Fender has teamed up with Mike McCready to launch the new Limited Edition Mike McCready 1960 Stratocaster.
Fascinatingly, though the Pearl Jam guitarist's legendary, extensively worn vintage Strat had long been assumed to be a '59 model, the Fender Custom Shop’s Vincent Van Trigt discovered during the replication process that it had actually been built in 1960.
Pearl Jam’s long-time luthier, knowing McCready's pride in the guitar (McCready even had the year of his number-one Strat memorialized with a tattoo on his wrist) kept its true build year a secret for 28 years.
An exacting, ultra-limited-edition recreation of that guitar, this Strat features a two-piece select alder body with a (heavily) relic'd lacquer finish, a flat-sawn flame maple neck with a 1960 “oval C” profile, and a flat-lam rosewood fingerboard with 21 vintage frets.
The guitar's Custom pickups – matched exactly to the originals and hand-wound by Joesfina Campos herself – are connected to a five-way switch and vintage wiring, including a treble bleed tone capacitor.
“Once I could afford a quality guitar, I immediately went for the vintage Stratocaster," McCready said in a press release. "It was my dream guitar because of my love for Stevie Ray Vaughan, and as my musical aspirations were coming true I had to have it.
“It was the first significant guitar that I bought, never thinking I could ever own one before Pearl Jam happened. My favorite feature is the playability of the neck. It's so worn in and easy to play. It's got the best neck and fretboard of any of my guitars. I also love how light it is.
"I actually picked up the prototype thinking it was the original a couple of times which shows me how meticulous and caring Master Builder Vincent Van Trigt and the whole Fender team has been throughout this process.”
Elsewhere, there's a three-ply vinyl pickguard, a vintage-style synchronized tremolo with a Callaham bridge block, vintage-style tuning machines, a bone nut, and a wing string tree with metal spacer.
The Fender Custom Shop Limited Edition Mike McCready 1960 Stratocaster is available now – in a run of 60 instruments – for a cool $15,000. The guitar comes with a deluxe hardshell case, strap, polishing cloth, a McCready case candy kit, and a certificate of authenticity.
For more info on the guitar, stop by fendercustomshop.com.
“It took me months of searching through tens of thousands of photos. And there we had it: George Harrison at home with his collection of guitars.” An unusual guitar is at the center of a mystery about the Beatles' White Album, released 56 years ago today
“My lad will say, ‘You can’t play guitar like that,’ and I’m like, ‘Thank the Lord!’ ” Noel Gallagher’s son called him out because he can’t shred. His response was priceless
