Made only for the Japan market, it's their standard ST62 but with a fully painted neck (as opposed to only the matching headstock routinely seen). It has a proper 60's pickguard (albeit bwb which wouldn't have existed in 62) including the truss rod adjustment cut, however, the trussrod adjustment on this guitar is at the headstock (another thing that wouldn't have existed in 62).
It's got a nice chunky c neck...
.866" at first fret
.945" at 12th fret
Fender spaghetti logo on the headstock and that's it...no other writing at all on the headstock.
Basswood body (but not in the least a cheap soft one), full size block, but import electronics (which I upgraded to match Fender's American Standard line), bone nut, proper 60's thick slab rosewood fretboard (so dark it practically looks ebony) and aged bridge and screws.
The guitar is exceptionally well made (no surprise with it being a CIJ) and weighs in at 8.0 lbs (exactly the same as my 1989 American Standard).
I upgraded the stock Gotoh tuners to a set of magnum locking thumbwheel Gotoh SG381 MG-T 16:1 ratio tuners (direct drop in). The stock tuners are excellent, i just greatly prefer the thumbwheel lockers. I also added strap lock buttons, replaced the stock bridge single coil with a Seymour Duncan JB Jr and moved the volume knob down one position per my usual manner. I had my tech crown the frets and do a setup for very low action with no relief in the neck, just how I like it. Strings are D'addario 11-49. Finally, I replaced the single-ply black backplate with a three-ply one to match the pickguard (keeping things period correct is clearly not a concern with this guitar).
The bottom line here is that I absolutely love this thing. The guitar is unique, sounds very ALIVE and is very VERY me. I'm totally glad I bought it.
PICS:
It's got a nice chunky c neck...
.866" at first fret
.945" at 12th fret
Fender spaghetti logo on the headstock and that's it...no other writing at all on the headstock.
Basswood body (but not in the least a cheap soft one), full size block, but import electronics (which I upgraded to match Fender's American Standard line), bone nut, proper 60's thick slab rosewood fretboard (so dark it practically looks ebony) and aged bridge and screws.
The guitar is exceptionally well made (no surprise with it being a CIJ) and weighs in at 8.0 lbs (exactly the same as my 1989 American Standard).
I upgraded the stock Gotoh tuners to a set of magnum locking thumbwheel Gotoh SG381 MG-T 16:1 ratio tuners (direct drop in). The stock tuners are excellent, i just greatly prefer the thumbwheel lockers. I also added strap lock buttons, replaced the stock bridge single coil with a Seymour Duncan JB Jr and moved the volume knob down one position per my usual manner. I had my tech crown the frets and do a setup for very low action with no relief in the neck, just how I like it. Strings are D'addario 11-49. Finally, I replaced the single-ply black backplate with a three-ply one to match the pickguard (keeping things period correct is clearly not a concern with this guitar).
The bottom line here is that I absolutely love this thing. The guitar is unique, sounds very ALIVE and is very VERY me. I'm totally glad I bought it.
PICS:
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