Fender Classic '60s Stratocaster - Lake Placid Blue with Rosewood Fingerboard

A True Classic Meets the Turbulent '60s

In a time when musicians were altering, mutilating, incinerating, and flat-out evoking sounds never imagined, Leo Fender and his original team of designers and builders first introduced the Stratocaster. After that, rock truly came into its own, and the Strat eventually became a symbol of the 1960s counter-culture. A rosewood fingerboard, multi-ply Mint Green pickguard, and vintage hardware capture another colorful chapter in Fender history.

• Straight from the Time Machine
• That trademark Strat sound
• Historically accurate maple neck with rosewood fingerboard

While the Telecaster (and the single pickup version, the Esquire) had success, Leo Fender listened to players who were looking for an instrument that was a step up from the "plain vanilla" Tele. The company had moved into a new factory and now had the ability to build an upscale solidbody electric. In 1954, the Fender Stratocaster made its debut, and a true American icon was born. But by the 1960s, the Strat had begun to evolve. A 2-color sunburst gave way to the more colorful 3-color 'burst when new custom colors were introduced. And finally, players had a choice of rosewood or maple fingerboards.

The '60s Strat looks like it came straight from the Time Machine. Its sleek, stylish lines didn't change much from the original 1954 design, but subtle, yet important design changes and new options (like the rosewood fingerboard) made the '60s Strat an important instrument. This re-creation features the popular custom color Lake Placid Blue with a polyester finish over a select alder body. It also sports a multi-ply Mint Green pickguard and a vintage-style synchronized tremolo.

Good looks are just part of the story. The '60s Strat also sounds faithful to the original, thanks to three vintage-style single-coil Strat pickups with staggered Alnico magnet pole pieces. This delivers all the spank and sparkle you'd expect, but unlike those early Strats (which came with a simple three-position pickup selector switch), the '60s Strat comes with the more versatile five-position blade selector switch. This allows you to quickly access the popular, glossy "out-of-phase" sound (which really wasn't) produced by combining the bridge and middle or middle and neck pickups. In the '50s and '60s, players had to carefully place their switches in the in-between positions to achieve those sounds.

Leo Fender wasn't afraid to think outside the box when it came to guitar designs. In the 1950s, the blonde, natural maple neck turned more than a few heads and became almost synonymous with Fender guitars. But by the 1960s, rosewood fingerboards became an option. The '60s Strat comes with a 1-piece maple neck and rosewood fingerboard with the fast-playing, classic C-shape and a gloss polyurethane finish.

• Lake Placid Blue color
• Solidbody electric
• Polyester finish
• Maple neck
• C-shape neck with 7.25" radius
• Select alder body wood
• Fender/Ping vintage-style tuning machines
• Rosewood fingerboard
• 21 frets
• Pearloid dot inlays
• 3 vintage-style single-coil Strat pickups
• Master volume and 2 tone control (neck and middle pickups)
• Vintage-style synchronized tremolo bridge
• 5-position blade switch
• Chrome hardware
• Deluxe gig bag included
• 25.5" scale length

You could easily make the case that Fender electric guitars were responsible (at least in great part) for the birth of modern rock 'n' roll. Originally designed to be easier to build and thus more affordable, Leo Fender's masterpieces, which include classics like the Stratocaster (is there a more distinctive guitar shape in the world?), the Telecaster, and the original Precision Bass, were at the core of a musical revolution that spawned everything from surf to country to punk!

In the 1960s, when Fender guitars first hit bandstands and stages all around the country, it was astonishing to see that trademark Fender maple neck and fingerboard. Though the company eventually offered rosewood fingerboards as standard or optional on its entire line of instruments, those first blonde necks really shook things up. Others have picked up on the maple neck theme, but it's clearly yet another of Leo Fender's "firsts."

Today, no other manufacturer can match Fender for the sheer number of options available throughout its entire line. While vintage Fenders can command astronomic prices, the company now has the widest range of quality instruments in the world, along with the highest profile players, such as Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix, and Stevie Ray Vaughan, all of whom are legendary.
NOTE: This product is available in the United States only - no international sales.