With an exhilarating and masterful style that runs the gamut from Cobain-style groove to Yngwie Malmsteen-like shredding, guitar virtuoso Richie Kotzen has a long established reputation as one of the best and most versatile players of his generation. Over the course of the last four decades, he’s released over twenty solo albums, has collaborated with such luminaries as Iron Maiden’s Adrian Smith, fronted the supergroup The Winery Dogs and handled lead guitar duties in bands like Poison and Mr. Big – and for most of his esteemed career, Kotzen has been a dedicated Fender player. “When I first picked up the Fender, immediately, it was responding to what I was putting into it,” he explains.
“I love the shape of a Strat because when you hold the guitar it feels like you’re connected to it. It feels like a part of your body,” he continues. So when we sat down with Kotzen to develop his signature model, we paid close attention to his preferred specifics in an effort to replicate that connection and create an instrument that would similarly inspire any player.
Of the many exciting appointments featured on the Richie Kotzen Stratocaster, one of the most remarkable is the thick “C” shape maple neck with a 12” radius maple fingerboard and 22 super jumbo frets. Kotzen’s beloved Custom Shop Strat has a thicker neck, which he wanted precisely replicated. “The feel of the neck – it’s really important to me,” Kotzen says. “I notice it when I pick up other guitars, if the neck is too thin or it doesn’t have the right kind of curvature on the fingerboard, it feels weird to me.”
Other artist-selected upgrades include DiMarzio® Custom single-coil pickups, gold hardware, Gotoh® tuners with pearl buttons and an ash body with a flame maple top, finished in either white or red – a detail that Kotzen loves. “You can still see the wood grain and I just think it’s such a pretty look,” he enthuses.
And while this exquisite Strat is pure Richie Kotzen through and through, it’s fair to say that his ultimate goal is for guitarists to find their own voice when they play it. For him, “The most important thing is to be true to yourself so that when you play, it sounds like you.”
Check out the video above to hear more from Richie Kotzen about this incredible guitar and watch him play his signature model as only he can, then head here to get one for yourself.
