Fender Masterbuilt David Brown 1965 HSS Stratocaster Transparent Sonic Blue/Journeyman

Sonic Blue historically showed up in the Fender custom color chart as a solid finish, sprayed over alder and covering whatever grain happened to be underneath. Masterbuilder David Brown took the same color and made it transparent, laid over a two piece ash body (sorted for weight), so the grain reads right through the nitro. From across the room it says 1965. Up close it says something more interesting.

The neck is rift sawn maple with a AAA rosewood board and vintage clay dots, carved to a '60s Oval C that runs .82" at the first and .974" at the twelfth. There is enough shoulder there to fill your palm on chords without wearing your hand out over a set (it's a really well executed taper). The board is a compound 7 1/4" to 9 1/2" radius, so low position chords sit on that familiar vintage curve while bends up the neck track clean on the flatter end. Medium vintage frets and a 1.65" bone nut round out & contribute to the comfy feel.

The electronics are where this one steps away from the year on the headstock. A Shawbucker in the bridge gives you real humbucker weight and a mid-forward push into an amp that a single coil cannot manage, with El Diablo single coils in the middle and neck to keep the Strat voice intact. The middle is reverse wound, so position four hum cancels the way you want it to. Split shaft pots at 500k and 250k mean the humbucker and the single coils each see the load they actually want, which is a small detail that makes the difference between an HSS Strat that balances and one that fights itself.

The bridge is a two point Custom Classic, which returns to pitch better than a vintage six screw if you use the bar. Journeyman aging means it looks like it has been played in rather than beaten up. It weighs 7 pounds 7 ounces, which for us, is the perfect Strat weight.