Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: Scotty477 on January 17, 2008, 12:18:13 PM
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I got a MIJ Strat, from ebay a few months ago and have only got round to refurbishing it now. It's serial number indicates it was built between '83 and '87.
I took it into my local tech to get it set up, as I know zip about Strats. When I went back to get it, the guitar looked brilliant and now plays like a dream.
The tech told me that he'd taken the neck off to adjust the truss rod and had found the letter 'V' stamped at the end of the neck, instead of a year stamp that he expected to find.
Does anyone know what the 'V' means?
I don't have a pic of the stamp and haven't seen it myself.
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Vintage? Is it a reissue style MIJ strat?
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To be honest I don't know if it's a reissue.
You could write down everything I know about strats on the back of fag packet, I'm afraid.
When I get home I'll take some pics of the guitar and supply the serial number.
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That'll help ;)
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Is its serial number Exxxxxx? Does it have a spaghetti logo? If so V normally means vintage neck.
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From memory it does have an E serial number, although I'm not sure what you mean by spaghetti logo?
It certainly has another difference to other MIJ strats that the tech had seen, in that the Gotoh tuners have a stylised 'F' on each tuner - although not a Fender 'F', if that makes sense.
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The 'spaghetti' is the standard font of the Fender logo on the headstock.
But that's what I thought, apparently there are different version since Elliot said is there one, so there must be other types.
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The serial number is E953575, giving it a 1984-1987 production year.
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I'm having a little trouble getting pics of the Strat on the site.
I can't seem to enable HTML, which I need to do. In my profile the setting for HTML is on but I can see that my HTML option is still showing as off.
Can anyone assist?
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As to Fender logo -
There is the Spaghetti logo (Leo era), the Transition logo (from Leo to CBS that is) and the big Black logo (70s)
http://www.provide.net/~cfh/fender.html about 1/4 away down.
Does your strat have a big black 70s style logo on a big headstock? If so the Gotohs indicate its a 70 re-issue.
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The logo is the transition logo. It has a black outline with silver insert.
The headstock isn't the large 70's style.
I have all the pics on my PC but I can't enable HTML in my profile to get the images from photobucket to here :oops:
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It seems I can post links to images at photobucket.
I have these 4 at the moment. I'll upload a couple more shortly.
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee245/Cobra_999/Stratfull1.jpg?t=1200612327
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee245/Cobra_999/StratHead1.jpg?t=1200614282
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee245/Cobra_999/Stratrear1.jpg?t=1200614542
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee245/Cobra_999/Strathead2.jpg?t=1200614773
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Its definitely a Jap Standard Strat - the main strat of the day (usa didn't have the tooling to build strats in any quantities at the time) - made vintage, but no particular year. My neighbour has an E serial number very similar.
Dunno what the v stands for - It could be a vintage neck that made its way to a standard - such things were known to happen.
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It could well be, although I'm not sure what the difference is between a vintage and a standard neck?
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I must say its a fine looking guitar - just right for some Slow Hands
As a reference that may help - I looked at John Blackman's Japanese Fender site:
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/john.blackman4/standard.htm
He says:
'Two string guides (which may be either the butterfly type or as seen here) and modern gotoh tuners are obvious signs of a Standard model.'
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Yep, that's a Japanese standard strat. No idea what the V is for now!
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Nice one Machinehead,
Its a '87 one and ive seen some seemingly random stamps(letter or number) in on the neck or body with those, i think they are id tags from the person who made it. At least if it is a small letter not bigger then 1cm in blue or black ink.
You can find more info on 21frets,com, they are not vintage reissues, but a standard strat, but they do have the same kind of neckshape as the vintage ones AFAIK.
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Thanks for all the help people :D
As I said I'm not that clued up on Strats at all, I'm more of an LP person really.
The guitar does have a very nice feel to it, now that it's been set up/restrung and given a good clean etc.
I'll have a look at available single coil BKP's, in the players section and see what will suit me best.
From what I've listened to so far the Trilogy set sounds rather nice...
Anyway, I'll start a new thread on that later.
Cheers and thanks once again for all the assistance in identifying the guitar.
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MIJ Strats are godlike. 8)
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A buddy of mine recently got a MIJ strat from that same era. 70's headstock, maple board, sunburst and black pickups on a white guard. Wonderfull guitar and a great tone.
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What really impresses me about this guitar is the tone it has when unplugged.
I've played my fair share of Strats and this one resonates wonderfully, compared to almost every other one I've tried.
I can't wait to get it paired up with a tube amp and possibly BKP's :D
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I agree, I love playing mine unplugged. It has such a wonderful acoustic quality to it.
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I had heard people saying for years that 80's MIJ Strats were as good as - if not better than - MIA Strats but it's only now that I know what they were talking about.
I can't tell if my Strat is a Basswood or Alder body but whatever it is ... it truly Rocks!!!
It's nice to get an ebay bargain that pans out :D
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MIJ Strats are godlike. 8)
Thanks, you made my day - as I am 'in the club' with a MIJ '57 re-issue Strat (built in 1996/7 ? ) with the little "50th Anniversary" sticker on the rear of the headstock.
