PRODUCT REVIEW
Fender Road Worn Series
‘50s Telecaster and
‘60s Stratocaster
BY JORDAN WAGNER
The striking image of a well-worn guitar
has long been a symbol of popular music.
It elicits an array of emotions, embod-
ies hopes and dreams, and rekindles old
memories of seeing (or being in) a band that
positively owned the stage at some smokey
dive years ago. The sight of such an instru-
ment—Joe Strummer’s beaten Telecaster,
Neil Young’s tattered Les Paul, Eric Clapton’s
“Blackie” Stratocaster, or the epitome of a
well-worn instrument, Willie Nelson’s Martin,
“Trigger”—makes musicians and non-musi-
cians alike wish they could have been there
to see the damage inflicted, or dream about
being the ones who dished it out. They can
inspire a sense of witnessing history, set in
rusted steel and well-used wood.
has reached a peak, Fender is introducing
an affordable line of their flagship models,
complete with all the tarnished hardware,
finish checking, and corrosion-encrusted
vibe of those instruments.
This admiration for beaten and bruised guitars has even created a trend in new guitars,
but the phenomenon is fairly recent, when
put into context. Fender and Gibson have
been producing beaten-up versions of their
instruments for several years now. In the late
90s, the Fender Custom Shop introduced
the Relic series, which were highly accurate
reproductions of their vintage designs, but
purposefully worn to replicate the feel of an
actual guitar from the ‘50s or ‘60s. The idea
was apparently inspired by Keith Richards,
who told Fender that the replica instruments
he’d received “looked too new” and that
he wanted them to be worn out before he’d
play them, so that he couldn’t feel or see the
difference. Going even further, guitarists can
now buy instruments that actually replicate
the exact scratches, dings, and worn finishes
of some of their favorite artists’ guitars.
’60s Stratocaster
The specimen we received is Olympic White,
based on a ‘60s model, with a C-shaped neck
and vintage-style tuning machines. The guitar
is very striking, with the white body immediate-
ly setting off the yellowed plastic hardware and
spots of worn finish. Even the tremolo arm has
received a treatment, as the metal is lightly tar-
nished (but smooth) and the tip aged to match
the matured pickguard and control
knobs. With closer inspection small-
er details come into focus, such as
the lightly corroded neck plate,
tarnished pickguard screws, and
worn tuners and bridge saddles.
The only part of the instrument
that doesn’t look like it’s been
subjected to harsh treatment is
the fretboard. The rosewood has
a nice, healthy color and the frets
are polished and fit to perfection.
New, old-looking guitars can fetch thousands of dollars due to the comfortable feel
of the neck, worn edges on the hardware,
and of course, the look of cigarette smoke
stains and finish dings from rowdy gigs
and deflected beer bottles. Now that the
demand for vintage-inspired, worn guitars
Running a pair of fingers over the
body revealed the wounds to be
real, some deeper than others.
The distressed finish can certainly
be differentiated from the feel
of the bare wood, which adds
to the effect Fender is aiming
for. The back of the neck was
a different story, however.
Possibly the most important
characteristic of a vintage
guitar is the way the neck
feels in the player’s hand—
it can make or break the
decision to buy. While the
edges of the fretboard felt
like they’d been rolled off
to maximize comfort, the worn
