2011 Fender Custom Shop 57 Stratocaster Relic
Limited Edition 3 Tone Sunburst

Roll back in time to 1957 when Rock was born. During the late 50s and the early 60s, there was a revolution in Rock n' Roll history and the Stratocaster was the gun that backed it up, thanks to players like Buddy Holly, Buddy Guy, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Stevie Ray Vaughn, just to mention a few. The Fender Stratocaster has since become the most popular solidbody electric guitar in the world. There's just nothing else that sounds as sweet and soulful as a '57 Strat.

This 2011 Fender Custom Shop 57 Stratocaster Relic was built to the exact specs as the original 1957 Stratocaster. This guitar features the realistic look and feel of a 57 Strat that was played vigorously on a nightly basis. The Fender Custom Shop uses a unique process to age the guitar until it looks 'used and abused'. Old guitars have a certain magic, very difficult to define. The thinner the finish the more resonant the tone. This guitar has an ulta thin nitrocellulose lacquer finish, complete with nicks, dings, dents and scratches. Then for the added touch of perfection, very intricate spider web checking is hand cut into the finish to give the effect of a guitar that has seasoned beautifuly over the years. The body is made of two pieces of Alder using the original tooling lathes and production techniques of the 50s. This guitar has a soft V-shape neck, a bone nut, a 9.5" radius and Vintage frets. The pickguard is a single ply Parchment type. The pickups are Custom Shop '56 pups and this guitar has a 3 way switch, just like an orignal '57 Strat. This guitar weighs 7 lbs 4.5 oz. It is extremely light, light on your back and extremely resonant. This guitar really has the high end fidelity to scream, bite, soar and articulate. The bridge has just enough bite to let the strings ring through while distorted without getting too muddy or muffled and the mid and neck pickups provide a wide array of clean and natural tones. This guitar screams Hendrix/SRV with great harmonics and overtones, powerful, punchy and sweet too!