Way back in October 2024 (it feels like a lifetime ago), I had the privilege of attending a Fender press preview event in New York, at which the company was giving us muckrakers a first glimpse of its soon-to-be-released American Ultra II line.
Nursing a glass of red, I took a seat for the evening’s central occasion, a panel discussion about the American Ultra IIs featuring Fender’s Justin Norvell and, among other killer players, John Mayer sideman and session great Isaiah Sharkey.
Article continues below
Sharkey didn’t play a full set – it was an extended demo of the American Ultra II Stratocaster more than anything – but his touch, smoothness, and sense of melody were divine. It was effortless. And of all the settings!
Do you have a story like that? Was the best live guitar playing you’ve ever seen someone you’d been dying to see for years, a hero? Or someone out of the blue, who you weren’t as familiar – or familiar at all – with at the time?
