1982 Fender Fullerton-Era American Vintage '62 Stratocaster Lake Placid Blue w/ Tweed Case

Up for sale, a 1982 Fender Fullerton-era American Vintage '62 Stratocaster retaining its original custom color Lake Placid Blue nitro lacquer finish, complete with a tweed hardshell case. A particularly soulful example, this first-year Fullerton '62 Strat comes complete with an original trio of black bobbin single coil pickups. The Fullerton factory era of Fender vintage reissue production was very brief, lasting only from 1982-84, when Fender was still manufacturing their guitars on the same machines that made the originals back in the '50s and '60s. These models marked the birth of the American Vintage line of instruments, and were the very first vintage reissue guitars ever offered by the Fender company (when in this case the model they were replicating was only 20 years old). While Fender would later move to a new factory in Corona, CA in 1985, the Fullerton-made guitars are highly prized for their rarity, tone, and connection to the origins of the Fender company. Tonewoods include an alder body, maple neck, and thick slab rosewood fretboard, and the guitar's natural acoustic response has great clarity with treble sparkle and woody cut. Via the original three-way pickup selector switch, everything from snappy twang to "in-between" position quack to singing lead line girth is at the player's fingertips. This Strat weighs 7lbs 12oz, professionally setup here at Mike & Mike's Guitar Bar with 10-46 strings, spot-on intonation, and easy-playing action. The maple neck has broad flame figuring on the profile length with a soft V-shaped carve and faintly rolled fretboard edges for an effortless feel, measuring .800" deep at the 1st fret and .855" at the 12th. The thick slab rosewood fretboard has a 7 1/4" radius, retaining the original slender frets which have ostensibly been leveled and crowned in the guitar’s lifetime, showing just a touch of wear beneath the plain strings on the crowns of frets 1-2. The guitar plays cleanly up the 25 1/2" scale with a straight neck and responsive, optimally adjusted truss rod. The nut measures 1.650" in width. On the headstock, the original waterslide decal is intact, and the Kluson-style tuning machines turn smoothly and hold pitch well. The neck heel is pencil dated 6-30-82, and the heel and pocket retain numerous factory stamps and markings. All of the electronics work as they should, with the original neck and middle single coils and a matching (also Fullerton era) bridge pickup, all with black fiber bobbins, staggered alnico pole pieces, and cloth-covered leads. The harness is completely original with a large Sprague tone cap and CTS pots which date to the 26th week of '82. The hardware is completely stock with clean chrome plating, including the early V-prefix serialized neck plate and vibrato unit, currently setup with three springs for easy actuation. All of the plastic parts are original as well including the pickup covers, knobs, and three-ply pickguard. The Lake Placid Blue nitro lacquer gloss finish is a rare option, 100% original with no touchup or overspray. The finish is very vibrant with a proper silver base coat, exhibiting prominent vertical lacquer checking behind the bridge, various small finish chips and dings largely on the back and body perimeter, and some darkening of the finish on the treble-side lower bout edge. The neck profile retains its original ambered gloss, with one shallow scratch central to the carve behind frets 5-8, and light palm wear on the profile shoulders. An early Fender reissue tweed hardshell case is included with the stock leather handle, functioning latches, and orange plush interior, along with one original hangtag.