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Post subject: "Sparkle Yellow" (Fender) Heartfield RR9
Posted: Mon Dec 10, 2012 1:02 pm
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I got this last week. It's a Heartfield RR9. Super nice guitar. Came with the original Tolex case and manual and other accessories. It is a 25.5 scale guitar and I think it was one of the first of the Fender "Nuevo-Retro" guitars(Cyclone,Toronado exc).

These were designed by Fender and built by Fujigen at their Matsumoto factory from 1988-1992.This one is an '89.It has an alder body with a maple neck,an American Stratocaster Vibrato and locking Gotoh Tuners.The color is Sparkle Yellow".

It has active electronics.The single humbucker has buttons to change from single coil to humbucker sound.The 3rd button sends the signal through a built-in Distortion circuit. The distortion can be adjusted using 3 trim pots in the back.

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Post subject: Re: "Sparkle Yellow" (Fender) Heartfield RR9
Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2012 11:18 am
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Here is some info from the Heartfield Central website:

"The Who, What, and Why of Heartfield

Originally the Heartfield line was setup up to be a testing ground for Fujigen’s R&D department - allowing their young design team the opportunity to test new design concepts that otherwise may not be given a chance due to marketing restrictions of their OEM customers. Because this was their original intent and there was not great pressure to generate sales, much of what was developed was without outside evaluation. They simply wanted to make guitars and basses that they felt were on the cutting edge - instruments incorporating ideas that might later prove to be valuable additions to the products that they were making for their OEM customers.

Two and a half years ago Fender was faced with two problems. With the weakening of the dollar the cost of imported product was escalating - the demand for American made was increasing beyond our capacity to produce and the desire for what was now mid to high priced Japanese product was rapidly decreasing - making it difficult to support Fujigen as supplier. Secondly, there was a segment of the market (approximately 25-30%) that was not being addressed by Fender style product. All our previous attempts to penetrate it under the Fender banner had been in vain. One fact was consistent to both of these problems - the Fender name. Consumers felt that since Fender was an American company and an American manufacturer that, above a certain price point, the product should be made in the U.S.. And it wasn’t just a question that only product made in the U.S. would sell in the mid to high price ranges - other totally Japanese companies, such as Ibanez, were doing quite well selling their products in those price points. It was a question of tradition. Which brings us directly to the cause of the second problem - why couldn’t we sell those other styles of guitars? Tradition.

In the dealers and consumers minds Fender means a particular group of instruments - Strats, Teles, Ps and Js. We could tweak them a little here and there, but heaven help us if we went to far - don’t mess with tradition. It seemed like every time we did, we had messed with mom, apple pie, baseball, the flag, etc., etc. But we weren’t prepared to give up. Our goals was, and still is, to have products, marketed by us, that are viable options regardless of what style instrument the consumer is looking for.

Because we had been unsuccessful in our attempts using the Fender name, we felt that marketing the right products using a different brand name might be the answer. Since Heartfield had just been started by Fujigen and hadn’t established a “tradition”, and since it also gave us the opportunity to support Fujigen without placing any further burdens on our own manufacturing facility, it seemed like a possible solution for both of our problems.

We realized that the product that had already been designed may not be what the market was demanding but we felt it did give us a place to start from. A product to take sound to artists and dealers - something solid to show that we were serious, something they could comment on - something they would criticize - something they could help us change - and in the end when we would come back with the new Heartfield line - something they could support because they helped to design it.

In our early meetings with Fujigen, when we were first trying to get Heartfield started, the one thing that was evident was that, unless we were willing to make a full commitment with all our resources, this project would not be successful. In the beginning, because of other restrictions, we were unable to do that. But we felt it was important to start the project anyway. Internally we began setting the groundwork for how to make the product line what we knew it has to be to be competitive. Both Fuji and Fender felt that the individual strengths of both companies joined together is what would make this project a success. Our strength was in design - their was in production. The first step was to set up a U.S. design group.

After much deliberation it was determined that the team would be made up of members of Marketing, Artists Relations, R&D, Quality Control, the Custom Shop, Fender manufacturing, and representatives from Fujigen’s R&D facility. In reality, after looking at the talent pool we had available we felt we would be foolish not to utilize all of it.

