Fender Custom Shop Stratocaster 1959 NOS Vintage Custom Fiesta Red

Lovingly presented by the Fender Custom Shop, here is an early 1959 Strat. While Strats were still being manufactured with a one-piece maple neck at the beginning of this year, in spring the necks got a thick slab board - glued flat onto the neck blank and then finished with the corresponding fretboard radius of 7.25".
From this point , the dot-inlays were no longer made of black Bakelite (later ABS plastic), but were made of a cellulose-containing material for the next five years. Here, round rods were cut into flat discs, just the "dots", and glued into the fingerboard, where they were then sanded flat. This material is no longer available today and Fender uses an authentic looking material now.
On a newly manufactured Fender guitar at the time, these dots were a dirty white or slightly greyish. Over the years, the dots tend to take on a brownish-ochre shade, which is due to the high content of essential oils in Brazilian rosewood. Originals can easily be checked by letting the fretboard with suitable oil and the dots soak it up quickly and become a little darker.

Fender describes the neck shape as a '59 Esquier D format, 0.79" on the first fret and 0.98" on the 12th fret. Depending on which person finishes the neck in the custom shop, the flanks are more or less pronounced. The spectrum ranges from rather slight to tending to be bulky.
Our model features a compound radius of 7.25" - 9.5" - a tribute to playability even accepted by vintage fetishists.
While the first pickguards of the Rosewood '59 Strat were still single-layer and mounted with 8 screws, after the introduction of the three-layer celluloid pickguard there were various rare versions with 8, 9, 10 and from May 1959 with the well-known 11 screws. Our model shows 8 screws, so it's a very early version of the first Stratocasters with rosewood fretboards. The pickguard looks very authentic, like one that has been exposed to environmental influences over the decades. Originals were - similar to the dots - lighter at the beginning and only took on this coveted color over time. Again, Fender did an excellent job and the pickguard looks very authentic.
The paint is 100% nitrocellulose. Beautifully finished in a Fiesta Red, it lives up to the 1959 specifications.
The pickups are hand-wound 59 models with 5.70 / 5.61 / 5.57 kOhm (bridge / middle / neck). The pole pieces are slightly rounded, just as Fender made them up until the mid-1960s. Electronic values and optics correspond to the originals.
Even when played unamplified, the dry, round and percussive sound of this Stratocaster is immediately noticeable. The pickups reinforce this impression and the complete set sounds very balanced, throaty and powerful. Compared to an good original '59 Stratocaster you will find out that Fender did here a fantastic job!
Additional Notes: Flash Coat Lacquer/No Buff, Vintage Body Perimiter&Center Line-George Blanda, Vintage Custom Collection, AM Vintage Headstock Perimiter & Tuner Hole Placement-George Blanda, CC Pickups, NOS Knobs&Covers Vintage White, Vintage Wiring (Use 0096453000 Cap Wax Paper .10 MFD 150V), CC Hardware