Fernandes Revival Strat RST50

Beautifully aged revival headstock

This beauty is my early to mid 80's Fernandes 'the revival' strat. I say early to mid 80's as Fernandes guitars are notoriously difficult to date (no not candles and flowers! although this is such a looker, you'd be forgiven!!!). Neck plate codes have so far proven to be indecipherable, and the numbers themselves can not even be chronologically interpreted. For instance, I have seen examples with modified headstocks (when came later) having numbers lower that the ones on my strats.  However, there is an L suffix at the beginning, ans so this is what is referred to in the M.I.J community as an 'L series guitar' -- of that we can be sure, which is a good thing !

Typical vintage design but the revival has a five way pickup selector (Click to enlarge)

This is also a custom color which doesn't  appear in the Fernandes catalog. It's also a bit of a chameleon sometimes appearing as a light red in some lighting conditions. The above picture was taken in natural daylight to give a true rendering of this six stringed beauty :)

Neck plate denotes an L series guitar

The impetus behind these guitars seems to have been to recreate those classic guitars of yesteryear, and Fernandes have done a masterly job. I can say this with a fair degree of certainty as I have had the chance to compare this to an 1964 candy apply red strat, and to my hands differences were negligible. And how is this possible you may well ask- well take a look at the picture below:

Fernandes literally delves into the nuts and bolts of strat type guitars !

As I have said, establishing a date of manufacture for these guitars can be quite tricky. However, finding which particular model your guitar is based of of is a much simpler task (if you have a Philips screwdriver!), as unscrewing the neck and having a peek at the neck heel stamp indicating model type. Foe example a '57 neck heel stamp means your guitar is modeled after a 1957 strat and a '64 indicates the 1964 version. The image below is taken directly from my own guitar, and indicates that it is a 1964 model.

The stamp indicates a '64 model

But all this is of course redundant rhetoric if the guitar doesn't play well and feel right. Well, I mentioned it compared quite favorably to the original 64', but what does this mean in practice. For starters, if your moving from something along the lines of a modern neck profile, well then give yourself time to become accustomed to the neck. I had played vintage strat in the past, but this was my first vintage guitar to sit down with and attempt a lexicon of licks and runs with in quite a while. Sometimes, I would fret notes incorrectly as my fingers acclimatized to the new environment - and this is not a flaw on the part of Fernandes, but rather something you can expect when making a change from any modern board to vintage.

 However, it wasn't long before the neck fit as well as my winter gloves and cords were a pleasure to play, even the more finger stretching and bar variety (purple rain is a standout knuckle buster). There also an air of quality about the fit and finish and this is a serious guitar that's bolted together as well as any!So if you chance to find one of these or indeed any guitar with a vintage strat neck profile, give it some time in your hands and you'll be rewarded.

The guitar sounds great, just like a vintage strat should and that's through a Trace Elliot hybrid amp (valve preamp section coupled with a solid state output section). I'm in the process of getting a low powered all valve amp so I can showcase the tru sounds of the guitars I post here. For now I'll include this video of how it sounds through that Trace hybrid amp - but an all valve amp makes this really shine as this hybrid amp sounds harsh and jagged around the "edges" of the notes.

Notice how the color changes depending on the light - the rear of the body appearing pink the lower horn has a red hue.