Tom Morello’s Fender FSR Stratocaster “Soul Power”

This guitar is a model that was made by Fender as a Factory Special Run for the Guitar Center retailer chain. So as opposed to the Arm the Homeless guitar, which was put together from various parts, this guitar was largely already ready to play when Tom bought it, but of course, he had to do some modifications first.

Before we get into that, it’s important to mention that the Soul Power Stratocaster was Tom Morello’s main guitar with the Audioslave, and he recorded most of the band’s songs on it. The whole purpose of buying this guitar for Tom was to start things over, to go somewhere else musically with this new band.

This is the Audioslave guitar. It was a new band, we were discovering an entirely different sonic landscape, led by Chris Cornell’s beautiful and terrifying vocals.

I knew with the “Soul Power” guitar, before we’ve even written a song with Audioslave, wherever this guitar takes me on that journey, that’s where the journey is gonna go for me as a guitarist. The second I got this guitar, the second I got home, I scrawled “Soul Power” on it. I knew that it was a new era for my music and a new band.

Tom Morello Tells The Story Behind His Fender ‘Soul Power’ Audioslave Stratocaster

Specs, Mods

From the factory, this guitar was finished in black, had a matching headstock, and featured white binding along the body’s top edge – which is pretty unusual for a Stratocaster. It had a mirror pickguard, and it originally had three Fender Noiseless pickups.

As far as mods, Tom replaced the bridge pickup with a Seymour Duncan Hot Rails SHR-1b, which is a lot more fitting for a more aggressive and overdriven sound. He also installed a locking nut and a black Ibanez Edge tremolo bridge in place of the Fender standard tremolo.

One additional feature that Tom added to the Soul Power guitar is a kill switch, located at the lower horn of the guitar. This switch basically just turns the signal of the guitar on and off, and if you do it quickly enough, it creates that stuttering sound that Tom often uses.

As far as the design changes, the only thing Tom did in that regard was writing “Soul Power” on top of the guitar using a white sharpie.

Usage

Tom Morello used the Soul Power guitar as his main guitar from 2002 to 2007 for all of the Audioslave songs played in standard tuning. He continues to use it to this day next to his other guitars, but he usually keeps it reserved for all the Audioslave era stuff.