Fender Custom Shop '57 Stratocaster Electric Guitar Heavy Relic, Aged Taos Turquoise

Dropping in from our friends out in Cali comes this Fender Custom Shop ’57 Stratocaster Heavy Relic in a cool blue Aged Taos Turquoise. Fender Custom Shop’s Heavy Relic finish treatment lands on this Strat for a look that is certainly lived-in, well-loved and road worn with the dings, scrapes and buckle rash to prove it. This Stratocaster captures all the vintage vibes of an old treasure with key care given to tonality and playability to result in an overall excellent, one-of-a-kind piece.

This Fender Custom Shop ’57 Stratocaster Heavy Relic begins with a two-piece alder body in a ’56 Strat body style, retaining that iconic Strat feel in hand and with a strap over the shoulder. Its lacquer body finish splashes its aged Taos Turquoise color expertly across the double-cutaway shape and is certain to catch a few eyes. This particular FCS’s Heavy Relic finish treatment bares some flashes of the alder grain underneath to give it a multi-dimensional aesthetic experience.

Brought together with this alder is a riftsawn maple neck outfitted in a ’57 Style Soft “V” shape, this Strat carries a firm, full grip for the fretting hand. The back of this riftsawn maple matches the finish of the body with an unfinished Heavy Relic treatment, again showing off elements of the true look of this guitar’s woods. A Heavy Relic’d, unfinished neck back gives this guitar its one-of-a-kind playing feel across the palm. The neck fills out to the fingerboard with twenty-one frets outfitted with Medium Jumbo (6150) fret wire. Micarta Black .250 face dots line the board. Across the full length of this neck, it measures .850” at the first fret and .990” at the twelfth.

Tonally, this Strat comes alive with a set of unique single-coil pickups. Three handwound Tomatillo Relic’d Stratocaster single-coil pickups are loaded into this body to bring some true Strat tonality to life. The pickup landing in the middle position is designed reverse-wound, reverse polarity for added variety to the tonal spectrum possible from this Fender Custom Shop. This tone and playability are enhanced by a number of hardware specifications that can be found across the guitar. A Relic’d Custom Shop Vintage Strat tremolo bridge, a 1.650” bone nut and Vintage Fender tuning keys all come together to top off this instrument for a fully realized vintage Strat vibe. This guitar ships with a Fender Custom Shop Tweed hardshell case.

Rough around the edges with plenty of timeless style, this Fender Custom Shop Strat knows how to make an entrance.