A Totally Original and Near Mint Late '56 Stratocaster.

1956 Fender Stratocaster.

This late '56 Stratocaster weighs just 7.50 lbs. and has a nut width of just over 1 5/8 inches, a wonderful deep 'V' neck profile, and a scale length of 25 1/2 inches. Two-piece ash body, contoured on back and lower bass bout. One-piece fretted maple neck with 21 frets and black dot position markers. Small headstock with decal with Fender "spaghetti" logo in gold with black trim, "STRATOCASTER" in black beside it, "WITH SYNCHRONIZED TREMOLO" in black below it, and "ORIGINAL Contour Body" at the ball end of the headstock. Individual 'no-name' Kluson Deluxe tuners with oval metal buttons (stamped inside: "2356766 / PATENT APPLD"). Single butterfly string tree. Four-bolt neck plate with serial number "15532 between the top two screws. Three white bakelite-covered black-bottom single-coil pickups with staggered polepieces and strong outputs of 5.94k, 5.93k, and 5.54k. Single-layer white ABS plastic pickguard with eight screws. Three controls (one volume, two tone) plus three-way selector switch, all on pickguard. White ABS plastic knobs with gold lettering. Fender "Synchronized Tremolo" combined bridge/tailpiece (six-pivot bridge/vibrato unit with through-body stringing). The neck has a pencil mark of "10-56" and the tremolo cavity has a pencil mark of "10/56". The potentiometers are all stamped "304 633" (Stackpole, August, 1956). This is possibly the finest, cleanest '56 Strat that we have ever seen. There are a few tiny areas of surface loss on the back of the body and a few tiny areas of wear on the fretboard. These and a few miniscule marks on the edges are all that prevent this guitar from being in absolutely mint condition. Complete with its original hang tag (with matching serial number), original tremolo arm and bridge cover, original black leather Fender guitar strap, original Fender Stratocaster instruction sheet and original 28 page "Fender Fine Musical Instruments 1956-57 Catalog". Housed in its original Fender 'side-pocket' "Tweed" case with brown leather ends, foil logo on top of case and red plush lining (9.00). There is a small burn mark on the lower edge of the case - otherwise we would have rated it at 9.25 (near mint). Quite simply the very best, cleanest, all original '56 Stratocaster that you will possibly ever see offered for sale… a museum quality instrument.