cliffenstein
New member
I just got this back from my tech today all ready to go, so I figured I'd make a proper NGD post about it.
I bought this from a seller who originally acquired it in the late 80's. Back then a lot of guys were embarrassed to play MIJ guitars (exactly the same sentiment as those who feel the same about MIM Fender, Squier, or Epiphone now) so he removed the MIJ label at the base of the neck. That label, as we know, didn't just have the "Made In Japan" verbiage on it, it also had the serial number on it. Now, I knew this when I bought the guitar, but I loved the general looks of it so much and was so intrigued by the fact that it is a hardtail (I've never owned a hardtail...always just decked my Strats) that I went ahead and bought it anyway. The seller was able to narrow it down to an original purchase timeframe between the years 1987 and 1989. There's no date written on the butt of the neck, but it does have all the proper markings that you would expect to see on the heel (ST54-EX, black N for neck, red E I believe to indicate its serial series), so I'm gonna split the difference and call it a 1988.
My tech did the acetone test to the body and it did nothing to the finish, which means either poly or urethane, not nitro. He thinks the body looks like alder, but its weight (the guitar weighs just 7 lbs) makes him unable to definitively determine the body wood. The 115's are either Alder or White Ash. I looked up White Ash and it is supposedly heavier than Alder. The 55's were the lower end models and were all basswood bodies and were made in Sunburst and also in Black, however, the pickups are definitely the pickups that came in the 115's. The toggle is not the cheap import style toggle either...it's the same as you see in American Fender Strats.
So it's a bit of a mystery as to exactly what I have.
The deep ambering of the neck reminds me a ton of the Eric Johnson signature maple neck strats. It's soft V shape measures a hefty .9445" at the 1st fret and full 1" at the 12th fret which is ideal for me.
When I got the guitar, the hardtail bridge plate would slip a bit under string tension, so we had to fill the screw holes and re-drill to make the bridge nice and snug. The string-through ferrules also would fall out when changing strings, so those had to be reglued. All is as should be now.
I bought new Gotoh drop-in locking tuners for it (Nickel SD91-MGT Thumbwheel Locking) and Mannmade nickel finished block saddles (Mannmade is best known as the manufacturer of PRS hardware). I aged both the tuners and the saddles with Klean-Strip mureatic acid fumes to get them to match the stock parts. I'm exceedingly happy with the results. I also bought a cream Seymour Duncan JB Jr pickup for the bridge position. I realize many here would frown on these changes, but...hey, the serial number is gone!!!!! Plus, I truly believe block saddles are far superior to vintage saddles as they keep the strings in place. I'm totally a locking tuners guy (and these are drop in replacements). And I have never been able to get along with single coil strat bridge pickups. I've been using the JB Jr since 1996 and still love it.
Finally, I replaced the neck plate with a personalized one showing the date I met my fiance on it.
Anyway...I love this guitar!!!!
UNEDITED PICS:
I bought this from a seller who originally acquired it in the late 80's. Back then a lot of guys were embarrassed to play MIJ guitars (exactly the same sentiment as those who feel the same about MIM Fender, Squier, or Epiphone now) so he removed the MIJ label at the base of the neck. That label, as we know, didn't just have the "Made In Japan" verbiage on it, it also had the serial number on it. Now, I knew this when I bought the guitar, but I loved the general looks of it so much and was so intrigued by the fact that it is a hardtail (I've never owned a hardtail...always just decked my Strats) that I went ahead and bought it anyway. The seller was able to narrow it down to an original purchase timeframe between the years 1987 and 1989. There's no date written on the butt of the neck, but it does have all the proper markings that you would expect to see on the heel (ST54-EX, black N for neck, red E I believe to indicate its serial series), so I'm gonna split the difference and call it a 1988.
My tech did the acetone test to the body and it did nothing to the finish, which means either poly or urethane, not nitro. He thinks the body looks like alder, but its weight (the guitar weighs just 7 lbs) makes him unable to definitively determine the body wood. The 115's are either Alder or White Ash. I looked up White Ash and it is supposedly heavier than Alder. The 55's were the lower end models and were all basswood bodies and were made in Sunburst and also in Black, however, the pickups are definitely the pickups that came in the 115's. The toggle is not the cheap import style toggle either...it's the same as you see in American Fender Strats.
So it's a bit of a mystery as to exactly what I have.
The deep ambering of the neck reminds me a ton of the Eric Johnson signature maple neck strats. It's soft V shape measures a hefty .9445" at the 1st fret and full 1" at the 12th fret which is ideal for me.
When I got the guitar, the hardtail bridge plate would slip a bit under string tension, so we had to fill the screw holes and re-drill to make the bridge nice and snug. The string-through ferrules also would fall out when changing strings, so those had to be reglued. All is as should be now.
I bought new Gotoh drop-in locking tuners for it (Nickel SD91-MGT Thumbwheel Locking) and Mannmade nickel finished block saddles (Mannmade is best known as the manufacturer of PRS hardware). I aged both the tuners and the saddles with Klean-Strip mureatic acid fumes to get them to match the stock parts. I'm exceedingly happy with the results. I also bought a cream Seymour Duncan JB Jr pickup for the bridge position. I realize many here would frown on these changes, but...hey, the serial number is gone!!!!! Plus, I truly believe block saddles are far superior to vintage saddles as they keep the strings in place. I'm totally a locking tuners guy (and these are drop in replacements). And I have never been able to get along with single coil strat bridge pickups. I've been using the JB Jr since 1996 and still love it.
Finally, I replaced the neck plate with a personalized one showing the date I met my fiance on it.
Anyway...I love this guitar!!!!
UNEDITED PICS:
