2003 Flower Power Fender Stratocaster
Reissue of a 1969-72 Flower Power Stratocaster
Custom Metallic Blue Finish with Metallic Flower painting
Solid Basswood Body
One piece Maple Neck / Maple Fretboard
Vintage style split shaft tuners
21 frets, hand-filed with hand rolled edges
Original Suggested Retail price: $849.99 U.S.
Bought on: June 3, 2007
Price I paid on eBay: $685

Modifications:
Stock strap buttons replaced with Schaller strap-locks
Stock pickups replaced with Fender Custom Shop '69 Strat Pickups
Cheap japanese circuit board 5 way selector switch replaced with Fender American series switch
Completely rewired with vintage style cloth covered braided wire for better sound and less noise
Tone modification so the bridge pickup is controlled by the second tone knob
Pickup covers, volume/tone/selector switch knobs, and backplate replaced with Fender vintage aged white knobs

Way back in 1968 Fender came out with Blue Flower and Pink Paisley painted Stratocasters, Telecasters, and P-Basses in an attempt to cash in on the whole hippie "Flower Power" summer of love phenomenon that was popular at the time. Unfortunately, the guitars didn't sell very well and were soon discontinuted. This of course made them an instant collectors item due to their rarity. The Blue Flower guitars were particularly rare - the Paisley guitars being slightly less unsellable at the time. After its initial run from ca. '68 to '72, Fender discontinued this model but re-introduced it as one of the fine products from Fender Japan in the mid-'80's. It was then later reissued from 1988-1993, and again for one year in 2003. The guitar I purchased above is a 2003 reissue and is (probably) the last reissue Fender will make of the Flower Power Stratocaster.

Rather than making a true reissue as they had done in the past, Fender decided to reinterpret the Flower Power Stratocaster for 2003. The original guitars and previous reissues had an Ash or Alder body, CBS 70's style large headstock, and three screw bolt on neck as well as a slightly different paint scheme for the pickguard. They were also made in the USA.

Unlike previous reissues, which stayed relatively faithful to the original styling, the 2003 Flower Power Strat has a four screw bolt on neck (which is more stable and increases neck to body ridgidity therefore increasing sustain), smaller pre-CBS style neck and headstock (though maple necks from the 60's were two piece, not the one piece on this guitar), basswood body wood that sounds slighly darker than Ash or Alder. Like previous reissues, it's made in Japan.

Despite the fact that there are some pretty major difference between this guitar and the originals from 1968 this is still a great looking and sounding guitar. It's as if Fender decided to take the best parts from several eras and combine them into one. The stock Japanese pickups were ok, but with the '69 Fender Custom pickups in, this thing really brings the mojo. The tonal characteristics of the '69 Custom pickups tend to make the midrange tonal characteristics of the basswood less pronounced, so the guitar has a more balanced sound. In other words, the guitar now sounds as groovy as it looks.

About the pickups:
Fender Custom Shop '69 pickups are contructed with cloth lead wires, fiber bobbins, and are wax potted to insure that there are no microphonics. Each pickup is hand wound, signed, and dated by Abigail YBarra, who has wound pickups for Fender since the mid 1950's. She's made pickups for a variety of players including Jimi Hendrix, Buddy Holly, Eric Clapton. The pickups give out a pretty weak signal (only 5.8k), but this is done on purpose as since that's how they were made back in the late 1960's. They're absolutely spot on for that Jimi Hendrix or early Pink Floyd sound. Usually I take my guitars to a luthier to have pickups installed or have other wiring modifications done, but this time I decided to do all the soldering and installation work myself. The results were well worth it.