Fender 57 Strat WBL JM Relic

Fender 57 Strat WBL JM Relic review

The Fender 57 Strat WBL JM Relic is a U.S.-made Custom Shop guitar based on a 1957 Stratocaster. Its listed configuration pairs an alder body with a maple neck and fingerboard, three hand-wound 1950s-style single-coil pickups, and a vintage-style tremolo. The White Blonde finish uses nitrocellulose lacquer and a Journeyman Relic treatment. The listed price is 4775, and the model has been available since June 2025.

No customer reviews are available for this guitar. This assessment therefore sticks to the supplied specifications rather than claiming how it sounds or feels in use. Those details do, however, make the instrument's design priorities clear: a traditional Strat-style layout, period-referenced hardware and appointments, and a neck shaped around a 1957-style profile.

Body, finish, and hardware

The body is alder, with no separate top listed. Fender specifies a White Blonde color and nitrocellulose lacquer, finished in the Journeyman Relic style. The description identifies a single-ply pickguard in a vintage white shade associated with Stratocasters from 1954 to 1958. These are concrete period references, though the supplied data does not detail the relic treatment itself or identify specific areas of wear.

Hardware is nickel, and the guitar uses Fender vintage machine heads. The tremolo is described as both vintage and an American Vintage Strat tremolo. Together, those specifications point to a traditional hardware setup rather than a modernized bridge design. The listing does not provide details such as bridge-block material, tremolo-arm specifications, or the machine heads' gear ratio.

Neck and playing dimensions

The bolt-on neck is made from "Plain Grain" maple, with a maple fingerboard and black dot inlays. Its 1957-style V profile measures 22 mm thick at the first fret and 25 mm at the twelfth. Those measurements give a useful description of the taper, but they cannot fully convey how the V shape will fit an individual player's hand.

The fingerboard radius is 241 mm, or 9.5 inches. Fender lists 21 vintage frets, a 42.9 mm nut width, and a 648 mm scale, equivalent to 25.5 inches. The nut is bone. The longer scale and traditional fret count are consistent with the guitar's stated vintage-inspired design. The available specifications do not include fret dimensions, neck finish details, or a setup measurement, so those aspects cannot be assessed from the listing.

Pickups and controls

The pickup system consists of three hand-wound 1950s Strat-style single coils, arranged in the familiar SSS layout. Controls include one volume knob and two tone knobs, with a five-way pickup selector. This provides the standard control arrangement for selecting combinations of the three pickups, but Fender's supplied information does not state pickup output, magnet type, winding resistance, or the exact tone-control assignments.

Without a customer report or a measured test, it would be misleading to describe the guitar's tone, noise level, output, or response to effects. The pickup specifications establish the design and layout, not a verified account of how the instrument performs through an amplifier.

What the specification sheet establishes

• Construction: Alder body, bolt-on maple neck, and maple fingerboard.
• Neck dimensions: 1957-style V profile, 22 mm at the first fret and 25 mm at the twelfth, with a 9.5-inch radius.
• Electronics: Three hand-wound single-coil pickups, one volume control, two tone controls, and a five-way switch.
• Included case: A vintage case is included. No separate gig bag is listed.
• Origin and listing details: Made in the USA, item number 611664, sold as one piece.

At 4775, the Fender 57 Strat WBL JM Relic is positioned as a high-priced Custom Shop instrument. The supplied data supports its vintage-oriented construction and identifies the main materials, dimensions, electronics, and included case. It does not establish sound quality, setup condition, weight, or how convincing the finish treatment looks in person. Buyers weighing the price will need to confirm those points directly with a dealer, along with availability and any current configuration details.

Technical verdict

The specifications describe a focused 1957-style Stratocaster recipe: alder, an all-maple neck and fingerboard, a V-shaped neck profile, three single coils, and a vintage tremolo. The included case and U.S. Manufacture are also clearly stated. With no customer reviews or independent measurements supplied, the fairest verdict is limited to the documented build. This model is a strong match on paper for players seeking those specific traditional features, but its sound, weight, setup, and individual feel remain unverified here.