1969 Olympic White Fender Stratocaster anyone?

Love them or hate them, the big headstock, CBS period was not all duds and wastes of perfectly good parts. Prior to the cost cutting of the 70’s, some of these guitars left the factory as very good instruments in fresh custom-hued coats of Nitrocellulose.

This guitar is in good shape. It was originally an Olympic White Strat with the original paint still present in the cavities. The body has been expertly and recently refinished in nitro by Clive Brown and suitably reliced for the period. It looks killer and very authentic. As you would expect from Clive Brown’s work.

The 4 bolt neck is in good condition. The poly finish always seems to weather well, which was obviously the idea, and there are no signs of any dinks. The rosewood board and frets are in fantastic condition. The headstock and decal are in great shape.

The hardware shows some signs of wear but is not excessively corroded.

All solder joints look undisturbed aside from those needed to do the refin, with plastic covered wire throughout, apart from some cloth covered wire to the jack socket and trem claw, which again is typical for 1969. You’ll also notice that the pots are dated week 19 of 1966, a common feature of guitar from this period.

The guitar comes with a Fender type, old black Tolex covered hardshell case.

This guitar has that classic ‘Strat’ sound, which admittedly is an odd thing to say but what I mean is that this guitar has that essential tone that you’d instantly recognise as a Stratocaster. The neck pickup has that chunky tone that great for chords and a little Hendrixian excursion. The Middle pickup cuts through and brings the funk when backed off. The Bridge pickup has a delightful presence without being too harsh. As with many strats, the in-between settings are the secret weapon and this guitar delivers on these hidden gems.

If your thing is late 60’s Strats then this is a must.