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Post subject: CS Jeff Beck Stratocaster
Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2015 6:49 am
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hi - can anyone tell me the difference between the Fender USA JB Stratocaster and the Custom Shop model? I am looking at the CS model (lefty version of course) as per this:

Image

but they both share the same dual coil noiseless pups, and as far as I can see, the only difference is the signature on the USA headstock which the Custom Shop model doesn't have, opinions? I know this is a custom shop model sure but wanted to hear about any other advantages this model has over the USA model.


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Post subject: Re: CS Jeff Beck Stratocaster
Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2015 11:39 pm
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The main difference between the two is the artist's signature placement in the headstock.

On the JB Standards the signature is placed in the front whilst on the JB Customs it's located in the back.

In addition, JB Customs feature better tonewoods and hardware, hence's why the prices are much higher than the JB Standards - with the Masterbuilts being by far the most expensive.

Masterbuilt JB Customs lack off signatures; Jeff's own personal stage guitar boasts JS-designed custom-wound stacked humbuckers, a Wilkinson split roller nut and a fat baseball neck with reverse headstock.


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Post subject: Re: CS Jeff Beck Stratocaster
Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2015 7:29 am
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chromeface wrote:
The main difference between the two is the artist's signature placement in the headstock.

On the JB Standards the signature is placed in the front whilst on the JB Customs it's located in the back.

In addition, JB Customs feature better tonewoods and hardware, hence's why the prices are much higher than the JB Standards - with the Masterbuilts being by far the most expensive.

Masterbuilt JB Customs lack off signatures; Jeff's own personal stage guitar boasts JS-designed custom-wound stacked humbuckers, a Wilkinson split roller nut and a fat baseball neck with reverse headstock.


Image


Wrong, the guitar in the picture is his second best strat. He still favours the normal one but he really likes what the reverse headstock does to string tension. The pickups in the "jimi strat" are custom wound by Todd Krause.

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Post subject: Re: CS Jeff Beck Stratocaster
Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2015 10:23 pm
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Jossett wrote:
Wrong, the guitar in the picture is his second best strat. He still favours the normal one but he really likes what the reverse headstock does to string tension. The pickups in the "jimi strat" are custom wound by Todd Krause.


Interesting trivia.

Does the reverse headstock neck had the same fat baseball bat backshape as the old '93? Or it's a more slender C profile?

Funny to understand why that reverse headstock has a string tree fitted. Personally I don't care so much for a string tree on a neck with an LSR or Wilkinson roller nut installed.


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Post subject: Re: CS Jeff Beck Stratocaster
Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2015 11:08 pm
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chromeface wrote:
Funny to understand why that reverse headstock has a string tree fitted. Personally I don't care so much for a string tree on a neck with an LSR or Wilkinson roller nut installed.

'Cause there is a split roller nut, wich was created for regular headstock. Than, the fat strings doesn't needed the superior needle bearing roller string tree.
With a reverse headstock, U have two choices: a regular string tree or a regular wilkinson nut...
By the way, I don't understand why he just don't use the regular one; it would be a better choice IMHO :mrgreen: ... He must know why, doesn't he!?
http://xhefriguitars.com/page2.html#C11
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Post subject: Re: CS Jeff Beck Stratocaster
Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2017 4:34 am
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Huge difference in CS JB STRAT and cheaper artist model. It plays and sounds like a cheap imitation. Unfortunately even the CS model changed from nitro to poly finish in 2009. Metal heads won't notice but tonal purists go for nitro or oil for good reason, allows the wood to resonate better.


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Post subject: Re: CS Jeff Beck Stratocaster
Posted: Sun Jan 28, 2018 2:05 pm
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Jeff's #1 Strat IS the upside down headstock one. It is a comfortable neck made in late 90's by Jay Black. The Basswood body was made by Todd Krause in the Custom shop. Jeff's electronics from his "old" #1 strat were installed with the John Suhr stacked noiseless single coils.
The neck from Jeff's old #1 (body cracked and broken) was fitted to a 2nd Basswood body made by Todd Krause with Todd's electronics.
Both Strats were built , necks hand fitted, and set up in rehearsal with Jeff by guitar tech Tim Myer.
All this was initially co-ordinated by Billy Siegle , Fender AR.
No other story is correct - no-one else was involved.


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Post subject: Re: CS Jeff Beck Stratocaster
Posted: Sun Jan 28, 2018 7:01 pm
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Telemadness wrote:
Jeff's #1 Strat IS the upside down headstock one. It is a comfortable neck made in late 90's by Jay Black. The Basswood body was made by Todd Krause in the Custom shop. Jeff's electronics from his "old" #1 strat were installed with the John Suhr stacked noiseless single coils.
The neck from Jeff's old #1 (body cracked and broken) was fitted to a 2nd Basswood body made by Todd Krause with Todd's electronics.
Both Strats were built , necks hand fitted, and set up in rehearsal with Jeff by guitar tech Tim Myer.
All this was initially co-ordinated by Billy Siegle , Fender AR.
No other story is correct - no-one else was involved.


Weren't Jeff's previous Strats alder body? Any comment on why the change to basswood?
Thanks.
PS have Suhr hot Landau with noiseless backplate on one Strat. Incredible low end power.


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Post subject: Re: CS Jeff Beck Stratocaster
Posted: Fri Mar 23, 2018 8:11 pm
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trajan2050 wrote:
Weren't Jeff's previous Strats alder body? Any comment on why the change to basswood?.


