2024 marks the platinum anniversary of the Stratocaster. To mark this auspicious milestone, the Fender Custom Shop introduces the Limited Edition 70th Anniversary Stratocaster.

In the spring of 1954, Fender introduced the Stratocaster, an instrument that would forever transform the music landscape. With its sleek, contoured double-cutaway body, three single-coil pickups, and groundbreaking synchronized tremolo, the Strat quickly cemented its place as a true icon over the next seven decades.

To honor the Stratocaster’s 70th anniversary, the Fender Custom Shop is unveiling a limited-edition collection that celebrates the remarkable heritage and lasting legacy of this legendary guitar.

In a nutshell, this is our "tribute" to an Eric Johnson Stratocaster. How, you ask? Via the neck specs - a Modern V neck carve, a flat 12" radius, and hotter pickups. The results? Phenomenal.

We've grown so accustomed to playing Fenders with fatter neck carves that we really notice one that has a totally different neck profile and feel - in an awesome way, we should add.

This beautiful Candy Apple Strat is such a resonant and easy playing guitar, we may just have to start ordering more with this neck spec. Unless you just have to have a fatter carve due to preference or injury, we have a feeling you might have the same reaction after playing this guitar for a few minutes. It just works with you and goes wherever you want to take it. We definitely get why EJ spec'd a 12" radius on his signature model!

The El Diablo pickups have more punch and output (to our ears) but never loose the sweet top-end and dynamic range that great Strats are known for. Clean or overdriven, these pickups help make this LTD '54 Strat a hell of a fun guitar!