Fender Stratocaster Candy Apple Red, 1962-1964 (No Longer Available)

Here’s a guitar that needs little introduction – a Fender Stratocaster Candy Apple Red, with components from 1962 and 1964. Here, the Alder body is from 1964, while the Maple and ‘Slab’ style Brazilian Rosewood fingerboard, plus the electronics, are from 1962. Aside from the body swap, one of the only things not original is a tone knob. Fret wear is light to moderate, and the wider fret wire indicates a re-fret, likely decades ago.

This is one of my hands-down favourite Stratocaster eras. The fingerboard is relatively wide and feels flatter, and the Alder bodies make for a comfortable weight. And of course, it sounds great. This example plays well, and its finish appearance is of a truly natural ‘relic’ process.

The Fender Stratocaster appeared in 1954 as Leo Fender’s third Spanish style instrument, following what became the Telecaster / Esquire and the Precision Bass. These were both wildly successful and influential instruments, and for its new shape and extra hardware – three pickups and a vibrato bridge – it used many design and construction concepts and techniques from its predecessors.

By 1958, Fender was trying to encroach on Gibson’s market amongst jazz guitarists, and so introduced the new Jazzmaster with a Rosewood fingerboard. This fingerboard was sourced from Brazil like most other Rosewoods at the time. Initially, the Maple neck was planed flat, and the flat-bottomed fingerboard was glued on. These are called ‘Slab’ boards, and this guitar’s neck has one. One of the notable differences from the Maple neck is the lack of the walnut ‘Skunk Stripe’ covering the rear-mounted truss rod channel. On these ‘Slab’ necks, the truss rod is mounted from the top, before the fingerboard is installed. In mid 1962, Fender developed a production technique of applying a thinner Rosewood veneer to the curved top of a standard neck blank with the rod mounted from the rear as on Maple necks. The ‘Slab’ board was retired, returning only for vintage models.

The included case with this Fender Stratocaster Candy Apple Red is from the period, and is known as a ‘Distributor’ case. At the time, Canadian Customs imposed significant import duties on items like US-made guitar cases in aid of the Canadian luggage industry. Consequently many new Fender and Gibson guitars were shipped to Canadian distributors without cases. The distributors were responsible for supplying Canadian made cases. So while these cases may be original to the guitar’s first retail sale, they were not shipped from the factory with the guitar.