Look up early '60s Stratocaster in the dictionary, and this is the guitar you'll find - a classic in every way.

Why We Love This

The '63 Stratocaster holds a special place for many players, likely for a few reasons - SRV's legendary "Number One" Strat featured a '63 body...that alone basically cements the '63 Strat's status amongst players, but others like Michael Landau are famous for relying on a '63 as well.

Another reason players love this year is because Fender started moving away from the slender neck carves of the early 60s starting in 1963. A '63 neck has a bit more meat on the bone which benefits playability and tone.

This '63 Custom Shop captures this neck shape in addition to providing fantastic tones via a trio of Custom Shop Fat 60s pickups. Great Strats are all about versatility and ease of play. The Fat 60s do exactly what we love - the bridge pickup has a hint of Tele bite and twang, the 2 and 4 positions are slightly compressed and warm, position 3 (the unsung hero of the trio in our opinion) is clear, muscular and open sounding, and the neck pickup delivers classic hollowed out / SRV-like tone.

This basically ensures that you can pull whatever flavor of Strat goodness suits your mood, gig, or session. And, that, is exactly what we want from a great guitar!