Description
Fender Custom Shop Rory Gallagher Stratocaster Relic is one of our shop favorites. Every one of these that we've seen was a player's dream AND tone machine! It's amazing how good Fender's Team of Relic experts are. After having a couple of dozen of these over the years, their ability to duplicate a legendary guitar down to minute details is shockingly consistent! From the one mismatched tuning peg to the over-tightened pickguard screw that put a hairline crack in the pickguard, every Rory Gallagher Strat has been as exact a duplicate of the original as Fender can come up with!
Fender Custom Shop designers met Donal Gallagher, brother of late great guitarist Rory Gallagher, in Los Angeles in 1997 and received one of the most coveted guitars of all time - Gallagher’s heavily worn 1961 Stratocaster® guitar. Fender initially built 40 replicas for European sale but was subsequently besieged with requests for more.
The Rory Gallagher Tribute Stratocaster guitar is an exact replica of that revered instrument, down to the extremely worn Three-color Sunburst alder body, maple neck, and rosewood fingerboard. It even has five Sperzel® tuners and one Gotoh® tuner, and the 12th-fret dot marker is white plastic rather than the original clay.
It also features three custom-wound ’60s single-coil pickups that are tied to a master volume, 2 tone controls, and a 3-way switch. We have added a 5-way to the Gallagher Strat many times so just ask and yours will show up with one! The pickups are tweaked to match the specs on Rory's guitar and they are super sweet. This guitar can rip and roar as the perfect blues Strat but its cleans are charming, warm, and captivating.
21 jumbo frets are installed in a dark rosewood fingerboard that carries a 9.5" radius. A bone nut with a width of 1.650" is classic Fender, as is 25.5" scale length. The maple neck is stripped of lacquer for a smooth and dry feel at all positions. This neck, for us at least, started the stripped neck craze. I remember thinking as a then Gibson Guy, "Who wants the finish removed off the neck?" Then I played it. Then I said, "I DO!" This guitar sports the perfect Strat neck for Stratty, Strat-like Stratness.
We heard a quote from Clapton about how the best restaurants show the wear and tear serving 1000's of customers. That mentality lead him to the most beat-up guitar in the room because, in his mind, somebody LOVED playing that guitar. Since Rory's ACTUAL Strat spent some time, not only floating in a ditch after being stolen but also (allegedly) buried in his garden, it's tough to say how much of the wear and tear was the Bluesman's fault but it sure is fun to think about... The Uber Relic!
The Music Gallery has been a Fender Custom Shop dealer since its formation in 1987. We keep a bevy of about 50 Fender Custom Shop instruments in inventory at all times. Whether you're looking for Stratocasters, Telecasters, Precision Basses, or Jazz Basses we are able to help you design or find whatever the special instrument you're looking for maybe!
Features
- Fender Custom Shop
- Rory Gallagher Stratocaster
- Extreme Relic Finish
- 3 Tone Sunburst (formerly)
- Maple Neck
- Rosewood Fretboard
- Slim C Shaped Neck Profile
- Medium Jumbo Frets
- 1.650" Nut Width
- 9.5" radius
- 5 Sperzel Tuners
- 1 Gotoh Tuner
- Custom Wound 60's Pickups
- Master Volume
- 2 x Tone Controls
- 3 Way Toggle
- Alder Body
- Weighs 7 lbs 8 oz
- Original Hardshell Case
- Case Candy
- Certificate of Authenticity