Fender '56 Relic Stratocaster

My '56 Relic Strat is dated October 4, 2000 from the custom shop in Corona, CA. It's Fiesta red with a gorgeous, highly figured maple neck which has been worn in nicely - you'd never guess it's not an original 1956. The body is alder and also shows the type of wear that makes it hard to believe it's not 46 years old. The hardware is chrome with all the right aging, same for the plastic parts. It came with a beautiful G&G tweed case. Before I brought it home, I dropped it off at the shop of a respected luthier in Boston to be set-up with Original Bullet .009 strings & had him install the 5-way pickup selector that came with the guitar while he was at it.

I play Classic Rock & Blues and this guitar has KILLER TONE! Played through a good Fender tube amp (I've tried several) like my Deluxe Reverb with gain overdrive it's SWEET! I recently bought a custom modified (www.analogman.com) Boss DS-1 distortion pedal, which makes it sound great even with the amp set totally clean. I get the Hendrix sound from the neck pickup and everything else from the other 4 pickup postions, including Clapton on the middle/bridge.

I give the Custom Shop a 9 in this category because the luthier needed to adjust the truss rod to take a slight bow out of the neck. The action is beautiful. This guitar plays like a dream. I feel like I was born with it in my hands, the neck shape is perfect.

It stays in tune even after heavy bending and vibrato arm use. It's a solid guitar that seems able to handle anything.

Never even thought about a warranty.

I've been playing off & on since 1979. Never really felt I was good. I quit for almost 10 years before buying this beauty, now I play 10 times better than I ever imagined I would. This guitar inspired me to learn. I'd buy another one if this one were ever lost or stolen, no question about it. My favorite feature is the neck, it's just so SWEET! I've played a hundred other guitars and none, not even another Stratocaster ever felt so much like an extension of my body. It just feels like I'm home.

2001 Fender Custom Shop Relic 1956 Stratocaster, made in USA - 2 tone sunburst. Maple neck, Alder body, three single coil pickups wired to 1956 specs (3-way switch, etc.)

Includes vintage strap, 5-way switch, ashtray cover, springs and all goodies. Nice case with blood red lining.

OH MY GOD! This guitar sounds unbelievable. I have no clue how they made these pickups but I have never heard a guitar come close to the vintage tone these produce. I run the guitar through a Maxon Compressor and a Maxon OD808 (the holy grail of pedals?) into a Mesa Boogie Rect-O-Verb (the holy grail of amps?)....The tone almost brought a tear to my eyes. The pickups are not totally noiseless but I like a little hum, it adds to the vintage vibe.

The guitar was set up fine. Some adjustment was needed, which is usual with any new guitar that goes through climate changes. ( I live in Wisconsin ) I readjusted the neck to use light top/heavy bottom strings and lowered the action a little bit. The neck takes some time to get use to but once you go to a 7 1/4 radius neck, you never go back. Unbelievable comfort. The necks and pickups are everything on these guitars....as with most guitars, but this guitar is simply the best guitar I've ever played.

Everything is fine. It's really nice to have a top quality guitar and not be afraid to scratch it............ Top notch construction and detail.

Never dealt with them.

The best guitar I've ever played. In my opinion, these guitars are the best to come from fender in the last 25 years. I've been playing for 17 years and one thing I've learned in that time is it's always cheaper to buy top quality gear that you will keep for a lifetime instead of lesser quality gear that you will hate in a year or two. If you can't afford one of these, at least go to your local music store and play one everyday for a week and you will understand what a quality guitar this is. If you have any other questions, contact Todd at Good-N-Loud Music in Madison WI. Hands down the best guitar/amp store in the country!....or at least the best that I've been to....

2001 Fender Custom Shop Relic 1956 Stratocaster, made in USA - 2 tone sunburst. Maple neck, Alder body, three single coil pickups wired to 1956 specs.
Relic treatment which includes body wear, fretboard wear, aged parts and even the pickups are aged and sound different than the N.O.S pickups of the same model! this is an especially cool feature.
Includes vintage strap, 5-way switch, ashtray cover, springs and all goodies. Nice case with a rather bright (wow!) yellow inside. This guitar gets a 9, just because the 5 way switch wasn't set up. but hey, this is the way they were made, so i can't complain that much.

