seventies Strats, any opinions?

[blue]

well, I've always dismissed seventies Fenders as just horrible, and the ones I've played have generally borne this out.  They've been heavy, dull sounding, ugly.  The contouring (or lack of) on Strat bodies is frankly hilarious!  Then, yesterday, we were trying out a 1968 Vox AC30 that my friend is working on, and the guitars near to hand were a pair of 1977 sunburst strats, one trem and one hardtail.  Oh dear!  they both sounded great!  and the hardtail in particular played beautifully.  Thinking "it must be the amp", which does sound amazing, we went and played them through a Marshall DSL combo.  Same again.  The hardtail in particular sounded really good.  we then compared it to a brand new American Deluxe Strat, which sounded thin and sterile in comparison.  The shop has half a dozen other seventies Fenders, and the other two I tried were as expected, heavy and dead sounding and played like cheap rubbish.

I now find myself in the horrible position of wanting something I've always sneered at before :)

[littleredguitars2]

i have 3 hardtail strats and i really love them. granted they arent 70s strats but i feel like fender needs to have a dedicated hardtail strat model. the only ones i've ever known to be hardtail were the old tom delonge signature model and the robert cray sig.

[Philly Q]

I've grown up with the "received wisdom" that '70s Strats are rubbish, too heavy, sloppy neck pockets, cast bridge saddles, etc etc....

On the other hand, I've always liked the CBS big headstock look (except when I go through phases of not liking it).  And I really like the fact that lots of '70s Strats are hardtails.

But I guess there always had to be good '70s Fenders, just as there are good '70s Gibsons.  I very much doubt I'd ever buy one though, now that they command "vintage" prices.

[Philly Q]

i feel like fender needs to have a dedicated hardtail strat model. the only ones i've ever known to be hardtail were the old tom delonge signature model and the robert cray sig.

They did make an American Standard hardtail for a couple of years, starting around 1999/2000 I think.  And at the same time there was the Big Apple (aka Double Fat) Strat with two humbuckers, that had a hardtail option.

I had both at one point, but they were really hard to find in the UK - I wanted one in translucent white with a maple neck, but couldn't get hold of one anywhere.

Still, I suppose if there was much demand for hardtails they'd make more of them....  :?

[tekbow]

CBS era strat progressively got more badly QC'd and had more and more corners cut throughout the 60's and 70's. This does not however preclude them being "good". it's just that as the CBS era wore on, the frequency of good ones got smaller.

All depends what you like in your sound though.

but yeah in general, poorly QC'd and cheap materials make for a not as good guitar.

there are most definitely good ones out there.

[Philly Q]

I always find it interesting when Fender do CBS/'70s reissues from the Custom Shop.

They don't replicate features like the half-hearted body contouring, which I think on balance was the right thing to do, but they must have thought long and hard about it.

[tekbow]

well there is something about that big headstock.. i don't personally like it, but the people that do really do,it's kind of as iconic as the small size one in many ways, makes sense they'd cash in on the high end.

[blue]

I'm inclined to think that seventies Fenders these days are hugely over priced.  It's not that long since you couldn't give them away!  suddenly they seem to be for sale everywhere, and none for less than £1500.  I did really like the playing experience on the one i played yesterday, but I still kept looking at the body with it's crude carving and incredibly thick finish and think "that is not a good look!"

The neck, on the other hand, was a beauty, in both feel and appearance

[tekbow]

I'm inclined to think that seventies Fenders these days are hugely over priced.  It's not that long since you couldn't give them away!  suddenly they seem to be for sale everywhere, and none for less than £1500.  I did really like the playing experience on the one i played yesterday, but I still kept looking at the body with it's crude carving and incredibly thick finish and think "that is not a good look!"

The neck, on the other hand, was a beauty, in both feel and appearance

well if it sounds good... ;)

but yeah the price of 70's strats is going up, mainly because 50's - mid 60's strats are out of the reach of most people. The 70's ones are the latest speculation market.. i think people are also thinking old = vintage = good.. I've never liked the word vintage WRT to things that aren't wine.. it's a very specific term designed to described a specific thing about, in fact, wine.. its a bit of a buzzword now that makes things seem like they should be more valuable than they are.

I think a lot of the prices we see on 70's strats are just people on ebay and shops being hopeful for a mug to come along.

[38thBeatle]

Well I have one and it is a hardtail. I've had it since I was a teenager( i.e. a long time!) and wouldn't part with it. For sure the finish, when new to me was a little , erm, iffy but over the years it has been naturally relied and its all good. Mine is a bit heavy but plays well ( as Jonathan can attest) and sounds pretty damn good.  At the time (the 1970's) I played many a contemporary Strat and they were not as bad as is sometimes made out though there is some justification in the general view. Fenders in those days were not as consistently good as they seem to be nowadays.

[Telerocker]

My amptech has two seventies strat. One, white but yellowed by time, is a '73 that plays good and sounds excellent. His '79 sunburst ' is very heavy and sounds - to my ears - half as good. You can find a good one if you're willing to pay customshopprices. Prices here in Holland have risen to ridiculous heights.

[Philly Q]

Part of the appeal is that I associate '70s Strats with some of my favourite players - Robin Trower, Ritchie Blackmore, Ulrich Roth.

And I'm not that familiar with his music, but he has an incredibly cool guitar - Walter Trout.

[pagan7]

I bought my strat new in 1973 , took a year to pay off on HP (hire purchase back in the day) , Olympic white with an all maple neck , guess which player influenced that  :D.  It came with a Fender case and still had the 3 position pickup selector switch but I soon got used to using the in between positions for more than one pup at a time . It's really light compared to others from that era so I think the body is probably alder rather than ash and it has the correct body contours and the smaller headstock. It has yellowed with age and has the usual wear, nicks and dings from 40 years of hard use. I still have the original bridge cover (ash tray) and paper packet of Fender allan keys and it played really well from the off and sounded as it should . I've never needed to adjust the neck in any way and for a strat , it stays in tune very well regardless of vibrato abuse. The only problem (?) was the ease of feeding back , especially with a line of period pedals , so about 10 years ago I took off the original loaded scratch plate and fitted a new one loaded with Fender hot noiseless (Jeff Beck) pickups plus a Fender TBX pot on the bridge pickup  and 3 mini toggle switches for individual pickup selection (all 3 together sound fantastic) and also fitted a set of GraphTec saddles to sort the usual problem of the original saddle grub screws digging into my palm. It has always sounded superb and plays like a dream and is as good as any strat I've heard and I'll never sell it , so , my experience of 70's strats has been a good one , though I know plenty of other people have been really disappointed.
I guess mine wasn't put together on a friday afternoon  :D

[JJretroTONEGOD]

didn't hendrix use a 1970 strat?

[Plenum n Heather]

didn't hendrix use a 1970 strat?

Yes, auld be. Small headstock, brown burst. A client of mine has it (the last guitar Hendrix payed) hanging in his hallway ... (Yes, my clients are THAT rich)