So much more than meets the eye, a 1968 Fender Stratocaster for your delictation…

This guitar has seen some life. Refinished in an attractive Daphne Blue, the cavity tells a tale of some sonic exploration by way of a humbucker route in the bridge position. The route has been done a little roughly but thankfully is invisible under the guard.

The neck has worn comfortably, the fretboard having been refretted reasonably recently and showing no signs of excessive wear. There is a little repair to the fretboard next to the nut where a new piece of rosewood has been added to bring the width of the slot back to the standard size. The headstock is in good shape with an additional string tree having been added in a couple of places, as is evident by the additional hole. The logo is still strong though it has worn somewhat and the face of the headstock has been over sprayed to protect the decal.

The plastics are possibly correct and in good shape. As you can see from the pictures, the back of the guard has some red splatter and there is no metal shield.

The pickups are correct Grey Bottom pickups. Both the middle and bridge pickups have been rewound by Monty’s Guitars. The pots and switch are later additions with the tone controls being 500k and the volume being 250k CTS. The switch is a modern 5 way.

The saddles are reproductions as is the block which could be a Callahan unit though this isn’t clear. The base plate is correct and it has Fender F type tuners on now but has had Kluson style in the past.

The guitar comes with a hardshell case that is non original.

Many of those classic Strat tones live in these mid-60’s guitars and the grey bottom pickups. These guitars really deliver a fantastic tone that hasn’t yet drifted too far towards the thinner end of the spectrum and still retains some of the fullness of the earlier incarnation Fender singe coils.

A good looking and playing guitar with a classic late 60s tone, this will not hang around for long…