Anybody?
custom shop guitar.

Jeff(bigtikidude)

Thanks Bob

Jeff(bigtikidude)

That is a beautiful guitar! I'll buy a ticket or two. I never win stuff, maybe this will turn that around!

Bump

Jeff(bigtikidude)

I have received the guitar. Hard to capture the beauty on a picture.
But here is one last night.

Jeff(bigtikidude)

Custom shop strat,
3000 dollar value

Jeff(bigtikidude)

Bump

Jeff(bigtikidude)

Jeff, do you have any specs on this beauty?

-John

The Seatopians 2017-
The Seatopians on bandcamp

YES, INDEED, I WON THIS INCREDIBLE INSTRUMENT! I can't even believe my luck. As soon as Jeff sent me a note a couple of months ago that this is the guitar for the raffle, I was in love! So, I had to enter it on Saturday, and was completely blown away that I won it. Here I am with it, and then a couple of close-up shots:

The guitar plays like a dream, truly, it's incredibly resonant, the neck ridiculously comfortable, and everything just feels perfect, like the best Strat I've ever held - seriously, I really mean that. I've only been able to plug it into a small practice amp so far, but I was amazed by how great it sounds, very lively and '60s vintage-y, deep, full sounds, with a wide-range of useful tone controls - which is something I never touch usually, but in this case, I would and will. In addition, it's got a push-push tone control switch which works in the bridge and bridge-middle pickup positions and activates the neck pickup - so it comes built-in with one of the most popular mods for surf guitarists playing a Strat, the ability to combine the neck and bridge pickups. The first Strat I've got that has that ability!

The guitar now has just 9s on it, but even with that, I am blown away how good it feels to play unnplugged. I actually got goosebumps on Tuesday when I played it a bit UNPLUGGED. Ridiculous!

I get that this isn't a very traditional-looking Strat, and for some people on here that might be a turn-off, but it sounds completely like a great '60s Strat, which is the main thing for a surf musician.

The quilted maple top is soooooo gorgeous I find myself just staring at it close-up for minutes at the time! It's hypnotic! I know that's not something usually associated with Fenders, but I couldn't care less, it's so beauuutiful!

This is the first Strat I've ever had with a big headstock, and I'm actually really digging it! It''s different but fun. And I finally get to channel Ritchie Blackmore, or even the '70s Hank Marvin!

Talking with Jeff, here's the story of the guitar. First of all, it's a one-off, assembled by Mark Kendrick at Fender's Custom Shop. But it used mostly normal production line parts with the exception of the body, which my strong guess is that it is Custom Shop built, I don't know of any production line and even Mod Shop guitar that has that as an option. Otherwise, the specs are:

American Performer neck - 9.5" radius, jumbo frets, modern C shape, satin finish
American Professional II 2-point bridge with cold-rolled steel block and vintage saddles, as well as a pop-in arm with a tension adjustment screw underneath the bridge plate
American Professional II Greasebucket electronics, with finely-tuned tone controls and the push-push tone pot that activates the neck pickup in pickup switch positions 1 and 2

As far as the pickups, I can't be sure what they are though I plan to inquire with Mr. Kendrick. What is obvious, though, is that they have staggered and hand-beveled poles, so they're probably either Custom Fat '50s or Fat '60s pickups, something like that, since I believe those are Fender's main pickups with hand-beveled poles.

There you go! The most frustrating thing about this guitar is that I keep having to do other things and am not able to play it nearly as much as I would like! Arrghhh! A truly inspiring instrument!

HUGE THANKS to Mark Kenrick at the Fender Custom Shop for making this remarkable instrument available for the SG101 Fest raffle, and to Jeff BTD for organizing it all! I'm deeply grateful to you both! I can assure you that the guitar ended up in the hands of somebody that will love it and cherish it for life!!

Ivan
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Last edited: Aug 01, 2024 13:11:53

bigtikidude wrote:

Ivan won this. Crazy

As in Ivan P? Well, if anyone needs a Strat, it’s him.

The artist formerly known as: Synchro

When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.