Here at Truetone Music, we are fortunate to have close relationships with some of the most legendary figures in the musical instrument industry.  These are people behind the scenes that have helped make brands what they are today.  One that we go way back with is Jack Schwarz.  So much so that he gave the owner of Truetone his start in the industry!  Over decades, Jack played a pivotal role at Fender and eventually became the owner of Fano.  During his career, he amassed an impressive collection of gear.  Now, select pieces have become available for the first time, exclusively through Truetone Music.

One of the first pieces is this extremely rare, Fender HM Strat.  Built in 1987, this is THE original prototype for what would become a legendary model.

The Fender HM Strat (short for Heavy Metal) was introduced in the late 1980s as Fender's response to the rising popularity of Superstrats, made by companies such as Jackson and Ibanez. Although official U.S. production ran from 1988 to 1992, some Japanese components were also assembled in the U.S. around 1987, making the 1987 model rare examples of Japanese craftsmanship.  Guitarists like Greg Howe and, in recent years, Ethan Brosh and Lari Basilio have used HM Strats. The 1987 Japanese-made models are considered increasingly rare, especially in good condition with minimal wear, making them sought after by collectors and players looking for vintage, high-performance Fenders.

According to Jack, "In 1987, I was asked by Dan Smith, VP of Marketing and Jack Shelton, VP of Sales to perform at several dealer events, including a dealer breakfast and performances at the winter NAMM show introducing the new HM Strat and “red knob” Showman amp. Dan asked for my input in the design of this new HM Strat and after one of the first events, he gifted me this guitar, which is the original prototype. An interesting note on this guitar is that this prototype has a Floyd Rose locking tremolo system and the production models featured a Kahler “Spyder’ tremolo system. I went on to perform many clinics with Scott Grant (then, Fender Custom Shop Manager) and Greg Howe, who both became HM Strat signature artists."

The HM Strat signifies a significant turn for Fender - in some ways it was the beginning of modernization for the company coming out of the CBS era.  While it fell out of favor in the years that followed, this iconic model regained popularity more recently, leading it to be reissued in 2020.  While various versions were made, the original retains the most desirability.  And here we have THE original prototype.

This is a rare build with a Fender Floyd, as opposed to the Kahler Spyder tremolo that the production run had.  It features a 25.1" scale length and 15" radius fretboard on a super slim neck profile.  This thing is built for speed, shredding and dive-bombing.  We dove into it and found that the bridge pickup is a DiMarzio humbucker and the neck and middle pickups are Fender single coils.

By the way, the color is called Razzberry - that's the official name.  And it's quite fitting!

The guitar is in excellent condition - while Jack did play it, he took extremely good care of it.  Everything on the guitar is original except the trem arm (we found one that fit, but it's not the original).  A nice gig bag is included.  The techs in our shop have set it up to play perfectly.  This guitar is ready to go.

We've had a lot of special guitars here at Truetone, and this is one that stands out.  Whether you're a true collector, a true Fender fanatic, or true shredder (or all of the above), this is truly a great find at Truetone.  And it's the only one.

Nut Width - 1.705inches