Fender Stratocaster, Sunburst L71386 (1965)

A vintage Fender collector's dream right here!

Remember that crazy clean early '65 Strat we had not too long ago that sold very quickly?! That guitar took over the captain's chair for Cleanest Vintage Electric quite easily. We never expected its twin brother to come along some six weeks later and knock it off the top spot...

But here we are! Analogous to a PSA 9.5 in the sports card world, this early '65 Strat is a true gem of a guitar, and even cleaner than the last one!

Interestingly, very little separates the two in terms of features and specs. This '65 has an April stamped neck, May pickups, and pots that date to mid April just like the other '65. Their neck profiles are nearly identical, though this guitar has a slightly wider nut width approaching 1 11/16". Seems like we're splitting hairs a bit, but it's rather unusual to encounter two guitars from the exact same production period in very similar cosmetic condition. Wild!

If it's not obvious from the photos, this guitar was hardly played at all. Forgotten about for decades and stored away somewhere moderate and relatively dry. There's really no lacquer checking to speak of, the clear coats on both the neck and body are astonishingly clean and unfaded, then electronics in perfect working order and undisturbed, and even the fretwire is in nice shape. We did make a great sacrifice, though. Pickup adjustment grommets had to be replaced. We're sorry. We know how critical that dry-rotted rubber is to magic tone! All kidding aside, replacing those grommets was necessary to re-establishing any sort of true adjustability for the pickups. Beyond that, a fresh setup with new strings, a tweak of the truss rod, and saddle adjustment for intonation, and it was ready for action.

The guitar has a particularly clear and bright tone with plenty of punch, much in the way lots of these "Dylan" Strats do. Though that extra sizzle is more than welcome in a band context, the pickups clean up incredibly well with slight adjustments to volume and tone controls. The middle pickup tone is to die for!

Need we say more? We've got the great Kevin Barry demoing this special Strat to show off the things that no amount word vomit could ever convey.

Includes original bridge cover, tremolo arm, polish cloth, and hardshell case. Expedited Shipping Required.