Sky Super Strat: Uli Jon Roth's Stratocaster turned into a Sky Guitar

What the Sky Super Strat is

The Sky Super Strat is the only model in the Sky Strat Series, part of the Aquila family of UJR Sky Guitars, and the only one in the current catalog with a Stratocaster body. Its official spec sheet defines it as a hybrid: the body shape is “vintage Strat in every aspect,” but “just about everything else is Sky Guitar.”

The brand sums up the lineage with an image worth quoting as is, because it is the brand’s own: on the Sky Strat Series page it calls the Stratocaster the “father of the Sky Guitar” and the Gibson Les Paul its “mother.” It justifies the “Super Strat” name with a catalog claim we cannot verify: that its sound surpasses that of any Strat on the market.

The full technical data are on our Sky Super Strat spec page (in Spanish), and its context in the models catalog. This page tells where it comes from.

Uli Jon Roth and the Stratocaster: what is documented

Throughout his time in Scorpions, Roth was a Stratocaster loyalist: that is how Phil Weller sums it up in Guitar Player on June 26, 2025. The centerpiece is a white Strat. According to the press release for his anniversary tour, published by Blabbermouth on September 29, 2017, Roth used it on almost all of his Scorpions and Electric Sun recordings, played it at every Scorpions concert from 1975 on, and it appears on the covers of In Trance and Fire Wind. He stopped playing it in public in the mid-1980s, when he switched to the Sky Guitars; the official spec sheet dates that change to 1985.

It was not a stock Strat. In Andrew Daly’s interview for Guitar World, carried by Yahoo on June 24, 2025, Roth explains that he kept running out of frets in the upper register and that the luthier Andy Demetriou added two to his main Strat. He also modified his tremolo arms because he kept breaking them; the first one, he says, can be seen on the cover of In Trance.

The official site supplies the other half: on its series page it states that Roth’s white Strat was the first Strat with 23 frets, compared with the 21 of a standard Stratocaster. The Super Strat copies that figure.

One detail separates the tribute from the original. According to statements by Roth collected by Edenwaith, scalloping is something “I never did to my Strats back in the Scorpions.” The Super Strat, by contrast, is deeply scalloped from the third fret.

Why did he leave the Strat behind? Because of two limits he describes in Guitar World: a Strat’s cutaway caps the number of frets that can be added without moving the neck pickup, and he had a soft spot for the sound of a Les Paul, which a Strat cannot give him. Hence the father and the mother.

What no source consulted records: the white Strat’s year of manufacture, its serial number or how many Stratocasters Roth owned. The other famous Strat in his biography, Jimi Hendrix’s black one, is not his; we explain why in myths and facts.

The prototype and the Triple Anniversary tour

According to the official spec sheet, the idea took shape several years earlier as a celebration of Roth’s early days with Scorpions and Electric Sun. The series page adds that Boris Dommenget built a prototype and that Roth would play it on Electric Sun songs during his Triple Anniversary North American tour, coinciding with his 50th anniversary on stage “later this year.” Since his first concert was in 1968, that anniversary falls in 2018.

Date	What happened	Source
September 29, 2017	The tour is announced for late May 2018: 40 years of Tokyo Tapes, 40 of Electric Sun and 50 since his first concert	Blabbermouth
June 8, 2018	Roth postpones it because the work visas do not arrive in time	Blabbermouth
December 1, 2018	In Coventry, he plays a newly finished Super Strat, built for a customer, live for the first time	Photo caption on the official spec sheet
December 16, 2018	He plays his prototype, “Angel Dust,” in Hamburg; beside him, David Klosinski debuts a left-handed Super Strat	Photo caption on the official spec sheet
May 12, 2019	The tour, by then the Triple Anniversary World Tour, reaches Mesa, Arizona	Beneath a Desert Sky

Two caveats. The 2017 press release announced that the original white Strat would return to the stage, not a Sky Strat. And no source consulted confirms that the Super Strat was played on the 2019 dates.

What it inherits from the Strat and what from the Sky Guitar

A Stratocaster silhouette with Sky Guitar electronics: a humbucker, single-coil and humbucker layout, and gold hardware. Photo: UJR Sky Guitars.

