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Includes: Deluxe Brown Hard-Shell Case with Gold Interior, Strap, Cable, Custom Care Kit, Paperwork, Certificate of Authenticity
Building on the success of our exclusive NoNeck Stratocaster® , The Music Zoo has once again raised the bar on exclusive custom guitars with the brand-new Masterbuilt Vintage Not Rod. Created in collaboration with famed Fender Masterbuilder Mark Kendrick, the ultra high end Vintage Not Rod Stratocaster® answers another "what if" question in the history of guitar making and addresses a design feature that many tone purists feel has been robbing tone from their guitars for going on 60 years: the truss rod.
When we started building the NoNeck Stratocaster® - The Music Zoo's exclusive Custom Shop Strats with the meaty neck profile from the '51 Nocaster® - we were just plain impressed that Leo Fender had created such a great design for the original Fender solidbody electric guitar way back in 1951, especially the feel of that neck. That original Nocaster® neck was fat, substantial, and strong. So strong, that Leo Fender insisted that the neck would not need even need a truss rod as long as it was "built right". He knew that the installation of the truss rod, the adjustable metal rod that is embedded inside the neck in order to compensate for the tension created by the strings, would adversely affect the resonance and vibration of the whole instrument. A handful of Nocasters® and double pickup Esquires® were in fact made and sold with out truss rods in the early '50s, and these instruments are hugely sought after today. However, the reality of mass production meant that the assembly line could never spend enough time with each neck to make it perfect, so nearly every single production Fender guitar built since 1951 has been given the rod. Until now.
Why not have a truss rod? Simple: tone. Installing a truss rod in a neck means channeling out a significant amount of wood inside the neck for the rod to lay inside, reducing the amount of vibrational mass the guitar has. The neck plays a vital role in the sensitivity and resonance of the guitar. Plus, a solid, truss rod-free neck is how the very first Fender solidbodies were made, and that's just cool. What allows us to build a high-end Fender® guitar today without a truss rod is the level of craftsmanship that the modern Fender® Custom Shop can provide, a level of craftsmanship and quality that Leo Fender could never have hoped to offer 60 years ago. To ensure that the Not Rod's neck will not bow, break, or twist over time, we needed to rely on Masterbuilder Mark Kendrick's deep experience with guitar building to perfect the process. Instead of carving each neck down to its final shape from a blank all at once, each neck is carefully carved down in over time by Mark to give the wood time to acclimate to its new shape at every stage. The result: a completely stable carved neck that is quite happy with the shape it is in.
Not only is the neck stable, but it is substantial. Just like the NoNeck Stratocaster®, the Vintage Not Rod employs the same '51 Nocaster neck shape: super round, a big fat "D" shape that has very little taper from end-to-end. It's a fantastic feeling shape; one of our all time favorites. Every Vintage Not Rod will be handbuilt by Mark Kendrick, and he is winding his own very special pickups for the project as well. "That's my hand wound set with an independent tone on the bridge pickup," Mark says. "The bridge pickup, if you'll notice, is a flat pole. That's to take a bit of the harsh high end. I used enamel wire which was traditionally never used on a Strat pickup. The neck and middle are fat 50's wound to my spec. Plug it in and crank it up. You'll see what I'm talking about."
To put the icing on the cake we also spec'd a 7.25" to 12" compound fingerboard radius. This provides a nice roundness for playing chords down low, and a faster, flatter shape up high for lead playing. We'll be doing multiple reissue years, different colors, and both NOS and lightly Relic'd finishes. Maple and Rosewood fingerboards. But they'll all have that incredible neck. The Fender® Custom Shop/The Music Zoo Vintage Not Rod Stratocaster® is one of the most authentic Fender® guitars available today. You owe it to yourself to try one.
Fender®, Stratocaster®, and the distinctive headstock and body designs commonly found on the Strat® are trademarks of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation
When we started building the NoNeck Stratocaster® - The Music Zoo's exclusive Custom Shop Strats with the meaty neck profile from the '51 Nocaster® - we were just plain impressed that Leo Fender had created such a great design for the original Fender solidbody electric guitar way back in 1951, especially the feel of that neck. That original Nocaster® neck was fat, substantial, and strong. So strong, that Leo Fender insisted that the neck would not need even need a truss rod as long as it was "built right". He knew that the installation of the truss rod, the adjustable metal rod that is embedded inside the neck in order to compensate for the tension created by the strings, would adversely affect the resonance and vibration of the whole instrument. A handful of Nocasters® and double pickup Esquires® were in fact made and sold with out truss rods in the early '50s, and these instruments are hugely sought after today. However, the reality of mass production meant that the assembly line could never spend enough time with each neck to make it perfect, so nearly every single production Fender guitar built since 1951 has been given the rod. Until now.
Why not have a truss rod? Simple: tone. Installing a truss rod in a neck means channeling out a significant amount of wood inside the neck for the rod to lay inside, reducing the amount of vibrational mass the guitar has. The neck plays a vital role in the sensitivity and resonance of the guitar. Plus, a solid, truss rod-free neck is how the very first Fender solidbodies were made, and that's just cool. What allows us to build a high-end Fender® guitar today without a truss rod is the level of craftsmanship that the modern Fender® Custom Shop can provide, a level of craftsmanship and quality that Leo Fender could never have hoped to offer 60 years ago. To ensure that the Not Rod's neck will not bow, break, or twist over time, we needed to rely on Masterbuilder Mark Kendrick's deep experience with guitar building to perfect the process. Instead of carving each neck down to its final shape from a blank all at once, each neck is carefully carved down in over time by Mark to give the wood time to acclimate to its new shape at every stage. The result: a completely stable carved neck that is quite happy with the shape it is in.
Not only is the neck stable, but it is substantial. Just like the NoNeck Stratocaster®, the Vintage Not Rod employs the same '51 Nocaster neck shape: super round, a big fat "D" shape that has very little taper from end-to-end. It's a fantastic feeling shape; one of our all time favorites. Every Vintage Not Rod will be handbuilt by Mark Kendrick, and he is winding his own very special pickups for the project as well. "That's my hand wound set with an independent tone on the bridge pickup," Mark says. "The bridge pickup, if you'll notice, is a flat pole. That's to take a bit of the harsh high end. I used enamel wire which was traditionally never used on a Strat pickup. The neck and middle are fat 50's wound to my spec. Plug it in and crank it up. You'll see what I'm talking about."
To put the icing on the cake we also spec'd a 7.25" to 12" compound fingerboard radius. This provides a nice roundness for playing chords down low, and a faster, flatter shape up high for lead playing. We'll be doing multiple reissue years, different colors, and both NOS and lightly Relic'd finishes. Maple and Rosewood fingerboards. But they'll all have that incredible neck. The Fender® Custom Shop/The Music Zoo Vintage Not Rod Stratocaster® is one of the most authentic Fender® guitars available today. You owe it to yourself to try one.
Fender®, Stratocaster®, and the distinctive headstock and body designs commonly found on the Strat® are trademarks of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation