Fender's Cease-and-Desist Campaign Just Hit Yamaha, the World's Biggest Guitar Maker

Yamaha has confirmed it received a cease-and-desist letter from Fender over the design of the Stratocaster, the largest name yet pulled into a legal fight that's been widening since March. Yamaha told Reuters it received the letter in May 2026, but the news only became public on July 14 to 15, when MusicRadar, Guitar World, and Guitar.com all confirmed it independently.

Yamaha didn't say which model the letter names. It didn't really need to. The company sells exactly one S-style electric, the Pacifica, on the market since 1990 as Yamaha's answer to the Superstrat boom, built as a versatile alternative for players who wanted more output options than a stock Strat offered. As Guitar World put it, taking on Yamaha means Fender is "going up against the largest music instrument maker in the world" (Guitar World), a very different opponent than a boutique builder running a GoFundMe.

This traces back to March 2026, when Fender won a default judgment against Yiwu Philharmonic Musical Instruments, a Chinese manufacturer that had been selling Strat-shaped guitars through AliExpress. Yiwu never showed up to contest the case, and the Dusseldorf court ruled in Fender's favor, finding the Stratocaster body an original creative work protected by copyright in Germany and the EU rather than just a trademark (Guitar.com). Fender called the ruling historic and has spent the months since sending cease-and-desist letters to S-style builders across the US and EU.

LSL Instruments was the first to confirm it had received one, targeting its Saticoy model; the small builder launched a GoFundMe to cover its legal costs. PRS confirmed its own letter in May 2026, this one aimed at the Silver Sky, John Mayer's signature guitar (Guitar World). Thomann, the German retail giant that owns Harley Benton, confirmed it was hit too, and sued Fender in response, arguing the Dusseldorf ruling was "based on missed deadlines" and did not amount to "a comprehensive review of the legal claims" (MusicRadar).

John Mayer left Fender in 2014 after he couldn't get the company excited about his ideas for an updated S-style guitar. He took the idea to PRS founder Paul Reed Smith instead, and the Silver Sky launched in 2018 (Guitar World). It became the Stratocaster's most credible modern rival: per Reverb's year-end sales data, the SE Silver Sky outsold the Fender Stratocaster in both 2022 and 2023, and has stayed among the best-selling electric guitars in the years since (Guitar World).

That success is very likely why the Silver Sky drew a letter in the first place. PRS has said only that it "disagrees with Fender's assessment," and as of this writing is still selling the guitar. Fender, for its part, has said the campaign isn't aimed at every double-cutaway body, only at close copies of the Strat, though it hasn't spelled out exactly which features cross that line (Guitar World).

Fender CEO Bud Cole addressed the backlash at a dealer event, telling attendees "Fender is not suing anybody" and describing the letters as reaching out "thoughtfully and respectfully." That framing hasn't settled the controversy: Guitar World has reported criticism from its own readers and from prominent YouTubers over the campaign (Guitar World). Fender told Reuters it remains "open to engaging constructively with partners and companies across the industry," framing the letters as protecting "iconic designs" as part of its "obligation as a steward of the brand," as reported by Guitar.com.

Whatever a German court eventually decides about pickguard curves and cutaway angles, none of it touches the strings you put on the guitar. Every instrument named in this dispute, the Stratocaster, the Pacifica, the Silver Sky, Harley Benton's S-style range, is built on the same standard 25.5 inch scale length and takes any standard electric guitar string set.

Yamaha's own spec sheet for the PAC112V lists its factory strings as D'Addario EXL120, a .009 to .042 Super Light nickel-wound set. That's the same gauge commonly cited as the factory default on Fender's own Stratocasters. Once you're past the factory set and want a little more rhythm weight, D'Addario EXL110 at .010 to .046 is the standard step up, on either guitar.

As for Mayer himself, he skips the factory-stock question entirely. He plays Ernie Ball Silver Slinky, his own signature set at .0105 to .047, built to sit deliberately between a .010 and an .011 set. CYS has already broken down the gauge side of his setup in detail, see our piece on his string gauge choices. It's a good reminder that the gauge question and the shape question are entirely separate conversations: one is a lawsuit, the other is just what feels right under your fingers. For a broader look at picking a set for any S-style electric, see CYS's best electric guitar strings guide.