Favorite Strat year/s and Why ?

garbeaj · Post by **garbeaj** » Tue Dec 30, 2014 5:29 am

Well Andy knows what my favorite strat year and why...it has been my main guitar since I was 8 years old and it will likely be my single favorite guitar for the rest of my life-and that is my '68 Fender Strat. But the nice thing about Strats is the interchangeability of the parts and you can do several mods by just exchanging parts. Andy and I modded and created a custom tremolo unit and I put it in my '68 and it plays better than ever while the original tremolo system is sitting in the case. I haven't changed the resale value of my instrument and I have the ability to try different parts. I did the most common strat mod decades ago...I installed a 5-position switch in place of the stock 3-position switch which now also resides in the case. I potted all three pickups. I could change pickups, necks, pickguatds, etc.

I'd think twice about changing anything on an all original mint 1958-1960 Les Paul, sunburst or Goldtop...but I'll never have to worry about that!

Tone Slinger · Post by **Tone Slinger** » Tue Dec 30, 2014 6:53 pm

"but I'll never have to worry about that !"

Love it, I HEAR ya man !

garbeaj · Post by **garbeaj** » Tue Dec 30, 2014 7:26 pm

JimiJames · Post by **JimiJames** » Tue Dec 30, 2014 7:30 pm

problem is people don't know their Fender's & people don't know their Gibson's...

54strat · Post by **54strat** » Fri Jan 02, 2015 12:30 pm

I've got an 87 American Standard that I've played since buying it new. Gold Lace Sensors, LSR roller nut, Sperzel locking tuners. It's a great guitar but my new favorite is the 54 hard tail I just finished restoring. My father purchased it brand new. It sat in a closet for many years in pretty sad shape, and was missing some key original parts. But I managed to make it a good, playable guitar again and it sounds fabulous. The one piece ash body is very light, the guitar weighs 6.7 pounds, a full pound lighter than my alder 87. The maple neck is a spectacular piece of wood. The thing just sings. With the Tele style, string through body, this thing really vibrates compared to a trem guitar when you strum it.

kennzo5150 · Post by **kennzo5150** » Sun Jan 04, 2015 1:24 am

Though not a fender. I love my godin progression trans cream (strat).

yngwie308 · Post by **yngwie308** » Mon Jan 05, 2015 11:14 pm

My favorite Strats are two. My first guitar which I got when I was 12 yrs old living in London. It was a 1965 Strat with transition logo #107630 I believe. Just loved it trying all these types of strings I got with it, flatwounds ect!
It was a beautifully built guitar and I loved the three color sunburst and rosewood board.
Once I got my first amp proper after using an adapter from rca to 1/4 on my dad's Fisher stereo, not the best tone!

NY Chief · Post by **NY Chief** » Wed Jan 07, 2015 10:54 am

yngwie308 wrote:Then fast forward to 1983 and I was drawn to the newly reissued Fender Vintage Stratocasters '57 and ordered a black one. yngwie308

I grabbed one of those when they came out as well. Certainly regret selling it not too long ago. But my genny '64 and recently accquired '59 make up for it a bit....

Tone Slinger · Post by **Tone Slinger** » Wed Jan 07, 2015 2:19 pm

54strat........that is an AMAZING looking strat

Just totally 'BAD TO THE BONES'

Looks alot like the one Bruno Mars was playing at the recent 'Kennedy Honors' show where he was saluting 'STING'(fricken played and sang the hell out of 'Message In A Bottle')

Dave, those Fullerton reissue's are certainly revered. They (Fender) did good on those.

Chief, a '64 and a '59 huh ? Which is your fav ? The '59 is a maple neck ? The '64 a rosewood vaneer, right ?

NY Chief · Post by **NY Chief** » Thu Jan 08, 2015 11:22 am

Tone Slinger wrote:
Chief, a '64 and a '59 huh ? Which is your fav ? The '59 is a maple neck ? The '64 a rosewood vaneer, right ?

