Fender Jimi Hendrix Stratocaster Maple Fingerboard 3 Tone Sunburst

What we say:

Summon some voodoo of your own with this posthumous signature guitar from the most famous Strat-wielder of them all: Jimi Hendrix.

We needn’t note how significant this man was and is to every person who picks up an electric guitar: we’ll assume it’s taken for granted! So, what have Fender put together to honour this guitarist of guitarists?

The first thing you notice is that awesome headstock! It’s a large ‘CBS’ shape and reversed to echo the backwards nature of Jimi’s own upside-down Strats. Hendrix’s printed signature adorns the back of the headstock.

The reverse neck actually affects the feel of the guitar! With more string length at the low E and less at the high E, low register riffs feel tighter to play whereas lead licks are slightly more forgiving on your left-hand. Good news!

This backwards-ness extends to the pickup layout. The bridge pickup is angled towards the bass end on the bridge rather than the treble. This is intentionally to capture more of the idiosyncratic tone Hendrix would have had from his bridge pickups: this configuration warms up the treble strings and adds a little extra focus to the bass strings.

The pickups themselves are American Vintage ’65 units. Do they sound like Hendrix though? Well, no, not unless you do but we already knew that! They do have plenty of punch and sparkle, reacting well to volume knob manipulation and focusing overdrive and fuzz particularly well. Jimi would get on well with these pickups!

One concession to modern playing is the 9.5” radius Maple fingerboard. This is a little flatter than fingerboards were back in Jimi’s day but most players will definitely prefer this, especially once they fly into some extended ‘Red House’ or ‘Machine Gun’ moments!

The neck also has medium jumbo frets and a modern truss rod with access from the headstock end of the neck. We are glad to see both of these choices on here: it just makes life easier!

This Jimi Hendrix Strat is available at an affordable price, which means it is attainable to the greatest number of Hendrix fans and any guitarists looking for a slightly more unique Stratocaster with great vintage tones. Available in a selection of finishes, this Fender Jimi Hendrix Stratocaster is available here in 3 Tone Sunburst.