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Jay Black - Over 15 years experience as a custom guitar builder, first with Roger Sadowsky in New York and for the past 2½ years with Fender; has built for such artists as the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and Jeff Beck.

George Blanda - Overt twenty years experience as a builder and guitar designer, came to Fender over 5 years ago as a design engineer, his design projects include the American Standard Series, the Plus Series, Eric Clapton, Yngwie Malmsteen and James Burton signature models.

Bruce Bolen - Over 30 years as a top performing and touring guitarist; 20 years with Gibson in various positions from clinician to custom manufacturing; over 4 years with Fender in marketing; sales; artist relations; and quality control.

Larry Brooks - A custom builder for over 15 years as well, Larry has built guitars for Bonnie Raitt, Albert Collins, Jon Bon Jovi, Ritchie Sambora, and most of the other artist endorsers who’ve had product built bu Fender’s custom shop.

Yasahiko Iwanade - One of Japan’s top builders and a world class guitar historian, he came to Fender almost 2 years ago to work as a master builder in our custom shop - he gives Fender a unique perspective into what is right for the Japanese market, helping us solidify as an international company.

John Page - Has been at Fender for over 10 years; currently manages both the Custom Shop and R&D; has been building guitars for over 15 years; began at Fender in the R&R department as a model maker and became a design engineer shortly after that, assisted in artist relations and has built numerous custom guitars for many of Fender’s top artists.

Jack Shelton - Has been with Fender for over 5 years, initially as a DSM and for the past 2 years had headed up Sales and Marketing; prior to that he was an independent rep for over twenty years representing among others, Sunn amplification and Kramer guitars; at one point marketed his own line of electric guitars.

Dan Smith - Responsible for Fender’s electric guitar marketing and products sources for the past 10 years; spent 5 years at Yamaha handling their Electric Guitar and amplifier marketing; owned a Guitar repair and specialty shop; started building and repairing guitars in the early sixties; worked as a professional musician for over 20 years.

Fred Stuart - Top player for over 20 years; began building and repairing guitars over 15 years ago; an authority on vintage electronics; has been a master builder in Fender’s custom shop for almost 3 years.

Nick Sugimoto - Fujigen’s representative on the team; an extremely talented designer and builder has been deeply involved in the design of all products that Fuji manufactures; strong manufacturing and engineering background.

Mark Wittenberg - Fender artist relations manager for the past 2 years; prior to this he worked at Chesbro, Ibanez’s west coast distributor for over 5 years handling their electric guitar marketing; before that he worked for various artists supplying tour support.

That’s a brief outline of each of our Design Team members - each brining their own perspective to our design challenges. But that doesn’t really complete our design team. Just as important is the input we derive from our extensive roster of artists; our dealers; our consumers; and lastly, our sales force. Utilizing all this talent has allowed us to develop one of the most exciting new product lines any guitar company ha ever introduced. But designing it isn’t quite enough - somebody has to take those designs and turn them into quality products. That brings us back to Fujigen.

Started over 30 years ago Fujigen has arguably become the world’s most advanced manufacturer of quality electric guitars and basses, and, more importantly one of the world’s finest. This is evidences equally from Fender’s highly successful affordable Standard Series to the exquisite D’Aquisto arched top models from the Master series line. The fact such strong competitors as Ibanez and Yamaha have also chosen Fujigen above all others in Japan to build their products is only a further testament to those talents and abilities. For the past ten years Fujigen has played a key role in Fender’s success. We feel strongly that Heartfield will soon represent a further addition to this very successful relationship.

Well, we’ve discussed the what and the who, but what about the why? We did touch on it briefly in the beginning when we talking about Fender’s two problems - the weakening dollar causing an increase in demand for American made products, while lessening the desire for offshore produced products, and, the fact that there were guitarists out there looking for instruments to fill needs not addressed by the traditional Fender product line (and the lack of acceptance of Fender brand product in the past that has been designed to fill that need). But these points don’t fully address all the reasons why. Briefly here’s the why.

We want to be a force with the right products in areas where Fender has not traditionally been a force. This is actually for two reasons - one, because we want to expand our market share, and that is difficult to do without expanding beyond the arena in which we already dominate; and, two, because we want to insulate the company from the hard times that can result if tastes change away from the company’s traditional models."


