• Model: Fender Custom Shop 1969 Stratocaster
• Base Model: 69 Strat CS151700, Team Built
• Finish: Candy Tangerine
• Finish Type / Ageing: Heavy Relic, Aged, heavy checking
• Body: Alder, 2 piece, 69 Strat
• Neck: Maple, 5/4 quartersawn blank, dark tint nitro finish
• Neck Profile: 1969 U, .850" at the 1st fret, .910" at the 12th fret
• Neck Joint: 4 bolt
• Headstock: Reverse, large, matching peghead, 0.590" thickness
• Headstock Decal: 98 Malmsteen 68 to 69 Strat style
• Scale Length: 25.5"
• Fingerboard: Quartersawn maple
• Fingerboard Radius: 7.25" to 9.5" compound
• Frets: 21 narrow tall 6105
• Inlays: Black Micarta 7mm face dots, black Micarta side dots
• Nut: Bone, 1.650"
• Neck Width at Butt: 2.200"
• Truss Rod: Late 60s
• Pickup Configuration: SSS
• Neck Pickup: Hand wound 69 Strat, Relic
• Middle Pickup: Hand wound Strat Fat 50's, Relic
• Bridge Pickup: Hand wound Strat Tex Special, Relic
• Electronics: Strat vintage mod wiring #2, 250K split taper pots
• Controls: 1 volume, 2 tone, white vintage knobs
• Switching: 5 way, white vintage switch tip
• Bridge: Custom Shop vintage Strat, Relic, vintage upgraded 60s tremolo arm with white tip
• Tuners: Schaller F key, Relic, left hand for the reverse headstock
• Pickguard: 63 to 76 Strat parchment, nitro Relic (PBP)
• Hardware: Chrome / nickel, F logo neck plate, parchment back plate, vintage Strat output jack
• Strings: .010 to .046
• Case: FCS Strat/Tele black
• Certificate / Documentation: Fender COA, hang tag and shop floor traveller
• Country: USA
• Year: 2026

Candy Tangerine on a maple board is about as loud as a late 60s Strat gets, and that is the whole point. It has the bright, showy feel of the era, the guitars that ended up on stages at the end of the decade, without the worry and expense of chasing a fragile vintage example with a refin question hanging over it. The Heavy Relic treatment and the heavy checking in the lacquer make it look like a guitar that has lived a life, even though this one is an overseas import that has never been played.

What really sets it apart is the reverse headstock, colour matched to the Candy Tangerine body, with the 98 Malmsteen 68 to 69 Strat style decal. That is a proper custom order look, and it changes the silhouette completely from a standard '69.

The neck is a 1969 U, .850" at the first fret and .910" at the twelfth, so it fills the hand in a way an early 60s Oval C does not. Pair that with a quartersawn maple neck and maple board, a 7.25" to 9.5" compound radius and 6105 narrow tall frets, and you get vintage feeling chords down low with bends that will not choke higher up the neck.

The hand wound set is mixed on purpose: a 69 Strat in the neck, a Fat 50's in the middle and a Tex Special in the bridge, with vintage mod wiring. You still get glassy neck cleans and plenty of in between quack, but the bridge has more bite and midrange push than a straight vintage stagger trio. It comes complete with the Fender COA, hang tag and shop floor traveller, so the paperwork is all there.

Mint / as new. US overseas import, never played. All of the wear you see is factory Heavy Relic ageing applied by the Fender Custom Shop, and there is no additional wear beyond it. Supplied with its FCS Strat/Tele black case, Fender COA, hang tag and shop floor traveller.

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