This 2024 Fender Custom Shop Stratocaster captures the feel of an early Strat with a few carefully chosen modern refinements beneath the surface. Finished in a Faded Sonic Blue, the lightweight ash body and relic treatment give it the broken-in look of a guitar that’s spent decades in regular rotation. The soft V neck profile leans into mid-’50s territory without feeling oversized, and the hand-wound pickups deliver the glassy top end and dry midrange. The LTD runs from the Custom Shop tend to be built in smaller numbers with details not always found in the standard lineup, and this one keeps things fairly restrained in that regard. There’s an ease to the response acoustically that carries through the amp, with plenty of snap on the wound strings and a rounded attack up top. Whether clean or pushed, it has the open, dynamic character that continues to make a good Stratocaster hard to put down. The tremolo system has been blocked, a modification that can easily be undone. Includes OHSC.