How Jeff Beck sparked Fender’s first Graffiti Yellow finish – and the Strat Plus design that helped revive its ’90s fortunes

Jeff Beck performs on stage at Karuizawa Prince Hotel Open Air, Nagano, Japan, 1986. He is playing a Fender Stratocaster guitar.

UK auction house Bonhams has recently listed a 1986 Fender Stratocaster in Graffiti Yellow, previously owned and played by Jeff Beck. It is a guitar that had a key role in a number of Fender’s ’90s innovations – most of them sparked by Beck himself. 

The instrument not only features the first Graffiti Yellow Finish, but also formed the template for the Strat Plus and, on top of that, it was one of the Fender Custom Shop’s earliest builds.