The Fender Custom Shop has been building dream guitars for the cream of the guitar crop for nearly 20 years. From faithful reproductions of classic axes of the past to fully tweaked customs built to an individual's personal specifications, few instruments command the level of respect afforded Fender Custom Shop models. There are degrees of Fender Custom Shop models: Stock Team-built and Team-built Custom. A select few instruments are handbuilt by the Master Luthiers, the same luthiers that build custom instruments for the likes of Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, and Merle Haggard. This is the Fender Custom Shop Rory Gallagher Tribute Stratocaster.

Custom Shop Engineering

Fender Custom Shop designers met Donal Gallagher, brother of the late, great Rory Gallagher, in 1997 at Los Angeles International Airport and received a gig bag holding one of the most coveted guitars of all time-Rory's worn-to-the-wood 1961 Stratocaster guitar. Fender initially built 40 "clones" for the European market, and was subsequently besieged with requests for more.

Replicating the Legend

The Rory Gallagher Tribute Stratocaster guitar is an exact replica of that revered instrument, right down to the extremely worn 3-Color Sunburst alder body, maple neck and rosewood fingerboard. Fender even included five Sperzel tuners and one Gotoh tuner, and they've replaced the 12th-fret dot marker with white plastic instead of the original clay. It also features three custom-wound '60s single-coil pickups, aged chrome hardware, 21 jumbo frets and a bone nut. This is Fender's homage to a true and truly missed master.