Fender Japan Daiki Tsuneta signature guitar remodels the Swinger
5,0 / 5,0 | 
Fender always seems to be issuing more cool, retro, oddball releases for its Japanese market than the rest of the world. This new Daiki Tsuneta signature Swinger is certainly something we didn’t expect to see.
Fender Daiki Tsuneta Swinger
This signature model for Daiki Tsuneta is definitely a head-turner. Fender Japan’s new model is based on the long-lost Fender Swinger design from 1969, built with spare Musicmaster and Bass V parts. The original design has been tweaked to accommodate his needs and so steps away from the original late-60s design in a few key areas. This may or may not be an issue for some players, depending on your outlook on the original Swinger specifications.
Fender Daiki Tsuneta Swinger · Source: Fender
Specifications
Fender Japan has kept the original body shape and pointy headstock of the ’60s Swinger, but there are some updates to the formula for this run. This signature model comes with a basswood body and also some nice features including a set of locking tuners and a bone nut
-
- Fender Daiki Tsuneta Swinger headstock · Source: Fender
-
- Fender Daiki Tsuneta Swinger with soapbar pickups and vintage tremolo · Source: Fender
Tweaks to the original formula
Instead of the traditional single-coil pickups of the originals, you instead get a set of P-90 soapbar-style pickups in what looks like aged nickel covers. The control layout has been modified as well, so now there is a three-way pickup selector switch between the two controls, volume and tone. Normally you would see that switch on the horn.
Next up is the 24”-scale length, 9.5” radius U-shape neck with a maple fretboard. That last detail seems unusual, as I have only seen Swingers with rosewood fretboards in the past. The tortoiseshell pickguard is smaller on this signature model as well. The biggest change is the vintage-style synchronized tremolo, as the originals were normally hardtail models – as far as I am aware.
Daiki Tsuneta with his Fender Swinger · Source: Fender
Adventurous?
Overall, I really like the design. I can only begin to imagine how it feels and plays. If only we saw more interesting guitars like this outside of Japan! To my eye, this looks more interesting than Fender’s recent attempts like the Parallel Universe designs, which I felt were a bit tame.
RRP – Yen 165000
More Fender Japan Information
This might also interest you
One response to “Fender Japan Daiki Tsuneta signature guitar remodels the Swinger”
As much as I love the traditional Fender offerings my favourites are by far the quirky ones. The quirkier the better! Fender Japan has really interesting models on offering and I do wish we would get them elsewhere in the world as well.