Hey!
I FINALLY found one i was happy with!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I had been looking for a good strat for a couple of weeks, nearly to the point of getting obsessed, damn my GAS is bad i can tell you......
Anyway after trying MANY different strats i decided i wanted something with the build quality of an USA strat and the vintage feel of a really old one. I drove around to check out some old MIJ strats but they were all rubbish, most were upgraded in a bad way and nearly all had a bad neck. When i say bad i dont mean frets and such but they were twisted or wobbly(wave form).
Anyway, as sort of a 'last attempt' before giving up i called a shopkeeper i know very well. I knew hes a strat man and i also knew he had a nice JV squier in his shop but it wasnt for sale then. Well i just went ahead and asked im if he was interested in selling it anyway!
Its just that sometimes luck lends you a hand on these occasions, he had just bought another like the one in his shop, and he even collected old MIJ strats. Since he just bought another he was willing to sell the one in his shop, needless to say i jumped in my car and went to check it out again, but now giving it plenty of time.
At first i was a bit put off by the paint which had been chipped off in rather unpleasing patches, i had seen this often on the JV's, it seems they used a softer and lighter kind of alder and where there is a dent in the body wood the paint just chips off.
The strat had very high action and really old string, actually they were even old dadario string which just sound horrible IMO. When carefully examining the guitar the neck was great, allthough had alot of relief. Frets were soso and there was a huge amount of crud on the fretboard.
After some trying out and comparing to other strats in the shop i decided to take it, maybe a bit of a chance since i didnt know how it had been kept but the think that confinced me most was the sound. It just had such a great vintage tone, even better then the 5000 euro worth CS strat i compared it with.
My JV is quite light, like many of the CS strats very light (but also soft) alder was used. My strat weighs just under 3.2 kg, which is quite light for a strat. The body had an exeptionally 'light' sounding tap tone, even alot brighter then the neck tone which i didnt hear very often. The body is also the most resonant one i ever heard. These characteristics of the body give it that lively strat tone i like so much i think, perfect!
Also the neck, which is quite an issue for me i can work with, it has a 'slim D' shape. When comparing it to the original D shape it actually is just a bit thinner in the center part of the neck, if i play with my thumb on top of the neck it actually plays quite like a 50s gibson neck allthough im missing a bit of support from the center of the neck. The neck has a thin dark rosewood fretboard, the neck has only one little 'ding' its in excellent condition otherwise. Exept for the frets, which only have like a 30% left on them, but i guess you can expect that.
I payd the good fellow, it has the original tremelo arm and i also got an USA 5-way switch, i did think the 3-way switch was some weird upgrade, but it was the original. It does switch 5 ways but only 'locks' in the 3 positions. All hardware is fine, it has good 250k pots which i wont change, only the pickups will get changed at some time, i dont really like the USA vintage pickups much and actually prefer the acoustic sound much more, shame really but anyway. I do know that the pickups that will get in this strat they will definately have to be very sensitive and vintage sounding in a more brownish/bluesy way. The USA vintage are too overpowered for this guitar IMO.
Kind of surprising actually, i had thought i wanted a more punchy sound on a '57 type strat but now its much different, the JV is a '62 RI model.
Then i got home i took it apart to set up and work on since i found it way too uncomfy to play as it was, there is the Gibson man again :lol:
I left the guitar a couple of hours without strings and took the neck out for proper aligning, there was too much relief on the neck, i like a bit of relief but decided to set the neck as absolutely straight and let the strings give it some relief later on.
After getting all the facts traight i found out its a domestic (D stamped body) squier dated jan-feb 1983, matching the JV3 serial number. After checking some links(thanks Twinfan) it is a SST-30s, in 3-tone sunburst.
The info on this series states that the later '83 squiers of this type were downgraded a bit with japanese hardware, this one does however still have the 'good' hardware, exept for a cratchy switch all works noisefree. Even the pickups are pretty low noise, but probably thats also due to the really tight SSS routing of the body. This guitar is all original.
After hours of carefully adjusting, checking, readjusting and in between trying to get the thick layer of crud of the fretboard, all was ready to be played again.
Man, i cant begin to express how great this one is, i once played an original early 60's strat and allthough there are things about that one i liked better, my JV has THE SOUND!!!!
Its just so amazing how much resonance and tone you can get from such a simple stringed shelf. This guitar is just so captivating, it just all sounds so natural and uncomplicated, its simply a dream to play.
Im really thankfull for this one, in this time where everyone seems to make a mess of their guitars this one is mine and most definately will remain mine till one of my kids is old enough to play it better then his old man.....
Thank you for the interest and the lengthly read!
Kindest regards,
Henk
