To celebrate 70 years of the Stratocaster®—the platinum anniversary of the world’s greatest electric guitar—the Fender Custom Shop introduces the Limited Edition 70th Anniversary 1954 Stratocaster®. Its two-piece select ash body (with offset seam on the treble side) resonates with singing highs, sweet midrange and tight lows, and wears a gorgeous Wide Fade Two-Color Sunburst lacquer finish in a number of Custom Shop treatments with varying degrees of wear, including Time Capsule, NOS, Deluxe Closet Classic, Relic®, Journeyman Relic®, Heavy Relic® and Super Heavy Relic®.
This guitar was only available for order in 2024. The Fender Custom Shop does this with the 1954 Stratocaster only on important anniversaries. So, you can't just order a 1954 Strat resissue whenever you want it... The ordering window for this model has already closed, so if you are looking to add a 2024 Anniversary model to your collection, we've got you covered!
The 1st year for any product isn't without its quirks, and the 54 Strat was certainly one of them! With its serial number ONLY etched on the backplate (for the 1st 100 guitars made) and nowhere else on the guitar, it wasn't the easiest system for keeping track of things. The plastics were all made of bakelite (polystyrene), so they were known for cracking and breaking over time due to being brittle. The knobs have a smaller skirt than in subsequent years, and the switch tip looked more like a football than they do now. The pickup covers were also rounded over the edges, giving them a softer, more blended look. These are the dead giveaways that you are looking at a 54 Strat!
Its one-piece quartersawn maple neck is fashioned with a special 70th anniversary Soft “V” profile based on an incredible Strat® neck from July 1954. This is topped with a vintage compound-radius fingerboard (7.25” to 9.5”) with 21 medium vintage (47095) frets and a 1.625” bone nut. Three Custom Shop hand-wound ’54 Strat® pickups deliver that classic Strat® voice with clear, bell-like highs, routed through vintage '54 Strat® wiring with wax paper cap and five-way switching.
Other premium features and authentic first-year Strat® appointments include a single-ply white pickguard and serial-number back plate, 1954-style ABS white pickup covers and control knobs, Custom Shop vintage synchronized tremolo bridge, vintage-style tuners, disc string tree, special 70th Anniversary Stratocaster® neck plate, deluxe embroidered hardshell case, special “case candy” kit, and certificate of authenticity.
