Custom Shop Reincarnation of a Legendary Early ’60s Strat
The Fender Custom Shop Limited Edition ’62/’63 Stratocaster Journeyman Relic takes you back to a time of change. Social upheaval and the British invasion were in full swing, and the Strat was in the thick of it. For the world’s first 3-pickup, vibrato-equipped comfort-contoured solidbody electric guitar, the thick maple necks of the ’50s had morphed into a comfortable, rounded C-shaped profile, and were now capped with a round-laminate rosewood fingerboard. Fender’s world-class Custom Shop luthiers painstakingly handcrafted the Limited Edition ’62/’63 Stratocaster Journeyman Relic complete with vintage-spec details such as a 2-piece select alder body, a gently relic’d nitrocellulose lacquer finish and 3-ply pickguard, vintage-style bridge and tuners, and a rift-sawn tinted maple neck. In the electronics department, the Limited Edition ’62/’63 Strat features three hand-wound ’60/’63 Strat Custom Shop hand-wound pickups and modern wiring that deliver the classic spank and sparkle that drove countless iconic recordings.
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Genius in the details
With Fender’s Limited Edition ’62/’63 Stratocaster Journeyman Relic, there’s genius in the details. This remarkable guitar’s beauty, tone, and playability are no accident. Fender’s innovative “Synchronized Tremolo” bridge delivered the smooth vibrato heard on popular surf records in the early ’60s, and today’s Custom Shop Vintage version (suitably aged, of course) is onboard this axe. Naturally, an early’60s Strat has to have the classic 3-ply white pickguard. Then, there’s the addictively playable ’63 C-profile rift-sawn tinted maple neck crowned by a vintage-style round-lam AAA rosewood fingerboard with rolled edges. But in a nod to modern high performance, this ’board has a 7.25–9.5-inch compound radius and 21 medium vintage frets. And pumping out that legendary Strat chime and bite is a trio of hand-wound Custom Shop ’62/’63 Strat pickups with modern 5-way switching.
Painstaking vintage accuracy
For the Limited Edition ’62/’63 Stratocaster Journeyman Relic, Fender Custom Shop artisans referenced several original ’62 and ’63 Strats and exhaustively analyzed them to ensure a painstaking level of vintage accuracy. Every facet of the original instruments — including minute details such as curves, perimeters, radii, and more — was examined, measured, evaluated, and ultimately incorporated into this amazing instrument. Take it from Sweetwater: what you see in this remarkable axe is more than the sum of its parts. It’s a highly playable, eminently musical-sounding re-creation of an iconic instrument that changed music forever.
The Journeyman Relic treatment
Though a relic’d guitar finish is almost as common these days as a flawless factory finish, it was the Fender Custom Shop that pioneered the process — and they know how to do it better than anyone. Fender offers different levels of finish distressing. One of the newer techniques is the Journeyman, found on the Fender Custom Shop Limited Edition ’62/’63 Stratocaster Journeyman Relic. This is an authentic nitrocellulose lacquer finish, which is thinner than today’s polyurethane finishes, allowing the wood to breathe and the tone to bloom. You get a look and feel that’s used but not abused. Imagine a beloved, decades-old guitar that’s been well taken care of, with a played-in feel but perfect fretwork. Like every instrument in our Guitar Gallery, it’s been through Sweetwater’s 55-point Guitar Inspection and plays splendidly, right out of the box.
Fender Custom Shop Limited Edition ’62/’63 Stratocaster Journeyman Relic Features:
- Journeyman Relic nitrocellulose lacquer finish
- 2-piece select alder body with 3-ply mint pickguard
- Rift-sawn tinted maple neck with ’63 C profile
- Round-Lam AAA rosewood fingerboard with 7.25–9.5-inch compound radius
- 21 narrow/tall 6105 frets; mother-of-pearl Dot inlays
- 3 Custom Shop hand-wound ’60/’63 Strat pickups (RWRP middle)
- 5-way selector switch; Master Volume and 2 Tone controls
- Vintage Strat “Synchronized Tremolo’ vibrato bridge
- Vintage-style tuning machines
- Bone nut; Wing string tree
- Relic’d hardware
