#Fender Custom Shop Stratocaster 1959 Hardtail Heavy Relic Chocolate 3 Tone Sunburst #R120202

What we have here is an impressive Stratocaster from the Fender Custom Shop, which is somewhat out of the line. The insider knows immediately what is meant by the term "hardtail" – the absence of a vibrato system and the corresponding cutout on the back of the body. For those who can do without the vibrato system, a hardtail Strat offers many advantages: The lack of hardware means a significant weight reduction at the same time, so that the Hardtail Strat is an absolute lightweight and hangs extremely comfortably on the strap. In addition, this construction provides the best possible string pressure on the bridge and thus guarantees a direct and resonant response as well as optimal vibration with endless sustain. It's not for nothing that guitar legends like Ron Wood, Joe Bonamassa, Robert Cray and Kenny Wayne Shepherd swear by their hardtail Strats.

And this impressive reissue of a 1959 Stratocaster from the Fender Custom Shop is also completely convincing in other respects. Only selected tonewoods were used, such as lightweight alder for the body, as well as a "dark tint" maple neck with a dark rosewood fingerboard. The hand-wound Custom Shop "'59 Single-Coil Strat®" pickups produce an amazingly faithful 50s Vintage tone that is immediately catchy! Pearly highs, dynamic mids and a defined bass. This is exactly how an end-fifties Strat should sound! Absolutely authentic and with that magic Vintage flair, as known from the best originals from back then. Which shows once again that instruments from the Fender Custom Shop are a guarantee for the very highest quality in terms of design, sound and playability. To make the '59 Reissue Strat suitable for today's purposes, a modern 5-way switch circuit was installed. Last, but not least, look at the Heavy Relic Aging! Wow! This is exactly how a Strat looks that has had hard years "on the road" and has spent more time in the studio and on stage than in its case. A guitar with its own "soul" that has always gone through everything that has happened in an eventful life as a musician, and that's exactly why it sounds better and better over the years.