Fender Stratocaster Black/Gold Custom Shop Early John Page Era 1991 * COA / '69 PUs

Rare early Custom Shop Stratocaster with gold hardware, including a certificate of authenticity (COA)—autographed by John Page, the Custom Shop manager at the time.

Back then, there was no distinction between “Master-built” and “Team-built.” Instruments from this era (the Custom Shop wasn’t founded until 1987) were still handcrafted in very small batches with tremendous dedication and meticulous wood selection.

You can feel this immediately in the excellent resonance and dynamic tone. This Strat plays and sounds truly outstanding—crystal clear, with power and punch. An absolute dream guitar.

· MANUFACTURER: Fender Custom Shop

· MODEL: Stratocaster American Standard

· COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA

· YEAR OF MANUFACTURE: January 1991

· BODY STYLE: Doublecut Solidbody

· STRING CONFIGURATION: 6-string

· FINISH: Black

· BODY: Alder; the cutouts were professionally lined with copper foil

· NECK: Maple with “Modern C” profile

· FINGERBOARD: Dark rosewood with a 9.5" radius

· FRETS: 22 medium-jumbo frets

· TUNERS: Kluson-style vintage tuners

· SCALE LENGTH: 25.5" / 648 mm

· NUT WIDTH: 43 mm

· STRING ACTION: Fender two-point tremolo

· PICKUP CONFIGURATION: retrofitted Fender Custom Shop '69 single-coil pickups (perfect for Gilmour or Hendrix sounds)

· CONTROLS: 5-way pickup selector switch, 1 x master volume, 2 x tone

· HARDWARE: Gold (the two chrome tremolo bolts were probably added later)

· WEIGHT: 3.5 kg

· SPECIAL FEATURES: Early Custom Shop Strat from the coveted John Page era. Modified in some details: pickups (Custom Shop ’69) as well as the pickguard and other plastic parts (now black; original pickguard, pickup caps, and pot knobs are included).

· ACCESSORIES: Original Fender Tweed case, certificate, additional accessories as shown

· CONDITION: Considering its age, this Stratocaster is in excellent condition with minimal signs of wear—see photos. The freshly polished frets show no significant signs of wear.