2004 Fender Stratocaster 50’s Masterbuilt

I first saw this guitar on Imagine Guitars (USA) website, and managed to score it for US$2,200 which I thought was a bit of a bargain at the time as it was only one year old when I purchased it in 2005.

The guitar was Masterbuilt by Jason Davis, and while the guitar was well built like most Masterbuilt guitars coming out of Fender’s Custom Shop, there was just something missing. But, it sure was pretty, with it’s flamed maple cap on the body (no it was not a sticker) and flamed maple neck. The gold parts just added to it’s visual appeal. From a distance, you would think it was a dream guitar, until you played it. For anyone into really large necks, it probably was a dream guitar!

I am guessing someone ordered this custom ordered this guitar with this huge neck, as the Custom Shop does not normally turn out guitars with necks like this one. I assume also, that when the customer received it, he/she did not like it too much and offloaded it pretty quickly.

The guitar came with it’s Custom Shop certificate (showing a build date of 24/02/2004), but no case candy was present in the tweed case. I kept the guitar for a number of years, never played it, I simply hoped it’s value would go up, but in the end I traded it for a brand new Mesa Boogie Express 5:25 amplifier at Downtown Music in Sydney.