Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready Teams With Fender for 1960 Stratocaster
Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready has gotten plenty of use out his vintage 1960 Stratocaster® and he’s now teamed with Fender and the Fender Custom Shop to create a limited-edition 1960 Stratocaster® closely mirroring his own.
McCready, in his first collaboration with Fender, partnered with renowned Master Builder Vincent Van Trigt to disassemble his famous vintage guitar to account for every spec, down to the smallest details and iconic scratches. In total, 60 pieces were made, making this a collector’s edition item.
The guitarist says, “Once I could afford a quality guitar, I immediately went for the vintage Stratocaster®. It was my dream guitar because of my love for Stevie Ray Vaughan, and as my musical aspirations were coming true I had to have it.”
He continues, “It was the first significant guitar that I bought, never thinking I could ever own one before Pearl Jam happened. My favorite feature is the playability of the neck. It’s so worn in and easy to play. It’s got the best neck and fretboard of any of my guitars. I also love how light it is. I actually picked up the prototype thinking it was the original a couple of times which shows me how meticulous and caring Master Builder Vincent Van Trigt and the whole Fender team has been throughout this process.”
McCready’s fandom of Vaughan led him in search of Vaughan’s 1959 Stratocaster® but as Van Trigt deconstructed the guitarist’s instrument he uncovered that it was actually a 1960. It was actually discovered decades ago by Pearl Jam’s long-time luthier after working on the guitar and finding date stamps on the neck. Recognizing McCready’s pride in the specific model, the luthier and Pearl Jam’s equipment manager let the guitarist believe for 28 years that it was built in 1959, only revealing the secret in order to create the perfect Fender® guitar replica.
“It was an honor to deconstruct and recreate Mike’s vintage 1960 Stratocaster®” said Vincent Van Trigt, Master Builder at Fender Custom Shop, “He plays an esteemed model, and the unique story behind its history gives even more character to the road-worn guitar we aimed to recreate.”
This model has a lacquer finish, flat-sawn flame maple neck and flat-lam rosewood fingerboard with 21 vintage frets. The custom hand-wound pickups were wound by Josefina Campos herself, “treble bleed” tone capacitor and synchronized tremolo with Callaham bridge block allow for McCready’s signature blues and classic rock sounds to shine through, inspired by his music idols like Jimi Hendrix, Pete Townshend and Keith Richards.
“Mike McCready is a bonafide rock n’ roll legend, and it was a privilege to recreate his all-time favorite guitar,” said Mike Lewis, VP of Product Development at Fender’s Custom Shop. “When considering the partnership, we knew we had to get Vincent Van Trigt on the case. He worked on the Vaughan Brothers 30th Anniversary Strat® set, so he was the natural choice to create an exact copy of Mike’s time-worn Strat® for his fans to collect and enjoy. Pearl Jam has been inspiring us at Fender, and not to mention audiences around the world for 30 years, and we couldn’t think of a better way to honor the legacy of this legendary rock guitarist.”
Get a closer look at the new Mike McCready Limited Edition Fender 1960 Stratocaster® in the gallery and video below and check here for product and purchase details.