Fender Custom Shop Ritchie Blackmore Tribute Stratocaster Black

For more than 40 years now, Ritchie Blackmore's famously forceful G-minor blues riff in 1972 Deep Purple classic "Smoke on the Water" has served as the quintessential heavy rock guitar riff and a metal-melody primer for burgeoning rock guitarists everywhere. Its place in rock history is as solid as the stature of the guitarist who played it.The Ritchie Blackmore Tribute Stratocaster takes you back in time and back to the shores of Switzerland's Lake Geneva, where the smoke from the burning Montreux Casino drifted over the waters on Dec. 4, 1971, as the building was destroyed. That night, the members of Deep Purple watched the "fire in the sky" from their hotel and drew inspiration for a timeless rock classic. Blackmore played the song's powerful double-stop riff on a black 1968 Stratocaster®, not knowing at the time that he was creating an archetypal guitar figure that would be eagerly imitated by legions of guitarists.The Fender Custom Shop Ritchie Blackmore Tribute Stratocaster has a two-piece alder body with a lightly worn Black urethane finish, a "U"-shaped maple neck, 7.25"-radius maple fingerboard with medium jumbo frets, and custom '68 Stratocaster pickups hand wound by Fender legend Abigail Ybarra. Other distinctive features include three-way pickup switching, Schaller® tuners, four-bolt neck plate stamped with the serial number and the stylized Fender "F," and a vintage-style synchronized tremolo equipped with Blackmore's distinctive custom ¼" trem arm.Each instrument also includes an exclusive tribute decal on the back of the headstock, certificate of authenticity and orange-lined black-textured vinyl case with the "Fender amp" logo.

• Body
  Body Material: Select Alder
  Body Shape: Stratocaster
  Body Finish: Urethane
  Neck
  Neck Shape: Custom œU
  Number of Frets: 21
  Fret Size: Medium Jumbo
  Position Inlays: Black Dot
  Fingerboard: Maple
  Fingerboard Radius: 7.25" (184.1mm)
  Neck Material: Plain-Grain Maple
  Neck Finish: Urethane
  Nut Width: 1.625" (41.3mm)
  Scale Length: 25.5" (648mm)
  Headstock: Large '70s Style
  Neck Plate: 4-Bolt "F" Stamped
  Electronics
  Pickup Configuration: SSS
  Bridge Pickup: Custom '68 Hand-Wound Single-Coil Strat
  Middle Pickup: Custom '68 Hand-Wound Single-Coil Strat
  Neck Pickup: Custom '68 Hand-wound Single-Coil Strat
  Pickup Switching: 3-Position Blade: Position 1. Bridge Pickup, Position 2. Middle Pickup, Position 3. Neck Pickup
  Controls: Master Volume, Tone 1. (Neck Pickup), Tone 2. (Bridge/Middle Pickup)
  Hardware
  Hardware Finish: Chrome
  Bridge: 6-Saddle American Vintage Synchronized Tremolo
  Tuning Machines: Fender® Vintage "F" Stamped
  Tremolo Arm Handle: Custom 1/4" Tremolo Arm
  Accessories
  Pickguard: 3-Ply Parchment

• 2-piece alder body with a lightly worn Black urethane finish
• "U"-shaped maple neck
• 7.25"-radius maple fingerboard with medium jumbo frets
• Custom '68 Stratocaster pickups hand-wound by Fender legend Abigail Ybarra
• 3-way pickup switching
• Schaller tuners
• Four-bolt neck plate stamped with serial number and stylized Fender "F"
• Vintage-style synchronized tremolo equipped with Blackmore's distinctive custom ¼" trem arm