Vintage Vibes: '60s Wildwood Fender Coronado

VINTAGE VIBES: '60s Wildwood Fender Coronado II

The aptly named Fender Coronado Wildwood II is a rare product of the CBS-Fender takeover in 1965. With Leo Fender out of the picture, a lot of bizarre ideas were floated around, like allegedly injecting dye into live trees, as the brand looked for a new point of view. Roger Rossmiesl, formerly of Rickenbacker, provided it, designing the Coronado Wildwood II with a fully hollow body composed of stained (or were they dyed?) beechwood sides, back, and top, a hot pair of DeArmonds, and a very responsive tremolo assembly, or “wiggle stick.”

Shelby describes the Wildwood Fender Coronado II

Product image

Hey, everybody, this is Shelby from Chicago Music Exchange, and today I have with me this very beautiful 60's Coronado II Wildwood II. As you may or may not know, the Coronado was released in 1967 by Fender. That was the year that Leo Fender was no longer a part of the advisory board watching the transition from Fender to CBS. And you know, as soon as he was done, Fender decided to do some crazy and wacky stuff. This one and the Starcaster were two of my favorites from that era. This guitar was designed by a gentleman by the name of Roger Rossmiesel. He worked for Rickenbacker prior to this iteration of Fender's history. And you can see that he brought a lot of things over from Rickenbacker to Fender with him.

And if you see the original Coronados, you can tell some of the influences he brought over with the bright cherry red finishes. This one's a wildwood, so it's got the stained beechwood top back and sides and is incredibly unique. This is a completely hollow 330 type Fender. It's the first time they've ever done anything like this, two f-holes here on the top two D'Armond pickups, which was also very rare for Fender to do, bring a different manufacturer to this model. The D'Armond pickups are really, really aggressive. They sound fantastic. They break up this big amp really, really well. 

The Wildwood platform of the Coronados are incredibly unique because Fender actually dyed. The Beechwood here you have multiple levels of the Wildwood package 1 2 and so on. It denotes different striping of colors. You can see different ones that are green and yellow and purple and it's pretty wild to see them.

Pun intended. It's wild...wood. Wood is wild. Not very environmentally friendly. If Fender was going out and just sticking a tree with purple dye in it. But hey, it was the 60s. We didn't know any better. So sue me. You know, I didn't make it. Roger Rossmeisel made it. It's his fault. I didn't do it. You did it. You're the one who's buying it. Supply and demand.

My favorite part of this entire instrument is the ole wiggle stick here. This trem assembly is one of the absolute best. And once you really get it going and get the strings to do some pretty incredible harmonic overtones, it's a very fluid trem system. It's kind of like a Bigsby, but in my opinion, significantly better because of the action moving up and down.

Product image

SHOP VINTAGE FENDER

Fender Stratocaster Candy Apple Red 1972
Fender Stratocaster Candy Apple Red 1972
Fender Stratocaster Candy Apple Red 1972
Fender Stratocaster Candy Apple Red 1972
Fender Stratocaster Candy Apple Red 1972
Fender Stratocaster Candy Apple Red 1972
Fender Stratocaster Candy Apple Red 1972
Fender Stratocaster Candy Apple Red 1972
Fender Stratocaster Candy Apple Red 1972
Fender Stratocaster Candy Apple Red 1972
Fender Stratocaster Candy Apple Red 1972
Fender Stratocaster Candy Apple Red 1972
Fender Stratocaster Candy Apple Red 1972
Fender Stratocaster Candy Apple Red 1972
Fender Stratocaster Candy Apple Red 1972
Fender Stratocaster Candy Apple Red 1972
Fender Stratocaster Candy Apple Red 1972
Fender Stratocaster Candy Apple Red 1972
Fender Stratocaster Candy Apple Red 1972
Fender Stratocaster Candy Apple Red 1972

