Between 1979 and 1980, at the insistence of Fender marketing representative Mudge Miller, Fender developed a prototype for a new model that has come to be known on the street as the "Hendrix Stratocaster." Modeled after Hendrix' 1968 Strat, but with one big difference. Unlike any 1968 production line Stratocaster, the 1980 Hendrix Strat joined a right-handed body with a left-handed neck. This configuration would appear again in the 1991 Custom Shop '67 Reissue Stratocaster. This instrument is significant for two main reasons.

It was the first Fender artist-related Stratocaster, or perhaps "artist inspired" would be more accurate since no connection to Hendrix by name or image appears anywhere on the guitar (the authorized and licensed Artist Series instruments didn't begin until the Clapton Signature model appeared in 1988).

Secondly, the instrument's design features mark a follow-up of the 1979 Anniversary Strat's departure from the CBS norm - a return to the pre-CBS four bolt neck attachment and corresonponding neck plate, and the abandonment of the "Bullet" headstock truss rod adjustment.

The concept barely got rolling, with less than 25 of these ever made. These were reportedly sold to a dealer in Texas.