“Combines the skills of the finest craftsmen and the traditions cultivated by Fender”: Fender celebrates the first anniversary of its flagship Tokyo store with an unprecedented Strat – and it’s made using an ancient Japanese coating

Fender has celebrated the first anniversary of its flagship Tokyo store by releasing an unprecedented special edition Stratocaster – and it’s unlike any Strat you’ve come across before.

Last July, the Big F opened its four-floor Tokyo store – a huge emporium of electric guitars, acoustic guitars and bass guitars, with spaces dedicated for artist models, lifestyle goods, and a “Dream Factory” Custom Shop department.

The unveiling was marked with the release of three custom Acoustasonics, and now to commemorate the milestone, Fender has once again turned its attention to celebratory designs.

The headline of the collection is undoubtedly the Urushi Stratocaster, a guitar that uses a never seen before finish and utilizes an “ancient Japanese coating material”. Safe to say, it’s unlike anything currently available on Fender’s US books.

Sure, at a distance it looks like a standard black-on-black Strat with gold hardware, but take a closer look: the deep, jet-black finish has a unique mottled and matte character, which has been achieved through “Tsui-koku”.

Tsui-koku, according to Fender, is a traditional Japanese practice, and is dubbed “the most highly skilled of the many lacquer techniques”. It applies “Urushi” and “Kiso Tsuisha” – a specific lacquer designed as a national tradecraft – over a base of black lacquer.

Then, a mold called a ‘tampo” is placed on top, helping to create the final aesthetic, which comprises multiple meticulous layers. 

It was created with lacquer hot shot Yuji Iwahara of Miku Urushi Kogei, one of the best lacquer painters and winner of the Special Jury Prize at the 53rd National Lacquer Ware Exhibition. So, yeah… not just your standard black Strat.

Understandably, Fender is eager to wax lyrical about the Urushi Strat, saying it “combines the skills of the finest craftsmen and the traditions cultivated by Fender”.

Underneath all that traditional beauty, the guitar “inherits Fender’s authentic lineage down to the smallest detail”. That means there’s cross-wired single-coils, a six-point tremolo, and all the other trimmings of a standard ‘60s-style Strat.

Such is the exclusivity of the guitar, it will only be available to preorder via a lottery, which is currently open on the Fender Japan website. Winners will be contacted on the 26th June, following which they’ll have to hand over 495,000 Japanese Yen (approx. $3,160) to buy the guitar.

To find out more, visit Fender Japan.