My First Custom Shop Stratocaster | 2018 Fender 1969 Strat Heavy Relic Olympic White | Review + Demo

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For Fender Friday this week we are taking an in-person look at a 2018 Fender Custom Shop 1969 Stratocaster in Olympic White with hand wound 1969 pickups. This is my first custom shop Stratocaster and I really liked the tones I could get out of this one. I'm in a bit of a rut when it comes to my playing skills, but I can definitely see how a talented player could make this Strat sing!

Mentioned Videos

Episode Guide:
0:00 - Intro - Check Links In Description!
0:17 - Relic Job
2:26 - Specs
3:47 - Inside Look
6:09 - Tone Demo
7:51 - Case / Candy

My Gear Used to Make the Show:
+ Universal Audio Apollo Twin

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My First Custom Shop Stratocaster | 2018 Fender 1969 Strat Heavy Relic Olympic White | Review + Demo
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[Trog]

This was my first custom shop Stratocaster. I liked the tones, but I'm not really big on this relic job - the neck felt nice though! A little bit more of the story of this strat will be coming later...

[Killstrike]

If I can ever afford a custom shop guitar, that thing will be super clean and I’ll relic it by playing until I’m dead.

[TestarossaMusicista]

Funny you mention aged Gibsons looking they've been cut with a razor. That's exactly how they're done.

[GrimYak]

Fender Worker: Sir, this body has a blemish on it, we have to repaint, , ,
Manager: Send it to the custom shop, let's relic it.

[Lagmire]

I’m ok with the relic look in general but I HATE what they’ve done for those fake wear marks between the frets. They all look identical which makes it look cheesy.

[brownbess]

I miss being addressed as a Troglodyte.

[triledink]

Looks like somebody dropped it down the stairs and into a trash can.














Awesome!

[scrubbingmonkeys]

Love your videos. This Strat sounds so much better on laptop speakers than any gibson you have done

[cctn]

Sorry i can't see the heavy relic CS guitars they just go to far . A closet classic i can dig that is to much imo for the price. Just me. Sounds good though thanks.

[Gretev]

69 Strat pickups are among my favorites from the Fender Custom Shop. Definitely a nice first Fender Custom Shop guitar!

[Tonetwisters]

I have been playing guitar for 57 years, currently in year 58, and have been around and playing Fenders since 1961. I've played in bands for 35 years and worked in several music stores and seen A LOT of Fender guitars. I have NEV-ver seen a Fender guitar or bass with that kind of wear on the arm bout. I have a 1991, '62 reissue finished in Vintage White, that is now downright yellow. I will admit that I can see a bit of Fullerplast showing through. But seriously, I do not believe that arm bout-to-the-wood wear is a common thing across the Fender years. I am personally not a fan of heavy relicking; but to each his own. And maybe someday EYE will have a Fender Custom Shop Stratocaster. But at those prices, I am not holding my breath. I would rather put that much money into a really good Gibson ES-330, as I know my days of playing through amplifiers are numbered.

[johnm]

It's like buying jeans with holes in the knees already, I'm fully capable of making stuff look old in time.

[ABCDEFR]

Just a heads up on why the different degrees of wear feel different on the body - Nitro finish is generally shot in 3 stages. First a clear or slightly yellowed sealing layer sprayed over the raw wood, then the colour layer, and finally the protective clear coat layer. Obviously this isn't indicative of the amount of coats of each, but I digress. I imagine what you're feeling is the difference between actual raw wood (which has been further artificially darkened to simulate the effect of oil from our skin etc) and the places where the paint layer has been worn away, but the sealer remains. At least that's what it felt like on the last official Fender relic I took a look at, but that was a passing inspection at a music store so I could be wrong.

I also imagine that while the parts of the body where all the finish has been removed probably didn't receive an additional coat of sealant (warping isn't really a huge concern with the slab at this point), the back of the neck and those wear points on the fretboard were likely resprayed after being distressed with at least a coat of sealant to prevent undue moisture (sweat, humidity, etc) from causing an issue down the line. I can't imagine they'd feel terribly confident in offering a warranty on something like a completely raw maple neck.

Then again, I could be entirely off base, I'm by no means a professional painter/relicer.

[randywhitaker]

Don’t like any type of relic, but the guitar really sounds great.

[dan]

I still just can’t bring myself to like such a heavy relic job. Lol it looks like it fell out of the truck on the highway. Still cool to take a close look at it and hear it. Thank you

[Metalfreak-vvyc]

Cool video. Nice looking guitar. Also Austin, I picked up a Lead ll. If you want to borrow it for a review, let me know.

[aaronnovotny]

I think Strats suit your playing style better.

[iVan]

This is pretty pretty pretty pretty pretty cool

[judithzummo]

I think the aging process is really over the top. I have a 1990 fender 62' jazz bass I've been in punk bands classic & rock bands that played in crap dive bars outdoor restaurants near water and it looks a hell of a lot cooler than that thing. They over do it to a point where it's looks juvenile.

[dartman]

The feel of a relic neck is incredible, even if you don't like the relic look.👍😎🎸🎶