Feature	Comes from	What the official spec sheet says
Body shape	Stratocaster	Vintage Strat
Body wood	Both	Alder, the same wood as the Strat, according to the brand
Scale	Stratocaster	25.5 inches
Neck joint	Stratocaster	Bolt-on (“strat bolt-on”)
Number of frets	Roth’s white Strat	23
Pickguard	Stratocaster	One, in white plastic
Neck	Sky Guitar	Flamed maple; 4.5 cm at the nut and 5.9 cm toward the bridge
Scalloping	Sky Guitar	Deep from the 3rd fret
Electronics	Sky Guitar	Mega-Wing III, 18 volts, two humbuckers and a single coil
Bridge	Both	ABM floating tremolo with three gold springs
Lights and tuning	Sky Guitar	9-light Cyan Magic and Tronical Powertune

No other official spec sheet consulted specifies a bolt-on neck: the others cite the brand’s own joints, such as “Emperor,” “MW” or “Infinity.” And the Super Strat departs on two points from the equipment the series page attributes to the Master Series Sky Guitars: it has 9 position lights instead of 12, and a plastic pickguard instead of the 24-carat gold-plated ones.

The deep scalloping and the Cyan Magic lights along the edge: Roth’s Strats in Scorpions had none of this. Photo: UJR Sky Guitars.

Official specifications and price

Specification	Official detail
Family and series	Aquila, Sky Strat Series
Strings	6
Body	Alder, alpine white, polyurethane finish
Neck	Flamed maple, bolt-on, black dot markers
Scale	25.5 inches (the spec sheet adds “65 cm”; the exact conversion is 64.77 cm)
Frets	23, super jumbo wire
Scalloping	Deep from the 3rd fret
Bridge	ABM floating tremolo, three gold-plated springs
Pickups	18-volt Mega-Wing III: two humbuckers and a central single coil
Controls	Three knobs and two push-pulls: volume, treble, mid, bass and master gain
Switching	5-way selector and two humbucker-to-single-coil switches
Extras	Tronical Powertune, pick holder, 24-carat gold-plated USG plate and UJR case
Stated tone	“Bright, singing, three dimensional”
Price	$14,900

The official catalog price is $14,900, checked on September 19, 2026 and rechecked on October 24 on the official spec sheet. The About us page specifies that prices exclude VAT, import duties, customs fees and local taxes, that the estimated lead time is 4 to 10 months and that a 50% deposit is required. In the catalog, only the Zeno Sky, at $12,000, is cheaper. The rest of the prices are in how much a Sky Guitar costs.

Seen edge-on, the scalloping shows its profile, and on the back sits the plate of the bolt-on neck joint. Photo: UJR Sky Guitars.

Stratocaster, Sky Super Strat and Sky Guitar, side by side

The third column is the Bianca Sky, an extended-range Aquila; the first, a current Fender Stratocaster as a reference.

	Fender American Professional II Stratocaster	Sky Super Strat	Bianca Sky
Frets	22	23	37, the top 5 in whole-tone steps
Body	Alder, Strat shape	Alder, vintage Strat shape	Alder, Sky silhouette
Neck joint	Bolt-on	Bolt-on	“Emperor”
Nut width	42.8 mm	45 mm	45 mm
Scalloping	No	Deep from the 3rd fret	Medium from the 7th fret
Pickups	Three passive single coils	Active Mega-Wing III	Active Mega-Wing III
Onboard EQ and gain	No	Yes	Yes
Bridge	Two-point tremolo	ABM floating	ABM floating
Position lights	No	9	12
Official price	Not checked	$14,900	$19,000

Data from Fender’s product page and from the official spec sheets of the Sky Super Strat and the Bianca Sky; sky-guitars.com prices checked in September 2026. The Super Strat is closer to the Bianca than to the Fender in everything except the body and the frets. On frets it is the other way around: one more than the current Fender and fourteen fewer than the Bianca. We explain why in how many frets a Sky Guitar has.

Who it makes sense for

It makes sense for Stratocaster players who want the Mega-Wing III and scalloping without a 37-fret neck or Pegasus-family prices. Also for anyone who associates Roth with the white Strat of his Scorpions years more than with the Sky Guitar.

It does not make sense for anyone looking for what made the brand famous: with 23 frets, the violin register is out of reach. Nor for players who mostly play chords: deep scalloping from the third fret punishes rhythm playing, as Roth himself acknowledges and as we explain in scalloped frets. And it is worth knowing that the Mega-Wing III needs its external 18-volt power supply and a stereo cable.

This site does not sell or broker anything. The only way to order one is through the official Sky Guitars site.