Fender Custom Shop Custom DLX Stratocaster HB S-1 Relic Electric Guitar, Faded Aged Fiesta Red

Bringing the real fireworks out of that fabled west coast workshop, we've got this Fender Custom Shop Custom Deluxe Stratocaster HB in a Faded Aged Fiesta Red! Those looking for a little more firepower in their Custom Shop experience – complete with highly customized specs and styles – need look no further than a seldom-seen "Custom Deluxe" Strat like this. Enormously original Strat specifications all coalesce for a model you'd be right to be unsure about seeing again any time soon.

A real looker from the Fender Custom Shop full of shapes and sounds you're not often to see in Custom Shop Strats, this Custom Deluxe Stratocaster has more than its fair share of showstoppers – though, that's probably clear to see at this point. Everything here kicks off with a two-piece guitar and bass alder solidbody in a Custom Deluxe Strat shape. Sorted for weight, this customized Strat lands just above a comfortable eight pounds. This classically "Fender" tonewood body additionally bends Custom Shop tradition with a thin nitrocellulose Fiesta Red lacquer body finish – faded and aged. A gloss finish worn from square one, this Custom Strat's gloss works in a Relic finish treatment for classy checks, scrapes, and dents.

From here, this Custom Deluxe brings on a charmingly vintage-style spec: a 5/4 quartersawn maple neck in a '52 Style "U" profile. This fuller, "baseball-bat"-style neck fills the palm with more prominent shoulder and thickness throughout, measuring consistently at .990" thick moving from the first fret to the twelfth. A high-quality fingerboard joins for a lush fretting feel. Nine-millimeter, round laminated AAA rosewood tops the maple neck lined with twenty-two frets utilizing 6100 Jumbo wire. A more spacious feel on the fingers lays out across a smooth 9.5" radius for quick, modern moves on higher and lower registers.

Packing the real punch behind this whole Custom Shop Strat, we've got a unique setup of electronics. First, this Strat starts out familiarly with two hand-wound '69 Strat single-coil pickups – one in its neck and another in its middle. The middle pickup's reverse-wound, reverse-polarity design assists in quieting hum and making the musical experience all the sweeter. In its bridge, this Fender Custom Shop loads in a Seymour Duncan SH-4B humbucker. A Jeff Beck special, this hot, punchy humbucker breaks the mold on your usual Custom Shop Strats for a vintage-style, full-bodied kick. This Seymour Duncan unfolds for even more tonal routes with a push-button S-1 switch on the volume control – a true rarity among Fender Custom Shop guitars – while 250K 10% split taper pots sculpt tones smoothly.

This Deluxe Strat is backed up by a number of unique hardware specifications ensuring solid and sturdy playing throughout. At the base of the scale, an RSD Strat bridge stabilizes and enhances expressive tremolo bends. Toward the headstock, a wider bone nut and Fender American Professional series staggered tuning machines offer smooth tuning experiences. Throughout the whole guitar, hardware is decked with the Custom Shop's Closet Classic hardware finish treatment for a gentle dose of patina and age. Similarly, this Strat's plastics – its single-coil pickup covers, pickguard, knobs, and switch tip – are treated to a Relic level of finish wear. This Fender Custom Shop Deluxe Stratocaster travels with an included Fender Custom Shop Strat/Tele Black hardshell case.

A Custom Deluxe with a humbucker, what more could you ask for? You know what they call it in France? "Le Royale with humbucker."