Fender Custom Shop 70th Anniversary 1954 Stratocaster Masterbuilt Andy Hicks #4681 - Super Heavy Relic 2-Color Sunburst

To celebrate 70 years of the Stratocaster®—the platinum anniversary of the world’s greatest electric guitar—the Fender Custom Shop introduces the FENDER Custom Shop Limited Edition 70th Anniversary 1954 Stratocaster Masterbuilt Andy Hicks Heavy Relic Wide-Fade 2-Color Sunburst #XN4681 (9218002819).

Its two-piece select ash body (with offset seam on the treble side) resonates with singing highs, sweet midrange and tight lows, and wears a gorgeous Wide Fade Two-Color Sunburst lacquer finish in a number of Custom Shop treatments with varying degrees of wear, including Time Capsule, NOS, Deluxe Closet Classic, Relic®, Journeyman Relic®, Heavy Relic® and Super Heavy Relic®.

Its one-piece quartersawn maple neck is fashioned with a special 70th anniversary Soft “V” profile based on an incredible Strat® neck from July 1954. This is topped with vintage compound-radius fingerboard (7.25” to 9.5”) with 21 medium vintage (47095) frets and a 1.625” bone nut. Three Custom Shop hand-wound ’54 Strat® pickups deliver that classic Strat® voice with clear, bell-like highs, routed through vintage '54 Strat® wiring with wax paper cap and five-way switching.

Other premium features and authentic first-year Strat® appointments include a single-ply white pickguard and serial-number back plate, 1954-style ABS white pickup covers and control knobs, Custom Shop vintage synchronized tremolo bridge, vintage-style tuners, disc string tree, special 70th Anniversary Stratocaster® neck plate, deluxe embroidered hardshell case, special “case candy” kit and certificate of authenticity.

In 2009, Andy Hicks decided to take this passion for guitar building seriously by enrolling in the Guitar Craft Academy in Hollywood, a 6-month program focused on electric guitars. Within a week of graduating, he started working at Fender in the Jackson Custom Shop dressing frets. From 2013 to 2018, he worked as an assistant to Gretsch Custom Shop Senior Master Builder, Steve Stern. Andy worked with various artists during this period and is very proud of his involvement with the Malcolm Young “Salute” Jet. In 2018, Andy seized the opportunity to become the lead builder and production manager for a high-end boutique guitar company and was subsequently recruited by James Tyler to oversee production for his shop in the San Fernando Valley.