Fender Custom Shop '59 Stratocaster in Aged Vintage White Relic

Here at Andertons Music Co. we're fortunate enough to get our hands on a number Fender Custom Shop instruments, to give you a chance to own something truly special and unique. This '59 Strat Relic is a pure, old-school Stratocaster that traditionalists will simply adore.

With its worn aesthetics, time-honoured hardware and vintage-style electronics; this premium guitar is a late '50s Stratocaster through-and-through with an Alder body, AAA Rosewood Fingerboard and Custom Shop hand-wound '59 pickups.

Lightweight 2-piece Alder Body

The extra light Alder used for this guitar was a hand-picked by the Fender Custom Shop for its weight, making it an especially comfortable and resonant guitar. Alder is a time honoured wood selection for Strats, owing to its balanced, full-bodied tone and pronounced upper mids, which adds to the crispness and chime of a Strat.

Vintage Profile Neck

The '59 Esquire C profile neck is actually based on a Tele neck shape, but works perfectly for a Strat. It is a medium C shape, so it's slightly chunkier than a modern C which gives it more sustain and greater resistance to neck warping or bowing, but still very much has that comfortable Strat C profile we all know and love. Maple is famed for it's snap, which adds to the brightness and clarity of a Strat. The Neck is finished with nitrocellulose lacquer which has been worn on the back of the neck, leaving satin finish, beloved for its silky smooth feel.

The Neck is clad with a thick slab of AAA grade Rosewood that has been hand-picked from the Fender Custom Shop to be extra dark, giving it that beautifully aged look. Rosewood has a velvety soft feel that simply glides under the fingers, and it adds warmth and midrange to the tone, that smooths out the high end, for a raunchy, warm tone that's been heard from countless Strat players such as Stevie Ray Vaughan and and John Mayer.

This '59 Strat may have the looks and tone of a 63 year old instrument, but it has modern playability, with a standard Fender 9.5" fingerboard radius, which will feel instantly familiar, spanning a perfect middle ground between comfort when playing chords and flatness when soloing, allowing for a lower action. It also features Jumbo frets, which feel reassuringly sturdy under the fingers and can take a real beating before needing a fret dress.

Vintage Tone

Rather appropriately, this '59 Strat is fitted with a set of hand-wound '59 pickups, that are totally period correct, from staggered Alnico V magnets to Formvar wire. This unique combination creates a special tone. The low output (approx. 5.9k) offers an incredibly articulate clean tone with tremendous note separation, while the beefy Alnico V magnets add plenty of body and punch. The Formvar magnet wire enhances the bass response of the pickups, for a big, round tone. Unlike most modern pickup configurations, the middle pickup is not RW/RP (again, this is vintage accurate). This means that in positions 2 and 4, the tone is chimier and more bell-like, rather than quacky and phasey, giving this guitar a different character to most other Strats. 

Specifications

Body

• Body Colour: Aged Vintage White
• Body Wood: Lightweight 2-piece Alder
• Body Finish: Nitrocellulose Relic
• Pickguard: 3-ply Mint Green Closet Classic Finish

Neck

• Neck Construction: Bolt-on (4-bolt)
• Neck Profile: '59 Esquire C
• Neck Wood: Rift Sawn Maple (Flat Lam)
• Fingerboard Wood: AAA Dark Rosewood
• Neck Finish: Nitrocellulose
• Scale Length: 25.5"
• Fingerboard Radius: 9.5"
• Frets: 21, Jumbo
• Nut: Standard Fender Blank
• Nut Width: 1.65"
• Truss Rod: Early '60s
• Inlays: Micarta White Dot

Hardware

• Hardware Colour: Chrome / Nickel Hardware
• Tuners: Fender Vintage Tuners
• Bridge: Fender American Vintage Strat 6-screw synchronised tremolo
• Neck Plate: Vintage Closet Classic Finish, 4 bolt
• Knobs: White Closet Classic
• Switch Tip: White Closet Classic

Electronics

• Neck Pickup: Hand-wound '59 Strat
• Middle Pickup: Hand-wound '59 Strat
• Bridge Pickup: Hand-wound '59 Strat
• Controls: Volume / Tone / Tone, 5-way blade switch
• Potentiometers: 3 x 250k split-shaft

Miscellaneous

• Fender Custom Shop Tweed Hardcase & Accessories
• Strings: .010 - .046