Fender American Vintage '59 Stratocaster RW Faded Sonic Blue
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American Vintage
The American Vintage series introduces an all-new lineup of original-era model year guitars that bring Fender history and heritage to authentic and exciting new life. With key features and pivotal design elements spanning the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s, new American Vintage series instruments delve deep into Fender's roots—expertly preserving an innovative U.S. guitar-making legacy and vividly demonstrating like never before that Fender not only knows where it's going, but also remembers where it came from.
The American Vintage Series has long presented some of Fender's best selling guitars (their early-'80s introduction, in fact, was one of the first signs that Fender was "back" as the CBS era ended). Today, Fender has boldly cleared the slate to make way for a fresh American Vintage series with new features, new specs and the most meticulous level of vintage accuracy yet. Rather than just replacing the previous models with different ones, we've completely and comprehensively re-imagined the entire vintage-reissue concept—restoring original tooling dies, voicing new pickups, reformulating vintage colors and more—based on actual vintage guitars we tracked down to make sure we had it right. We did the work, and it shows, because there's pure tonal magic in each new American Vintage instrument.
The American Vintage '59 Stratocaster® presents two versions of that year's pivotal transitional model; one from early 1959 and one from later 1959. Both have the slim-profile C-shaped maple neck of that year, with the earlier version featuring a maple fingerboard, faded Three-color Sunburst finish and single-ply white pickguard with eight holes; the later version (in faded Three-color Sunburst, Black and limited faded Sonic Blue finishes) featuring a rosewood slab fingerboard and three-ply mint green pickguard with 10 holes and vintage-style edge bevels. Both also feature a lightweight alder body, aged plastic knobs and vintage-accurate pickups, bridge saddles, tuner spacing and more.
To take the American Vintage series forward, we needed to return to the source and go back in time. We zeroed in on a goldmine of unbelievable original vintage specimens, and we spared no detail in painstakingly dissecting and documenting each phenomenal original-era instrument. We made the journey. We did the work. We dived deep. Every detail was scrutinized, studied and honed.
After exhaustive research, we restored existing '50s-era tooling to the glory of its prime. We created new tooling to craft parts even more authentically. Manufacturing processes were upgraded and refined. New pickups were voiced for each guitar and bass. And much more. Watch the videos and look at the images to see some examples of the journey we took in researching these vintage instruments to make our newest American Vintage models.
"Flash-Coat Lacquer" Finish
The finishes on most new American Vintage guitars and basses consist of three coats: sealer, color and a topcoat, all of which are 100-percent nitrocellulose lacquer and are hence quite thin. This is a vintage-style finish treatment that lets an instrument "breathe" with a more natural resonance since it doesn't "constrain" the instrument's body as much as thicker and more confining modern finishes.
The term flash-coat lacquer refers specifically to the quickly applied thin and final "flash" of topcoat lacquer applied to most new American Vintage instruments. In addition to the sonic advantage noted above, the composition of and method of application for this final finish layer imparts a more authentically vintage appearance to these new instruments.
UNIQUE FEATURES
Early-1959 model in faded Three-color Sunburst, with slim-profile D-shaped maple neck and single-ply white pickguard with eight holes.
Later 1959 model in faded Three-color Sunburst, Black and limited faded Sonic Blue, with slim-profile D-shaped maple neck, dark rosewood slab fingerboard and three-ply mint green pickguard with 10 holes and vintage-style edge bevels.
Lightweight alder body.
All-new pickups wound to period-correct specs and sound.
Aged plastic knobs.
In-Case Extras and Accessories
59 Stratocaster
Vintage '58 Tele strap, cable, and cloth; vintage wiring kit, '50s Tele information kit, bridge cover, owner's manual.
