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A couple of weeks ago during a short break I found a used '57 US reissue 50th anniversary strat. An incredibly light guitar (7 lbs) with such an acoustically vibrant ash body. After a moment's madness it was in the car and on its way to a new home.

It has an ash body with see thru' soft white nitro finish with soft V maple neck. All gold hardware and 57/62 pickups. There is a definite tonal difference to the rosewood neck strats, which is noticeable mainly on the D,A and E strings. Assuming the pickups are the same on the standard US reissues I think it must be it the body wood that goes a long way to account for this tonal difference.

All round good fit of parts and a very nice guitar to play with attractive looks, which has restored my faith in US made Fenders.

To hear my first recording of this guitar it is SHANE in the "Sound Files" section.

I saw one of those in Sound Control, last year I think, & you're right it looks amazing. At about £1,300 I shyed off it, but I certainly coveted it for months afterwards. I kinda wish I'd taken the pluge now.

Tony.

I fortunately didn't pay anywhere near that price, so do you think it was a bargain. It is a nice guitar to play and is very resonant.

Ian

Hi Ian,
The Vintage Reissues are a great range of guitars/basses, but of course prices have gone up quite steeply over the last few years. If I was going for a new USA Fender, that is the range I would be looking at. They seem to be in the £1,200 area at full RRP these days, but you can get them at various discounts if you shop around. The secondhand prices seem to be around the £700-800 mark. The model you have was, as you say a Ltd. edition, & a very beautiful example. I think you did very well to get your hands on it, & I would cherish it & keep it in tip-top condition, if I were you.
Best Regards, Tony.

Hi Tony

Thanks for passing on the information about the reissue, which I found very interesting. I really had no idea as to the prices both new and used and as it was an impulse buy I didn't have time to do any research. I did in fact pay £850 for it after a haggle, and included a case (appears unused) and all the case candy which sometimes gets lost. It has some small marks unfortunately, so not mint, but still in very good condition, and I can live with it like that for what it offers in return.

It will remain in this condition as I only use it at home. If I knew how to get pictures up I'd post a few, but can't see my way around it, and I have checked out the FAQs without success.

Cheers
Ian

Hi Tony

I've managed to get some pictures into my personal album.

Regards
Ian