The pickups on this guitar sound wonderful. They somehow aged the pickups so that they have that old strat sound without the $20,000 price tag. nice! sounds better than the N.O.S. version, just because the guitar has been aged and that makes a guitar sound better.

A few styles:

Blues - Nails it. what more could you ask for? this is the exact guitar Eric Clapton used on the Layla album. Works great for SRV stuff, or basically any blues. Sounds so sweet, makes me wanna cry.

Rock - Sounds great for straight up rock and roll. When you add distortion, it grits up nicely . Bridge pickup has just the right bite. No problem with the output differences between pickups here. everything is great!

Country - add that 5 way switch and you will be pickin' and grinnin' easy. nice punchy tone for country. twang? yup.

Heavy Metal - i don't believe anyone would purchase this $2400 guitar for heavy metal, and if they do, they aren't very smart. of course it doesn't pull it off! it's a strat, not some tricked out ESP.

Eric Johnson - i thought i would add this because no other guitar i have ever seen could get 'THE TONE'. until now. this thing nails this too, as it should (EJ's guitars were a '54 and a '58 strats) so, yah. great tone.

My guitar was purchased with a relic finish. Most relic strats are beat to hell, and this one isn't. Has some nice dings, and the fretboard wear, but i wanted one without that huge gouge where your arm rests. boy was i lucky to find this one! someone had ordered it especially like this and didn't buy it. so now i got it!! the action was set up pretty good, but i think that the guys in the guitar shop had been messin' with it a bit. (Apparently they didn't want to let it go!)

Flaws? what flaws? it is a custom shop guitar!!

I give it a 9, because it is a beat up relic. but the wear is believable. some people think it would look corny, but it doesn't. fender gets it right.

it is a fender. hard as a rock. i probably wouldn't gig without a backup, just because strats go out of tune, and i tend to break strings once in a while. but i hope it lasts for a while! i can't really be sure, because this kind of guitar hasn't been around for very long. (The relic i mean) but if it is like any strat, it deserves a 10.

Been playing for 6 years, own a few other strats, a tele, a carvin, and a les paul. Marshall half stack.
this is by far the best guitar i have ever played. this has been my dream guitar for many years.

IF you are seriously considering this guitar, ask yourself why. if you can't tell the difference between the '57 reissue and this one, go with the '57. i have an obsession with tone, and this one just is everything i want in a strat. I went for the more expensive one because of the TONE it had, and also i liked the look of a beat up sunburst strat. But if you got the cash, there is no better motivator to get you going in your music than the best guitar fender makes, and the best guitar anyone makes, period.

This guitar is virtually identical to Leo's original stroke of genius
from 1954(without the Bakelite parts). It was born in 2000 and sports
the blonde transparent finish with chrome hardware. Most of the modern
"improvements" on this theme are interesting diversions but ultimately
prove to be solutions in search of a problem. This original configuration fills the bill for any blues or rock player as well as
a myriad of other styles. I rated this category a '10" even though it
it doesn't have locking tuners,a floyd or a sustainiac. To me it
represents perfection in it's simplicity(I could stand a 5-way switch
but not to worry because they included one in the case).

Most new Strats sound like, well, new Strats. On this one they
somehow managed to get that burnished, refined tone that usually
only comes with a $10,000 price tag and a smelly case(I know - I've
owned several 50's Strats).

The neck shape on this guy is as good as any I've found on the real
McCoys and, after taking a little relief out of it, is an absolute joy to play. The finish is a bit dinged-up and they've figured out that they can charge more for that. On the neck however, that broken-in feel is actually quite nice and hey, all the chicks will
think you're a regular veteran. Kidding aside, the relic thing is
kinda cool.

This design has proven it's reliability/durability over the past 46
years so this shouldn't be an issue(occasional exceptions notwithstanding).

Haven't needed it and really doubt that I will.

While I can't vouch for every one of these that comes off the line(no
two guitars are the same) I would highly recommend that you check it
out if you want virtual vintage vibe without a 2nd mortgage.