This '54 is a great reminder that Fender's Custom Shop can hang with any of the boutique builders we know and love. Alive, resonant, snappy, inspiring.

Being a 1954 reissue, this guitar sports a chunky, but incredibly comfortable, relic'd maple neck. Fat, yet perfectly shaped and never fatiguing, it's a very playable carve with a realistically broken-in fee.

This Charcoal Frost Metallic (Heavy Relic) '54 sounds fantastic plugged in. Chimey, articulate, but with some muscle when you want it (by no means are these high output pickups though). The bridge pickup has a decidedly Tele-like quality to it (a great thing in our book) and the in-between positions give you all the classic Strat cluck you could ever want.

Sometimes you pick up a Strat and it just feels right. It has the perfect weight (7lbs 1oz), neck shape, fit/finish, tones...this is one of those guitars folks. A great reminder that Fender's Custom Shop can hang with any of the boutique builders we know and love. Alive, resonant, snappy, inspiring.