- All Fender gear is inspected prior to shipping -
1956 Fender Stratocaster Burst
1956 Fender Stratocaster Burst
1956 Fender Stratocaster Burst
1956 Fender Stratocaster Burst
1956 Fender Stratocaster Burst
1956 Fender Stratocaster Burst
1956 Fender Stratocaster Burst
1956 Fender Stratocaster Burst
1956 Fender Stratocaster Burst
1956 Fender Stratocaster Burst
1956 Fender Stratocaster Burst
1956 Fender Stratocaster Burst
1956 Fender Stratocaster Burst
1956 Fender Stratocaster Burst
1956 Fender Stratocaster Burst
1956 Fender Stratocaster Burst
1956 Fender Stratocaster Burst
1956 Fender Stratocaster Burst
1956 Fender Stratocaster Burst
1956 Fender Stratocaster Burst
1956 Fender Stratocaster Burst
1956 Fender Stratocaster Burst
1956 Fender Stratocaster Burst
1956 Fender Stratocaster Burst
1956 Fender Stratocaster Burst

Serial Number: 11869

1956 Fender Stratocaster Burst

Condition: Used


  • $50 Continental USA shipping
  • Setup and inspected by our tech team
  • In stock, ready to ship

Regular price $39,999.99 Sale price$34,999.99
/

We take trades from anywhere in the USA! Learn more about our trade-in process, or contact us to get your trade-in appraised.

We have 3 ways to finance:

Financing (like a credit card, with a credit check)

  • Affirm 0% financing up to $17,500
  • Klarna "as-low-as" 0% financing

To get started: add gear to your cart, start the checkout process, and then select Affirm or Klarna as your payment option. You will do a super easy credit app and be good to go!

Layaway (we hold the gear until its paid off, no credit check)

  • Layaway with 25% down with 90 days to pay, no weekly payments

To get started: contact us and we will send you a layaway contract to e-sign and 25% invoice.

SHIPPING

We put a strong emphasis on fantastic shipping practices. After learning from shipping thousands of guitars, we have come up with a few shipping rules:

  1. We only ship instruments and amps with FedEx or UPS.
  2. All shipments (besides inexpensive accessories) are shipped with a signature required, no exceptions.  
  3. Instruments are packed so there is no movement in the outer box, and/or inside the case (this is the key!).
  4. Plenty of tape!
  5. Always have shipments on the truck the same (by 2pm ET) or next day.

You will receive a tracking number as soon as your order ships. Please note: Tracking numbers usually take 24 hours before they appear in FedEx/UPS/USPS systems.  All delivery changes (hold for pickup, address change, etc.) must be requested before your purchase leaves our store, otherwise, they are the responsibility of the customer.

RETURNS

Due to a change in refund policy by our payment processors and PayPal, we must update our return policy to include a 3-10% restocking fee in some cases (see item 4 and 8).

