1959 Fender Stratocaster

The 1959 Stratocaster is the first year with a rosewood fingerboard — a major design change. The 'slab board' (thick, flat piece of Brazilian rosewood glued to the maple neck) is the correct configuration. The spaghetti logo continues. Some transitional examples with maple necks may exist from early 1959 production. Serial numbers on the neck plate (four or five digits, no letter prefix). For 1959, numbers should fall within documented Fender serial ranges. However, neck plates were not assigned sequentially to bodies, so neck date stamps (pencil or ink on the neck heel) and body cavity dates are more reliable. Look for a hand-written date on the butt end of the neck heel and in the neck pocket or under the pickguard on the body. The slab rosewood board should be thick (approximately 3/16 inch) and flat on the bottom — run your finger along the edge to verify it is not the thinner 'veneer' board introduced in 1962. Pot codes should show 58 or 59 dates. Pickups are hand-wound with staggered poles and black fiber flatwork. The rosewood should be Brazilian rosewood — dark chocolate to purple-brown with visible grain patterns and occasional figuring. Indian rosewood (lighter, more uniform brown) is a later substitution. The finish should be nitrocellulose lacquer. Nitro finishes check (develop fine cracks) and wear naturally over decades, showing wood underneath at contact points. The aging pattern should be consistent — even checking across the body, not localized. Refinished guitars often have a 'too perfect' look or inconsistent wear. Under UV/blacklight, original nitro fluoresces differently than modern polyester or polyurethane. Original custom color finishes are verified by examining the color in the pickup cavities and under the pickguard where it has been protected from light. Slab boards are frequently faked by gluing thick rosewood onto later necks. Check the neck heel for date stamps — should read 1959. Examine the rosewood-to-maple joint at the neck edges for signs of re-gluing. Brazilian rosewood can be verified by an experienced eye or laboratory analysis (CITES documentation may be required for sales). Any claim of a 'transitional' maple-neck 1959 requires extraordinary proof. The 1959 differs from 1957 in the fundamental change from maple to rosewood fingerboard. It differs from 1960-1961 in having the earliest slab board construction. The slab board was used through mid-1962, when the thinner veneer (curved) board replaced it. Early slab boards may have slightly different thickness than later 1960-1962 examples.