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Post subject: Re: "Sparkle Yellow" (Fender) Heartfield RR9
Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2012 11:38 am
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Here is a review from Vintage Guitar Magazine

THE HEARTFIELD RR
Vintage Guitar magazine - April 1998

By Riley Wilson

A lot of players have used Les Paul Juniors over the years, for gigs as well as recording. Its a simple design which, in the right hands, can make people shout, wiggle, smile and dance, among other activities. If you ever wanted an updated version of the famous economy Les Paul, examine this months entree, the Heartfield RR.

Imported from Japan by Fender during the late 1980s, this guitar does a number of things very well, and at a bargain price. You should be able to find them used for less than $400, making them Gigmeister worthy.

Fender has made instruments overseas for many years now. The Heartfield line came about when the company wanted to try different ideas for instruments and market them under a different name. The Heartfield line included several guitars and basses, all incorporating decidedly un-Fender-like approaches to create several guitars. The RR, which certainly means rock and roll, looks like a cross between Paul Chandlers 555 and the G&L SC-3, with a bit of Les Paul Jr. thrown in. These "Made In Japan" instruments used top-quality components, including the Strat American Standard tremolo bridge, Gotoh tuners and a very unusual electronics package more about that later. The 22-fret neck joins the fingerboard in an unusual four-bolt pattern nearly identical to Ibanezs All Access Joint. The tapered headstock employs three-on-a-side tuners, while the headstock angle is so sharp it requires a volute, a la 70s-era Gibsons. The rosewood fingerboard has a flatter radius, like an 80s Charvel/Jackson, with more rounded fretwire. The neck shape is large and round, and feels quite nice, especially for players with larger hands.

Cosmetically, the RR is an eye-catching instrument, to say the least. This months feature is a bright yellow color with small glitter sparkles. It looks bright under any conditions, but especially under intense stage lights. The white mother of toilet seat pickguard looks neat and is cut in an unusual shape. The alder(?) body has a slight dressed away area for the right forearm, owing to its Fender heritage. The rest of the body is more like a Telecaster. Its not bad, but its not going to win any ergonomics awards.

One of the reasons players like the Telecaster or Les Paul Jr. is the lack of knobs. The Heartfield design team understood this and supplied the RR with a volume, tone and three lighted switches. Yes, the RR has active electronics, but they aren't difficult to figure out. The three raised rubber buttons each have an LED above them indicating which position is on. They give 1. single coil, 2. dual coil and 3. dual coil with distortion boost. Incidentally, the 9 volt battery has its own compartment, just ahead of the back plate for input jack, potentiometers, etc. The tone knob works on all three positions and the control knobs are identical to those used on the HM Strat series. Nice and comfy.

The final arbiter is sound, and lets get one thing clear this ain't a jazz box! This guitar is happiest when cranked into a loud, noisy amp. Even with a clean setting on my amp, I could hear distinct differences between the single and dual-coil modes. Its nice having the ability to change tones by pressing a button. If you have any experience at all with a TV remote, you'll enjoy this feature. The distortion isn't bad, either. With my Peavey Bandit set up for a clean, flat tone, the dirty setting reminded me of Cream-era Clapton, especially the live Crossroads tone. Roll the tone knob back to 1, and you get instant Swlabr or Spirit in the Sky! Its quick and handier than cranking a 100-watt Marshall to 10. Just like a stack on 10, setting three is noisy. It also sounds a bit compressed, not a problem for many players. The locking Gotoh tuners and tremolo system should stay in tune for most players. If you're gonna use the RR for slide, I would suggest heavier strings and higher action. The cutaway allows easy access to all 22 frets on the treble side and 18 on the bass side with a slide in hand. The volume and tone knobs are close and easy to manipulate, due to their larger physical size. With moderate amp distortion, the RR becomes louder and meaner. Setting one cuts through like a good Strat or Tele back pickup, while setting two sounds like a DiMarzio Super Distortion pickup. Setting three compresses the sound a bit, creating a super-saturated sound like Eruption or perhaps a Soldano wound too tight. I would prefer to use this setting while recording, as its a bit too hard to control live.