  1. We ALWAYS stand behind our products. Call us with ANY issues - we want to help you! If an item is damaged in shipping or the wrong item is shipped, we will always accept a return at $0 cost to you (we will cover return shipping, and charge no restocking fee no matter the payment method, etc) AND/OR offer a partial refund to fully cover the issue. We need to be notified of shipping damage or issues with the item within 48 hours of item receipt in order to process your request in a timely manner. 
  2. All new AND used items are fully inspected, setup, and maintained for full 100% playability and electronic functionality by our in-house tech when they ship. If your guitar starts buzzing after a couple weeks, CALL US, we can talk you through a quick adjustment of the truss rod due to a change in climate after it leaves our humidified facility. 
  3. All items are fully insured in shipping, worldwide. Although issues do happen, we put a strong emphasis on fantastic shipping practices to make sure your new instrument gets to you safe and sound anytime you order from Ish Guitars.  If your item is damaged in shipping, please contact us so we can assist.  If you choose an expedited shipping option and the item does not get to you in the designated timeframe, we will do our best to refund you the cost as long as the shipping provider allows for a refund - (they will deny a service refund for any items that have a large package surcharge - usually applies to most acoustic guitars and basses.)
  4. You can return an item for any reason (simply just don’t like it, etc) 5 days from receipt of the item. This does not apply to international orders nor to instruments with custom modifications completed by our tech team per the customer's request (pickup change, strap button install, etc.) You will need to pay the return shipping cost and actual outgoing shipping cost (even if “free shipping” is offered). A 3% restocking fee applies ONLY if paid by credit card in our showroom, over the phone, on IshGuitars.com, or with PayPal on any platform. A 5% restocking fee applies with Klarna orders and a 10% restocking fee applies with Affirm orders.  You will NOT be charged a restocking fee if paid with cash, check, bank wire, or credit card via Reverb Payments. The restocking fee is only to cover our credit card processing fees which our processor does not refund to us in the case of a return, even if the order is canceled the same day. If an item is not returned in the condition which it was sent due to personal use, we will charge a restocking fee according to the amount of blemishes, as determined by Ish Guitars staff.
  5. Please use all original packaging materials to return an item. Before shipping your return, please conduct a 'shake test' to make sure there is no movement of the instrument or case inside the box. If an item is not returned in the condition in which it was originally sent due to shipping damage from inadequate packaging, we will charge an additional restocking fee according to the amount of blemishes as determined by Ish Guitars staff. 
  6. Store credit or exchange credit can be redeemed 1 time towards a new item purchase, making that item a final sale.
  7. All returns MUST receive an RMA number (contact us at team@ish.guitars or 315-447-3243) to be returned. If you ship an item back to us and do not get an RMA number prior, we will charge an additional 10% restocking fee for any return. Returns will be processed and a refund issued within 3 business days of us receiving the instrument at our warehouse. This is to allow time for the guitar to acclimate to room temperature as well as to be re-inspected by our tech team. 
  8. Order cancellations which have not yet shipped are still subject to all of the same restocking fees as outlined in line item 4.  Again, this is only to cover processing fees that do not get refunded to us by our payment processors.
  9. We do not offer an additional warranty outside of the 5 day return period, but we are happy to help you work with the manufacturer or your local tech to solve any issues. Call us! Used items do not carry a warranty of materials or workmanship since they are second hand.
  10. All trades are final, we cannot reverse a trade.

Last revision May 30th, 2023

      Call us at 315-447-3243.

      Text us at 315-907-4259 (photos NOT accepted at this number).

      Or email us here.


      1956 Fender Stratocaster Burst 

       

      Cosmetic Condition: Guitar is in very good condition.  There are a collection of dings and scratching on the guitar that can be seen in our listing photos.  The pick guard has chipped on the lower horn where the mounting screw is located and there is a small crack on the neck pickup adjustment screw.  Back of guitar has a bit of buckle rash where the finish has worn off.  The original case is missing a latch and one of the hinges is starting to pull apart from the case. With a few minor repairs the case could be fully functional, but we decided to leave the case as it is for originality.  

      Case: Original Hardshell Case w/ additional ProRock hardshell case to preserve the original one.

      Weight: 7.4 lbs 

      ****Due to photo upload limits, we can't include every photo of the internals of this guitar that we took or all of our blacklight photos. They can be provided upon request, just send us a message! *****

      VINTAGE VERIFIED BY ISH GUITARS

      Make: Fender

      Model: Stratocaster

      Year: 1956

      Serial: 11869 

      Body: Alder

      Pickup Impedance: (Neck 5.97K) (Middle 6.23K) (Bridge 6.40K)

      Nut Width: 1 21/32"

      12th Fret Width: 2 1/64"

      Depth at Nut:   61/64"

      Depth at 12th: 31/32"

      Fretboard Radius: 7.25"

      Truss Rod Action: Single

      Truss Rod Functioning:  Yes

      Scale Length: 25.5"

      Fret Size/Shape: short, narrow 

      Describe Neck Profile: Soft v

      Pot Markings: 304605

      Switch Markings: CRL1452 

      Jack: Switchcraft

      Playability: The guitar plays extremely well and remarkably buzz free even with moderate to heavy fret and board wear. The action is 4/64” across the 12th fret with .009” relief on the neck strung with 9-42 D’Addario XL strings. The neck angle is spot on, built correctly with no shims installed or needed. The tuners move well and hold the tune well.  The truss rod moves easily without hesitation.  The guitar had no issue intonating perfectly with our Peterson strobe tuner at the 12th fret. The neck feels great and worn in for easy playing. The pickups sound fantastic with even sound across the 3 pickup positions. 

