Fender made Cory Wong a signature hair tie!

Cory Wong is a popular guitar player known for his funky clean tones and love of fourth position. Fourth position is what we call the pickup configuration that uses both the neck and middle pickup on a strat style guitar.

Until now, Cory Wong's guitar of choice has been a Highway One Fender Stratocaster that he bought off Craigslist for $300. I love this because it continues to emphasise the idea that you don't need expensive gear to make great music.

This affordable blue strat, with a rosewood fretboard and white pearloid pickguard, is basically synonymous with Cory Wong and it's awesome to see the same styling in his new signature strat.

The new Cory Wong Stratocaster features a transparent blue lacquer finish - which sets it apart from his trusty Highway One Strat while still capturing the same vibe, a scaled-down alder body - slightly smaller than what you'd usually expect from a traditional Stratocaster - and an American Ultra Modern D neck.

Check out the full specs on the Fender site.

My favourite feature on this guitar would have to be the emergency Position 4 button. The Cory Wong Stratocaster has a Push/Push tone knob, that when engaged will bypass the normal 5-way switch and immediately put the guitar in fourth position. Cory’s favourite.

This is a fantastic idea! When you have a guitar with a 5-way switch, it's easy to find position one or five on the fly. But, if you accidentally knock the switch, finding position four again while actually playing the guitar is a little more difficult.

The beauty of a push/push knob is that you just have to hit it to engage it. It's so much easier to use than a push/pull knob, especially the Fender-style volume and tone knobs that you usually find on Strats. To be honest, I don't know why we don’t make push/push knobs the default. They are so much easier to use!

This guitar also includes a Cory Wong hair tie.

Yes, you read that right.

Cory Wong might be the first guitarist to have a signature hair tie.

Apparently, this helps mute the tremolo springs in the back of the guitar, which I guess is something Cory uses to achieve his signature tone.

The fact that the guitar comes with a signature hair tie is highly amusing. I wonder how much of a difference it actually makes. I would love to do an A/B test comparing the Cory Wong Stratocaster with and without his signature hair tie engaged.

Do you think it’s a gimmick or could this be a valid tone-shaping tool?

If you haven't heard of Cory Wong before, you're missing out. His playing is fantastic and it's awesome to see his contribution to the guitar community recognised with a signature Stratocaster. It's even cooler to see that Strat feature a number of innovative ideas like the fourth position panic button (and the signature hair tie).

What do you think of the Cory Wong Stratocaster? Would you get one? Are you a fan of the changes he's made that set it apart from any other strat? Leave a comment and let me know!