This 1967 Custom Shop HSS Stratocaster embodies one of our favorite aspects of Fender guitars - namely, how easy they are to modify.

So how is this guitar in hand? Like all of the Custom Shop guitars we're getting these days, awesome. To be more specific, it's loud acoustically, the Oval C neck profile with its aged finish feels immediately comfy and broken in, the fret work is excellent (jumbo frets too!), the 12" radius is great for faster playing, and the aging looks great & believable.

First impression of tones? Fantastic. HSS Strats can sometimes suffer from an output imbalance between the neck position and the bridge position (which makes sense, right?) but this guitar doesn't do that nearly to the degree that others we've played do. The Pearly Gates bridge pickup sounds awesome - like a fat single coil with more aggressive midrange. The single coils are throaty and do that great scooped midrange thing that great Strats are known for.