Stevie! - Squier 20th Anniversary Stratocaster • 2002 • Aged Cream

Meet Stevie!

Squier 20th Anniversary Stratocaster • 2002 • Aged Cream

Some guitars arrive needing their scars removed. Stevie arrived with scars worth keeping, so we’ve preserved and upgraded her, and she’s ready to get out there again!

Built in 2002 to mark Squier’s 20th Anniversary, Stevie has spent the intervening 24 years acquiring the sort of wear that can’t convincingly be ordered from a catalogue.

Her finish has worn through around the forearm contour, edges, horns and back, leaving genuine evidence of years of playing rather than somebody attacking a perfectly innocent guitar with sandpaper on a Tuesday afternoon.

So we didn’t restore the finish, we preserved it.

Stevie’s body was professionally lacquered for us by Farrout Motorcycles in Congleton, sealing her existing road wear beneath a protective finish. Nothing has been artificially added or distressed. Every scar you see is one she arrived with, now protected so that the story already written into her body can hopefully survive another few decades.

Underneath all that history is the familiar Strat formula: double-cutaway body, bolt-on maple neck, rosewood fingerboard, 21 frets and the classic 25.5” scale length. A six-saddle tremolo sits at the business end, accompanied by the traditional master volume, twin tone controls and five-way selector.

But Stevie has acquired a little more Fender DNA along the way.

Her original Squier pickups have been replaced with a genuine set of 1990s Fender Stratocaster single coils from a Mexican-made Fender Strat, retaining the traditional SSS layout while giving her the benefit of a proper vintage Fender pickup set.

They’re now sitting beneath a replacement tortoiseshell pickguard which, frankly, looks like it was made for that aged cream and road-worn finish.

We haven’t thrown her history away, though! Stevie’s original 2002 Squier pickups AND original pickguard will be included, so her next human can enjoy her exactly as we’ve built her or return her to original specification in the future.

She’s also been fitted with Fender Infinity strap locks, which seems particularly appropriate for a Strat that already looks as though standing politely in the corner has never really been her thing.

Turn her over and you’ll find that lovely 20th Anniversary Squier neck plate, commemorating 1982–2002, while the headstock carries the corresponding anniversary marking alongside the Squier Stratocaster logo.

And, of course, she hasn’t escaped the workshop. Stevie has been stripped down, thoroughly cleaned and carefully rebuilt. Her hardware and electronics have been checked, her fretboard cleaned and conditioned, her frets attended to, and she’s received a full setup.

We’ve restrung her with Ernie Ball Extra Slinkys (8–38). The lighter gauge gives Stevie a wonderfully easy, responsive feel under the fingers, makes bends and vibrato particularly effortless and suits the slinky, expressive character we wanted from this Strat. They also make her an especially approachable guitar for players who prefer a lighter touch, without taking away that unmistakable Strat snap and sparkle.

What we haven’t done is try to make her look new, because that would rather miss the point.

Stevie isn’t a mint 2002 Squier.

She’s a 24-year-old Strat with genuine road wear, ’90s Fender pickups, a professionally preserved finish and every mark she earned still visible underneath it.

There are thousands upon thousands of cream Stratocasters in the world.

There is only one that looks exactly like Stevie.

We’d quite like her next person to add another 24 years to the story. 

Original 2002 Squier pickguard and pickup set included.

As always, Stevie leaves us fully set up, restrung and ready to play.