The Fender Toronado was an

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gu ...

made by Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. Introduced at

NAMM The NAMM Show is an annual event in the United States that is organized by the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM), who describe it as "the industry’s largest stage, uniting the global music, sound and entertainment technology commun ...

in 1998, it is a part of the "Deluxe Series" of Fenders produced in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, generally to higher specs than most "Standard" models.

Design

The Toronado features two Fender Atomic

humbucking Mains hum, electric hum, cycle hum, or power line hum is a sound associated with alternating current which is twice the frequency of the mains electricity. The fundamental frequency of this sound is usually double that of fundamental 50/60 Hz, '' ...

pickups, a

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fretboard, and four chrome knobs (2 volume and 2 tone). Many models also include a tortoise-shell pickguard. The headstock features the Fender "spaghetti" logo and sports vintage style Gotoh/Kluson tuners. The body shape shadows the designs of Fender's

Jazzmaster The Fender Jazzmaster is an electric guitar designed as a more expensive sibling of the Fender Stratocaster. First introduced at the 1958 NAMM Show, it was initially marketed to jazz guitarists, but found favor among surf rock guitarists in th ...

and Jaguar guitars. The Toronado also has a 24.75" scale length—an unusual feature on a Fender guitar, as this scale length is usually associated with electric guitars manufactured by

Gibson Gibson may refer to: People * Gibson (surname) Businesses * Gibson Brands, Inc., an American manufacturer of guitars, other musical instruments, and audio equipment * Gibson Technology, and English automotive and motorsport company based * Gi ...

The Toronado was reissued in 2004. This reissue has several differences from '98–'03 models, featuring more modern colors like Midnight Blue, Caramel Metallic, Blizzard Pearl and Chrome Red. The pickups are also open-coil as opposed to the covered

humbucker A humbucking pickup, humbucker, or double coil, is a type of guitar pickup that uses two wire coils to cancel out the noisy interference picked up by coil pickups. In addition to electric guitar pickups, humbucking coils are sometimes used in ...

s featured on the earlier models. The 2004 models were discontinued in 2006 and are rare due to their short 2-year production span. The Fender Toronado GT HH (05–06) was crafted in Korea, sporting a mahogany body with SH1N (neck) and SH14 (bridge)

Seymour Duncan Seymour Duncan is an American company best known for manufacturing guitar and bass pickups. They also manufacture effects pedals which are designed and assembled in America. Guitarist and luthier Seymour W. Duncan and Cathy Carter Duncan found ...

humbuckers. It was part of Fender's "Big Block" series. The guitar came in metallic finishes with a painted headstock and a racing stripe in a reverse L shape going from the left side of the body to the upper right horn. Unlike other variants of the Toronado, it has no

pickguard A pickguard (also known more correctly as scratchplate) is a piece of plastic or other (often laminated) material that is placed on the body of a guitar, mandolin or similar plucked string instrument. The main purpose of the pickguard is to pro ...

. Fender also made US Special and Highway One Toronado models, featuring Atomic II humbucking pickups or Black Dove

P-90 The P-90 (sometimes written P90) is a single coil electric guitar pickup produced by Gibson since 1946. Gibson is still producing P-90s, and there are outside companies that manufacture replacement versions. Compared to other single coil desi ...

style pickups. These models were available in a number of finishes, including Butterscotch Blonde, Black, Chrome Silver, Pewter Grey Metallic and Crimson Red Transparent. Later models were upgraded to feature a Fender Tech-Tonic one-piece wrap-around bridge and black headstock. Both the US Special and Highway One Toronado models were discontinued in 2004. Also around this time, Fender produced a short run of set neck Toronados out of Korea. The Toronado CT P90 featured a mahogany body with carved maple tops and were available in different sunburst colors. As of January 2007, all Toronado variants had been discontinued by Fender. In 2020, Fender's budget brand

Squier Squier is an American brand of electric guitars owned by Fender. The former manufacturing company, established as "V. C. Squier Company" was founded in 1890 by Victor Carroll Squier in Battle Creek, Michigan, producing strings for violins, ban ...

reissued the Toronado as part of its Paranormal Series. The new model was available in black or Lake Placid blue, with an Indian Laurel fingerboard. In 2021, these finishes were replaced with 3-tone sunburst and Mystic Seafoam.

Notable Toronado players

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References

{{Fender guitars Toronado Musical instruments invented in the 1990s