CRASH to Paint 33 Telecaster-Amp Sets for Fender Custom Shop

by Staff.

Visual artist John Matos, known to the art and guitar communities as CRASH (interview), has announced on his Modern Guitars magazine column, CRASH Pad, that he will paint 33 sets of Fender Custom Shop Telecasters and amps. Matos recently completed a Fender-commissioned run of 50 Custom Shop Stratocasters that bear his graffiti-style artwork. Well known in the art world since the '80s, Matos came to the attention of guitar enthusiasts in the late '90s when Eric Clapton began performing with CRASH-painted Strats, one of which sold at the 2004 Christie's Clapton Crossroads Auction for $321,000. CRASH chronicled the Fender Stratocaster project in his Modern Guitars column and will similarly document the 33 Tele-amp sets.

CRASH has received the first shipment of Telecaster bodies and amp housings from Fender (below).