t’s been 25 years since Blink-182 rocketed to global success with third album, Enema Of The State. Somewhere between the poo jokes, zany bants and persistent nudity, Tom DeLonge also managed to forge a path as a hugely influential guitar hero to a generation. As is often the case, the key to his success is simplicity – hooky riffs, full of melody and harmony, and he’s consistently played them on guitars with a similar ethos. Last year, Fender reissued DeLonge’s sought-after Stratocaster: a single-pickup take on the Strat finished in retro colours. But to fully understand his latest model, we need to rewind a couple of decades to
