Fender has responded to reports that its new Squier Paranormal Series Strat-O-Sonic uses an Epiphone bridge, confirming to Guitar World that the branded part has indeed been included on some builds – albeit “unintentionally”.
We first wrote about the story last week, having seen a clip (via MusicRadar) that showed YouTuber Landon Bailey dismantling his new Squier Paranormal Series Strat-O-Sonic and discovering it had an Epiphone-branded bridge [see the clip below at approx. 4.40].
At the time of writing, we reached out to the electric guitar giant for comment. Now a Fender representative has told Guitar World that the Epiphone-branded part was used “unintentionally” on its Squier build and attributed its inclusion to a mutual third-party supplier.
“It is common in the industry for contract manufacturers to produce products for multiple brands and for those brands to coincidentally share certain parts produced by third-party parts vendors,” reads the full statement.
“While this particular bridge is not exclusive to Epiphone, they have used it and it is evident that for their products they prefer their logo to be present. This is a rare example of that specific part showing up in our production with their logo unintentionally.”
Fender does not offer any detail on how many of the new Strat-O-Sonics out there might include Epiphone-branded bridges, but it does indicate that it’s a production quirk it doesn’t intend to repeat.
As the statement concludes: “Future production runs of the Strat-O-Sonic will have no logo on the bridge to avoid further confusion.”
So there you go: it might have been an accident, but Squier has indeed produced a guitar with an Epiphone-branded component.
All credit to Landon Bailey for the initial spot. You can check out his full clip above and subscribe to his YouTube channel for more reviews.
Is Bailey’s a one-off? Well, there’s only one way to find out... If you’re a dealer or player who happens to have a Paranormal Series Strat-O-Sonic on hand, do us a favor: take the strings off and check the reverse of your wraparound bridge. If you spot that Epiphone branding, get in touch!
Next up: our report on the herd of flying pigs sighted over Kalamazoo, MI.
