Check out our latest Strat to arrive into stock - Hand picked by me

Part of a limited run of Heavy Relic Strats with a lightweight ash body (in this case just touching 7lbs) - incredibly resonant - all vintage spec'd hardware - soft 'V' 57 neck profile - 9.5" fingerboard radius - Dunlop 6105 medium jumbo frets - one piece quarter sawn maple neck - bone nut - Loaded with Fender Custom Shop pick-ups comprising a Fat 50's, a reverse wound/reverse polarity and a '69' so a nice well balanced set of tones across all 5 switch positions - 5 way switch with vintage wiring - Tweed vintage case - Heavy relic nitro white blonde finish - rrp £2,699

Like Marmite, the thoughts and opinions with regard to distressed finishes, is very much a love or hate issue, but lets take that out of the equation, as the key point is the playability and tonal character and this is where Fender have now got it sewn up - Have you noticed how many of today's leading Strat players now use Custom Shop guitars, as against original 50's or 60's models and this is largely down to the performance of the guitar - The 6105 medium jumbo frets and 9.5" fingerboard radius allows for a more fluid playing action - A set of 10's still feels slinky, coupled with effortless string bending, plus no choking out, when you pull of those big blues bends - The 'worn' rubbed down neck feels nice and natural, reflecting the played in vibe of a good old 'un

Tone is soft warm and vintage, through and through, with clear lows and shimmering highs - But playing around with the volume and tone pots, gives you so much more emotion - Many players leave the controls on '10' on their existing guitars, as that is the only useful setting - Not so on this guitar - Set up the amp with some overdrive, then roll down the volume pot - You still retain the tonal character, but it now allows the overdriven sound to clean up, making it great for chilled out jazz/blues passages - Same applies to the tone pot, just roll it off a touch to find that magical sweet spot, for a 'softer' tone - This guitar is all about tone and emotion with incredible dynamics - The selection of quality swamp ash for the body and quarter sawn maple for the neck certainly assists in bringing out the best of the tone, so much so that even played acoustically, you can hear this puppy ring - Custom spec'd limited edition models are always a cut above the rest and this guitar is no exception.