What's not to like about the RR? It's a one-trick pony back pickup or nothing. I'm not fond of active electronics on guitars, and this instruments settings are a little harsh, especially settings 1 and 2. While the humbucking pickup is a standard size, replacing it and getting it to interface with the onboard IC is another matter. This is a specialized guitar, and as such, won't appeal to vast numbers of people. It won't play mellow and really isn't happy unless it's given wide open spaces to romp in. However, if you're a dedicated rock or slide player, you might find the Heartfield RR just what you've been looking for.

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Post subject: Re: "Sparkle Yellow" (Fender) Heartfield RR9
Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2012 12:17 pm
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Truetone6 wrote:
Yasahiko Iwanade - One of Japan’s top builders and a world class guitar historian, he came to Fender almost 2 years ago to work as a master builder in our custom shop - he gives Fender a unique perspective into what is right for the Japanese market, helping us solidify as an international company.


He's now president of Gibson Japan.

Quote:
Larry Brooks - A custom builder for over 15 years as well, Larry has built guitars for Bonnie Raitt, Albert Collins, Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora and most of the other artist endorsers who’ve had product built by Fender’s custom shop.


Larry was the man who was chiefly responsible for the JagStang he had built for the late Seattle grunge supremo Kurt Cobain.

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Quote:
George Blanda - Over twenty years experience as a builder and guitar designer, came to Fender over 5 years ago as a design engineer, his design projects include the American Standard Series, the Plus Series, Eric Clapton, Yngwie Malmsteen and James Burton signature models.


George also designed the Jeff Beck signature model and the first USA-made Precision and Jazz Basses sporting a 22-fret neck, better known as the "Boners". He's now a chief project engineer at the Electric Guitar R&D department.

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Post subject: Re: "Sparkle Yellow" (Fender) Heartfield RR9
Posted: Wed Oct 25, 2017 3:11 am
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My number 1s from 1991 through 2007 were a pair of Heartfield RR8s.

I won my first RR8 in 1991 at a raffle at Starz Music store, Montgomery Village, Santa Rosa, Calfornia, USA. My name was the fourth to come out of the hat, the first four entries hadn't shown for the raffle. I think the price was $789, but that was a long time ago. I remember when I first saw the RR8 hanging in the store I felt it was hideous, especially for $800!! I had said so out loud and the clerk, whom I knew, told me the RRs were cool and there was a raffle to win the one I was insulting. He got myself and my friends to enter. I was gonna flake on the raffle as well, but my friend who I was working with on the day of the raffle made us all take a break from painting and go to the draw. She had entered the raffle too.

I was already in a popular local band, Animal Farm, at the time when I won my first RR8. A year or so later, after I left Animal Farm, that same clerk from Stars who was a guitarist in another local Band, OUNOU, told me there was a guy selling the twin sister of the RR8 I had won. I bought the twin sister for half RRP. My two RR8s are actually 2 serial numbers apart: the one I won is J10304 and the oneI bought is J10302. That 2nd Heartfield I bought has been with me ever since. I have been playing it a lot recently. You can see it here on the RR8 page:
http://heartfield.guitars
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I mainly bought the second RR8 because of string breakage. I was gigging a lot back then and broke a lot of D and G strings during performances. I wanted to be able to swap to an identical guitar mid set. Well, in fact, my two RR8s sound fairly different. The one I won sounds darker and the one I bought sounds livelier. That said, they are more similar than swapping to a strat or LP in the middle of song during a gig.

Regarding this reviewer in this thread, Riley, clearly did not spend very much time with the RR. As far as I am concerned, making a guitar sound mellow is the player. The RR8 active electronics sound quite compressed, which is a blessing and a curse, like the on-board distortion, it's another stompbox you don't need...but you can't bypass that compressed sound, either.

You can hear me playing Heartfield on my soundcloud page. Much of the Syncanonymous tracks there are RR8. The on-board distortion is great; I used to use it to double distortions for e-bow-like infinite sustain. This compressed sound is good for very clean multiFX. I find there is that 80s shimmer, high end that is just natural to this guitar :-)

RR neck is really easy to play, slim, full fretboard easy access. Possibly the best feature is the weight and balance, you can play for hours and not get fatigued.

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