What's the "grail" year for Strats?

[JohnnyGuitar]

Re: What's the "grail" year for Strats?

As a player, I wouldn't know what to do with a classic 59 Strat or a 62... the weak bridge pickup, small "vintage" frets... nothing makes them a grail for me.

 

[jeremy]

Re: What's the "grail" year for Strats?

I'd say 1960 to 1962 for RW neck Strats--and 1957-59 for maple necks.

i like the '56 for maple neck strats. the few real ones that ive had my hands on had a better neck shape than the v of the '57

Now, if you are really into Fenders, you can get a new Custom Shop NOS, Closet Classic or Relic 1960 Strat that will be virtually indistinguishable from my old guitar. I'm also pretty impressed with the Road Worn Series.

i think the build quality of a fender custom shop is fantastic but you cannot beat old wood. i was in the market for a '58 strat a few years ago and really scrutinized alot of strats. unplugged, the old ones all had something that none of the new ones had.

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: What's the "grail" year for Strats?

I do not believe that there is one single definitively "better" production year. Tastes vary from customer to customer. Therefore, my ideal Stratocaster is almost certainly not going to be your ideal Stratocaster and vice versa.

The reason why Fender stuck the '62 name on their rosewood 'board re-issues was because this was the year when the fingerboard changed from "slab" (a flat joint to the maple neck) to "veneer" (a curved joint). Using the '62 nomenclature allowed Fender to construct either way and still legitimately call the model by the one name.

 

[DLT]

Re: What's the "grail" year for Strats?

With Fender's, color has a big influence as well. A '64 Sonic Blue Strat will fetch an extremely high price just due to the fact that the Beatles (John and George) used them.

Check out this '62 from Ebay...
http://cgi.ebay.com/Original-1962-F...QQcmdZViewItemQQptZGuitar?hash=item53dea56342

That looks so close to my baby!

 

[WhoFan]

Re: What's the "grail" year for Strats?

As a player, I wouldn't know what to do with a classic 59 Strat or a 62... the weak bridge pickup, small "vintage" frets... nothing makes them a grail for me.

that is kind of the argument i have with myself as a player... i always wanted a SSS close to vintage spec strat... i was eyeing the USA 57/62's that Fender sells... then i saw the HotRod 62 and 57's... man more my speed... hotter Pickups, fatter radius, larger frets yet still a Vintage looking strat...

I had a Green 62 hotrod on my mind last xmas when i walked in and found a Custom Shop 66 reissue marked way way way down... here in Canada the original price was $3799... i snagged it for $1600..... they just wanted rid of it...

as far as the 66.... at first i didn't like the larger headstock... thought it looked awful with teh smaller logo on it... the 69 CS strat with the larger Fender Stratocaster Logo looks better to me... The Vintage radius i thought i'd hate, the frets in this guitar are still quite tall, i was shocked about that... the frets are taller then what i have seen on Vintage Reissues from Fenders production line... But in the end this Vintage spec strat is great!!! Except the weak bridge PU like you said... i may upgrade the Bridge PU...

all in all i can't fight the fact i'm more of an American Standard strat lover... Modern Specs please me even if i do love taking out a Vintage ride once in a while

 

[Iron Horse]

Re: What's the "grail" year for Strats?

In time the high-end instruments of these days will probably be more sought after since nowadays the workmanship, tools and woods are totally different compared to earlier times. Back in the early days Leo used whatever wood he got a lot of for cheap. Some CS Fender with good woods and thin nitro finish will be absolutely awesome after some playing and aging.
And these days the options are endless: Fret size, radius, neck shape, fretboard wood, neck wood, body wood and bridge are things that back then you'd only have the ones the guitars had at the shop. Not anymore.

 

[ratherdashing]

Re: What's the "grail" year for Strats?

Blackie was a parts mutt of mostly (if not entirely) 50s Stratocasters I believe. If I'm not mistaken, the body is a '56 and the neck is a '57. Not sure where the electronics are from though.

In his autobiography, he says he bought two late 50's (not sure of the exact year) Strats, and matched the neck he liked best with the body he liked best.

He gave the resulting "reject" guitar to George Harrison

 

[WhoFan]

Re: What's the "grail" year for Strats?

In his autobiography, he says he bought two late 50's (not sure of the exact year) Strats, and matched the neck he liked best with the body he liked best.

He gave the resulting "reject" guitar to George Harrison

there was more then 2 according to some accounts... some stories say there was 4 strats and 2 teles he bought on the same day in Nashville if i remember right... none the less for sure Eric gave 1 to Steve Winwood and 1 to Pete Townshend from the same batch of strats he bought in Nashville....

The strat EC gave Townshend in the early 70's was sold at Auction a few years ago... it had quite the history according to the auction file on it... From EC it went to Pete who used it in the studio a fair bit... then it was loaned or sold to one of Bowies guitarists for a while... then back to Townshend... then Townshend gave the guitar to ex British PM Tony Blair? (hope i spelt that right)... a few years later Blair gave the Strat back to Pete for a charity auction he helped put together...

this sunburst 50's strat can be seen in one of Pete's 1985 solo videos... Second Hand Love i believe... it's on Youtube...

 

[Bludave]

Re: What's the "grail" year for Strats?

depends on who you ask. some might say '56 some might say '62

i think cbs bought em in '65

Yeah. I think they have 2 grails IMHO. The '57 for maple and 61 for the slab boards. The 61's are my personal favorite. Now if I only had 50K to drop on one!

 

[Will S-T]

Re: What's the "grail" year for Strats?

Many say that today's Strats are far better than the originals- and if you want classic strat tone it's easy as replacing the pickups

Having recently picked up an 08 new maple strat and owned an 04 US 57 RI,
today's QC and subtle enhancements on Leo's original designs make for good instruments indeed!

Mind you I would kill for July 1963 built sunburst strat:friday: