Monday, April 1, 2013
Scottsdale, AZ (January 18, 2012) – The Fender
Custom Shop is extremely proud to pay tribute to the "anvil" used to
forge one of the greatest guitar riffs in rock history, the one from
Deep Purple classic "Smoke on the Water," by crafting the limited
edition Fender Custom Shop Ritchie Blackmore Tribute Stratocaster.
Limited to 2013 production, the guitar is a meticulously crafted replica
of the black Fender Stratocaster Blackmore played with Deep Purple in
the early ’70s, including the recording of seminal album Machine Head
and the band’s greatest hit single.
"Smoke on the Water" was released on album in 1972 and as a single in
May 1973. A major hit, it reached number four on the Billboard pop
singles chart in the United States and propelled Machine Head into the
top 10 worldwide. The song has appeared on countless "greatest" lists
over the past 40 years, including Rolling Stone magazine’s "500 Greatest
Songs of All Time," VH1’s "40 Greatest Metal Songs" and Q magazine’s
"100 Greatest Guitar Tracks."
Deep Purple broke out of Hertford, England, in the late ’60s and,
along with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, is considered a pioneering
heavy metal and modern hard rock band. Once listed by the Guinness Book
of World Records as the world’s loudest, the band has sold more than 100
million albums worldwide. More recently, Deep Purple was nominated for
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in 2013.
The Fender Custom Shop Ritchie Blackmore Tribute Stratocaster has a
two-piece alder body with a lightly worn Black urethane finish, a ’69
"U"-shaped maple neck, 7.25"-radius maple fingerboard with medium jumbo
frets, and custom ’69 Stratocaster pickups hand-wound by Fender legend
Abigail Ybarra. Other distinctive features include three-way pickup
switching, Schaller tuners, Micarta nut, four-bolt neck plate stamped
with the serial number and the stylized Fender "F," and a vintage-style
synchronized tremolo equipped with Blackmore’s distinctive custom ¼"
arm. Each instrument also includes an exclusive rear-headstock tribute
decal, certificate of authenticity and orange-line black textured vinyl
case with a "Fender Amp" logo.
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