- Style: Pre-CBS Body (worm route) for Fender Stratocaster
- Wood: Two-piece Swamp Ash (American) or Two-piece Alder (Japanese).
- Finish: Natural (clear) Nitrocellulose (reliced)
- Routing: 3 Single Coil
- Weight: approx. 4lbs (1.8kg)
Under the control of the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), the natural finish was introduced and became popular throughout the late 1960s and 70s. The problem was that the quality of lumber used in the factory at the time was often so poor that the wood grain that the clear, natural finish displayed was largely less attractive than if it had been painted over. As a result, clear-finished Fender instruments have always been produced in low volumes (despite the fact that quality of timber used has since greatly improved in the Corona and Ensenada factories).
Although there were only incredibly small numbers of clear-finished Stratocasters built by Fender pre-CBS (and all of them customer requests), it is these late50s and early-60s bodies that we have chosen to reproduce and offer here rather than the poor quality (and polyurethane-finished CBS examples). As with all our other bodies, we are able to offer either bookmatched two-piece alder or swamp ash, both of which look absolutely stunning beneath the clear nitrocellulose finish. We can offer different levels of tinting if required and the body will be reliced to your requirements to match the wearing that a 45-plus year old Stratocaster would have sustained.
Unfortunately we do not currently have any website-worthy photographs of this particular type of body but we hope to take new photographs and add them to this page in the very near future.
