2004 Fender SoCal Speed Shop Hot Rod Limited Edition Strat

For your consideration, a Limited Edition Stratocaster that was a partnership between Fender and the So-Cal Speed Shop! 

The looks are iconic. If you're a Hot Rod fan, than this paint job is seared into your brain already! I grew up in a hot rod family, so of course when I first saw one of these, I knew I had to have it. It was at Guitar Center in Richmond VA. I traded in every piece of gear I wasn't using and every penny that I had to put it on layaway. I went back a month later to pay the final balance and the jerks at Guitar Center informed me that they had cancelled the layaway and sold it to someone else. I was pretty upset, and vowed to buy every single one of these that I ever saw for the rest of my life!  I meant it, too!  It is now 21 years later and I can proudly state that I have owned almost 40 of these over the years. I never kept one longer than a few months because I've always been more into buying and selling than buying and hanging on to them, but I really enjoy finding these and retelling this same story. 

This one is from the first batch, in 2004 (same were made in 2005), and it is all original. The painted fingerboard shows a few paint chips, but that is to be expected on a guitar with a painted fingerboard and does not affect playability. There is a small ding in the rear bottom of the neck at the 4th fret, but it's not too ugly and could be repaired if you needed to. There is a hairline crack in the finish at the volume knob. It is just in the finish, not the wood underneath. The neck is straight, the truss rod works in both directions and the guitar plays fantastic from a fresh setup and new strings. It's a headturner!