11 October 2025
I spent 15 minutes playing Spring, my 2023 Fender Haruna Telecaster® Boost, this evening at Love Notes, running through the HT-1R and monitoring on the DT 770 Pro.
Other than the affinity with Haruna of SCANDAL, this guitar feels immediately familiar — the Fender neck and board, the Telecaster body (strangely, I’ve not had a Tele for a while now), and those Shawbuckers that can both sing clean and roar hard. They remind me of the Tim Shaw PAFs on FJ the Les Paul — refined yet muscular when you need it.
She went straight into Mimic Mock I, with Team Medic giving her a little nudge — though truth be told, she could hold her ground easily without it. Then I brought in the VOX Bulldog Distortion, and boy, she ripped the tones to pieces. A snarling, articulate roar that still cleaned up beautifully with a roll of the volume.
Finally, the Cool Cat Tremolo stepped in, and the shimmer it brought out of Spring was pure class — elegant and musical, not overdone.
She sounds very good, feels very good, and looks gorgeous.
There will be more 15 minutes, or longer.
But she’s already proving she belongs —
a homecoming in Arctic White, with a voice that can whisper, wail, and everything in between.
Her name is Spring — taken from Haruna’s kanji, meaning spring greens — a perfect symbol of renewal, youth, and quiet strength.
I’ve let go of all my previous telecasters. But this may just be one that stays…close to my heart.