      Authentication: Gorgeous pre-CBS 1956 Stratocaster! The neck, body, backplate and potentiometers all date to 1956 exactly. On the neck the handwritten date is directly below the truss rod access and reads XA-6-56 (June, 1956).  The body shows the date written by hand in the tremolo cavity also 6-56 (June, 1956).   The backplate contains the serial number which reads 11869  (Fullerton 1956).  Finally the pots are Stackpole pots, reading 304605 (5th week of 1956) and although only one pot code is fully visible I do not see any solder separation between the pots or components with the exception of the solder joint between the output jack and master volume which appeared to be resoldered at some point (which is why we made the careful determination to separate them again and remove the pickguard for closer viewing). 

      Additionally, we do see the “nail holes” on the back of the neck, and between the tuners, as well as a few on the body under the pickguard showing no refinish work. Era correct 3 way switch with proper manufacturing codes CRL1452, proper neck and body construction including the thinner carved edge, 1pc maple neck with skunk stripe and cable route in the cavity.  The bridge, screws, tremolo, tone caps, pickguard (single ply 0.060” thickness), and unfilled body nail holes also help to prove originality. The plastic material all appears to be the original “bakelite” which was used on stratocasters between 1954-1956. There is one pickguard screw that does not match.  It is supposedly a 50’s Fender screw, however it is not original to the guitar (see pic) yet looks almost identical.

      The case is all original and amazingly has the original Fender foil logo and Kyolon foam cushion sticker.  

      Modifications/Repairs: When we received the guitar we found that the pickups were very quiet and did not give a reading of impedance.  We separated them from the guitar and soon learned that the pickups were problematic and had to be rewound.  After careful consideration we reached out to master pickup builder and repairman Curtis Novak for his advice.  He suggested a rewind with original formvar wire (same wire used in this exact strat just new old stock).  He correctly wound these to the specs required and they truly sound amazing, the best strat pickups we have ever heard.  No other part of this pickup was changed, we even reused the original hookup wire.  We preserved the original (cut off) winding wire for the next owner to have included with the receipt from Curtis to show the work performed. 

      The nut was cut a bit low and resulted in buzzy playing on the open strings.  To remedy this we did build up the nut a little bit using bone dust and cyanoacrylate glue (a very durable and long lasting repair that is often permanent).  We did this instead of replacing the factory original nut to preserve originality. 

      The body cavity had a lot of solder run off beads rattling around, to keep it from interrupting the connection we removed them and put them in a bag for the next owner to keep.

      Lastly, we decided it would be best from a functionality standpoint to replace the original pickup height rubber tubes with springs so that the pickup height could be easily adjusted up and down.  The original adjustment tubes were flat and had no spring left, we have all 6 of them in a small baggy for the next owner. 

      Other than these small modifications we see absolutely no other repairs or changes from the original guitar. Under blacklighting we can confirm this.  

      Questions?

      We're here to help.

      Call us at 315-447-3243 or email

      Ish loves Fender

      We go beyond your typical guitar store. Each instrument is inspected at our in-house luthier shop before, during, and after its stay with us.

      Testimonials

      Fantastic company. Answered my email promptly and shipped very quickly! I highly recommend Ish Guitars!

      Robert, PRS Custom 24 Piezo

      Awesome transaction! I bought a pretty special guitar (previously owned by a famous guitarist), and Ish nailed it. Ethical dealer, quick ship, and fast responses. I look forward to doing business with them again in the future!

      Devin, L'arrivee D-60

      Awesome guitar. Came with a perfect setup and no issues. Would love to buy another guitar from you guys.

      Matthew, Music Man Cutlass