Posted by Dan Sharrio, STRATosphere Lead Tech on 17th Mar 2022
A beautifully aged modern rendition of a vintage classic!
The Road Worn Series is back, and it’s better than ever, but who knows for how long? An almost perfect piece of 50’s, 60's, or 70’s nostalgia, these Mexican made Strats and Teles bring era accurate specs to a new standard of excellence. Beyond being incredible to play, these guitars are a beautiful artistic expression of the historical glory that Leo Fender created over 70 years ago. An affordable version of a classic guitar, aged with such subtle finesse, these can’t last forever.
The Fender Vintera Road Worn Series is one of many different takes on the "road worn" or relic guitar, and in my opinion it is the best to date. This just may be Fender’s best “bang for your buck” guitar. Traditional colors such as Lake Placid Blue, Olympic White, and Fiesta Red, are brought to life on these alder bodies. Using nitro-cellulose lacquer, and a mysterious intensive aging process, these finishes are almost custom shop quality. The aging is subtle, and soft. This aging on the lacquer makes the neck play smooth and effortless, while still maintaining a brand new feel and physical integrity. With a choice of either Maple or Pau Ferro fretboards, this could be the perfect piece to build a great SRV or EVH replica! Use the Maple for Eddie’s and the Pau Ferro for Stevie’s!
The hardware has just a touch of beautiful patina that makes it not so shiny, and yet it still feels new under the palm of your hand when picking. Something about the aging process seems to lock the saddles in, and provides a stiff base for tuning stability. With traditional bent steel saddles on the 6 screw tremolo for the Strats, and the classic brass saddle bridge on the Teles, they look true to the era’s from which they were inspired. However, under the hood, you can tell these guitars have superior hardware to a real vintage guitar. The bridge block inside the strat is made of a modern, heavier material that promotes string resonance to the body. I could clearly hear a difference when plucking the strings unplugged compared to other guitars in a similar price range. The tremolo action is smooth and responsive, and the Tele’s are as solid as you could dream, allowing the body of the guitar to resonate with the strings in beautiful harmony. The natural acoustic resonance of the Fender Vintera Road Worn Series is really impressive.
The pickups are specially designed by Fender for the Vintera Series. Taking opinions from players of what is the best pickups from the best decades, 50s, 60's or 60s Fender Vintera Road Worn Pickups are wound to recreate these iconic tones. The only way to get these pickups is to buy the whole guitar. The pickups themselves are exclusively available at The STRATosphere while supplies last!
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