Fender Custom Shop '56 Stratocaster HT Heavy Relic Electric Guitar, Faded Taos Turquoise

Bright, bold, and battle-hardened, we've got this Fender Custom Shop '56 Stratocaster HT in a luscious Faded Taos Turquoise! This rough-and-ready Strat punches in with artistically worn materials, unique shapes and styles, and dynamite electronics for a Custom Shop sure to cause a stir. Unabashed and unapologetic, this hardtail Custom Shop Strat checks so many boxes for those looking for a battle-ready Fender.

With enormously expressive builds and captivating aesthetics, this Fender Custom Shop dishes out highly unique models to impress on so many levels. This particular Custom Shop however, starts with a two-piece guitar and bass alder body with an off-center treble-side seam. A classic Fender tonewood if there ever were one, this two-piece alder plays with a light and resonant tone. This alder cut additionally is "sorted for weight," where, during construction, a body selected is selected among a lot for its light weight. The body's sorted quality contributes to the whole of the guitar landing precisely at a gingerly seven pounds. Also acting as an excellent canvas on which a Fender Custom Shop Heavy Relic finish treatment is splashed, this alder shows itself through captivating scrapes and chips in its gloss lacquer finish.

Reaching out, this Custom Strat brings on a plain grain maple neck in a 10/56 "V" profile. A classically player-forward profile with a comfortable, geometric "V", this maple measures from .900" thick at the first fret to .980" at the twelfth. The neck's maple exhibits its grains and patterns even more closely with an unfinished relic back. This maple then fills out to a fingerboard lined with twenty-one 45085 Vintage Upgrade frets. Laid out across a 7.25" - 9.5" compound radius and featuring some charming wear, this fingerboard offers a precise playing experience on the fingertips.

Sonically, this Strat matches its outer brightness and boldness with three hand-wound '56 Strat single-coil pickups. These classically sparkly and snappy pickups line up to produce the iconic single-coil sound unmistakable across Fender history. This tone is made all the better by the middle pickup's reverse-wound, reverse-polarity design, cutting down on hum for an airtight sound all the way down. 250K 10% split taper potentiometers offer opportunities for close tonal shaping through '54-'58 Vintage Strat wiring.

Everything with this Strat is backed up by a unique hardware setup. Toward the headstock, vintage-style tuning machines and a bone nut line up for smooth stringing and solid intonation. At the scale's opposite end, a seldom-seen spec appears: a Vintage Hardtail Strat bridge. In contrast to the much more prevalent tremolo bridge, the hardtail bridge – a favorite of '70s Strat fans – keeps things rock solid with no vibrato bends. This Fender Custom Shop '56 Stratocaster HT travels with an included Strat/Tele Tweed hardshell case.

Bright, bold, and unabashed, this Custom Shop hardtail Strat takes the road less traveled in a few key areas for a distinctly unique piece.