Fender X Pac-Man: A collision of Pop Culture and Classic Style

Courtesy of Fender

As many may have seen this past week, Fender announced a collaboration with Bandai Namco in order to produce a Telecaster fit for both the player as well as the collector in what is being called the Fender X Pac-Man Telecaster. If you are a fan of guitars, nostalgic pop culture, video games, the 80's or telecasters, this is a must have guitar.

Sporting an Alder body, Rosewood Fingerboard, Maple Neck this telecaster has some nice specs right out of the gate. We all know that the newer Indian Laurel fingerboards are good, but having Rosewood is a huge plus for most players.

The Alder boy should get a good tone and honestly I can't imagine a Fender without a Maple neck so things really are off to a good start for this guitar. In regards to electronics and hardware this Telecaster sports Fender Classic Gear Tuners and a Six Saddle bridge with black steel saddles which means we string through set up, another plus.

The pickups are Player Series Alnico 5 Tele Single Coils which should give great output, as Alnico generally does, and a gloss polyester finish. The finish itself as you can see from the images provided by fender illustrates the classic Pac-Man imagery, so much so that just looking at it makes us hear that classic "wappa wappa" sound we all know and love.

Courtesy of Fender

The Telecaster is not the only collaboration items being released as we have recently learned that F IS FOR FENDER will also be releasing shirts, hats, and picks with these iconic themes. Sadly, F IS FOR FENDER does not currently ship to the united states which means at this time, we are lucky enough to be getting the guitar.

Since the announcement of this collaboration we have seen on social media that Telecaster enthusiast and world renowned player John 5 has already managed to get his hands on one of these instruments. In regards to delivery times will vary as the expected delivery date as of today is listed as 8/15/26.

One good thing about the delivery time is that these instruments are being made to order. As this item is a Fender exclusive that can only be purchased directly from their website, they are also listed as made to order.

Some things we would have liked to see in this release? Well at a price point of approx $1100 it would have been nice to see a hardshell case as opposed to the gig bag.

Now, in all fairness, the gig bag is good quality and will protect the instrument, but with the price of the instrument, combined with the fact that this will no doubt be a collectors item for many a hard shell would have been nice. Honestly if they had thrown in a hardshell case we wouldn't mind paying $1200-1300 for this gorgeous guitar.

Also, the Steel Block Saddle Bridges are great and don't take anything away from the sound of the instrument, but honestly nothing compares to the vintage style bridges with 3 saddles. While most people would thing you can just swap out the bridge for a vintage style one, odds are the mounting holes will not match up due to the number of screws used and the spacing.

With releases like the Squier Hello Kitty, the 2024 Godzilla Strat from Fender Japan, and now the Pac-Man Telecaster, it makes us wonder what will come next from the guitar company. One thing is for sure, we can't wait to see what comes next.