Fender American Vintage 56 Stratocaster Black

General

Holding a Fender American Vintage guitar is like travelling back in time. These guitars are highly accurate replicas of original models from the '50s, '60s and '70s. This will provide you with the looks, sound and feel of a vintage instrument without having to take out a second mortgage. This is the black 2012 American Vintage '56 Stratocaster. It is identical to the iconic 1956 Strat from top to bottom. From its specific types of wood and period-correct hardware to the right shapes and thin nitrocellulose lacquer finish, this guitar is an accurate replica. Even its accessory tweed case and case candy are minute copies.

American Vintage '56 Stratocaster: period-correct details

The '56 Stratocaster differs quite a bit from the first Strat from 1954. Its one-piece maple neck has gone from a thick D-profile to a more comfortable, rounded V-profile to make it more suitable for guitarists with smaller hands. The coveted rolled fretboard edges fortunately never left the neck. What is different though, is that the body is now made of lightweight alder, instead of ash, providing slightly richer mids. Other vintage-correct details of the American vintage '56 Stratocaster include an 8-hole single-layer pickguard, a single 'butterfly' string guide, Fender Pat.Pend. stamped steel bridge saddles and single-line tuners with the name Fender in a single line. Both the shape of the headstock as the distance between the strings were adapted to the original specs, so that the strings now run perfectly straight down the bone string nut.

American Vintage series: more accurate than ever before

Along with the American Standard series, Fender decided to give the 2012 American Vintage series a massive update. It has been expanded with new, iconic '50s and '60s models that have a minute vintage accuracy. To get to this point, the guitar giant tracked down and studied specs and details of numerous original vintage guitars. Fender even brushed off the tools of the period to make the result as authentic as possible. All of these guitars come with a vintage-style case with replicate case candy that consists of, for instance, a guitar strap, guitar cable, polishing cloth, and vintage-accurate booklets and pamphlets. There's a good reason that these new models represent Fender's famed, 60-year long history in music.

• this guitar is also available in Aged White Blonde and 2-colour Sunburst
• additionally, Fender makes a left-handed guitar in 2-colour Sunburst
• Please note: pictures 5 to 7 show the Aged White Blonde version and are for illustration purposes only. This is, of course, the black version.