Ryan Adams’ signature Strat is nearly finished and it looks awesome
Singer-songwriter teases ’80s-themed guitar on camera
We’ve heard rumblings of a Ryan Adams Strat for some time now, but recent Instagram and Twitter posts from the man himself have very much confirmed its existence - and then some.
Judging from the images and video, Adams’ first prototype signature is packing slick triple-colour binding on a sparkly black finish, with white binding on the black scratchplate, which looks to be from California design co Decoboom.
My Sig Stratocaster Prototype #1 woke me up. I dreamed about it glowing? Hmm Thank you, @Fender this is gonna rule.... Few more tweaks... pic.twitter.com/JxpdFtTFAKOctober 25, 2017
There are no specs on the single coil pickups yet, although they sound pretty high-output in the video below - which would match the guitar's headstock, taken from the Heavy Metal HM Strat of the ’80s.
A photo posted by @misterryanadams on Oct 24, 2017 at 7:48pm PDT
Adams was traditionally associated with his walnut Gibson ES-335, known as Peanut, but in recent years has turned to Strats as his weapon of choice.
If there are still tweaks to be made, the timing’s probably a little tight for Winter NAMM in January, but we’d expect this stunner to surface next summer.
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Mike has been Editor-in-Chief of GuitarWorld.com since 2019, and an offset fiend and recovering pedal addict for far longer. He has a master's degree in journalism from Cardiff University, and 15 years' experience writing and editing for guitar publications including MusicRadar, Total Guitar and Guitarist, as well as 20 years of recording and live experience in original and function bands. During his career, he has interviewed the likes of John Frusciante, Chris Cornell, Tom Morello, Matt Bellamy, Kirk Hammett, Jerry Cantrell, Joe Satriani, Tom DeLonge, Radiohead's Ed O'Brien, Polyphia, Tosin Abasi, Yvette Young and many more. His writing also appears in the The Cambridge Companion to the Electric Guitar. In his free time, you'll find him making progressive instrumental rock as Maebe.
