Fender Ritchie Blackmore Stratocaster

What we say:

70s Stratocaster legend Ritchie Blackmore is a guitar hero to many: his epic fretboard excursions with Deep Purple defined 70s hard rock for many people. Since he almost exclusively used Strats, Fender saw fit to reward his decades of dedication with his own signature model.

From a distance, this looks like a fairly straightforward white Strat: it is not until you get closer you begin to notice the specific details. For instance, the middle pickup is not a pickup at all! It is merely a dummy, there to preserve the look of the Strat. The two actual pickups are high powered Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounders, excellent and versatile units.

A significant feature of this guitar is the custom scalloping on the fingerboard. It is gradual, beginning a few frets up on the heavier strings and at the nut for the lighter strings. The scalloping is shallow to begin with, gaining in depth as the frets progress higher. This modification allows super-fast playing since your fingers have to merely touch the strings to sound a note, meaning you can skip around significantly faster than on a standard fingerboard.

Aside from the specialist scalloping, the Rosewood fingerboard has 21 vintage sized frets on a curved 7.25” radius.

For Seventies-style shredding and expressive neoclassical playing, this instrument is a powerful ally.