Select the newsletters you’d like to receive. Then, add your email to sign up.
You are now subscribed
Your newsletter sign-up was successful
Want to add more newsletters?
Every Friday
Louder
Louder’s weekly newsletter is jam-packed with the team’s personal highlights from the last seven days, including features, breaking news, reviews and tons of juicy exclusives from the world of alternative music.
Every Friday
Classic Rock
The Classic Rock newsletter is an essential read for the discerning rock fan. Every week we bring you the news, reviews and the very best features and interviews from our extensive archive. Written by rock fans for rock fans.
Every Friday
Metal Hammer
For the last four decades Metal Hammer has been the world’s greatest metal magazine. Created by metalheads for metalheads, ‘Hammer takes you behind the scenes, closer to the action, and nearer to the bands that you love the most.
Every Friday
Prog
The Prog newsletter brings you the very best of Prog Magazine and our website, every Friday. We'll deliver you the very latest news from the Prog universe, informative features and archive material from Prog’s impressive vault.
Fender are continuing to celebrate their 75th anniversary by announcing a new partnership with gaming behemoth Final Fantasy and its creators Square Enix.
The limited edition Final Fantasy XIV Stratocaster will be released first in Japan in October, with a roll out to other territories coming in the following months.
Retailing at 396,000円 the Strat is presented in blue and purple, reflecting the game’s crystals of “light and darkness,” while the guitar’s pickups feature the Tim Shaw-developed Fender V-Mod Single-Coil Strat which is said to give the guitar “vintage-like warmth and crispness.”
In another nod to the long-running video game favourite, Fender have included a “limit break switch” which when activated “creates a powerful sound like a humbucking pickup.”
Fender have also incorporated the Final Fantasy XIV meteor logo on the 12th fret on the rosewood fingerboard, while every Stratocaster has the individual edition number engraved on the neck plate. It’ll also come with an art card exclusive to the collaboration, along with a hard carry case featuring the Fender and Final Fantasy XIV logos.
Final Fantasy XIV players will be also be able to purchase a replica of the guitar in-game – called the Aetherolectric guitar – from May 25 at the Manderville Gold Saucer. It can be played using the new Bard skill and can also displayed as an indoor furnishing. Its inclusion will feature in Patch 5.5.
- The best metal guitars: Get ready to shred with our essential list
- Throw some shapes with the best rock guitars
- The loudest headphones: You want volume? You got it




The latest news, features and interviews direct to your inbox, from the global home of alternative music.
Louder is the ultimate resource for alternative music coverage and the home of iconic rock brands Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog. With a combined reach of over five million followers across social media, we're the largest and most influential alternative music website in the world.

