Certainly the highlight of the bunch, the 64 Special Strat promises to turn heads with its unique distressed green-on-pink painted-over finish, offering a subtle hint of sparkle under lights. Built to mid 60’s specs, the 64 Special also features a hand-selected two-piece alder body with nitrocellulose lacquer finish and an AA flame maple neck with a comfortable ‘C’ shaped profile. To top things off, Fender have handwired a set of 64 Custom Shop single coils, offering a sparkling surf tone perfect for true Strat enthusiasts.
While the 64 Special promises to be a standout, the Custom Shop have also unveiled four other pimped out Stratocasters for you to swoon over. The lacquer black 56 Fat Roasted Stratocaster looks the part with its eye-catching gold adonized pickguard and Journeyman relic finish, boasting a unqiue combination of Fender Fat 50’s and 60’s pickups to provide it with a bold, transparent tone to reduce treble loss and improve tonal control. If you’re looking for a more modern look, check out the Relic Black Dual-Mag Strat, offering similar specs to the 56 Fat Roasted with a warm, resonant tone due to its flat-lam rosewood fingerboard.
If you’re after the look of a heavily worn workhorse to add to your ensemble, the Heavy Relic 59 offers a throwback to the instruments golden years. Oozing old school cool with its heavily worn finish and vintage specs, the Heavy Relic 59 features a period correct rosewood fingerboard combined with hand-wound Texas Specials, giving you all you need to nail those classic Strat tones.
For modernists, Fender are offering a whole new level of tone and resonance with its beautiful Artisian Thinline Koa Stratocaster, fusing parchment-bound AAAA koa top over a roasted Okoume body with ’63 vintage hardware and specs with some of the tastiest woodgrain you’ll probably ever see on a guitar.
If you’re into Tele’s, you’re in for a treat, with Fender offering two new models for their limited Summer NAMM 2017 run. The Custom Shop 50’s Thinline Relic harkens back to an era of regality with its faded Paisley finish and quartersawn maple neck, complete with Greasebucket tone controls and handwound pickups to create a formidable twang machine.
Last but not least, the Limited Edition Journeyman Relic Twisted Tele will please traditionalists with its vintage looks and extra-hot high-output Twisted Tele pickups, handwound for maximum tonal capacity. This Twisted Tele also features vintage specs and a cool Bigsby B-5 tremolo bridge for all your 50’s era vibrato needs.
With every Custom Shop model coming with a deluxe hardshell case, strap, and certificate of authenticity, there’s never been a better time to spend your tax return on one of these bad boys.
Fender are available through Fender Australia.
