmaster with a Tele setup," he remarked. "It's like space-age, but retro. It's got an art-deco vibe. But it feels really well-balanced."

Shortly after, Fender released a limited run of models in the Alternate Reality Series before debuting the Meteora as a permanent addition to the Player Plus Series in 2021. Since its release, the model has been played by artists as varied as Michelle Zauner of Japanese Breakfast, genre-hopping visionary Ghostemane; Portugal. The Man and most recently Nick Reinhart and blues rock maven Chris Tapp of The Cold Stares.

Now, we’ve taken everything players know and love about the original Meteora and introduced our most advanced version yet. With its otherworldly body shape and supermassive sound, the American Ultra II Meteora represents the apex of modern Fender design, performance and craftsmanship – including a quartersawn neck with a comfortable modern “D” shape and Ultra rolled edges (which are more rolled than on any other series), an extra-smooth Ultra satin finish and premium ebony or maple fingerboard with Luminlay side dots. Sleek rear body contours offer next-level comfort, while a sculpted neck heel invites effortless bends in the upper registers. Under the hood, new Haymaker™ Humbucker pickups unleash a raw, expressive snarl, delivering everything from sweet cleans to searing leads without a hint of hum. “We created the new Haymaker™ Humbuckers especially for Ultra II,” says Abbassi. “Our goal was to design a pickup that was medium to high-gain, because the Meteora is more of a high-performance instrument – but we wanted to make sure it still had a really sweet midrange and top end.” Concealed within the volume knob, the patented S-1™ switch makes a wider range of pickup configurations available – adding incredible tonal versatility without altering the appearance of the instrument.

“This is a model that carries Leo Fender’s ethos of always evolving the instruments,” he adds. “Leo never stopped designing. He came out with the Telecaster, he evolved that into the Stratocaster. Then he came out with the Jazzmaster and the Jaguar. Each time he was trying to top himself and make each model the next best thing. This is in that same vein – evolving the Jazzmaster into this shape that we now call the Meteora and seeing where that’s going to take us in the future.”

Watch our ‘Behind the Line’ documentary below to learn more about the American Ultra II Meteora and get yours here.