Fender’s George Harrison Dark Horse Stratocaster brings a Japan-only tribute to players
The ¥198,000 model pairs familiar Stratocaster hardware with Dark Horse Records graphics, three finishes and a tightly limited Japanese rollout.
Credit: Fender Japan (via source)
Fender’s George Harrison Dark Horse Records Stratocaster leads a new Japan-exclusive collection celebrating the label Harrison founded in 1974. Priced at ¥198,000, the guitar comes in Black, Orange and Olympic White, with custom Dark Horse artwork, gold hardware and an engraved neck plate tying the instrument directly to the label’s visual history.
Under the graphics is a conventional modern Stratocaster recipe: an alder body with gloss urethane finish, a maple Modern “C” neck, a 9.5-inch rosewood fingerboard and 22 medium-jumbo frets. Three Player Series Alnico 5 Strat single-coils feed a five-way selector, while the bridge is a two-point synchronized tremolo with bent-steel saddles and the tuners are Fender ClassicGear units.
The rollout is unusually specific to Japan. The Black finish is exclusive to Fender Flagship Tokyo, while the Orange and Olympic White versions are available for preorder through selected Japanese channels, with delivery expected in March 2027. The wider collaboration also includes a strap, a 12-pick set, a reissued Dhani Harrison Signature Ukulele and a Made-in-Japan apparel capsule, but the Strat remains the playable center of the project.
Guitar World’s independent report places the model in the longer arc of Dark Horse Records and notes how the label outlasted the divisive 1974 tour that shared its name. For players, the appeal is less a radical new specification than a coherent artist-and-label edition built on familiar, serviceable Fender components—and one whose territory restrictions may make it substantially harder to obtain outside Japan.
Credit: Fender (via source)
Why it matters
It is a fully specified, purchasable Harrison tribute with a distinctive regional release strategy, rather than a cosmetic concept that never reaches players.
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