1961 Fender Stratocaster, Refin White

By Fender
£12,850.00

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A superb feeling, killer sounding, refin Pre-CBS slab board Strat. A single owner instrument since 1973 at which time it was merely a pre-owned guitar sporting a rather tatty Red finish. It was given a fresh coat of white paint in 1974 by the newly opened Fender Soundhouse, a joint CBS/Arbiter Superstore in London. The guitar is largely original with the exception of a refret and nut, the aforementioned body finish, volume pot and two of the Kluson tuners.

This guitar's neck is a real pleasure to play, the slim early 60s profile feels like home and is comfortable to anyone used to playing these guitars or the reissues that Fender make from this era. The lacquer to the back of the neck has been played through and is silky smooth in the hand, the Rosewood fingerboard fingerboard is punctuated with wide spaced clay dots and has a nice degree of figuring. The finish and Fender decal are original to the 2/61 pencil dated neck. The white finish received no clear coat and has resisted yellowing or creaming over the years, and overall the guitar looks great. There is the gentle patination of age as is to be expected of a well cherished guitar. The guitar still retains it's original (crack free) celluloid guard that likewise has naturally aged to the yellowed, minty hue associated with pickguards from this era. The aluminium shielding plate is still present with pencil signature. The Alder body shows no signs of additional repair or modification.
Electronics comprise of three black-bottom single-coil pickups with staggered pole-pieces and outputs of 5.42K, 5.38K and 5.34K. Pickups all appear undisturbed with factory tape and winds. The original 3-way switch is still fitted. The guitar has two original Stackpole pots with the source code 304 6104 and a replacement CTS volume pot with obscured code other than 4th year, 29th week. Tuners are single line Kluson Deluxe with the B and E tuners replaced with slightly later nickel replacements, a double line example for the E and a snipped Gibson fitting tuner in the case of the B. Tremolo and block are correct, the guitar is currently fitted with two springs and set up blocked off.

The guitar sounds great, acoustically the guitar is lively and loud. Plugged in the pickups have a sweet, delicateness to them that suit all styles. They are well balanced from pickup to pickup and string to string. The neck is warm and rounded with just the right amount of plummy bass and the bridge pickup has a bite and presence with a rounded top-end that never feels too bright. 
All in all an excellent pre CBS player grade Strat with all of the important parts intact! The guitar comes with a modern hard shell case.