Back in 1967 Jimi Hendrix took the stage at the Monterey Pop Festival, and proceeded to set the guitar world – and a now-iconic hand-painted Stratocaster – on fire. Hendrix’s amazing set-closing performance of “Wild Thing” has become one of the most famous moments in music, as Jimi ends the song, then puts on a masterclass in high volume feedback, before setting his guitar on fire. It was as if the only way to come to terms with the mastery displayed that night was to destroy the instrument responsible. It was a night for the ages, and while the fire destroyed anything but photographic evidence of the ill-fated instrument, fans of Hendrix can now own a piece of that performance – Fender is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the event by releasing the limited-edition Jimi Hendrix Monterey Stratocaster.
The new guitar is a beautiful replica of the original instrument, with art reminiscent of Jimi’s incendiary axe. Fortunately, the beautiful pop design on the Monterey Strat is protected with a gloss polyurethane finish, instead of the nail polish Jimi painted his with. The finish is really eye-pleasing, starting with a brilliant Olympic White body, with a nearly-salmon red color adorning the lower horn back through the football-shaped jack. While the instrument looked great in pictures, it was really easy to fall for in person. The finish looks about an inch thick, and it really gives an overall appearance of being soft and rounded – I know, I know. All strats are pretty similar, but there’s something deep about how they finished this guitar. It’s unique and cool, and has to be held to really be understood.
Ok, so we know it looks like Jimi’s Strat, so how did we like it? Is it worth the chase? In a word, yes. For the money, this guitar is a killer value.
It uses a proven Fender formula of an alder body, maple C-profile neck and pau ferro fingerboard. Pau ferro, if you haven’t had a chance to play on one, is what you’d end up with if Maple and Rosewood had a kid. It’s got a lot of the hardness and feedback of a maple fretboard, with some of the warmth and “give” of a rosewood one. With rosewood becoming an endangered material, shipping it has become a bit of a nightmare – and besides, preserving endangered woods is a good thing – so Fender has come up with a winner with their choice of pau ferro for their boards.
Beyond the materials, which also include a 1.650” (42mm) wide synthetic bone nut, the Monterey Stratocaster plays up the era it’s commemorating, with a vintage 7.25” radius, 21 vintage-style frets, aged white dot inlays, vintage style tuning machines and a vintage style 6-screw, 6-saddle vibrato bridge. All of the hardware is nickel/chrome. It’s a pretty standard-for-Fender setup, and it suits the guitar perfectly. It also sports a 3-layer pickguard that continues the Strat’s unique artwork.
The vintage touches continue throughout the guitar, with vintage strap buttons, and three vintage-style passive single-coil pickups, selectable by Fender’s standard 5-way Strat pickup selector. The tribute is completed with an etched neck plate for the 4-bolt neck, and Jimi’s autograph printed on the back of the headstock. The Mexican-built guitar ships with a gig bag, which is standard equipment at this price point.
As for playability, the Fender Jimi Hendrix Monterey Stratocaster was a favorite around the ProductionWorld.net office – both myself and PW test pilot and reviewer Andrew Grady couldn’t put the guitar down. The vintage neck radius loaned itself to great playability and speed, while the C-profile neck was comfortable, even for longer gigs.
Our opinion, after A/B-ing the Monterey with a few other high end Strats (2016 Elite, ’87 American Standard, ’79 Anniversary) we concluded that it felt just as good and was every bit a legit high end instrument. The pickups sounded great, the electronics felt solid and reliable, and the guitar was balanced and of reasonable weight for extended playing. In looking for faults, there were few found. The pickups might not have been as rich as a couple of others we listened to (SRV Texas-specials, Kinman noiseless), but that’s hardly a criticism. They still sounded great. Also, my personal opinion is that every guitar on the planet that doesn’t have a double-locking tremolo should have locking tuners, but every Fender purist on the planet would disagree with me, so I’ll keep that to myself.
In addition to being a great, highly-playable and enjoyable instrument, the price makes it a great guitar for gigging. It’s every bit as capable as a more expensive guitar, with all of the versatility of a Stratocaster, with killer looks, but not so expensive as to be ostentatious or a theft magnet.
It’s only fair to say that this review is overdue. The Monterey Stratocaster is a limited run guitar, and many outlets already show it as unavailable, but with a bit of looking they’re possible to find at Fender’s suggested MSRP of $899 USD.
Pros
- Amazing looks
- Great playability
- Excellent value
Cons
- Jimi didn’t paint it himself?