Fender Classic Series

The Classic series consists of retro-specific models that celebrate important decades in Fender's history using styling and hardware relative to that era. The Classic Player series begins life like that but, since they are made to the specific design of a Custom Shop Master Builder, certain details such as fingerboard radii and so on can be changed so that they may be a little anachronistic to the time frame in which the guitar was originally intended. For example, the Classic 60s Strat has a 7.25" fingerboard radius, which is correct for the era. The Classic PLayer model 60s Strat has a 12" radius fingerboard which is much flatter, easier to bend strings on and in no way historically accurate to the 60s! We recommend simply trying both in these sorts of situations. One will normally reveal itself to be more suitable for you than the other!

No, they are more like cumulative 'Best Of' style guitars which gather together lots of defining features into instruments that represent a particular period. They are close to being reissues but, strictly speaking, are not. This gives Fender more freedom to make them better guitars.

Each of these models is a culmination of the most specific and defining features of the given decade. For example, 3 ply pickguards didn't appear on Fenders until the 60s, so Fender Classic 50s Strats have single ply pickguards. These details are helpful in defining each 'classic' period of Fender's history. When guitar players see a Sunburst Stratocaster with a dark fingerboard, they immediately think '1960s Strat' (or, more specifically, a '62 Strat!) and it is this instant recognition that Fender understand and inject into these reissues of 'classic' Fender guitars and basses.