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From Our Research Team:

Lefty? You Can Still Own a Piece of Guitar History!!

One of the most popular instruments in history, the FENDER^® Stratocaster^® - first introduced in 1954 - is certainly the most imitated electric guitar ever. 1962 was another watershed year for the instrument. The culmination of five more years of tweaking - resulting in small but important changes - the '62 now sports a three-color sunburst or "Custom Colors" along with a "round lam" rosewood fingerboard, three-ply aged "mint green" pickguard and those great-sounding '57/'62 pickups. This particular guitar was crafted specifically for left-handed players.

Fender American Vintage '62 "Lefty" Stratocaster At a Glance:

• Three-color lacquer finish over a "comfort contoured" alder body
  
• Three new American Vintage Strat^® single coil pickups with beveled magnets
  
• One-piece maple neck and rosewood fingerboard with classic "C" shape and lacquer finish

Straight from the Time Machine™ to You!
While the Telecaster^® (and the single pickup version, the Esquire) was a success, Leo Fender listened to players who were looking for an instrument that was a step up from the "plain vanilla" Tele^®. The company had moved into a new factory and now had the ability to build an upscale solid body electric. In 1954, the Fender Stratocaster made its debut and a true American icon was born. By 1957, some would say the maple neck Strat had been perfected with features like the "custom contoured" body. In 1962, the Strat had finally become available with the more traditional rosewood fingerboard.

Fender employees Dan Smith and John Page flew all over the country and looked at every vintage Strat^®, eventually deciding that the 1957 model, as well as the 1962 model with rosewood fingerboard, were the quintessential Strats. Recreated using measurements taken from over 200 Stratocasters, the '62 Strat truly looks like it came straight from the Time Machine™. Its sleek, stylish lines in some ways seem to owe more to contemporary automobile designs than traditional guitar building. This recreation features a three-color sunburst nitro-cellulose lacquer finish over a "comfort contoured" alder body, along with all the other features that made the original instrument such an overwhelming success. These include a multi-ply "mint green" pickguard and an American Vintage synchronized tremolo.
What's more, you left-handed players out there will certainly appreciate the "mirror image" design of this guitar!

That Trademark Strat Sound
Good looks are just part of the story. The '62 Strat also sounds faithful to the original thanks to three newly designed '57/'62 American Vintage single coil pickups with aged covers. This delivers all the "spank and sparkle" you'd expect, and just like the original, the '62 Strat comes with the three-position blade selector switch (back then, players had to carefully place their switches in the "in between" positions to access pickup combinations for what was inaccurately called the "out-of-phase" sound). Not to worry, as Fender has thoughtfully included a five-position switch kit, should you wish to access those classy, classic tones with less hassle. Either way, the '62 sounds just like the best Strat off the assembly line during that historic year!

Historically Accurate Natural Maple Neck
Leo Fender wasn't afraid to "think outside the box" when it came to guitar designs. In the 1950s and well into the 1960s, the blond natural maple neck turned more than a few heads and became almost synonymous with Fender guitars. The '62 Strat comes with a one-piece maple neck, but with the historically-accurate "round lam" rosewood fingerboard with the fast-playing, classic "C" shape and, true to its vintage, a nito-cellulose lacquer finish.

Fender American Vintage'62 Stratocaster Features:

• Color: Three-color sunburst
  
• Body Type: Solidbody electric
  
• Finish: Nitro-Cellulose Lacquer
  
• Neck Wood: Maple
  
• Neck Shape: "C" shape with 7.25-inch radius
  
• Body Wood: Confort contoured alder
  
• Machine Heads: Fender / Gotoh vintage style tuning machines
  
• Fingerboard: Rosewood (round-lam)
  
• No. of Frets: 21 vintage style
  
• Position Markers: White pearloid dot inlays
  
• Pickups: Three American Vintage single coil Strat pickups
  
• Controls: Master volume and two tone control (neck and middle pickups)
  
• Bridge/Tailpiece: American Vintage synchronized tremolo with "ash tray" bridge cover
  
• Pickup Switching: Three-position blade switch (five-position kit included)
  
• Hardware: Chrome
  
• Scale Length: 25.5 inches
  
• Case: Deluxe brown hardshell case included

Fender Guitars
You could easily make the case that Fender electric guitars were responsible - at least in great part - for the birth of modern rock 'n' roll. Originally designed to be easier to build, and thus more affordable, Leo Fender's masterpieces, which include classics like the Stratocaster (is there a more distinctive guitar shape in the world?), the Telecaster and the original Precision Bass^®, were at the core of a musical revolution that spawned everything from surf to country to punk!

In the 1960s, when Fender guitars first hit bandstands and stages all around the country, it was astonishing to see that trademark Fender maple neck and fingerboard. Though the company eventually offered rosewood fingerboards as standard or optional on its entire line of instruments, those first"blond" necks really shook things up. Others have picked up on the maple neck theme, but it's clearly yet another of Leo Fender's "firsts."

Today, no other manufacturer can match Fender for the sheer number of options available throughout its entire line. While vintage Fenders can command astronomic prices, the company now has the widest range of quality instruments in the world, along with the highest profile players like Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan, all of whom are legendary.

Specification Detail Body Material Alder Body Finish Nitrocellulose Color 3-Color Sunburst Neck Material Maple, Bolt-on Neck Shape C Scale Length 25.5 Fingerboard Material Rosewood, 7.25" Radius Fingerboard Inlay White Dots Number of Frets 21 Nut Width 1.650" Bridge/Tailpiece Tremolo Tuners Vintage Style Number of Pickups 3 Neck Pickup American Vintage '62 Strat Single-Coil Middle Pickup American Vintage '62 Strat Single-Coil Bridge Pickup American Vintage '62 Strat Single-Coil Controls 1 x Volume, 2 x Tone, 5-way switch Case Included Hardshell Notes Left-Handed Model Manufacturer Part Number 010-0120-800

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