Fender Custom Shop's 2015 Stratocaster
Check out the Shadows version of 'Apache' and their other instrumental work, the way Hank developed use of the tape echo machine as part of his playing was groundbreaking. The early 60's recordings of tracks like 'FBI', 'Man of mystery,' 'The Frightened City' and 'The Savage; still sound great today.
Hank Marvin with 59 Stratocaster from the Shadows first album cover late 1960
Hank Marvin in 1960 with his original Stratocaster
Hank Marvin owned what is said to be the first Fiesta Red Stratocaster in the UK, a 1959 one with the serial number 34346. This was ordered with gold plated hardware and Birdseye maple neck. It still exists, in the capable hands of Shadows guitarist Bruce Welch.
Hank Marvin still uses Fiesta Red Stratocasters, these being built by the Custom Shop
Here, I'm reviewing a 2015 guitar which is in almost unplayed condition, it looks better and newer than an ex-demo guitar from a music shop.
The Fender Custom shop's current offering of the 56 Stratocaster gives you a close approximation to Hank's original, with just a few small differences.
The Ash body and Birds eye maple neck along with the Fiesta Red paint and gold plated hardware replicate the 59 guitar, the differences from there are slight.
The neck is described as 'soft v' but is more a rounded shape and deeper than the 1958 C shape which Hank's guitar had.
It looks a bit more of a handful than the 58 but is surprisingly easy to play. It also has a 9 inch radius over the vintage 7.25 which makes it easier to play up the fretboard.
Fitted with slightly more bulky frets than the vintage wire type, the guitar has a nice feel.
It looks a bit more of a handful than the 58 but is surprisingly easy to play. It also has a 9 inch radius over the vintage 7.25 which makes it easier to play up the fretboard.
Fitted with slightly more bulky frets than the vintage wire type, the guitar has a nice feel.
The surprising thing is that he guitar is fitted with a 3 way pickup selector switch, how anachronistic, given that the neck radius has been updated! and for Fender, a bit of a waste as most players will want the flexibility of a 5 way, so why not fit that in the first place and waste money buying a 3 way switch which is so infrequently used and for Fender, having to source a 3 way which is almost ultimately thrown away when a 5 way is fitted?
Electricwise, the guitar is going to have the full size pots and cloth covered wiring of the originals (which is available to buy for those wanting to change to this wire covering type on other guitars).
Pickups are 50's custom shop and do sound nice, they are different in sound to the 57/62 ones I have had on previous guitars. The 50's custom shop pickups don't have the brash edge or 'clang' that the old 57/62 pickups seemed to have from the just post CBS era.
The old 57/62 pickups do sound 'alive' which I like, the 50's set on this guitar sound excellent and have the right sound. Pure sonic quality. That said, I have fitted 57/62 pickups to Stratocasters as an upgrade and they do sound good, particularly to emulate the Hank Marvin 60's sound.
So, what is the playing impression? Acoustically, the guitar sounds bright, even though it feels quite light in weight it sounds nice unplugged, even playing up the neck there is no choking which can often be a situation on vintage type radius neck profiles.
Even though the neck feels slightly fuller than I usually go for, it is easy to play right up the neck. The body has the slim pre-CBS 50's contours and is slim where it counts as on my original 1959 guitar and curiously, as on the Classic Vibe series stratocasters. The finish on the guitar is excellent, no blemishes at all and you are paying top dollar for a guitar from this level, it is well worth it.
Plugged in the guitar sounds great, it has new strings on when purchased and I am not sure what they are but I will change to D'Addario 10's when they need changing, strings that work well on just about all my guitars for me.
I played the guitar through a Vox AD60 amplifier which was to replicate a late 50's early 60's clean sound and also through a VOX Tonelab Studio version, against backing tracks of instrumental 60's music it sounds excellent.
I adjusted the height of the trem arm tip down slightly as I use the arm a lot, it sounds and works very nicely with a light action. An included spring for the trem arm hole is worth fitting as it tensions the arm in the threads, saving wear on the threads and keeping the arm from flopping down.
This is a great guitar and worth the money. There is a price rise coming I am told, so get one whilst you can.
The materials and crafting of this guitar are exemplary.
