At Guitars4You we always relish the opportunity to acquire a few discerning used guitars, in particular Relic Strats - Yet here in lies an interesting issue - How do you know it's used and as such, could you ever describe a Relic Strat in as 'in new showroom condition' ??? - We now offer you the chance to buy a 2007 NAMM Show Limited Edition '62' Heavy Relic Strat with a 'thin skin' candy apple red relic nitro finish

Spec is pretty much vintage based throughout, including the aged nickel hardware, comprising 'Kluson' style tuners, along with the vintage tremelo system and of course those classic 'bent' steel saddles - NAMM Limited Edition show models are always highly spec'd and this Strat is no exception - Hence a light weight and highly resonant swamp ash body (weighs around 7lbs and 10oz), a quartersawn maple neck, plus a very nice Madagascar lam rosewood fingerboard, bone top nut, aged scratchplate, knobs, tremelo cover and trem arm tip - At the heart of the engine room you have a set of AY (Abigail Ybarra) Fender Custom Shop '69' singlecoil pick-ups, controlled via the modern spec'd 5 way switch - To bring the guitar into the 21st century with a more fluid playing action, the guitar is spe'c with a 9.5" fingerboard radius as well as a set of Dunlop 6105 chunky frets - On the rear of the maple neck, the thin skin nitro finish has been 'rubbed' down, so that it instantly feels played in - The rest of the guitar is aged to replicate nearly 50 years of a regular set down at the Kings Arm's and that includes the thin skin nitro-cellulose candy apple red finish - To indicate the limited edition nature of the guitar, the rear of the headstock has a 'limited edition' decal, whilst the 4 bolt neck plate is stamped with 'limited edition NAMM 2007' - Furthermore the case has an embroidered 'limited edition' Custom Shop logo within the case lid and of course the certificate of authenticity is included

Set-up and playability - Sounds good so far, but the best is yet to come - This Strat has been owned by a very discerning player, collector, repairer and as such is set-up to perfection - Fret dressed, rolled fingerboard edges and even the string saddle grub screws ground down from beneath so they don't dig into your hand - If you are a player with a light touch and want a fluid playing Strat that is very responsive then I suggest a test drive - Set-up with 10's, but they feel so slinky you'd think it was equipped with 9's - The tremelo has been well set-up so it feels smooth and stays in tune as well as any vintage assembly can - Furthermore it is still very responsive to your touch

Tonal issues - Final tweak is a capacitor and resistor wired in series on the volume pot, so that as you 'roll off' the volume control the guitar retains all those magical crisp and shimmering highs - Very useful if you wish to control the gain on your amp, so that you can 'clean up' your sound, with out the tone going 'mushy' on you - Is this an exceptionally good Strat ? - You better believe it - The '69' pick-ups are not the most powerful set of pick-ups that are available from the Custom Shop, but that is not the point hear - A set of '69' pick-ups sat at the heart of the classic Hendrix Wind Cry's Mary and Little Wing tone, so it ain't about the level of output, it is about the quality of tone - This Strat is loaded with soul, dynamics and emotion

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Guitars4You Offers Reliability, Integrity and Expertise

Every guitar in stock at Guitars4You has been personally selected, inspected and approved by me, with particular attention paid to the set-up and playing performance - Every sale, phone call, mail order transaction or e-mail is handled my me - Mark Hopkin, the owner, Managing Director, cleaner and coffee maker (Jo, my wife helps with the coffee) - A 35 year journey has fuelled my knowledge, experience, love, devotion and passion for exceptionally fine guitars - This reflects in every aspect of our business

I have no desire to run an Amazon style 'click to buy' guitar shop, that lacks any soul or passion, or indeed to fill a showroom with a selection of dirty, shop soiled or dusty guitars that are in need of a set-up