Fender Stratocaster Candy Apple Red 1972

$5,495.00
Fender Stratocaster HT Black 1979
Fender Stratocaster HT Black 1979
Fender Stratocaster HT Black 1979
Fender Stratocaster HT Black 1979
Fender Stratocaster HT Black 1979
Fender Stratocaster HT Black 1979
Fender Stratocaster HT Black 1979
Fender Stratocaster HT Black 1979
Fender Stratocaster HT Black 1979
Fender Stratocaster HT Black 1979
Fender Stratocaster HT Black 1979
Fender Stratocaster HT Black 1979
Fender Stratocaster HT Black 1979
Fender Stratocaster HT Black 1979
Fender Stratocaster HT Black 1979
Fender Stratocaster HT Black 1979
Fender Stratocaster HT Black 1979
Fender Stratocaster HT Black 1979
Fender Stratocaster HT Black 1979
Fender Stratocaster HT Black 1979

Fender Stratocaster HT Black 1979

$2,495.00
Fender Stratocaster Blonde 1958
Fender Stratocaster Blonde 1958
Fender Stratocaster Blonde 1958
Fender Stratocaster Blonde 1958
Fender Stratocaster Blonde 1958
Fender Stratocaster Blonde 1958
Fender Stratocaster Blonde 1958
Fender Stratocaster Blonde 1958
Fender Stratocaster Blonde 1958
Fender Stratocaster Blonde 1958
Fender Stratocaster Blonde 1958
Fender Stratocaster Blonde 1958
Fender Stratocaster Blonde 1958
Fender Stratocaster Blonde 1958
Fender Stratocaster Blonde 1958
Fender Stratocaster Blonde 1958
Fender Stratocaster Blonde 1958
Fender Stratocaster Blonde 1958
Fender Stratocaster Blonde 1958
Fender Stratocaster Blonde 1958
Fender Stratocaster Blonde 1958
Fender Stratocaster Blonde 1958
Fender Stratocaster Blonde 1958
Fender Stratocaster Blonde 1958
Fender Stratocaster Blonde 1958
Fender Stratocaster Blonde 1958

Fender Stratocaster Blonde 1958

$34,995.00
Fender Jazzmaster Sunburst 1963
Fender Jazzmaster Sunburst 1963
Fender Jazzmaster Sunburst 1963
Fender Jazzmaster Sunburst 1963
Fender Jazzmaster Sunburst 1963
Fender Jazzmaster Sunburst 1963
Fender Jazzmaster Sunburst 1963
Fender Jazzmaster Sunburst 1963
Fender Jazzmaster Sunburst 1963
Fender Jazzmaster Sunburst 1963
Fender Jazzmaster Sunburst 1963
Fender Jazzmaster Sunburst 1963
Fender Jazzmaster Sunburst 1963
Fender Jazzmaster Sunburst 1963
Fender Jazzmaster Sunburst 1963
Fender Jazzmaster Sunburst 1963
Fender Jazzmaster Sunburst 1963
Fender Jazzmaster Sunburst 1963
Fender Jazzmaster Sunburst 1963
Fender Jazzmaster Sunburst 1963
Fender Jazzmaster Sunburst 1963
Fender Jazzmaster Sunburst 1963
Fender Jazzmaster Sunburst 1963
Fender Jazzmaster Sunburst 1963

Fender Jazzmaster Sunburst 1963

$15,995.00

Related Posts

CME on Tour | Powers Electric May 2025

CME on Tour | Powers Electric May 2025

Recently, CME Director of New Product, Dan Bordonaro, visited Powers Electric’s San Diego headquarters to select tonewoods for a new run of A-Type Select guitars! Working with Andy Powers himself,...

Read more
Orangewood | Del Sol Baritone

Orangewood | Del Sol Baritone

Meet the Del Sol: Orangewood’s First Electric Guitar—Now at CME! Known for quality, affordable acoustics, Orangewood breaks into electric territory with the Del Sol Baritone, a bold collab with boutique...

Read more
Introducing | Strandberg Guitars

Introducing | Strandberg Guitars

Explore the cutting edge of electric guitar design with Strandberg Guitars, now available at Chicago Music Exchange! Renowned for their headless construction, ultra-lightweight builds, and ergonomic EndurNeck profiles, Strandberg guitars...

Read more