1958 Fender Stratocaster Original Blonde on Ash - w/route

1958 Fender Stratocaster with completely original and rare Blonde finish with ash body combination.

Absolutely pristine condition except that hidden under the re-issue pickguard is a dreaded humbucker route that this beauty was criminally subjected to. If it wasn’t for this one imperfection, this guitar would be a museum piece. That’s how stunningly clean this strat is. Not only are the other parts original, they look to have never been removed from the guitar (including bridge, tuners and even the neck). And the extra room around the middle pickup and the type of plastic of the pickguard have no impact on the tone. It also has new frets because it’s for playing not displaying.

I’m Jim Fleser of The Chord Wheel (the best-selling book published by Hal Leonard and iPhone App) and I’m moving my Audible Orchard studio to a bigger and better location. However, the space needs a hardwood floor and many other studio necessities to bring the rooms up to par. And because the finances of a move are inherently expensive, I’ve decided to part with a guitar to ‘subsidize’ the studio-related construction.

I bought this guitar from SF Bay Area dealer/collector Jay Rosen many years ago. (He has a shop here on Reverb.) The original middle pickup had put back in place (along with re-issue pickguard) but the bridge pickup sounded horrible. I took the strat to renowned tech Gary Brawer in San Francisco who gave it a lovely new fret job and rewound the bridge pickup. However, I wanted this strat to only have tone-critical parts that are from Leo’s Fullerton shop in 1958. So, I found an original 1958 Strat pickup and had it installed instead. (Maybe a bit silly because the rewound pickup sounded just fine.) But other than the solder points for the pickups, it’s tone stack (pickups, 3-way pickup selector, caps, pots, etc.) is exactly how Leo built it 62 years ago. You can just make out the pencil date (looks like "5-58") in the middle of the f'n routing.  It weighs in at a comfortable 7lbs 10oz with Ash being a little beefier than Alder in my understanding.  Feels great.

The guitar comes with original case and case candy that rivals the condition (and perhaps rarity) of the strat itself. As the pictures illustrate, the tweed case and its Fender label are in excellent condition. Inside you will also find the original paperwork (a classic three page document that I’ve been offered $1K for), the original tremolo bar, the original strap, the original bridge cover (ashtray), a Fender-labeled pouch (with the original case keys, picks and allen wrench), the unopened “Fender Fine Musical Instruments” polishing cloth, a pack of vintage “Fender Electric Spanish Guitar” strings, the routed original pickguard and even an old business card from the shop where apparently the guitar was purchased.

This thing is a time capsule and, best of all, it plays/sounds as good as it looks. There is nothing like the real thing and this is as real as it gets. However, I have always felt that if it wasn’t for the damn humbucker route issue, this strat would be too nice (aka valuable) to take to gigs and give it the playing it deserves. I hope it finds a good home.

International shipping will need to be negotiated to determine true costs.