SOLD - Fender Custom Shop Time Machine 58 Strat Relic – USA 2008

SOLD

From Fender -

"Rocking a heavily relic'd nitrocellulose lacquer finish, the Fender Custom Shop 1958 Time Machine Relic Stratocaster looks, sounds, and plays like an original 1958 Strat that's been maintained in tip-top playing condition. The worn nitro finish feels comfortably broken in from day one, with a few spots of more intense wear providing the appearance of decades of regular use. Handcrafted by Fender's elite Custom Shop luthiers, this '58 Time Machine is spec'd with a trio of Fat '50s Strat single-coil pickups — your guarantee of killer tone.

Before you ever plug the guitar in, the Fender Custom Shop Ltd. 1958 Strat Relic electric guitar sings with a resonance and clarity that is hard to find in lesser instruments. Its carefully selected 2-piece alder body is joined to a rift-sawn maple neck. Cut radially from quarter-sawn logs cut at a diagonal to the initial quartering cuts, rift-sawn necks are ultra-stable, with thinner grain that is less susceptible to warping and twisting the flat-sawn neck blanks. The result is a neck that is more impervious to changes in temperature and humidity. 

Expertly assembled by the finest builders in Fender's Custom Shop factory in Corona, California to exact specifications, body contours and radii, neck shape, fingerboard radius, pickups, electronics and hardware of a 1958 Stratocaster. The expert craftsmanship of this design employs original materials, tooling and production techniques whenever possible to provide the most accurate recreation of a '59 Strat that shows the natural wear and tear of years of heavy use, applying nicks, scratches, worn finish, rusty hardware and plastic parts."

Features –

Body -
Body Shape:    Stratocaster
Body Material:  2-Piece Select Alder
Body Finish:     Nitrocellulose Lacquer

Neck -
Neck Material:  Maple
Neck Shape:     63 C Profile

Scale Length:   25.5" (572 mm)
Fingerboard Radius:    7.25"
Number of Frets:          21
Fret Size:         Medium Tall
String Nut:       Bone
Nut Width:        1.650" (42 mm)
Truss Rod Nut: Vintage-Style Slotted
Headstock:      Stratocaster
Neck Plate:      4-Bolt
Neck Finish:     Nitrocellulose Lacquer
Fingerboard:    Maple
Position Inlays: Black Dot

Electronics -
Bridge Pickup: Custom Shop Hand-Wound Fat '50s Single-Coil Strat®
Middle Pickup: Custom Shop Hand-Wound Fat '50s Single-Coil Strat®
Neck Pickup:    Custom Shop Hand-Wound Fat '50s Single-Coil Strat®
Controls:          Master Volume, 2 x Tone 
Pickup Switching:         3-Position Blade

Hardware -
Bridge: Custom Shop Vintage Synchronized Tremolo
Tuning Machines:        Vintage-Style
Hardware Finish:          Nickel/Chrome
Pickguard:       1-Ply Eggshell
Control Knobs: Vintage White
Switch Tips:     Vintage White

This is a very tasty guitar, made to look and feel just right by the Fender Custom Shop. It is relatively light and surprisingly resonant even unplugged. The light relic treatment is subtle, with not too much “damage” inflicted and only light tarnishing of the metal parts which presents as very natural. Finished in Vintage Sunburst nitro – most attractive.

It is in excellent overall condition, with no modifications that we can see & everything works as it should. Some minimal fret wear to the B & G string areas, but plenty of fret life left, tuners are solid, quality trem bridge intonates well.

One-piece maple neck and board with a rear walnut skunk stripe, centre dot inlays, truss adjustment at the heel.

Weight is 7.55 lbs

Neck Thickness: 1st fret: 0.93" / 12th: 1.02"

A true Fender classic with the right vintage feel, without the vintage price tag. 

Comes with its original Fender Tweed hard shell case in good condition, but unfortunately its Certificate of Authenticity is missing.