Fender Custom Shop Stratocaster
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#1 Fender Custom Guitar Dealer in the world
Available Stratocasters for Sale
Fender Custom Shop MVP Stratocaster HSS NOS - NEON YELLOW - NEW!
Fender Custom Shop 1-off MVP 1956 Stratocaster Heavy Relic - Taos Turquoise over Copper Metallic - NEW!
Fender Custom Shop MVP 1960 Stratocaster Journeyman Relic - Vintage White - Masterbuilt Austin MacNutt!
Fender Custom Shop 1-off MVP 1956 Stratocaster Heavy Relic - Taos Turquoise over Copper Metallic - NEW!
Fender Custom Shop MVP 1966 Stratocaster NOS/Relic - Natural Satin Oil - NEW!
Fender Custom Shop MVP 1966 Stratocaster Journeyman Relic - Aged Natural - NEW!
Fender Custom Shop MVP 1960 Stratocaster Journeyman Relic - Olympic White - Masterbuilt Kyle McMillin!
Fender Custom Shop 1959 Stratocaster Relic Ready - Masterbuilt Dale Wilson - NEW!
Fender Custom Shop MVP Stratocaster HSS NOS - Robin's Egg Blue - NEW!
Fender Custom Shop MVP Stratocaster HSS NOS - NEON GREEN - NEW!
Fender Custom Shop MVP Stratocaster HSS NOS - NEON YELLOW - NEW!
Fender Custom Shop MVP 1966 Stratocaster Relic - Aged Natural - Masterbuilt Jason Smith!
Fender Custom Shop MVP Stratocaster HSS Relic - Chrome Red w/Comp Stripe - NEW!
Fender Custom Shop MVP 2-Step Stratocaster Relic - Sherwood Green Metallic - NEW!
Fender Custom Shop Postmodern Stratocaster Journeyman Relic - Aged Natural - NEW!
Fender Custom Shop 1-off 70th Anniversary 1954 Stratocaster Heavy Relic - Wide Fade 2TSB - NEW!
Fender Custom Shop Eric Clapton Signature Stratocaster Journeyman Relic - 2 Tone Sunburst - NEW!
Fender Custom Shop 1-off 70th Anniversary 1954 Stratocaster Relic - Olympic White - NEW!
Fender Custom Shop MVP 1956 Stratocaster Relic - Taos Turquoise over Copper - Masterbuilt Austin MacNutt!
Fender Custom Shop MVP 1964 Stratocaster HSS Relic - KORINA / 3TSB - NEW!
Fender Custom Shop 1-off 70th Anniversary 1954 Stratocaster Relic - Cimarron Red - NEW!
Fender Custom Shop 1-off 70th Anniversary 1954 Stratocaster Relic - Daphne Blue - NEW!
Fender Custom Shop 1-off 70th Anniversary 1954 Stratocaster Hardtail - Wide Fade 2TSB - NEW!
Fender Custom Shop 1-off 70th Anniversary 1954 Stratocaster Hardtail - Wide Fade 2TSB - NEW!
Fender Custom Shop Ltd Ed 70th Anniversary 1954 Stratocaster Heavy Relic - Black - NEW!
Fender Custom Shop MVP 1960 Stratocaster Journeyman Relic - Vintage White - Masterbuilt Austin MacNutt!
Fender Custom Shop Ltd Ed 70th Anniversary 1954 Stratocaster Heavy Relic - Wide Fade 2TSB - NEW!
Fender Custom Shop Ltd Ed 70th Anniversary 1954 Stratocaster Relic - Wide Fade 2TSB - NEW!
Fender Custom Shop 1959 Stratocaster NOS - Chocolate 3TSB - NEW!
Fender Custom Shop 1963 Stratocaster Relic - Super Faded Aged Sonic Blue - NEW!
Fender Custom Shop LTD 1967 Stratocaster Heavy Relic - Black - NEW!
Fender Custom Shop LTD Dual Mag II 1960 Stratocaster Super Heavy Relic - Aged Seafoam Green - NEW!
The Fender Custom Shop was established in the late 80s, initially to produce high-end, custom-built guitars for professional musicians and discerning collectors. The Stratocaster has endured as one of Fender's most popular models, and the Custom Shop has crafted a wide range of amazing Strat models over the years.
One of the earliest Custom Shop Stratocasters was the '54 Stratocaster, which was modeled after the original Stratocaster from 1954. This model was built with vintage-style materials and construction methods to recreate the look, feel, and sound of the original instrument.
Other notable Custom Shop Stratocaster models include the '57 Stratocaster, the '62 Stratocaster, and the '69 Stratocaster, all of which were designed to replicate specific years in the Stratocaster's history.
The Custom Shop has also produced signature models for a number of famous guitarists, including Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and David Gilmour. These models are built to the exact specifications of the artist, and often feature unique finishes, pickups, and other custom features.
In addition to these vintage and signature models, the Custom Shop has also produced a wide range of one-off custom Stratocasters, built to the exact specifications of individual customers. These guitars can feature a wide range of custom options, including different woods, finishes, pickups, and hardware.