Perhaps the V could be explained by going to the very lively TDPRI ( Telecaster discussion forum ) - and posting the question in the 'Stratocaster discussion forum' that runs as a subsection.
I am sure I have heard / read them mentioning a desirable type of " joint venture " (JV) series Fenders.
( Just a thought ) ... :)
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Mine's a 57R too - alder body, sunburst, maple neck, maple board. Hlargh.
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JV stands for Japan Vintage not Joint Venture!
Having seen the guitar I don't think the V stands for anything other than a factory mark. As to wood - the earlier Fender Japan basswood guitars were all very resonant - in fact very much like Alder, so I wouldn't worry about the much maligned basswood factor.
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As to wood - the earlier Fender Japan basswood guitars were all very resonant - in fact very much like Alder, so I wouldn't worry about the much maligned basswood factor.
I had a MIJ '62 reissue with a basswood body. It was beautifully made, but the most inert, non-resonant, acoustically dead guitar I've ever owned. And I'm no Eric Johnson to be especially sensitive to such things.
I put it down partly to the wood and partly to the less than top-notch hardware, which seemed a lot less sturdy than the US equivalent. Never put it to the test though, I sold the guitar in a matter of weeks.
But anyway, that was a '90s model, and I guess I was just unlucky to get a dud. I've never heard anything bad about the '80s ones.
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I've came across a few 'dead' supposedly alder Strats before and also a few deceased mahogany LP's in my time.
I know that the quality or cut of the wood makes a big difference in how responsive the guitar is but I wonder how a guitar maker or luthier would know that a particular piece of wood was going to give poor, or even excellent resonance.
Going back to this Strat of mine. I there any way to tell if a guitar is basswood or alder? It's probably a stupid question but you never know ...
In the absence of any other info I'm assuming that it will be basswood, which (if it is) quite honestly doesn't bother me - given how good the guitar sounds, relative to many alder Strats I've played.
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About tonewoods:
http://www.bothner.co.za/articles/bodywoods.shtml
Your E series strat is most likely Basswood, you can check the neckpocket to see. There are different grades of Basswood, in general the darker Tan core produces better tonewood then the pale yellowish sapwood. Alder has a red or purple color to it so its easy to distinguish. Clear finished strats of that time were sometimes different wood, but mostly also just BW.
Most of the JV's were made with the correct vintage bodywoods, so either Ash(50s) or Alder(60s), but there were also some build with Basswood bodies or Sen(looks like Ash).
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Most of the JV's were made with the correct vintage bodywoods, so either Ash(50s) or Alder(60s), but there were also some build with Basswood bodies or Sen(looks like Ash).
When Squiers were first launched in the '80s, they reviewed a load of them in Sounds (a long-dead weekly music paper) and said the bodies were built of something called Castor Arabia. I never heard that term again, but always remembered it. I just looked it up, and it's an American name for Sen. Mystery solved! :D
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About tonewoods:
http://www.bothner.co.za/articles/bodywoods.shtml
Your E series strat is most likely Basswood, you can check the neckpocket to see. There are different grades of Basswood, in general the darker Tan core produces better tonewood then the pale yellowish sapwood. Alder has a red or purple color to it so its easy to distinguish. Clear finished strats of that time were sometimes different wood, but mostly also just BW.
Most of the JV's were made with the correct vintage bodywoods, so either Ash(50s) or Alder(60s), but there were also some build with Basswood bodies or Sen(looks like Ash).
Excellent site Henk, thanks.
On a side note. My strat has a few small nicks in the lacquer at the neck joint and the side. The colour would appear to be reddish, much more like the pic of alder than the basswood one from that site.
I'm tempted to try and take the neck off just to find out now :D
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Yes, thanks for showing us that link Henk, very interesting indeed. :D
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Excellent site Henk, thanks.
On a side note. My strat has a few small nicks in the lacquer at the neck joint and the side. The colour would appear to be reddish, much more like the pic of alder than the basswood one from that site.
I'm tempted to try and take the neck off just to find out now :D
The nicks are not a good indication of the actual wood color, you need to check on a bare/untreated patch which usually is much lighter.
If you do take off the neck make a mental not of how tight the screws are and if you put it back line it up well, pushing it gently towards the body for maximum contact. I left both E strings on the body to get the neck exactly right.
The smarter thing to do is to call the tech who set it up for you, he might remember what bodywood it was, at least worth a try IMO.
If you are going to take it off, make a pic if you can, with the neck as a reference if possible, like this pic of my JV.
(http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb157/Boshond/DSC_3920.jpg)
Note that the wood patch is a bit pale due to the flash, so the pinkish tone is a bit more red in reality.
(http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb157/Boshond/DSC_3935.jpg)
The color of the wood where the paint chipped off is much darker and some of the pigmentation of the 3 tone sunburst is in there.
I just love that vintage-y JV feel!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Thanks again Henk.
Hmmm ... Call the tech that took the neck off a few days ago? Of course I thought of that .. erm ... there's no way I wouldn't have .. um .. thought of that :oops:
/em runawayandcallthetech