ItsaBass
New member
NGD – N.O.S. AV Limited Edition Strat
Limited Edition in Shoreline Gold with matching head. '65 reissue specs with Flash Coat lacquer finish. Marked down $1,000 at my favorite local shop, due to being old stock (made in 2013), having a few small scratches, and not having the original Fender black case (they put it in a Fender tweed case instead, with the "case candy" from the black case). The original case was damaged in the shop some years ago.
I always wanted the Dakota Red '65 AV Strat, but this is even cooler, though in a far more subtle way. Great neck, a beefy C, especially farther up the neck. Pickups sound perfect, as they all did in the AV Series, IMO. Comes with modern wiring, but a 3-way switch in the case, so I can do my preferred "reversion" to the 3-way. Very hard color to photograph accurately! It's more of a dingy/dusty silver than most photos make it seem. It doesn't scream, "GOLD" so much as it does in pictures.
P.S. For those who don't know, "Flash Coat" was Fender's mainstream production term that they used for the AV Series finishes from fall 2012–2017, which are the same finishes that Wildwood had earlier spec'd for their Thin Skin line. The finishes consisted of a lacquer based sealer (as opposed to a poly sealer/filler like the old AVRIs and the new AOs have), as well as color and clear coats that were mixed with more lacquer thinner than normal, making them very thin and fragile. They are absolutely beautiful finishes – the best repro finishes Fender has ever done, IMO. Sadly, with the replacement of the AV line by the current AO line, the only way to get these finishes now is in a Wildwood Thin Skin, which unfortunately has a 9.5" radius and medium frets (deal breakers for me at that price point – a $2,000+ Fender guitar had better have the curvy radius and skinny frets I like)...or in a built-to-spec Fender Custom Shop order (beaucoup bucks). This is why I troll for deals on N.O.S. or barely used AV Series instruments.
Limited Edition in Shoreline Gold with matching head. '65 reissue specs with Flash Coat lacquer finish. Marked down $1,000 at my favorite local shop, due to being old stock (made in 2013), having a few small scratches, and not having the original Fender black case (they put it in a Fender tweed case instead, with the "case candy" from the black case). The original case was damaged in the shop some years ago.
I always wanted the Dakota Red '65 AV Strat, but this is even cooler, though in a far more subtle way. Great neck, a beefy C, especially farther up the neck. Pickups sound perfect, as they all did in the AV Series, IMO. Comes with modern wiring, but a 3-way switch in the case, so I can do my preferred "reversion" to the 3-way. Very hard color to photograph accurately! It's more of a dingy/dusty silver than most photos make it seem. It doesn't scream, "GOLD" so much as it does in pictures.
P.S. For those who don't know, "Flash Coat" was Fender's mainstream production term that they used for the AV Series finishes from fall 2012–2017, which are the same finishes that Wildwood had earlier spec'd for their Thin Skin line. The finishes consisted of a lacquer based sealer (as opposed to a poly sealer/filler like the old AVRIs and the new AOs have), as well as color and clear coats that were mixed with more lacquer thinner than normal, making them very thin and fragile. They are absolutely beautiful finishes – the best repro finishes Fender has ever done, IMO. Sadly, with the replacement of the AV line by the current AO line, the only way to get these finishes now is in a Wildwood Thin Skin, which unfortunately has a 9.5" radius and medium frets (deal breakers for me at that price point – a $2,000+ Fender guitar had better have the curvy radius and skinny frets I like)...or in a built-to-spec Fender Custom Shop order (beaucoup bucks). This is why I troll for deals on N.O.S. or barely used AV Series instruments.
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