Fender Custom Shop Stevie Ray Vaughan Tribute Stratocaster - An Interview with Master Builder John Cruz

by Tom Watson and JASON C. ALLEN

No two names associated with the Fender Stratocaster induce as great a level of awe and admiration as those of Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan. In 2002, the Fender Custom Shop created four "Hendrix Clones" after conducting a detailed examination of the Stratocaster Hendrix played at Woodstock in 1969. In September of 2003, Fender representatives met with SRV's brother, Jimmie Vaughan, and subjected SRV's beloved "Number One" Strat to a similar detailed examination. The result of that September meeting is the Fender Custom Shop Stevie Ray Vaughan Tribute Stratocaster, the prototype of which was unveiled at January's 2004 Winter NAMM Show.

The SRV Tribute Stratocasters will be built by Fender Custom Shop Master Builder John Cruz. Strat Collector News Desk contributor Jason C. Allen spoke with Cruz about the SRV Tribute Stratocaster on the opening day of the 2004 Winter NAMM Show.

Jason C. Allen for the Strat Collector News Desk: I'm a huge fan of your work. I own one of the Rory Gallaghers, as you know, and I love what I've seen so far of the Stevie Ray Vaughan Tribute Stratocaster. I'm assuming that you are probably a huge SRV fan?

John Cruz: I am. I come more from a rock 'n' roll background - a hard rock background - but after hearing Stevie something just got put into my soul. I play with a lot more feel now - it's about more than just the attack on the guitar - and I'm more aggressive after seeing Stevie. I never got to see him play live, but listening to his records and watching the videos just totally blew me away - his style and his feel for the guitar.

Same thing with the Rory Gallagher Stratocaster. He's another hero of mine. It was an honor to pay homage to him in my way by making the Gallaghers, and I'm taking that same feeling and passion to the work on the Stevie Ray Vaughan guitars. I think it's a great thing, and I'm just happy to be a part of it.

SCND: How did the project come to you?

JC: Mike Eldred approached me after they [Fender's Vice President of Marketing, Richard McDonald; Design Group Manager, George Blanda; and Custom Shop Marketing Manager, Mike Eldred] went to see Jimmie Vaughan in Texas. They had spec'd out the guitar completely, and showed me all the photos and gave me their notes. Our hope is to get everything nailed as close as we possibly can to pay tribute to a great guy.

[Image: Fender Custom Shop's Mike Eldred (left) and John Cruz (right) take a close look at SRV's signature below the tremolo cavity on the back of the body of the SRV Tribute Stratocaster prototype. © 2003, FMIC]

SCND: I'm assuming you haven't had a chance to meet with Jimmie Vaughan?

JC: No, I haven't. I was hoping he was going to be here at the show but I was told a few days ago he wasn't going to make it, and I was kind of bummed out because I really wanted to see the reaction on his face when he saw the prototype. Like what happened with Donal, Rory's brother. When they sent him the guitar and he opened the case he just gasped. He said it was an eerie feeling and that made me feel so good - that Rory's brother saw the guitar and flipped out over it.

SCND: Was there anything in particular that caused you any headaches or was a big challenge?

JC: One thing that was a challenge for me was that it looks like when they did the bridge route for the left-handed tremolo they did it on the wrong side and said, "Oops, we'd better stop there," and then they patched it up and went back to the other side and did it the right way. Recreating that is a challenge, but I've got a way of doing it and I think it turned out good on the prototype.

SCND: You weren't there to see it in person, but you have the notes and photos; was there anything that surprised you about "Number One"?

JC: One surprise was that the neck was so thin at the fretboard, and you can tell it had been refretted several times. On detailed photos you can actually see fret tangs going into the maple, which is very "not right" for what Fender does. For Stevie to take command of that guitar like he did was amazing.

SCND: Were various readings taken of the pickups to duplicate them?

JC: Absolutely. We're paying as close attention to detail as we possibly can, to get everything as close as possible - from neck size, to body weight, to all the wear marks, to the pickups, everything. Even the detail of putting a cut-up piece of wire on the strings' ball end to reduce friction from the tremolo - we went through all those details. We're paying tribute to the man so we're going to get as close as we possibly can.