Right now I still prefer the '64 I got from WOT a few years ago but the '59 has BIG tone. Both are re-fin, re-fret so they aren't the $30k strats SOME guys have in the closet! A couple of $$ found my way as part of an accident settlement so instead of doing the "right thing" and putting it in the bank I got a hair up my ass for a '59 (birth year) strat if I could find one that wasn't really stupid $$. Turned out Gruhn had this '59 that I could (barely) talk myself into justifying. It came with a maple neck ( Jan '59 dated) but I was disappointed how slim the neck was when I got it. Much slimmer than my '64. I came to find out later that the necks got progressively thinner from the mid 50's and were the smallest in '59. More research led my to Eddie Vegas at Guitarville who just happened to have a first year ('59) slab rosewood neck "available" and it measured closer to my '64. So that's what's on there now. And I also found out that '59 was the transition year of the rosewood board, single ply to multi ply, 9 hole vs 11 hole pickguard and there was all kinds of overlap. So now I have a true transition year strat! Single play, 9 hole with slab rosewood fretboard!

Anybody wanna buy a '59 maple neck?

Tone Slinger · Post by **Tone Slinger** » Thu Jan 08, 2015 12:44 pm

NY Chief wrote,

"Anybody wanna buy a '59 maple neck?

"

I would LOVE to buy it, but know its worth more than I can spend at the moment

NY Chief · Post by **NY Chief** » Thu Jan 08, 2015 1:19 pm

Tone Slinger wrote:NY Chief wrote,

"Anybody wanna buy a '59 maple neck? "

I would LOVE to buy it, but know its worth more than I can spend at the moment

Well, we could talk about it, after all it isn't doing anything at the moment and I thought about selling it to offset the rosewood board (which wasn't very cheap either). I It was re-fretted by Gruhn and is in great shape. Also thought it would be a great sales incentive if and when I decided to seel the guitar. "Comes with both a '59 maple and '59 rosewood neck!!"

54strat · Post by **54strat** » Fri Jan 09, 2015 4:04 pm

[quote="Tone Slinger"]54strat........that is an AMAZING looking strat

Just totally 'BAD TO THE BONES'

Looks alot like the one Bruno Mars was playing at the recent 'Kennedy Honors' show where he was saluting 'STING'(fricken played and sang the hell out of 'Message In A Bottle')

Thanks Slinger! I refinished it and fretted it myself. Around 1964 my father had it painted black, I don't know why! When he died in '71 and the guitar became mine, it only had one original pickup, and grey bobbin 66 pickup and the middle position was missing, only a cover there. The switch was wired like a Gibson where you had neck, both, or bridge. Most of the original no line Klusons were already replaced. When I got hold of it I crudely gouged out some wood to put a pair of humbuckers in it. A dumb teenager thing to do perhaps, but you got to remember in 72 or so it was not that old and Strats could be had for a song. I also drilled out the tuner holes and put Schallers in it!

Anyway, a friend in Lubbock with a CNC router cleaned out the mess in the pickup area, we glued in a plug of swamp ash I got from Callaham guitars and he re-routed it properly.
I put some Fender Custom Shop 54 pickups in it and they're not bad at all. The tuners are new Kluson "No Line" repros that I aged with etching solution, and used conversion bushings instead plugging and re-drilling holes.
Bridge is original with Callaham stainless screws/springs, and the other hardware is original. The original CRL switch still works fine. You can't reall see it but I made a "football" switch tip by putting an cone switch tip on a Dremel so I could spin it and shape with sandpaper, then brushed on a coat of super glue to seal/finish it...turned out great.
I'm still considering relic-ing the finish but am having too much fun playing it to tear it down again. I'd like to put another coat of amber on it to darken it up some more and go a little wider with the brown. And I purposely did NOT grain fill to get some lacquer sink right away like they normally do after a lot of years.

Not exactly a museum quality restoration but a rebuild that I can play.

NY Chief · Post by **NY Chief** » Fri Jan 09, 2015 4:09 pm

Looks good '54!

54strat · Post by **54strat** » Fri Jan 09, 2015 4:51 pm

Thanks Chief. Truth be said, all Strats sound like Strats, with only minor variations, but this thing really sings through my old Marshall! The hard tail on the light swamp ash really makes it lively. Easy to get feedback but not out of hand like a hollowbody.

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Favorite Strat year/s and Why ?

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