Nothing seems to capture sunny '60s California vibes like a custom color Strat. We can just picture tossing this Sea Foam Green in the back of our convertible and heading off to a beach party...

First impressions of this LTD '62/'63 Strat? The 'perfect' weight for a Strat (7lbs 6oz), our ideal neck carve ('63 C) with really nice relic'ing (think high-end boutique a la Danocaster), with the first few strums revealing an incredibly resonant and alive guitar.

Plugged in, the handwound '62/'63 pickups (middle pickup is reverse wound), along with a 5-way switch and modern wiring (we take that to mean the bridge pickup being wired to the 2nd tone control), deliver low output clarity, lightly compressed 2 and 4 position cluck, and clear/open neck and bridge pickup tones.

With the tone control wired to the bridge pickup, you can get as twangy and bright or as mellow as you want - ie, you can get into some Tele twang if you'd like. We love this arrangement, especially when adding some gain to the mix. This brighter, more open bridge pickup allows you to really dial in the right amount of clarity when the gain starts pilling on.

Wonderful stuff from the Custom Shop. We see their attention to detail evolving with each guitar we get from them. Strats your thing? Don't sleep on this one.