Limited to just 100 meticulously built Strats
The Fender Custom Shop has announced the launch of the Jerry Garcia Alligator Stratocaster guitar in celebration of Garcia’s 80th birthday.
What you need to know:
- The Fender Custom Shop has announced the launch of the Jerry Garcia Alligator Strat.
- Celebrating Garcia’s 80th birthday, there will be just 100 Strats available.
- A guitar this curious could only come from the mind of Garcia and his crew of like-minded visionaries.
Read all the latest gear news here.
Master Builder Austin Macnutt meticulously built 100 Strats that illustrate iconic Garcia tour moments and memories.
Every inch of this well-worn instrument tells a story from the hammered brass control plate to the iconic Alligator decal that earned the Strat its moniker.
A guitar this curious could only come from the mind of Garcia and his crew of like-minded visionaries.
The Alligator Strat guitar is not only an ode to the joys of instrument modification but to the nature of collaboration and community that Garcia nurtured throughout his storied career.
“There’s a lot I can tell you about this guitar,” said longtime Garcia associate Steve Parish.
“I’m very lucky because I got to work with Jerry to take care of his guitars… Jerry played a lot of guitars and a lot of Strats but he never had a favourite.
“Fender, Fender, Fender everything. He played Fender Twin Reverb because he loved it, and we collected every Fender we could buy. But this guitar quickly became his favourite.”
With customised hardware including Schaller tuners, Gibson ABR-1 Tune-o-Matic, and Alembic custom bridges, this guitar also features a hammered brass control plate, hand done by Macnutt.
Previously thought to be a 1957 Stratocaster model, Macnutt soon discovered it could in fact be dated to 1955.
Hence, the new replicas have been fitted with hand-wired ’55 Strat single-coil pickups, augmented by Garcia’s post-volume “blaster” boost circuit.
“It’s a piece of American history,” highlights MacNutt. “And there’s a lot of things on it that are not Strat DNA.”
Head to the Fender Custom Shop for more information.
