A solid rosewood neck is one of the rarest things the Fender Custom Shop has ever bolted onto a Stratocaster, and it is exactly what makes this Limited Edition instrument so special. The one piece rosewood neck is carved to a Custom '57 Style Soft "V" profile, topped with a round laminated AAA dark rosewood fingerboard, a 9.5" radius, 6105 narrow jumbo frets and a bone nut. There is no skunk stripe and no filler plug, just dense rosewood from nut to heel, finished in nitrocellulose lacquer. Acoustically it rings with a woody chime and a thickness in the low mids that a maple neck simply does not give you.

The body is two piece alder with deep '56 style contours, sprayed in Ocean Turquoise nitrocellulose lacquer and given the Journeyman Relic treatment. This is the sweet spot of Custom Shop ageing: soft edges, a gently worn satin sheen and light checking that reads like a guitar that has been loved rather than beaten. Against the turquoise sits a light gold anodized aluminium pickguard with matching backplate, one of the boldest combinations Fender has ever put together, finished off with vintage white plastics and relic'd nickel and chrome hardware.

The pickups are hand wound in the Custom Shop. Fat '50s single coils sit in the neck and reverse wound reverse polarity middle position, loaded with Alnico 5 magnets for enhanced bass response, warm and punchy mids and smooth, silky highs with that classic Strat sparkle. At the bridge sits a hand wound Texas Special, overwound for hotter output, strong midrange bite, crystalline highs and tight bass. Vintage Modified Wiring #2 routes the master volume to a first tone control for the neck and middle pickups and a second tone control for the bridge, so the bridge pickup can finally be tamed without touching anything else. It is a genuinely versatile Stratocaster: sweet and glassy in positions two and four, thick and vocal on the neck, and ready to snarl the moment you flick to the bridge.

Limited Edition guitars like this were built in small numbers and never repeated. The engraved Limited Edition neck plate, the Limited Edition headstock decal and the certificate of authenticity tell you exactly what you are holding. Solid rosewood neck Strats in Ocean Turquoise turn up rarely, and when they do they tend not to hang around.

Interested in this Fender Custom Shop Stratocaster? Send us a message and we will get straight back to you. Questions about the neck feel, the weight or extra photos are always welcome, and you are very welcome to make us an offer. And if you want to trade in a guitar, please check out how trading in works with us.

WEIGHT 3.55 kg

YEAR 2015

MODEL NUMBER 9235500808, Limited Edition package

COLOR AND FINISH Ocean Turquoise, nitrocellulose lacquer, Journeyman Relic

BODY '56 Stratocaster style body, 2 piece alder, deep body contours

NECK Rosewood neck, nitrocellulose lacquer finish, Custom '57 Style Soft "V" shape, 22.4 mm at the 1st fret and 25.1 mm at the 12th fret, 4 bolt mounting, small headstock, no plug or filler stripe, vintage style tuning keys with Fender logo relic, spaghetti logo with 54 to 60 Stratocaster decals, Limited Edition decal

FINGERBOARD Round laminated AAA dark rosewood 9 mm, 9.5" radius, 21 frets, 6105 narrow jumbo fret wire, nut width 1.650 inch / 41.9 mm, bone nut, white micarta face dots 6.4 mm with wide spacing, white micarta side dots

PICKUPS Hand Wound Fat '50s Strat neck relic, Hand Wound Fat '50s Strat middle relic reverse wound reverse polarity, Hand Wound Texas Special Strat bridge relic, Alnico 5 magnets

CONTROLS Strat Vintage Modified Wiring #2 relic, master volume, tone 1 for neck and middle, tone 2 for bridge, CRL 5 way lever switch

HARDWARE Chrome and nickel hardware, American Vintage Stratocaster synchronized tremolo bridge relic, vintage Stratocaster tremolo arm relic, American Vintage 56 to 58 string tree relic, engraved Limited Edition chrome neck plate, light gold anodized aluminium backplate relic

PICKGUARD 1 ply brushed light gold anodized aluminium, 8 hole, relic

PLASTICS Vintage white relic switch tip, vintage white relic small skirted volume and tone knobs, vintage white relic tremolo arm tip

CASE Fender Custom Shop black hardshell case