Vince Cunetto's Personal '54 Stratocaster
The Most Faithful 1954 Re-Issue Ever…

This unique 1954 Stratocaster was built by Master Builders Vince Cunetto and J.W. Black. It was Vince Cunetto's personal guitar until 2009 when he sold it through Make'n Music in Chicago to a private collector. This beautiful instrument features a one-piece ash body, contoured on back and lower bass bout and finished in two-tone Sunburst (black to yellow) weighing just 6.70 lbs. One-piece fretted maple neck with a very comfortable nut width of between 1 5/8 and 1/11/16 inches, a scale length of 25 1/2 inches and a wonderful '54 thick profile. Maple fretboard with 21 original medium frets, black dot position markers and small black dot side markers. Small headstock with decal with Fender Spaghetti logo with "Fender" in gold with black trim, "STRATOCASTER" in black beside it, "WITH SYNCHRONIZED TREMOLO" in black below it, and with "ORIGINAL Contour Body" decal at the ball end of the headstock. The back 'ball-end' of the headstock has the oval decal "Custom Built / JW. Black / Fender U.S.A." Individual 'Kluson' Deluxe tuners with oval metal buttons. Single circular string tree with small metal spacer. Four-bolt neck plate with the serial number "R0054" between the top two screws. Three specially wound, white 'bakelite'-covered, black-bottom 1954 style single-coil pickups, with raised 'D' pole-pieces and nicely balanced outputs of 5.48k, 5.57k and 5.66k. Single-layer white 'bakelite' pickguard (.060 inches thick) with eight screws. Three controls (one volume, two tone) plus three-way pickup selector switch, all on the lower treble side of the pickguard. White plastic 1954 style Stratocaster knobs with gold lettering. Fender "Synchronized Tremolo" combined bridge/tailpiece (six-pivot bridge/vibrato unit with through-body stringing). The end of the neck is stamped in black "#0054" and the heel of the neck is stamped in red with the Fender Custom Shop Logo and "#0054" and "RELIC" in black. Additionally it is signed in red ink by "J.W. Black" and "Vince C." and also some other indiscernible letters. The neck cavity is signed and dated in black ink "JW Black / 1-96 / Vince Cunetto" also "Custom / Ref". The tremolo cavity has the oval red Fender Custom Shop logo stamped in red and is signed in black "JW Black / Vince Cunetto" and also has the serial number "#0054" stamped in black. The control and pickup cavities are shielded with black paint and the control cavity is signed in yellow marker "For / Vince Cunetto / W/Thanks / JW Black". The underside of the pickguard is signed "Vince Cunetto / 1.96 / JW Black / 54/S'". Complete with the original tremolo arm, tremolo 'ashtray' cover, Fender guitar cord, polishing cloth, additional tremolo springs, various instruction sheets and hang-tags, etc. This guitar is in mint (9.50) condition with just a small amount of finish checking. Housed in the original Fender three-latch, rectangular 'center-pocket' 'tweed' case with red plush lining (9.25).

Also included is the Fender Custom Shop Certificate of Authenticity dated "January 1996" - This document certifies that this Fender Musical Instrument Model: "Custom 1954 Stratocaster"  Serial # "R0054" is a product of the Fender Custom Shop… [signed] "John Page". The Certificate of Origination which states "To whom it may concern… The Relic Strat described above was a special, custom one-off guitar that was one of my favorite personal guitars, the result of a collaboration between myself and Master Builder J.W. Black… All the parts of the guitar were specially made and/or selected by J. at the Custom Shop, and were then shipped to me raw for finish work…Upon completing the finish, I shipped the guitar back [to] the Corona Custom Shop for final assembly and setup by J.W., who returned the completed guitar in January of 1996.… The guitar has a beautiful Birds Eye maple neck and an extremely light swamp ash body. Some special cosmetic features of the guitar include the rounded and rolled treatment to the plastic knobs and pickup covers, meant to simulate the look and vibe of an original 1954 Stratocaster after which this guitar is modeled. [signed] "Vince Cunetto" October 2009".


Compared to our records of the seven 1954 Stratocasters that we have had, the nut width of 1.65 is a fraction wider than usual (1.59 - 1.63) and the width of the neck at the 21st fret is also a fraction wider at 2.20 (2.13 - 2.16). The neck profile is entirely within the ranges of our seven '54's.