Related Tags
Watch: Eric Johnson introduces us to his Fender Custom Shop Virginia Stratocaster at NAMM 2020
Features a rare sassafras body.
NAMM 2020: Fender Custom Shop has lifted the veil on the Eric Johnson Virginia Stratocaster, based on the iconic six-string slinger’s own 1954 Strat.
Johnson’s original Virginia Strat made appearances on his hit albums Tones and Ah Via Musicom. Fender Custom Shop’s recreation of the iconic axe is a “super close copy” as Johnson tells us in the video above.
Released in limited numbers, the Virginia Strat features a two-piece, offset-seam sassafrass body, a soft-V maple neck and a 12″-radius maple fretboard. According to Johnson, the sassafras used for this guitar was the missing piece in nailing the tone of the original Virginia Strat.
In terms of electronics, the recreation features a DiMarzio HS-2 in the bridge and an Original ’57/’62 in the middle and neck positions. Controls are not out of the ordinary for a Strat: five-position blade, two tone knobs and a volume knob. Each Virginia Strat ships with a G&G tweed hardshell case and a certificate of authenticity.
In other news, Fender Custom Shop has released a slew of guitars, including a Jimmy Page Signature Tele, a Custom Griffin Themed Leather carved and covered 612 Doubleneck Tele built by Master Builder John Cruz and a Coronation Stratocaster by Master Builder Yuriy Shishkov. The latter costs a jaw-dropping $560,000.
More information at fendercustomshop.com.