NGD: Fender Custom Shop 61 Strat Journeyman Relic Black

RandallFlagg

Had this for a week now and the outgoing CS "El Diablo" Strat has now sold so time to post some thoughts. It's a Fender Custom Shop 61 Journeyman Relic Strat in black with rosewood fingerboard and gold hardware. 

I wanted a more traditional strat with a rosewood board than the El Diablo Relic that I have just sold and it was the Rabea Massaad video that got me gassing. Andertons spec'd these up as "artist inspired" and it's based on their take on John Mayer's Black One. I have never been keen on the look of black guitars with rosewood necks in the past but here I am now owning one!

It's got an Ash body, and weighs in at 7.6lbs, lovely AAA 9mm rosewood 9.5" radius board with some lovely grain/cracks and a mid 60s medium C carve, hand wound Fat 60s pickups and medium jumbo frets. Wiring is the standard modern wiring with tone 1 on the neck and tone 2 on the middle and bridge. Setup and finish, fretwork and nut are all perfect.

This is the first time I've seen the Journeyman Relic finish up close and the aging sits between closet classic and relic. Feels very nice in the hands.

It took a little while to adjust to the slimmer neck after the 10/56 carve of the El Diablo as I've been used to fatter necks for a while now but no longer notice it. Acoustically it's got more zing than the El Diablo and plugged in the Fat 60s are lower output than the El Diablo pickups which are wound quite hot. It has a more traditional Strat tone and I much prefer the Fat 60s pickups, there is notably less low end on the neck pickup which is much better for driven sounds. The El Diablos were not only hot but I struggled with too much low end on the neck pickup which could get flabby quite quickly. These have more mid range and seem more balanced.

I really like it, love the aged mint green pickguard and the lightly aged gold hardware sets it apart from the usual 60s CS Strats. It was assembled in November 2017 according to the travel card and has been boxed since so the strings are absolutely factory fresh but I will be restringing with .011s as soon as they fade.

Keeper.

mburekenge

Tasty. Congrats.

richardhomer

RandallFlagg said:

Keeper.

Drivel

stonevibe

I'm not a huge fan of gold hardware on Stratocasters, but that looks pretty good, though the best thing for me on that guitar is the neck, as it looks really nice.

HAve fun playing it fella.

fretfinder

Nice guitar, enjoy!

tone1

Yep, that’s lovely! I’m not normally a fan of the gold hardware but it does work well on yours..Looks great

CloudNine

Approved

Moltisanti

very nice, i liked it in the Rabea vid too.

btw 5 month old strings are not "fresh" they faded about 3 months ago!

jeztone2

I quite like the Journeyman finish. It looks more naturalistic to me. Good score!!!

JEPBLEP

Oooh, that's nice - congrats and happy NGD! Remember seeing the Rabea vid on this and reading about the specs - looks a treat, great shots on the details as well. They don't always seem to be in stock these, did you have to wait long? 

Good to hear you're getting on with the neck, too. I'm actually switching between a rosewood c-profile and 10/56 maple v myself, and whilst definitely different, I'm finding the transition a lot less biblical than what I was expecting based on what you read. 

Anyhoosle - congrats!

Voxman

Normally I don't like black strats...but that's quite a nice one that's a little different with the mint guard, rosewood board, and gold hardware. So, definite thumbs up there and congrats.  

GoldenEraGuitars

HNGD That looks awesome!

lukedlb

Beautiful. 

thebreeze

Yep beautiful.  That could be the perfect Strat.  

guitarblaster

Lovely guitar, looks fabulous! A bit different from the others 60s relics that it has an ash body too, cool stuff!

jakzek

Had been eyeing that up on the Anderton’s website for what feels like almost a year, they kept delaying when they would have them in stock so glad you finally got your hands on one!

Looks stunning and I’m sure it sounds just as good, congrats! 

jaymzhopkinz

Let me know if you ever want rid of this guitar.  I’ll have it off you/pay cash/trade/whatever!  It’s just what I’m after! Cheers