Fender Stratocaster Rory Gallagher MB John Cruz (2000)

Among the "senior masterbuilders" of the Fender Custom Shop John Cruz held an exceptional position for years until his retirement. His faithful reproductions of historic instruments of famous Rock stars are legendary, such as the "Fiesta Red" of the unforgotten Gary Moore or the No. 1 of Stevie Ray Vaughan. Unfortunately this is now a thing of the past, new guitars from John Cruz will no longer be available. Therefore we are very happy to be able to offer you an equally rare and sought-after guitar in top condition: a 2000 Fender Stratocaster 61 Rory Gallagher from the very first run of the Fender Custom Shop, in the course of which only 40 specimens were made for the European market. John Cruz shows here again his incredible attention to detail. Thus, like the historical model the instrument has five Sperzel and one Gotoh tuning heads, as well as corresponding drill holes from the original tuners. One of the clay dots at the 12th fret is "mismatched" and of course the stunning Heavy Relicing, which has not left much of the 3-Tone Sunburst finish that was once present, bears the incomparable signature of the legendary masterbuilder. The instrument itself feels like it's been played for 50 years. Even without distortion one notices the gnarly basic character of the guitar, which would have given Rory great pleasure. Transparent and clear the three "Custom Handwound '60s" pickups let single notes and chords bubble out of the amp. With the pressure on the distortion the guitar then blossoms completely and provides screaming lead sounds and rocking rhythm riffs as you are used to from master Gallagher. If you're used to warmer Strats, you'll have to adjust to this one a bit - but if you want to authentically bring aggressive Blues Rock à la Rory Gallagher to your ears, you'll get the ultimate guitar for it here. Masterbuilt Gallagher Strats are insanely rare birds and especially the 40 specimens that John Cruz built for the first run you hardly ever get to see. All the more we are happy to be able to offer you this gem in top condition. At that time there were no Masterbuilt certificates or Masterbuilt logos on the back of the headstock, so there is “only” the Custom Shop logo, but of course the obligatory Cruz stamp on the foot of the neck is a must (see picture).

• Including original case, certificate, additional 5-way position switch
• Weight: 3495 grams