CARRUTHERS Super Strat 1985 . Handmade Pro Guitar. RARE.

CARRUTHERS CUSTOM "SUPER STRATOCASTER" — 1985 | ONE OF A KIND

This is a hand-built, one-of-a-kind custom guitar by John Carruthers — one of the most consequential luthiers in American guitar history. If you don't know the name, consider this: Carruthers taught C.F. Martin IV how to build his first guitar, advised Bob Taylor in his early days, ran design and production at Fender, was personally asked to run the Fender Custom Shop (he declined), consulted for Leo Fender himself on the MusicMan Stingray, and has worked on instruments for Eric Clapton, Frank Zappa, Bob Dylan, Elvis, Tom Petty, Joni Mitchell, and dozens more. He is, simply put, the man who knew everyone who mattered — and was called upon by all of them precisely because his work exceeded what anyone else could produce.

THE GUITAR

Built in Carruthers' legendary Venice Beach shop circa 1985 for a professional player, this is not a Stratocaster. It is what a Stratocaster would be if Leo Fender had been given unlimited time, unlimited materials, and the hands of a master craftsman operating at the peak of his powers.

The architecture begins with a neck-through-body construction — a design approach Fender has never used on any production Stratocaster, at any price point. Where a standard Strat bolt-on neck creates a tonal and physical boundary between neck and body, the Carruthers neck runs continuously through the instrument, producing superior sustain, seamless upper-fret access, and a resonance that a bolt-on instrument simply cannot replicate. The rear body contour where neck meets body is sculpted to a degree that allows full, unobstructed reach and fretting pressure across every position on the board. Players who have never experienced a properly executed neck-through instrument are invariably startled by what becomes possible.

The body is alder — the same tonewood Fender has used for its finest Stratocasters since the 1950s — topped with a spectacular 4A figured Maple cap of a grade that Fender reserves for nothing in its standard production lineup. The neck and fretboard are Birdseye Maple of exceptional figure and quality, hand-selected and hand-shaped to a 1950s-style round profile: not chunky, but fuller and more comfortable in the hand than the flatter modern Strat neck — the profile that virtually every serious player eventually migrates toward.

The current finish is the result of two separate interventions by two of the most respected finishers in the business. Pat Wilkins — whose clientele reads like a who's-who of the world's finest vintage and custom instruments — executed the Santana Amber top. Kevin at Tonesmith Custom Boutique Guitars completed the black back and neck refinish. The result is a guitar whose visual presence is as arresting as its playing experience.

THE ELECTRONICS

This is where the Carruthers separates itself most dramatically from anything Fender has ever shipped.

The pickup configuration deploys three Seymour Duncan units: a Trembucker humbucker at the bridge, an SSL-5 Custom Stagger single coil in the middle, and a single coil at the neck — each controlled by its own individual flip switch rather than a shared selector, giving the player independent on/off control of every pickup simultaneously. A series/parallel splitter on the bridge humbucker adds additional tonal range. The result is a switching architecture of a sophistication and flexibility that no production Stratocaster offers at any price.

The onboard preamp — designed and built by Carruthers himself — is the crown jewel of the electronics package. No off-the-shelf component, no afterthought: a custom circuit conceived by the same mind that consulted for Fender, Yamaha, Ibanez, and Leo Fender personally. It provides tonal shaping and output capability that transforms the instrument's range far beyond what passive electronics allow.

WHY THIS INSTEAD OF A FENDER STRATOCASTER

A Fender Stratocaster — even an American Custom Shop Stratocaster — is a production instrument. It is built to a specification, in quantity, by a team of craftspeople working to a standard. It is an excellent instrument. It is also one of thousands.

This guitar was built by one person, for one person, once. John Carruthers — the man Fender asked to run its Custom Shop — applied his full attention, his finest materials, and his deepest craft to a single instrument. The neck-through construction, the 4A figured Maple top, the Birdseye Maple neck, the custom preamp, the independent switching architecture: none of these appear on any Fender production guitar. Most do not appear on any Fender Custom Shop guitar either.

A serious player who buys a Custom Shop Stratocaster is buying the best version of what Fender makes. A serious player who acquires this guitar is buying something Fender cannot make — because Fender does not work this way anymore, and the man who could build it this way built it once, in 1985, and moved on.

That player also acquires something with genuine investment-grade collectability. Hand built instruments by legendary luthiers at the height of their craft are not getting more available. They are getting rarer. This one will not come around again.

Includes hard shell case. Personalized nameplate available for new owner upon request.

Available exclusively from the professionally curated, internationally renowned Richard Davis Collection — accompanied by Certificate of Authenticity and Title.