Fender Artisan Koa Thinline Strat AN

Fender Artisan Koa Thinline Strat AN review

The Fender Artisan Koa Thinline Strat AN pairs a semi-hollow, roasted ash body with a figured koa top and a three-single-coil pickup layout. Its specifications place it in a detailed, premium-style Stratocaster format, with an ebony fingerboard, a compound radius, and a dedicated blender circuit. The listed price is 6,999, though the supplied information does not identify a currency. There are no customer reviews available, so this assessment is based solely on the published specifications.

Body, top, and finish

The body is described as semi-hollow roasted ash, with a solid 4A figured koa top. The combination sets this model apart from a conventional solid-body Stratocaster construction on paper. Fender lists the finish as Relic and the color as Natural. The body binding adds a defined edge around the body, while the single-ply tortoiseshell pickguard supplies a contrasting detail. These construction and finish details are verifiable from the specification sheet, but they do not establish the instrument's weight, acoustic volume, or the appearance of any individual piece of figured wood.

The hardware is chrome, including Fender vintage-style chrome tuning machines. A Custom Shop vintage synchronized tremolo is fitted, and the instrument ships with nickel-plated steel strings in a.010 to.046 gauge set. The supplied details do not specify the tremolo's setup, bridge adjustment range, or how the guitar behaves under heavy tremolo use. Those points would need to be checked on the actual instrument.

Neck and playability specifications

The bolt-on neck is made from 3A roasted bird's-eye maple, paired with an ebony fingerboard and mother-of-pearl dot inlays. Its profile is a 1960s oval C shape. Fender gives the neck width as 21 mm at the first fret and 25 mm at the twelfth fret, with a bone nut measuring 41.9 mm wide. These measurements offer a useful outline of the neck, but they cannot substitute for trying its shape and string spacing in person.

The fingerboard has a compound radius from 241 mm to 305 mm, equivalent to 9.5 to 12 inches. Fender lists 21 medium-jumbo frets and a 648 mm scale length, or 25.5 inches. Together, these figures describe a familiar long-scale Stratocaster layout with a fingerboard that becomes flatter toward the higher frets. The specification sheet does not provide fret wire dimensions, fret-end treatment, or setup measurements, so those aspects of fretwork remain unconfirmed.

Pickups and controls

The guitar uses three hand-wound Custom Shop Fat '60s Strat single-coil pickups. The control layout consists of one volume control, two tone controls, and a five-way pickup selector. Fender also lists a Strat 1/2 blender circuit, which expands the available pickup combinations beyond the standard selector positions. The supplied information does not describe the circuit's exact switching behavior, so the available combinations should be confirmed from Fender's wiring documentation or by testing the instrument.

The three-pickup design gives the guitar a conventional Strat-style foundation, while the named pickup set and blender circuit make the electronics a central part of its specification. No output measurements, frequency response, or noise performance are provided. It would be inaccurate to claim a particular tonal character or recording result from the component names alone.

Included items and practical considerations

The package includes a deluxe case, a strap, and a certificate. A bag is not included, and the case is listed as included. The item number is 651468, and the sales unit is one piece. Before purchase, buyers may want to confirm the certificate details, case type, and the condition or setup of the specific guitar, since the supplied data does not describe those points.

Technical assessment

On paper, the Artisan Koa Thinline Strat AN combines a semi-hollow roasted ash body, a figured koa top, a roasted bird's-eye maple neck, and an ebony fingerboard with a familiar Stratocaster control format. Its 21 frets, 25.5-inch scale, compound-radius fingerboard, and synchronized tremolo are clearly specified. The pickup set and blender circuit distinguish its electronics, while the deluxe case and strap are useful included accessories.

The available information supports a careful specification-based assessment, not a verdict on sound, comfort, build consistency, or value in use. Those depend on the individual instrument and a hands-on inspection. With no customer feedback supplied, potential buyers should treat the published construction details as the basis for comparison and evaluate the guitar in person where possible.