The REAL woodstock strat (played again)

[Xplorer]

wow !
it seems that you're the one who could answer these questions about some who wondered about the type of finish, lacquer etc ...
my 1991 jeff beck strat is as yellow as yours ; ) i like that.
yeah, i saw the woodstock strat in Seattle, i don't know how they protected it. it's a kind of yellow grey cream blended to the original white. not as white as in the clips, with all the spot lights.
olympic white is photogenic in all cases ; )

[garbeaj]

wow !
it seems that you're the one who could answer these questions about some who wondered about the type of finish, lacquer etc ...
my 1991 jeff beck strat is as yellow as yours ; ) i like that.
yeah, i saw the woodstock strat in Seattle, i don't know how they protected it. it's a kind of yellow grey cream blended to the original white. not as white as in the clips, with all the spot lights.
olympic white is photogenic in all cases ; )

I can try to answer questions as best as I can by just picking up my guitar and looking at it:) I know absolute fuck-all about finishes and half the esoteric shit on this wonderfully nerdy site

[louis]

I think they kept that guitar in a hermetically sealed mayonnaise jar on Funk & Wagnall's porch for 40 years...the Olympic White finish has not yellowed at all from what I can see in these clips...

Here is what a 1968 Olympic White Fender Stratocaster looks like when it is a working instrument played in smoky clubs for 40 years...Hard to believe it is my first guitar! Still my number one go to guitar after 30 years of playing...

Dip it in acid for 2 days and the original color will be back !!


STOP !!! ...........it's a Joke!!

Louis

[Tone Slinger]

Well you can SEE the olympic white at the arm rest 'bevel' of that '68. If it were lightly sanded (top coat) it would be under there (white).

Uli Roth's ('74 or '75 ?) olympic white strat was yellowing bad by the early '80's,, he had it repainted pick guard white, which is way whiter than it originally was new.

[Tone seaker]

I think they kept that guitar in a hermetically sealed mayonnaise jar on Funk & Wagnall's porch for 40 years...the Olympic White finish has not yellowed at all from what I can see in these clips...

Here is what a 1968 Olympic White Fender Stratocaster looks like when it is a working instrument played in smoky clubs for 40 years...Hard to believe it is my first guitar! Still my number one go to guitar after 30 years of playing...

Dip it in acid for 2 days and the original color will be back !!


STOP !!! ...........it's a Joke!!

Louis

wow is that really a 68 maple cap? how long you had it? talk about rare I wonder how many were made. Tell us the story behind it

[garbeaj]

I think they kept that guitar in a hermetically sealed mayonnaise jar on Funk & Wagnall's porch for 40 years...the Olympic White finish has not yellowed at all from what I can see in these clips...

Here is what a 1968 Olympic White Fender Stratocaster looks like when it is a working instrument played in smoky clubs for 40 years...Hard to believe it is my first guitar! Still my number one go to guitar after 30 years of playing...

Dip it in acid for 2 days and the original color will be back !!


STOP !!! ...........it's a Joke!!

Louis

wow is that really a 68 maple cap? how long you had it? talk about rare I wonder how many were made. Tell us the story behind it

That's a very long story...I have told the stories (there is more than one story) behind the guitar through PMs with Tone Slinger and I may post the whole thing at some point. The short story is my uncle bought it when he was a teenager..he died at age 23 in 1979 by getting drunk/high and driving his chocolate brown '77 turbo Pontiac Trans-Am into a brick wall. I was 8 years old and got his guitar when he died. It was my first and still my main guitar all these years later...

[yngwie308]

Well, I'd wager that the white one probably weighs more than the black one too. Also, the set up of the two strats was probably a little different,with the white one possibbly having a slightly lower action. I say this because the white one almost sounds like it would 'fret out' on higher bends if it wasnt so Heavily amplified,especially around the 17th and 18th frets. Maybe it(action) wasnt set lower, and it was just the total playability of the blackie,as far as set up went,was a little more accurate.

One thing is for sure,both those strats,imo,regardless of Hendrix's association (though man, he made'em sing),are the best ANYONE could hope to have. Those era necks are sort of thin, but from the ones I've had my hands on, have the coolest c type shape.

Uli Roth (that avatar of yours Brandon, sort of looks like late '70's/early '80's era Uli) is said to have the Blackie strat (since Monikka Daneman had it (uli's friend/girl friend) up to her death. If Uli has it, he has been smart to NOT tell anyone.

Mitch Mitchell sold the Woodstock strat in '89 I believe, due to alot of breakin attempts,etc, because EVERYONE knew he had it. Hendrix GAVE that guitar to Mitch when Mitches first child was born (in July '70 I think). The guitar obviously stayed on tour with them though, all the way 'till Hendrix's passing.

Most other 'known' Hendrix guitars have been sold due to the owners fears of break ins, etc.

Billy is 100% correct on the black Strat being lighter than the white one, it is an intangible thing, but the tone , the way Jimi holds the two guitars and the sustain all point to the black one being the lighter guitar.
The Woodstock Strat 'looks' heavy, hard to tell you why, but Billy is dead right the black Strat Jimi's fav, is lighter and more resonant for miles.
yngwie308

[Tone Slinger]

Whats going on Dave ? Havent heard from ya in awhile

[Xplorer]

I'm wondering : Can we be sure that the black strat was totaly stock ? Couldn't he choose a black body he previously used at some point, with this neck just because he had experienced it already, knowing it was a very good one ? And if it was lighter, can we be sure it was Alder ?

[yngwie308]

Whats going on Dave ? Havent heard from ya in awhile

Lot's Billy, more soon thanks for asking!
Dave

[yngwie308]

I'm going out on a limb, hopefully of an alder tree and say that the two JH maple cap '68 Stratocasters were both alder.
I can't really recall a Hendrix ash bodied Strat as I never saw him with a blonde or similarly painted guitar which would signify ash.
Of course he may have played a different colored Strat that could have been ash, but I tend to doubt it.
I am of course relying on my psychic Hendrix radar, but as much as I enjoy all the discourse on who used what when where.
The fact that Gary Moore used the Dickinson JTM 45/100 on his Live at the Marquee LP, it was borrowed of course, I would have never known by listening to the recording seriously..
All I go by are my experiences of living in London back in those days with my Marshall's.
They offered no technical services at the actual Marshall shop and I have found that the pictures I have been using to show the Marshall shop I visited are in fact the earlier shop and I cannot find pics of the shop I in fact visited. It was the last shop that Jim had as they stopped with the retail after that and concentrated on production.
I will retell my story of asking the shop lads to connect three 100W stacks together daisy chained for me to play my 1965 Transition logo Strat through with my coiled cord an Jen Cry Baby and light blue Arbiter Fuzz Face.
Cymbals fell of the wall across the shop, I was a very amateuristic player at that time, some may say things have not changed, but it was an experience I will never forget. It was HUGE and I gained so much respect for players llike JImi who had to wrestle with these beasts all across the world with dodgy AC power and all the variables, like the amps being dropped all the times in shipping, ect.
If one looks at the Fender Forum, in the ask Mike Eldred section, he recounts his experience disassembling the Woodstock Strat.
yngwie308

[Tone Slinger]

COOL stuff Man, that was better than being a fly on the wall, you cranked out 3 stacks, and knocked cymbals (some of which could have been bought by Mitch Mitchell later) off the wall ! To be in that shop, was like being at the 'Crossroads'. That was where ALL the great tones to be, had there origin. Cool stuff .