USA Fender Stratocaster CS Limited Edition Fat 50’s Relic: (2022)
This Fender Custom Shop Fat '50s Limited Edition Stratocaster Relic in Wide-Fade Chocolate 2-Colour Sunburst evokes the idea of a stunning, decades old instrument that's been someone's cherished, but well used, main guitar for a long career. This guitar wears it's inspiration proudly on its sleeve, with a host of features based on the very original days of the legendary Stratocaster. Features '54 Style Soft "V" neck profile, vintage style tuning machines and Custom Shop Vintage synchronised tremolo. Fat '50s pickups deliver all the honk and sparkle you expect of an old school Stratocaster sound.
Some quick specifications are a '54 Style Soft "V" neck profile, 1 piece rift sawn maple neck and maple fingerboard, scale length 25.5", with a 9.5" Radius, 21 jumbo (6100) frets, Vintage-Style Tuning Machines, Bone nut, Custom Shop Vintage Synchronized Tremolo, Hand-Wound Fat '50s Strat Pickups with RWRP Middle and a 5 way selector . The guitar has an aged single ply white scratch plate and comes with a custom shop hard shell case.
Personal Comment:
The Stratocaster has always been at the heart of my guitar playing days and my first Japanese copy was back in the early 1970s. As I came back to playing the guitar around 2019 I decided to purchase the off-the-shelf standard model at the time, that being the Professional (Series 1) and while I would very much enjoy that guitar, I finally decided to try a Custom Shop relic Stratocaster model, and it was the 50s model that got my attention as it has certain memories and family links which make it a little special and personal.
That moment I opened the case, took the guitar into my hands, I just simply smiled. Bearing in mind it is styled on the various early stages of late 50s design, the guitar does have that certain feel to it and I have noticed that the tremolo is not the best at keeping in tune, however it's a quirk I'm happy to put up with. There is a misconception that relic guitars are just - 'beat-up' looking guitars. As someone who has built guitars, it takes a good deal of time and skill to wear-in a guitar neck and frets, so that it not only feels great under hand but is highly stable and intonates perfectly. I have done a number of comparison videos with Custom Shop 50s and 60s models and up against the more modern Professional series. There is also a video comparing the 50s Stratocaster to a 50s Telecaster. Check-out the videos below by clicking on the pictures.
As a Fender fan, this CS Stratocaster 50s relic model is a real joy to play, and yes it not only plays beautifully but sounds great. This particular guitar with the Fat 50s pick-ups does tend to lend itself to certain types of music and so may not be to everyone's taste. If you want to know more about this guitar drop me an email.