This Fender Custom Shop 55 Stratocaster Journeyman Relic in Aged White Blonde is part of our latest Shop Exclusive Run! We wanted the Ash and Maple combo but in a Strat and we couldn't be more thrilled with how these turned out! If you play clean, the tonewood combo is hard to argue against. There really isn't anything too crazy under the hood with this run. Nothing but simple, great tone.
The body of our 55 Strats is made from Swamp Ash, this much loved, revered, and increasingly harder-to-find tonewood that nails the sound of Fender's Earliest Days. More often, this wood is associated with the early Telecaster models (Broadcaster, Nocaster) and provides sweet, bright, tones. Not the choice for you Gainiacs out there but for those that play clean or mildly driven, this wood is hard to beat! This guitar weighs in at 7 lbs 7 oz and is finished in Charcoal Frost Metallic.
The neck is made from Roasted Quarter Sawn Maple. Wood that is cut at this angle affords more stability than even the same piece flat sawn. It takes a little larger neck blank to begin with but the benefits certainly outweigh the expense. The wood has been roasted which adds to it dimensional stability. The neck is shaped to Fender's 57 Soft V and the V is very soft and really starts to turn to a U around the 5th fret. The neck measures .850" in depth at the 1st fret and 990" at the 12th. The fingerboard radius is 9.5" and has 21 x 6150 Frets for a stellar playing experience. 1.65" nut width puts the strings right under your fingers and 25.5" scale length keeps the strings feeling taut and snappy.
A trio of Fender's Hand Wound 1950s Stratocaster Pickups comes loaded in this model. Think Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, Hank Marvin, and the early days of Rock n' Roll. But this Ash Bodied beauty can do some pretty convincing Tele-tones with the right licks and techniques. A master volume, 2 tones controls, and a 5-way pickup selector switch round out the important electronic details.
We've got more 55s on order and they will continue to arrive over the next few months. Stop by and see what they are all about or give us a call to chat about this killer new Strat model from The Music Gallery!