Fender Custom Shop GT11 Heavy Relic Stratocaster - Olympic White/3-Tone Sunburst - Sweetwater Exclusive Reviews

I did not buy my GT-11 straight from Sweetwater, but second hand. When the shop put it out for sale, I had little interest. I like vintage specs in general, and I thought the slim neck carve and flatter fretboard radius would not feel right on this. I also thought I did not like relics.

I played unplugged for a few minutes and found that the neck felt GREAT. The reliced body and neck make the guitar feel played-in.

I plugged into a Blues Jr and put the guitar through its paces. These sweet '64 pickups are some of the juiciest Stratocaster pickups I have ever heard. By the time I put the guitar down, I was already doing math in my head, totaling up how many cheaper guitars I would have to sell (it turned out to be eight!).

Two and a half years later, I can honestly say that this is the best Stratocaster I have ever played. Others have come and gone, but this one always has pride of place in my collection and playing rotation. This is one of the few guitars I own that has never gone back to its case. I always want it close to hand, and I play it nearly every day.

Leo Fender intended the middle pickup to be the main pickup, with the bridge pickup used for more bite and the neck pickup used for more bass. This is the only Stratocaster I have played on which the middle pickup is my main playing pickup. The blending knob comes in very handy. I end up using position two with the neck fully added. A Stratocaster sounds fantastic with all three pickups working together!

The roasted alder body and roasted maple neck are supremely resonant. I only one one guitar that thrums more in the hand, and that is a PRS with a set neck.

Sweetwater spec-ed out a sweet guitar, and the Fender Custom shop built it flawlessly. It even made me a believer in relics!

Thomas Bradley insured me this is a great axe:) My most expensive guitar ever- Buying this is motivation for me to play every day- I'M just a bedroom player basically, but I have a good feeling this Relic guitar is a good fun appreciating Invesment for many years to come, That I won't be afraid to baby it too and play it with great passion! And in 25 years from now pass it on to my nephew, and hopefully he to - his child etc.

This is easily one of the best and my person favorite guitars i own of fender you can feel and hear the quality just get it stop looking at it every day just click the button as of now im replacing all my guitars with custom shop ones

Top Notch! Intonation great up and down the neck with low string height, no buzzing and no fretting out. Stays in tune with string bending, strings do not roll off the neck, plus it sounds awesome with the Mike lewis hand wound pickups. My "go to guitar" after 46 years of playing music. Impressive!

Stunning instrument, super comfy neck, light body and great overall balance. The blender tone knob is all you need to achieve any tone your looking for. This one does it all. Add a little fuzz to these sweet 64 pickups and man does this thing sustain for days!! My other guitars are pissed this moved in case I don't need anything else. I've played a ton of all makes and model Strat pickups and these 64's are tonal bliss... sell you other Strats you know you have many and get the only one you'll ever need. Highly recommend and big shout out to my sales Rep Tyler Moore the man knows his stuff and his customer service is second to none. Beast of a guitar!!!

I bought the Fender Custom Shop GT11 Heavy Relic last year and it is my main guitar now. The pickup sound is fantastic, the guitar is very light, and the neck is slim which is perfect for me. I love it.

This is easily my favorite guitar among my collection. It plays great, sounds dope and also looks cool. I was hesitant to buy it because of the steep price, but every review I read or video I watched talked about how awesome this guitar is. And they were right! The only con is the price. It may be an amazing guitar, but to me it doesn't feel like a $+ guitar. That being said, if you can afford it you should definitely buy it!

For whatever reason I got the itch for one of these. Owned many high end guitars and some cheapo"s as well. I swore on never buying a guitar this expensive that was In this condition. But I like it. The vibe the feel the neck and the sound. The tone controls are very useful or musical. Some tone knobs just squash the tone or sound but I use these tone controls more than I ever have on a guitar.
The finish may not suit everyone but was what I was looking for and love it. It feels great overall and light. Just feels right.
It feels like a new guitar even with the relic finish. Ok see ya, I wanna go play it now.

I've always stuck to the idea that fender guitars have always been overrated. The ones I tried all played horribly or had some quality control issue. Only one which was a vintera Strat was actually good, and that guitar is MIM. I have tried many CS strats in shops and dealers and they all had some sort of issue. This CS was no different and was ultimately the worse one I tried. Upon receiving it, the relic was fantastic, authentic and felt good in the hands. The neck finish along with the roasted flamed maple neck was was super smooth. The setup was not for me with high action and a lot of neck relief. First frustration came with the fact that no adjustment tools come with the guitar. Non of my tools fit the saddle hex slots and my truss rod tools were not long enough to fit in the dual bi flex hole for truss rod adjustment. I had to use a plier to rotate the wrench on the short end of the L. So frustrating. Eventually I got the neck to be as flat as I like. Playing was easier but this is the ultimate test to see how level the frets are. Unfortunately frets 3/4-6/7 had high frets therefore resulting in really bad buzzing around those frets on the g-a strings. No leveling issues anywhere else but none the less, you're paying a ridiculous price for this type of fret work. The buzzing was of course is not noticeable from the factory setup because the action is really high and the neck having a lot of relief (creating fall away, in the middle of the neck so the high frets will be either level or lower than the first couple of frets). If your a technical player who does more than cowboy chord, playing your grandpas old blues pentatonic licks with high action because you like to "fight your guitar" you're literally being brainwashed by fender and the big G that it's all mojo and that's how the real vintage guitars are to be played. Another issue was the cheap 5 way switch that comes in the guitar. It's super flimsy and you can't precisely/conveniently go from neck to 4th position or 2nd position because it skips to the next position. I have a Ibanez az essential (beginner guitar) that has a better 5 way switch than what on this guitar. Lastly there is a squeaking noise on the high e string on frets 12-15 when I'm doing a vibrato. It is super annoying and is still present after changing strings. Tried to look at the frets where they contact the strings and don't see any issues but hear it definitely coming from the string rubbing against the fret. I will never buy another fender guitar. This is exactly why you have brands like suhr, xotic, Tom Anderson, Schecter USA, PRS SS that are doing so well low because they make better strats (idc it's a Strat and it's better than the trash fender builds). They actually are worth your money with better QC and craftsmanship with some models cheaper than a fender CS. The only good thing about this guitar (hence my two stars) is the relic and the pickups.