One-of-a-kind musicians deserve a one-of-a-kind instrument like this Fender Custom Shop Artisan Stratocaster. Its flamed koa-topped, semi-hollow okoume body gives you the perfect combination of eye-popping good looks and an amazing sonic amalgam of brightness, warmth, and harmonic overtones. Enjoy classic Strat spank and sparkle with a distinctive midrange bite thanks to this Artisan Stratocaster’s hand-wound single-coil pickups, while a comfortable ’60s-style oval C-shaped neck and slick compound-radius fingerboard ensure extreme playability.

Artisan series spotlights distinctive woods and special appointments

Featuring fine woods with distinctive figures and eye-catching finishes, Fender Custom Shop Artisan series electric guitars also spotlight a wealth of special appointments and features, resulting in striking and stylish instruments. This limited-edition Artisan Strat was released at 2018 Winter NAMM as a limited edition a one-of-a-kind instrument. With all guitars in the Artisan series, the Fender Custom Shop strives to build specially crafted electric guitars of remarkable tone, appearance, and playability.

Blankets your playing with amazing tonal textures

This limited-edition Fender Custom Shop Artisan Stratocaster is built from an eclectic blend of tonewoods. Its resounding semi-hollow okoume body is capped with an eye-popping 4A flamed koa top, which imparts both warmth and bite while increasing the instrument’s sustain. Its unassuming maple neck is topped by an African blackwood fingerboard — prized for its bell-like overtones. This Artisan Stratocaster will blanket your playing with an amazing balance of brightness, warmth, and ear-popping harmonics — and that’s before you even plug it in!

Legendary Strat spank ’n’ sparkle

This limited-edition Artisan Stratocaster is loaded with a trio of hand-wound Fender Custom Shop ’60/’63 single-coil pickups that deliver all the legendary spank ’n’ sparkle of an original ’60s-era Strat. From chimey, glassy cleans to chunky grind, these pups deliver the tone. To get the best out of the Custom Shop ’60/’63 pickups, this limited-edition Artisan Stratocaster features Fender’s Vintage Mod #2 wiring. The first tone control applies to the neck and middle pickups, while the second tone control applies to the bridge pickup. What’s more, the middle pickup is reverse-wound/reverse-polarity for hum canceling in switch positions two and four.

What Fender Says...

The Artisan Koa Thinline Stratocaster® is an enticing and elegant guitar with everything you’d expect in playability and tone from the Fender Custom Shop. Stunning in look, sound and feel, it has a hollow roasted-ash body with an “F” hole and 4A figured koa top, which makes for an unusually alluring aesthetic and distinctive tone. The 3A birdseye maple neck is sculpted with a comfortable 1960 “oval-C” profile, topped by a beautiful Macassar ebony fingerboard with a compound radius (9.5”-12”) and 21 narrow tall frets. The 11-hole single-ply brown shell pickguard holds three hand-wound Fat ’60s pickups, with five-way switching and Strat 1/2 Blender wiring, which lets the player blend in the neck pickup in switch positions 1 and 2 for extra tonal options. Other features include Custom Shop vintage synchronized tremolo, vintage-style tuning machines with brown shell buttons, bone nut, and “wing” string tree with metal spacer. Includes deluxe hardshell case, strap and certificate of authenticity.