SCND: You've had a chance to play the instrument you've created...?

JC: Oh yes, I was the first one. I waited until everybody had gone home, put it all together, strung it up, turned up the amp as loud as I could and kind of fell into Stevie's shadow for a few moments. It was great. It was a touching feeling for me to actually play something so close to what a master of the instrument played. No, it doesn't make you play like Stevie Ray Vaughan because, like we've been saying, "Mojo not included".

SCND: What's the biggest pleasure you got out of building the prototype?

JC: I really enjoyed applying the stickers - the "Custom" sticker below the bridge and the "SRV" stickers on the pickguard. A funny story about that - I was working on the very first pickguard for the prototype, and as I was going to place the SRV stickers, and was really nervous because I wanted to get them on exactly the right spot, something came over me and I sneezed and they went on crooked so I had to peel them all off and do it again. One of those things you can't anticipate.

All the details were a pleasure: applying the relic-ing and all the stuff that Stevie had on there, the stickers and the signature on the back - a great experience.

SCND: How long did it take you to create the prototype?

JC: It's hard to say because I didn't keep track of the hours. I'd work on it, then stop - it's a lot of tedious work as far as the relic-ing goes because it's done by hand. Couldn't tell you how many hours, but it's very time and labor intensive.

[Image: John Cruz holding the SRV Tribute Stratocaster prototype at the 2004 Winter NAMM Show on January 15, 2004. Photo by Brent Peters]

SCND: One of the big questions I have about the project - since you're building 100 of these, how can you get each one, if not identical, fairly close to being identical?

JC: I've tried to train myself for doing these limited runs, like the Muddy Waters and Rory Gallagher guitars, where attention to detail is critical. A lot of time is spent analyzing the documentation - photos, specs and the videos taken during Number One's inspection. I took the videos home and studied them - burned them into my head to know exactly where all the wear marks are, and I did a couple of test runs just to make sure that all my markings and everything would match up with what we saw. My goal is to make every guitar virtually the same all the way through. There's going to be some variation, no two pieces of wood have exactly the same grain pattern or precisely the same weight, but they'll be as close as humanly possible.

SCND: Is there a template you create at the beginning of the project?

JC: I probably will be working from sort of a template at the beginning, but the majority of the relic-ing process will be done by hand. Some people will probably think I chained it up behind my car and drove it around the parking lot. It might look that way to some, but it's all basically done with handmade tools and an incredible amount of attention to detail.

SCND: Is there a rough time frame as to when they'll ship?

JC: It's hard to say. I'm hoping to do anywhere from three to five a month because I have a lot of other orders that are in process right now. This is one of those things where I don't want to rush; I want to take my time and do my best job and, like I said, pay homage to a great player. To me, it's not just a cloning process - it's paying tribute. It's amazing. He's been gone for so long now and still more and more folks are playing his songs. It's great that there'll be a guitar out there that will let people step into his shadow and feel like they're a part of Stevie.

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Click HERE to view large, detailed images of the SRV Tribute Strat.

For more information about the SRV Tribute Stratocaster, see related article, "Fender Custom Shop Pays Tribute to Stevie Ray Vaughan", consult the 2004 Fender Frontline (pp. 20-21), or contact your local authorized Fender dealer.

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Discuss: link to SCND discussion forum for this article

[Editor's note: Jason C. Allen, proprietor of Virtual Vintage Guitars, started his lifelong love affair with the guitar at the age of ten, after hearing Eric Clapton and Cream. Being a native of and growing up in Southern California, he was drawn to the guitars that Leo Fender made famous. He is fond of exceptional vintage instruments, and is excited by what some of the new builders are creating. Jason has been involved in collecting and selling guitars for over 30 years. Virtual Vintage Guitars offers exceptional vintage, unique and original new guitars and amplifiers, with an inventory that includes some of the finest examples of classic Fender and Gibson guitars, along with modern classics from Stuart Custom Guitars and Roccaforte Amps. Jason can be reached at (001) (949) 635-9797.]

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