| Fender Katana | |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Fender |
| Period | 1985 — 1986 |
| Construction | |
| Body type | Solid |
| Neck joint | Glued-in |
| Scale | 24.75" |
| Woods | |
| Neck | Maple |
| Fretboard | Rosewood |
| Hardware | |
| Bridge | Two-pivot vibrato |
| Pickup(s) | 2 humbuckers |
The Fender Katana is an electric guitar built by Fender. It was designed by marketing director Dan Smith in 1985. The Katana was designed to compete with the wild shaped guitars of the era, such as the Jackson Randy Rhoads, and to satisfy Fender dealers who were feeling the pinch by them. The Katana did not sell as well as Fender hoped, and it was discontinued in 1986, just a year later.
The Katana has a maple glued-in neck with bound rosewood fingerboard, offset triangle markers, a 629mm (24.75") scale with 22 frets, a truss rod adjuster at the headstock end. It features a string clamp, an arrow-head-shape headstock and a neck that matches the body colour. The guitar has two coverless humbucker pickups, two controls (volume, tone) and a three-way selector, all on body, and a side mounted jack socket. It also has a two-pivot bridge/vibrato unit.
A much cheaper Squier version of the Katana was also made, which had only one pickup, a bolt-on short scale neck and basic volume/tone controls. The Squier version is much more commonly available in the used market than the genuine Fender model.
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