Fender's Artificial Aging

It started about 10 years ago with Fender's Mexican-made Road Worn Jazzmaster.

Fender’s Custom Shop is offering the Mike McCready 1960 Stratocaster. The first repica of the Pearl Jam man’s guitar has an eye-catching amount of wear that makes it attractive to collectors. It isn't easy making a guitar look exactly like McCready's guitar. The original limited-run Custom Shop guitar listed at $15k. Now you can drop a 0 from that price and get close for $1500.

Welcome to mass produced road wear. Maybe Artificial Intelligence demanded Fender's Artificial Aging https://www.fender.com/en-US/electric-guitars/stratocaster/mike-mccready-stratocaster/0145310700.html