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.
The 1972 Deep Purple classic “Smoke on the Water” has served as the quintessential heavy rock guitar riff and a metal-melody primer for burgeoning rock guitarists everywhere. Blackmore played the song’s powerful double-stop riff on a black 1968 Stratocaster.
Fender Custom Shop Ritchie Blackmore Tribute Stratocaster features:
- Body: two-piece Alder with a lightly worn Black urethane finish
- Neck Shape: Custom “U”
- Number of Frets: 21
- Fret Size: Medium Jumbo
- Position Inlays: Black Dot
- Fingerboard Radius: 7.25″ (184.1 mm)
- Neck Material: Plain-Grain Maple
- Nut Width: 1.625″ (41.3 mm)
- Scale Length: 25.5″ (648 mm)
- Headstock: Large ’70s Style
- Neck Plate: 4-Bolt “F” Stamped
- Pickup Configuration: S/S/S
- Bridge Pickup: Custom ’68 Hand-Wound Single-Coil Strat
- Middle Pickup: Custom ’68 Hand-Wound Single-Coil Strat
- Neck Pickup: Custom ’68 Hand-wound Single-Coil Strat
- Pickup Switching: 3-Position Blade: Position 1. Bridge Pickup, Position 2. Middle Pickup, Position 3. Neck Pickup
- Controls: Master Volume, Tone 1. (Neck Pickup), Tone 2. (Bridge/Middle Pickup)
- Hardware Finish: Chrome
- Bridge: Vintage Synchronized Tremolo
- Tuning Machines: Vintage ’70s Fender “F” Stamped
- Tremolo Arm Handle: 1/4″ Tremolo Arm
- Colour: Black
