Fender Stratocaster, Sunburst (1962)

Few production years for the Stratocaster eclipse the importance and significance of the year 1962. The Stratocaster was in its 8th year of production with a full head of steam coming out of immense and growing popularity throughout the 1950s. It's in 1962 that this model settled into what would be it's most identifiable spec - Sunburst finish over Alder body and a Maple neck with Rosewood veneer fingerboard.

This 1962 Fender Stratocaster just came into the shop on consignment, and hits on all of the marks of what makes a vintage Strat so great. Clearly we weren't the first to come to this conclusion, as evidenced in the play wear throughout. With the exception of a few replaced screws and a partial refret, this '62 Strat has remained original where it counts. A fantastic sounding set of original black bobbin pickups with their original winds and complimentary wiring harness function without issue, and the worn-in Maple neck with Brazilian Rosewood veneer plays about as smooth as you'll find one of these.

The plastics have all remained original, along with the original Kluson single line tuners, tremolo bridge/block, and saddles. Three of the pickup mounting/adjusting screws have been replaced along with some of the saddle height screws and a trem cover screw, but that's about the extent of the parts changes on the guitar. The partial refret was very well executed using similar sized fretwire, and after getting set up in our shop, it's playing as good as ever.

At some point, someone took to "cleaning" the guitar up with a bit of a polishing. We found some cleaning/buffing compound in some crevices and under the input jack plate to confirm this. While it does exhibit more shine than usual, the finish is indeed original.