The Fender Custom Shop 1959 Stratocaster Heavy Relic has the look, feel, and voice of a soulful electric guitar with plenty of well-earned battle scars. This Strat's 2-piece alder body and rift-sawn maple neck proudly bear the Custom Shop's Heavy Relic finish treatment. This heaviest of Fender's relic'ing options results in an axe with the vibe and visuals that stem from surviving half a century of touring. The Custom Shop then loaded this '59 with a set of hand-wound Texas Special single-coil pickups, endowing the '59 Strat Time Machine Heavy Relic with a formidable voice. Thanks to its heavily aged nitro finish and aged hardware, the 1959 Stratocaster Time Machine Heavy Relic not only looks like a well-loved guitar, but one that feels like it's been by your side for decades.

Carefully chosen tonewoods

Before you ever plug it in, the Fender Custom Shop 1959 Stratocaster Heavy Relic electric guitar sings with a resonance and clarity that are hard to find in lesser instruments. Its carefully selected 2-piece alder body is joined to a rift-sawn maple neck. Not only does the rift-sawn lumber create immense stability, but players at Music Experience attest to feeling more sustain with this style compared to traditional necks.

Heavy Relic treatment offers the look of a well-worn friend

The Custom Shop's Heavy Relic treatment starts with a period-correct nitrocellulose lacquer finish. Nitro finishes — standard back in the day — are significantly thinner than today's polyurethane finishes, allowing the guitar to breathe. Heavy Relic'd guitars are then put through the aging process to give you an authentic axe that looks and feels like it's seen over five decades of frontline action.

Hand-wound Texas Special pickups

Overwound, vintage-style Strat pickups with plenty of grind, the '59 Time Machine's hand-wound Custom Shop Texas Special single-coils are the pickups that defined the Texas sound. Alnico V magnets and enamel-coated magnet wire give these pickups their distinct throaty tone. Throw in a reverse-wound/reverse-polarity middle pickup for hum canceling in positions 2 and 4, and you've got a gritty-sounding Strat that kicks hard while retaining the Fender Custom Shop 1959 Stratocaster Time Machine Heavy Relic's trademark spank, sparkle, and grit.

What Fender Says...

This venerable transition year for the Strat brought several big changes, including a flat-lam rosewood fingerboard, white “clay” position dots and an 11-hole pickguard (single-ply until that July). Leo Fender, never one to waste anything, would use up parts until they were gone completely, so during transition years you can find different and distinctive combinations of parts. We’ve incorporated some of those rare combinations in this faithful recreation. A two-piece select alder body (ash on aged white blonde) wears a Heavy Relic nitrocellulose lacquer finish for a well-loved look and feel. The rift-sawn maple neck sports an “oval C” profile, 9.5”-radius flat-lam rosewood fingerboard and 21 jumbo frets for comfortable deep bends. Hand-wound Texas Special pickups are connected to five-way switch and vintage modified #2 wiring on a rare 11-hole single-ply parchment pickguard. Other features include a Custom Shop vintage-style synchronized tremolo, vintage-style tuning machines, bone nut and wing string tree with metal spacer. Also includes deluxe hardshell case, strap and certificate of authenticity.