As some will know I’ve been looking for absolutely ages for a nice Fender Custom Shop Relic Strat, that meets certain criteria such as a 9.5” radius, big frets, in a decent colour, not too heavy and not too expensive. Well I’ve finally snagged one that might do me for a while.
It’s a 2017 limited edition ‘59 Strat Journeyman Relic in aged Olympic White, with a heavily flamed ‘59 C shaped maple neck, AAA dark rosewood board, 9.5” radius and jumbo frets. The pickups are handwound Ancho Poblanos, with the middle pickup RWRP, and the controls are master volume with tone-saver bleed, master tone with Greasebucket tone circuit, and the third knob does bridge/neck pickup blend. According to Fender there was a limited edition of 75 in this colour. I got it off Reverb from a nice chap who had bought it new from Peach.
The pickups sound great and it plays really well after a few tweaks to the action. I’ve never had a CS guitar with a ‘59 neck profile before but I really like it - it’s a comfortable medium-sized handful at the 1st fret, fattening up to pretty chunky at the 12th fret. The tone circuit and blend options are also new to me but I think they provide some nice sounds, with the Anchos giving a bit more oomph than more vintage-style Strat pickups. The Journeyman Relic finish is pretty cool too, with lots of checking and a few small dings but no belt-sander work. The guitar weighs 7lb 7.5oz - or 3.39kg for the more metrically aligned among you. Here’s some pics.
Comments
Still got mine/yours/mine again strat. Loving it.
Enjoy.
Classic combo, very tasteful reliccing.
I'm so pleased you got there in the end... I have found too that sometimes the search takes years.