Overall, the Fender Custom Shop Stratocaster has become a highly coveted instrument among guitarists and collectors alike, thanks to its combination of vintage styling, high-quality craftsmanship, and unique custom features.
Fender Custom Shop: Turning musical dreams into realities. Finely crafted guitars and basses created by artists, for the artist.
The Fender Custom Shop is a division of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, housed within their headquarters complex in Corona, Riverside County, California. The Fender Custom Shop produces special-order guitars for customers through a Custom Shop dealer network, creates limited edition high end quality guitars, builds limited edition amplifiers, and does some research & design for the parent company.
Your Dream to Reality
A Fender Custom Shop instrument is extraordinary. You know it when you play one—it’s definitely more than the sum of its parts. It’s filled with intangible, electrifying elements that add a new dimension to your playing experience. It’s as if the instrument itself is imbued with history, alive with the spirit of the place where it was built and the devotion of those who crafted it.
The Custom Shop is home to Fender’s most skilled and talented builders. It’s a bustling, noisy and creatively volcanic place that re-earns its nickname—the Dream Factory—every day. Custom Shop builders are completely dedicated to their art—part craftsman, part artist, part music fan and, more often than not, part mad scientist. They’re the best at what they do, and they pour all of their passion, hard-earned knowledge and skill into every instrument they build. It’s no ordinary place, and the creations that come from it are no ordinary instruments. Welcome to the best Fender Custom Shop experience on the internet.
Masterbuilt
In every art form, there are those who have mastered their craft so thoroughly, through years of training and experience, their work routinely commands extra acclaim and admiration, not to mention outright awe. These astonishing artisans are the Master Builders of the Fender Custom Shop; a select group of the most talented builders recognized around the world for their matchless skill, limitless imagination and utter devotion to their art.
Crafting a guitar with a Custom Shop Master Builder is the ultimate artistic partnership—simply put, no idea is too crazy and no job too large or too small. They’ll walk you through everything—body design, neck shape, tonewoods, pickups, hardware and more—to give you the look, feel and sound that you’re searching for. From start to finish the Master Builder will personally ensure that each guitar is built with the highest possible quality and to your exact specifications. Additionally, it’s about more than just specifications, it’s about making the instrument of your dreams a concrete reality.
Custom-Built
Your dreams are what make the Fender Custom Shop the reality that it is today. From its inception in 1987, the Custom Shop has grown from two builders to today’s more than 50 artisans—a veteran band of builders, each a specialist dedicated to their own area of expertise—working together to build your ideal Fender to your exact specifications. From neck shaping and fretwork to finishing and aging—every step of creation—each Custom Shop craftsperson brings years of hard-earned skill and dedication to bear on your custom-built guitar with one goal in mind—to create an instrument and playing experience that can only come from the Fender Custom Shop.
A Fender Custom-Built guitar lets you define your ideal instrument. Begin with one of our base models and choose from our vast selection of options to customize it as little or as much as you want to meet your personal needs, aesthetic taste and playing style.
Whatever shape your dream may be, our luthiers stand ready to craft an instrument that will unlock your utmost creativity and self-expression. Their passion is bringing your dreams to reality, to create the ultimate instrument—one personally customized exclusively for you.
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Fender Custom Shop History
For nearly 20 years (since 1965), Fender was owned and operated by CBS. Many guitar players felt that the interests of CBS were at odds with the marketplace and profits declined. In 1984, CBS sold the rights to the Fender name and designs to an investor group of employees led by Bill Schultz who launched Fender Musical Instruments Corporation (FMIC).
The Fender Custom Shop began in 1987, under the supervision of then-CEO Schultz. The initial staff comprised only two Master Builders (John Page, Michael Stevens). The current roster of Fender masterbuilders are: Dale Wilson, Paul Waller, Jason Smith, Yuriy Shishkov, Todd Krause, Dennis Galuszka, Greg Fessler, Kyle McMillin, Vincent van Trigt, Austin MacNutt, Andy Hicks, David Brown and Ron Thorn.
The primary intent of the Fender Custom Shop was to create instruments in the tradition of Leo Fender and his staff at the original Fender facilities in Fullerton, CA, accommodating famous endorsers and other discerning players who wanted the accuracy, detail, and quality—as well as customization and personal touches—that were widely perceived as omitted under the tutelage of CBS, and considered lacking on the revamped Fender's mass-produced instruments. In 1991, the Fender Custom Amp Shop was created and housed in Scottsdale, Arizona. Seven years later, Fender USA manufacturing, R&D and Custom Shop divisions, were moved to its present location in Corona, California.
Currently, the Fender Custom Shop employs over fifty craftsmen and produces both custom one-off projects and limited CNC-tooled production runs.
Fender Custom Shop Guitars of Note
The Fender Custom Shop has produced a huge range of instruments, often limited in number, which reflect its original mission as a link between the needs of specific players and the Fender corporation and their established designs and innovations as a whole.
