Fender Custom Shop Masterbuilt Paul Waller 1968 Rosewood Stratocaster NOS Natural

 Masterbuilt Paul Waller '68 Rosewood Stratocaster

Truetone Music is proud to have a long and close relationship with Fender, especially with the Custom Shop.  Every so often, we make a pilgrimage there to sit down with Masterbuilders to cook up a batch of amazing guitars.  Sometimes we go for vintage-styled recreations, sometimes we go for modernized tweaks.  Sometimes it's a classic color, sometimes it's a totally new color or even reclaimed wood.  No matter what, they always knock it out of the park!

This very amazing '68 Rosewood Stratocaster is a result of this partnership.  In 2019, we met with Masterbuilder Paul Waller and came up with the idea for various guitars.  While doing so, we discussed his work on the George Harrison Tribute Rosewood Telecaster run.  From that, we morphed into the idea of doing a Rosewood Strat, which Paul had built for Truetone years ago.  A few years later, this masterpiece arrived.

Most everyone has seen a Rosewood Tele, as made famous by George Harrison, but most have not seen a Rosewood Strat.  Even fewer have seen something as delicious as a Custom Shop Masterbuilt version of the Rosewood Strat.  That's what this is.  It's inspired by a legendary guitar - according to Fender, when two Rosewood Tele were made for Harrison, two Rosewood Strats were made for Jimi Hendrix.  Unfortunately, they never got into his hands.  While the specs were different, this guitar is reminiscent of what could have been, and in some ways, was - after all, the Rosewood Strats were in fact actually built.

This amazing reimagination of a 1968 Rosewood Strat was expertly crafted and is a stunning example of what a Custom Shop Masterbuilder like Paul Waller can do.  It's all rosewood, of course, other than the maple center piece (sandwiched by the top & bottom pieces of the body).  While it's also all vintage, the guitar does have the playability of a modern Strat, with a 9.5" radius and 6105 (Narrow Tall) frets.  The '69 U neck shape is period correct and very comfortable to play - it's not super slim, nor is it overly chunky.  It has just the right thickness to feel like a proper vintage late 60's Strat.