Metropoulos Forum

I must say that I like them ALL, but, if I had to pick an era, currently . it would be the '56-'57 era. Love the 'soft v' neck shape and the more highly contoured bodies.

Azusa
Really, it fits me like a glove! It's "over-sized" I think.. could not care less for "real" fender strats, but If I had to I'd choose 1968

I really them '68 style but as I can't afford the real deal I only 70's MIJ copies. I love the early CBS look with the large headstock but mainly love the sound of thoses low ouput pickups.

Here's my '78 Ibanez Silver Series :


It's soooo nice to play, I am not sure but it may be a D shape neck. I played a few L series (and copies) and never like them which is great as they are way too expensive for me anyhow ! I didn't like the neck nor the sound and always comes back to thoses late 60's style strats.

Here's mine in action, I think it sounds pretty good :
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaT0MuVUsTQ[/youtube]

I have a 62 copy. Feels beefy. Heavy alder.

Fender Rory Gallagher signature.
Never tried a vintage one so I can not compare. But I have never played a guitar that fitted me to a T like this one does.
(I have to stop calling myself a Les Paul-guy )
Anyway. With my limited experience; I would therefore say the 1961 Stratocaster is my favorite. Of any guitars...

Omn wrote:Fender Rory Gallagher signature.
Never tried a vintage one so I can not compare. But I have never played a guitar that fitted me to a T like this one does.
(I have to stop calling myself a Les Paul-guy )
Anyway. With my limited experience; I would therefore say the 1961 Stratocaster is my favorite. Of any guitars...

My Rory is VERY similar in feel and sound to my jennywine '64. Fender got that one right for sure. Even George agrees.

yeah those Custom Shop RG's feel great and all wore in. One of the better & more consistent ones I've played.

Favorite Stratocaster ?:
So far 2005 Fender Custom Shop '69 Closet re-issue
& the '61/'62 Slabboard's

Favorite Strat: (SuperStrat)
Fender H.M. Strat '88/'89 U.S. (Alder) - '90/'91 M.I.J.
Mainly for their necks. Still looking for a Luthier to retro-fit the 24 fret neck to an full sized (Ash/Alder) body.

These 3 guitars cover all the bases for me in a nut shell.

The ULTRA rare '56 Hardtail. Im not so much a fan of trem's in the first place, and a Hardtail Strat is just the bomb as far as Im concerned.

Hardtail,interesting.I first realized what a hardtail strat was when I heard the lo down on Jake E. Lee's white *Charvel* strat. Come to find out it was/is a1974 Fender hardtail Strat that had been 'Charvelized' by a buddy who worked there at the time.

Nile Rodgers 'Hit Maker' strat is another hardtail. He finally learned that his strat was a 1960 body and a 1959 (though still one piece maple neck). His didnt come off the assembly line,but was done at home by a employee as a personal guitar, or Side project,or filling a Custom order, etc. It was definately given special attention regarding what it consisted of (neck, body,bridge).

I never knew they made those hardtails back then. Rare indeed.

Are the strings in from the rear?

Came across this thread on the gearpage a while back about '64/65 strats.

http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showth ... p?t=526192" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Would really love to play one...

vanhalen5150 wrote:I never knew they made those hardtails back then. Rare indeed.

Are the strings in from the rear?

Yep... just like a Tele. Those Strats tend to be noticeably lighter in weight than their trem counterparts as well. The '56-'57 hardtails have a beautiful, throaty tone.

I have had my hands on LOTS of vintage strats over the yrs,and I have concurred that regardless of the year and specifications (pick up specs,neck shape, 4 bolt, three bolt, etc) that there are Good and Bad from every run and era.

Believe it or not, probably the best sounding Fender strat I've ever played was a 1974 sunburst. It was 100% original , Alder body, maple neck. Having said that,ALOT of the 3 bolts were unresonant,overly heavy (hard ash ) thin/brittle sounding dogs.
A 1967 olympic white (looked more like mayonaise that had been left out on a plate ) strat with rosewood board was also a total tone monster. Also, for 'new' strats, I played a Fender custom shop 'relic '69' in a sunburst,maple capped neck. It totally KILLED. Amazing sounding strat. It was new when I played it back in '03. My wife,un beknownst to me, ordered a black (BOG looking )'69 closet classic Fender Custom shop. The salesman wasnt supposed to order without full payment(she put a grand or so down).Anyways, it arrived at GC and she informed me as to what she had done. She was prepared to pay the rest in full (2 more grand),and I was excited when I saw it, BUT, when I played the darn thing, it was only 'decent' sounding. I think the salesman (he was off that day)got in trouble and was fired because of it,but I refused to own that guitar and got my wifes money back.

So much for 'tone tapping' alder planks and all that other jive that Fender does to market thier upper line.

Here is a cool one for you guys. This was in a small second hand Halifax music shop last year. I cant remember the exact year but I know it was late 50's early 60's. Maybe someone can fiqure it out. Late 50's sticks in my head for some reason. It doesnt look chunky enough for a early 60's. I didnt think to get a shot of the serial number at the time. Bruce, the owner just had it up on the wall and would let anyone pick it up and play it. Wasn't stuck up about anything as long you appreciated what it was. You dont hear that too often. next time Im in there Ill ask the exact date.

I have to say it sounded pretty good and was completly original. Neck played like a dream but the frets where totally worn down square.

So here is the story:

This Strat was found by a local Halifax guy hanging in a bar. In Australia . He was packpacking the year(2011?) before and came across it basically hung up as an ornament. Seriously. This is the story I was told. He paid $300 for it, and stuck it in his backpack and eventually made his way back to Canada with it. He sold it to the owner for a pretty good price as he was told exactly what he really had found. The underlying colours were confirmed by Fender to be original primers they used. I've never seen those primers before but I guess there was a lot of transitional experimentation going on. Most likely they just used whatever they had that day for primer.

The owner sold it about 2 months later after I took these photo's. Anyone want to guess what it sold for?

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