"The '62"
Original 1962 Fender Stratocaster

To continue playing this guitar with it's slim neck, Mark (Mark's Guitar Repair) replaced the original frets with Dunlop #6000 Super Jumbo bass frets. "We've got to do everything we can to keep her original neck as long as we can, she sounds so good we don't want to change anything!" says Benito. The super jumbo frets gives her neck a feeling similar to the fat necks that Benito prefers.
The '62 has all her original electrical and mechanincal parts including the pickups, tuning machines, switch & pots, and all the plastic parts too. We are not sure if or when the pickguard was changed, it was possible to get a pearloid scratchplate in 1962, but it is unusual. With the exception of the original saddles, which were retired and replaced in 2004, everything that doesn't have to wear out if she is played, like the frets, is 1962.
Sometimes refered to as 'Hope' because she was acquired from The Sound Hole in 2003, a guitar shop that is sadly no longer with us.