tjon901 « Fenders famous Custom Shop Relic »
Published on 06/05/11 at 16:33Fenders Custom Shop is quickly becoming known for putting out some of the more realisticly reliced guitars on the market today. This guitar is the Fender Custom Shop 57 Heavy Relic guitar and heavy relic is no understatement. This guitar looks like it has seen 40 years of gig stage wars. The thin nitro finish is heavily worn and check and is falling off in some places. The buckle rash on the back of the guitar is worn completely through. The screws and strap pegs are rusty and look like they have not been treated well. This guitar matches old looks with modern playability. The neck profile is a soft v shape and the back of the neck and worn smooth to simulate years of playing. The back of the neck is super quick due to it being pretty much bare wood at this point. The radius of the fretboard is slightly flatter than a 50s strat would have and the Dunlop frets are a lot bigger than what you would have got back then. It has Fender Custom shop pickups and a 5 way switch. The position most rearward on the switch selects the bridge position pickup. The next position right selects the bridge and the middle pickups. The middle position on the pickup selector selects the middle pickup on the guitar. The next position selects the middle pickup and the neck pickup. And the selector position closest to the neck selects the neck pickup. It has the standard non locking Fender tremolo system so it will go out of tune if you use it.
UTILIZATION
The worn is neck is super quick and the flat fretboard with the jumbo Dunlop frets makes the action super easy. The frets are so big they kinda look out of place on a strat but once you start playing it you forget about looks. The fretboard itself has lots of wear on it and it feels smooth under your fingers. The finish has wear where you would typically come in contact with it so those spots are super smooth. Other spots are not so smooth on the finish due to the gashes chips and checking in the finish. If you rub your hand too hard on the finish some of the paint will come off it is so distressed. The classic Fender tremolo is a classic design but it wasnt good then and it still isnt good now. I would recommend you block it for better tuning stability.
SOUNDS
Strats to me are all about the clean tones. These pickups have a vintage output. The hottest one is only about 6.5K so you wont be doing much high gain with this setup. The clean tones and bluesy tones sound great though. On the neck pickup position this guitar sounds huge and the bridge pickup has the great twang you expect from a strat. When you combine the bridge and the middle pickups the two pickups cancel out each others noise. So in this position the guitar is quieter plus it has its own tone. The neck and the middle pickup also have the same feature. When you combine them the pickups cancel out each other noise. The neck pickup is great for solos and chord playing. The inbetween positions get you the classic funky strat sounds. The guitar really resonates well acoustically and this contributes to its great sound when plugged in.
OVERALL OPINION
If you have the money and want a Strat for the cornerstone of your collection this could be it. You can fool all your friends into thinking you owned the guitar since the 60s or something and blow their minds when you tell them It was made just a few months ago. Some people will call you crazy for paying so much money for a guitar that is beat up. Those people have obviously never played one. These guitar have a little extra mojo that normal strats dont have and you can really feel it and hear it in the tone of the guitar.
UTILIZATION
The worn is neck is super quick and the flat fretboard with the jumbo Dunlop frets makes the action super easy. The frets are so big they kinda look out of place on a strat but once you start playing it you forget about looks. The fretboard itself has lots of wear on it and it feels smooth under your fingers. The finish has wear where you would typically come in contact with it so those spots are super smooth. Other spots are not so smooth on the finish due to the gashes chips and checking in the finish. If you rub your hand too hard on the finish some of the paint will come off it is so distressed. The classic Fender tremolo is a classic design but it wasnt good then and it still isnt good now. I would recommend you block it for better tuning stability.
SOUNDS
Strats to me are all about the clean tones. These pickups have a vintage output. The hottest one is only about 6.5K so you wont be doing much high gain with this setup. The clean tones and bluesy tones sound great though. On the neck pickup position this guitar sounds huge and the bridge pickup has the great twang you expect from a strat. When you combine the bridge and the middle pickups the two pickups cancel out each others noise. So in this position the guitar is quieter plus it has its own tone. The neck and the middle pickup also have the same feature. When you combine them the pickups cancel out each other noise. The neck pickup is great for solos and chord playing. The inbetween positions get you the classic funky strat sounds. The guitar really resonates well acoustically and this contributes to its great sound when plugged in.
OVERALL OPINION
If you have the money and want a Strat for the cornerstone of your collection this could be it. You can fool all your friends into thinking you owned the guitar since the 60s or something and blow their minds when you tell them It was made just a few months ago. Some people will call you crazy for paying so much money for a guitar that is beat up. Those people have obviously never played one. These guitar have a little extra mojo that normal strats dont have and you can really feel it and hear it in the tone of the guitar.