First and foremost, the Custom Shop creates one-off products, not explicitly intended for the public, designed to meet the needs of specific artists. Examples include the tweed Twin remakes crafted by hand by John Suhr for Eric Clapton, and later delivered to Mark Knopfler and B.B. King, the Jag-Stang model designed with help from Kurt Cobain and later manufactured by Fender Japan, and the Danny Gatton Telecaster, a very early Custom Shop effort that eventually mutated into a limited production item. Closely related, and in some cases a direct result of collaborations with and for specific players, are the artist models that are specifically available to the public. Some of these models are designed to be near-exact replicas of a noted player's trademark instrument - including the "relic" treatment and the various degrees of aging (patterns of wear, modifications, stickers and abuse) - such as in the case of the Jeff Beck Tribute Esquire, the Jaco Pastorius ersatz fretless Jazz Bass, and a replica model of Stevie Ray Vaughan's heavily weathered trademark Stratocaster. These models are meticulously crafted by hand, under the supervision of one luthier as opposed to part of an assembly line.
Fender makes this distinction by tagging these models as 'Master Built' and 'Team Built'. These instruments are designed to closely replicate the original examples and are very limited in number and often extremely expensive. Far more common under the Custom Shop banner are production models commissioned by players and made available to the general public, albeit in more limited quantity than Fender's standard lines. This line includes high-end models in series such as Custom Classics, Showmasters and Time Machines. Examples of guitars designed by specific players and manufactured by the Custom Shop include signature guitars for David Gilmour, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Albert Collins, Merle Haggard, and John5.
Some models, such as the aforementioned Jag-Stang and the Venus model, designed with Courtney Love, are designed by the Custom Shop but manufactured by Fender's Far-Eastern import facilities, and in the case of the Venus model, Fender's low budget offshoot Squier. For further confusion, several models are available from both the Custom Shop, and made in the US, and from Fender Musical Instruments' overseas facilities, often in much less limited quantity, and for much less cost.
An offshoot of Fender's forays into replicating the look of heavily worn instruments was the introduction of the Fender Relic series in the late 1990s. Urban legend states that idea came as guitarist Keith Richards of the British rock group The Rolling Stones told the Custom Shop that some replicas he commissioned for a Stones tour 'looked too new', stating: "Bash 'em up a bit and I'll play 'em," but this has been denied by multiple Fender employees and Richards himself. The true story stemmed from Stones' producer Don Was. In 1994 Jay W. Black, one of the Senior Master Builders at the time, attended a Stones recording session in Los Angeles. Was wanted Black to beat up his new Sadowsky bass that he was due to play with Bonnie Raitt at a Grammy Awards ceremony because he felt "it looked too squeaky clean".
The Relic models are finished in a shabby chic style and aspire to perfectly replicate vintage instruments, both in terms of the parts, design and finishes used, as well in the varying degrees of wear typically found on a 40- to 50-year-old instrument. Fender tarnishes metal parts, purposely marks and scratches paint jobs, yellows and cracks plastic parts, and cigarette burns marks in the headstock (some players allegedly timed jam sessions by cigarette burn time). "Relic-ing" is controversial among players who question the logic of paying a premium for a deliberately damaged instrument. Fender offers grades of wear in the relic series, from light to very heavy 'wear', and has since introduced a line of 'NOS' (new old stock) and 'Closet Classic' instruments that employ period-correct parts, designs and finishes but do not feature faux abuse, weathering, or aging.
Recently, the Fender Custom Shop has devoted much time and resources to creating limited 'Art' guitars and basses. Generally shown off at the annual NAMM conference, these instruments are generally geared more towards guitar collectors than players and are often created to tie in with other industries as collector items, such as guitars created as a tribute to, and under the design influence of Ford's Mustang automobile. Many of the Art guitars created by the Custom Shop vastly expand upon Leo Fender's historical decorative innovations, who originally pioneered the use of custom colors on their instruments, which are essentially based on traditional designs but do not strive for accuracy to specific models. The Fender Custom Amp Shop, a subset of the Custom Shop, has produced several limited-run amplifiers during its existence. Examples include the Tone-Master, Prosonic, Tweed Reissue Twin Reverb, and Two-Tone models.
Fender also produces Fender Custom Shop calendars, which feature their many different guitars and basses.
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Make'n Music has been the original home of tone since 1973 and for 50 years we've been committed to meeting the needs of our customers. As a top tier Fender Custom Shop Showcase dealer, Make'n Music can help you design and build the Fender Custom Shop guitar of your dreams. We also spec and stock a hand-picked selection of premium Custom Shop guitars. Our Chicago-area showroom in Northfield, IL is open and comfortable with private, soundproof demonstration rooms for a pleasant shopping environment, while our website is regularly updated with an incredible array of custom electric guitars, tube amplifiers and effects pedals. Knowledgeable and courteous sales professionals are always available to help make sure the gear you want is the best choice to suit your needs.
Whether you're looking to pick up a new hobby, push sonic boundaries or simply tweak your tone, Make'n Music is the place!