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'60s Imperial Arc Stratocaster Maple Fingerboard HSS Masterbuilt by Dale Wilson

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Overview

Versatile electronics with a story to tell.

The limited-edition Fender Custom Shop Dealer Select Imperial Arc Stratocaster HSS is a 3-year Master-Built dream realized. Conceived in a Corona, CA. Mexican restaurant and illustrated on a napkin, the Imperial Arc Strat HSS was envisioned to be an exquisite old guitar to the touch, but with magical electronic powers to generate otherworldly sounds.

The journey begins with a 1960 quartersawn oval C-shaped maple neck with a 9.5” radius maple fingerboard and 6105 frets. The alder body boasts a color-over-color finish – only two of each combination have been produced. Both neck and body are sprayed with nitrocellulose lacquer and relic’d.

The Seymour Duncan custom Wide Range Zebra humbucker and neck and middle single-coils were created just for the Imperial Arc Series. The first tone control is a push/push pot that splits the humbucker. A Fender S-1 volume control switch enables a 12dB variable boost that is controlled by the 2nd tone control – dial in the boost you want. The boost is true bypass; the guitar is passive when the boost is switched off. The resulting tone is sweet, throaty - electrifying. Includes hardshell case.

DALE WILSON
Dale Wilson arrived at Fender in 2003, joined the Custom Shop in 2005 and became a Master Builder in 2011. Building guitars has been a driving passion for the California native since childhood.

“Ever since I can remember, I’ve always loved guitars,” he said. “I didn’t dream of being a rock star; I dreamed of building the ultimate guitar. I was equally enthralled with the guitars just as much as I was with the players.”

Wilson comes from a long line of expert woodworkers, and the requisite Custom Shop zeal for outstanding craftsmanship has long been part of his DNA. He did repair work and mods in a small guitar shop right out of high school in the late 1980s; subsequently moving on to stints at Dobro and Rickenbacker before arriving at Fender, where he worked on Guild, Gretsch and Benedetto guitars before beginning his apprenticeship with various Custom Shop Master Builders.

He enjoys calling upon his extensive and varied experience as a craftsman to create unique guitars such as the Resophonic Thinline Telecaster. Wilson also built five beautiful custom guitars for the January 2011 NAMM Show while still an apprentice, but was asked to signed the back of the headstocks and subsequently promoted to Fender Custom Shop Master Builder.

Features

Body

Body shape: Double cutaway
Body type: Solid body
Body material: Solid wood
Top wood: Not applicable
Body wood: Select Alder
Body finish: Relic Nitrocellulose
Orientation: Right handed

Neck

Neck shape: C mid '60s oval
Neck wood: Quartersawn Maple
Joint: Bolt-on
Scale length: 25.5 in.
Truss rod: Standard
Neck finish: Nitrocellulose

Fretboard

Material: Maple
Radius: 9.5 in.
Fret size: Narrow jumbo
Number of frets: 21
Inlays: Dot
Nut width: 1.656 in. (42 mm)

Pickups

Configuration: HSS
Neck: Custom single-coil
Middle: Custom single-coil
Bridge: Custom humbucking
Brand: Seymour Duncan
Active or passive pickups: Passive
Series or parallel: Series
Piezo: No
Active EQ: No
Special electronics: S-1 switching Push/push tone control

Controls

Control layout: Master volume, tone 1, tone 2
Pickup switch: 5-way
Coil tap or split: Coil split
Kill switch: No

Hardware

Bridge type: Tremolo/Vibrato
Bridge design: 6-saddle vintage-style syncronized tremolo
Tailpiece: Not applicable
Tuning machines: 6-in-line American vintage
Color: Chrome

Other

Number of strings: 6-string
Special features: Single-wing string trees, "Original Contour Body" decal, heavily distressed hardware and body, color-over-color body finish
Case: Hardshell case
Accessories: Certificate of authenticity, strap
Country of origin: United States

Own this relic'd masterpiece. Order today.

WARNING: Cancer and Reproductive Harm www.P65Warnings.ca.gov.

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'60s Imperial Arc Stratocaster Maple Fingerboard HSS Masterbuilt by Dale Wilson

Versatile electronics with a story to tell.

Features

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