What makes this Fender Custom Shop '63' Heavy Relic Strat so special ? - For the 2011 Frankfurt Music Show, the Fender German product specialist had a special run of Custom Shop models commissioned that are all highly spec'd and as such are only one notch under a Master Built model - We had a tip of about these models and managed to acquire a couple of guitars, one being this '63' Strat finished in translucent white blonde - The limited edition nature is relected with an engraved 4 bolt neck plate, a decal on the rear of the headstock, as well as a Fender Custom Shop Limited Edition logo that is embroidered into the interior case lid

Let me give you some further spec and info :- Light weight and hand selected ash body that features a thin, heavy relic white blonde finish and weighs a touch less than 8lbs - The heavy relic finish is aged to the guitar the vibe of a well played Strat and as such it is loaded with character - The quarter swan maple neck is topped of with a Madagascar rosewood fingerboard, that is fitted with 21 Dunlop 6105 frets and features a 9.5" fingerboard radius - The neck features the 60's C profile, with a thin nitro lacquer that is rubbed and worn down, again to reflect a well used model, so it instantly feels played in - The '63' model is correctly reflected with appropriate period features, logos and hardware - All the vintage spec'd nickel hardware is aged and note the aged 4 ply 'peperoni' shell pickguard

Lurking under the pickguard are a set of hand wound Abby Ybarra Red Hot Vintage pick-ups - As I mentioned earlier, this Strat has been highly spec'd and it reflects in the way the guitar performs - The 9'5" fingerboard radius and 6105 frets ensures a fluid playing action along with effortless string bending, so much so, that a set of 10's don't feel stiff or heavy to play, so this is a very user friendly guitar that should allow you to rip into your favourite licks and tricks with ease - The vintage 60's C neck profile feels very comfortable with just the amount of depth on it, to enrich the tone and still feel spot-on in the palm of your hands - An ash body on a 60's based Strat is somewhat of a rarity, but boy it sounds good - So lively and resonant, that unplugged it sounds like an acoustic instrument - When you then plug this Strat into your amp this lively character is reflected in a vibrant tone that is loaded with character and incredible dynamics - I've said before, you can make a lively guitar sound softer and dark, but you can't make a dull guitar sound lively - The hand wound pick-ups have enough soul and emotion in them to deliver the 'Little Wing' tone on the neck pick-up, or a hotter Texas blues and rock tone from the bridge pick-up, with a nice amount of bite and attitude with out sounding sharp or brittle - The 2 'out of phase' tones sound spanky with plenty of quack - The taper on the volume and tone pots allows you to roll off from 10 until you find that soft maigical sweet spot - This allows you to set-up the amp with some overdrive, then roll off the volume pot to obtain less overdrive, or even a chilled out clean blues tone, hence so much more emotional control, directly available at your finger tips

Most Strats sound like a Strat, so using various adjectives, it is hard to say why this Strat sounds so good, yet when your ears here it, they instantly get the message that this is a special guitar - If you want or need to know what all the fuss is about with regard to a Relic Strat, then just play this model - If you don't like aged guitars, then tough, as you are missing out on one of the best Strat's you'll get to play/hear