Absent authoritative information I'd put my money on tone-questing the holy grail of sound. That's been Beck's mission all these years.

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Post subject: Re: CS Jeff Beck Stratocaster
Posted: Fri Mar 23, 2018 10:10 pm
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The Suhr V60LP set sounds close to the stacked humbuckers John did in the mid-1990s.


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Post subject: Re: CS Jeff Beck Stratocaster
Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2019 3:46 pm
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I got both the custom shop edition and the signature edition, both in arctic white. Both were bought new around 2003 - 2004. Despite supposedly being the same color, they are quite different. The signature is much whiter. The locking tuners are different: Sperzel for the CS and Schaller for the signature. Apart from logos, neck plate, backplate and placement of JB signatures, the two guitars are identical. There is no discernible difference in the quality of the woods, types of pickup used, etc. If anything, the signature has the better build quality and better components (Schaller and multiply backplate). In fact, I had to take the CS to a Fender authorized repairshop to partly fix a shoddy neck placement. The only good thing, I can say about the CS is that I like the case better.


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Post subject: Re: CS Jeff Beck Stratocaster
Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2019 8:39 am
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DCdane wrote:
I got both the custom shop edition and the signature edition, both in arctic white. Both were bought new around 2003 - 2004. Despite supposedly being the same color, they are quite different. The signature is much whiter. The locking tuners are different: Sperzel for the CS and Schaller for the signature. Apart from logos, neck plate, backplate and placement of JB signatures, the two guitars are identical. There is no discernible difference in the quality of the woods, types of pickup used, etc. If anything, the signature has the better build quality and better components (Schaller and multiply backplate). In fact, I had to take the CS to a Fender authorized repairshop to partly fix a shoddy neck placement. The only good thing, I can say about the CS is that I like the case better.


It's a rather costly undertaking to be able to compare and contrast the Artist Signature and Custom Shop Artist Signature guitars. Your impressions regarding the specifications you cite are generally correct. We do know that a two piece body is the rule in the CS, whereas production guitars can be built with three piece bodies. It is expected that the detail to workmanship will be as you found it. The specs should match the guitar to the nines if a Tribute. You can see that clearly in the various incarnations of the Clapton guitars which, early on in the history of the Forums, we've had intensive conversations about the design and building of. Todd Krause was pretty much the go to builder for these guitars for a long time. As well, the Artist Series SRV, the Custom Shop SRV, and the Tribute SRV are all different. Very much the same with the John Mayer guitars the last of which were a very controversial issue in these pages. Mike Eldred reaped the whirlwind when the Tribute guitar was finally released because someone found what appeared to be a discrepancy in the pickup configuration of the guitar and photograph of Mayer's stage guitar. The Gilmour guitar is dead on with the exception of some variation in pickup selection which was overseen by Dave himself and the detail in finishing of the replica version as opposed to the NOS, a factor which figured into my purchase of the less expensive version. There's of host of these since Fender begain the Artist series back in '87. I own a Clapton I in Torino Red, one of the 12 guitars which were built by the nascent CS for the '88 Winter NAMM. I also own an '89 Pewter. The former has 21 frets, a mini-toggle switch to activate the mid-boost at will, and the neck profile is not as tapered as my '89. It also has the original CS logo on the back of the headstock and in the neck pocket. It went into production NOT as a CS model, but an Artist Series in Pewter, Red, and Green. The came a resurrection of the black, after which the CS began producing a more refined version of the guitar in three finishes exclusive to them. There was also a hubbub early on regarding the actual vs published specifications for this guitar which engendered a heavy conversation. Then came the Tribute, their was a White, and the Green was dropped, Then the LTD's in Blue and Grey and then the Brownie Tribute. Now there's a Brownie SB version by the CS. By the way, the neck profile on the Beck guitar has changed more than once as commented on by Chromeface early on in this thread. In fact, the earliest Beck guitar was finished in purple, had a HSS Lace Sensor pickup configuration, and a real, fact neck, I remember playing one over a decade ago. Which one do you have on your guitar. Pretty much assured that the minute you believe you've got all the marbles hanging on your wall, they'll find a way to get you digging into your wallet once more. Chromeface's greatest disappointment was that they didn't produce a guitar finished in 'ECP Red', the finish of Eric's custom Ferrari.



Doc :wink:

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Post subject: Re: CS Jeff Beck Stratocaster
Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2019 5:52 pm
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Very interesting, zzdoc. I bought the CS version to get an additional Jeff Beck Strat. I had expected it to be even better than the artist edition, which was flawless. I got sorely disappointed and quality wise the CS is the worst built Fender I own (I also have a CS American Classic 3 pu Tele and a Fender Japan limited edition TL52). Both my JB guitars seem identical to the most recent models, and the pickups are of the noiseless variety. I love the JB model, but I have yet to see JB playing the guitar bearing his name. His pu's and nuts are obviously different. I believe he uses Suhr pickups and the nut on all his guitars appear to be by Wilkinson. Now a days, JB's Strats even have reverse headstock necks (likely baseball bat size as the original signature models had due to his enormous hands). I can understand why Fender choose to outfit the second generation JB signature guitars with necks suited for players with more normal size hands, but I don't understand why the pu's and the nut are not what JB actually uses and have been using since before the signature models were introduced. The nut discrepancy is blatantly obvious, whereas the pu's is more of a guess. However, I have never seen footage or pictures depicting a noiseless pu on any of the Strats he has been playing for the last 20 years. The whole point of a signature series is to reproduce the guitar your guitar hero uses himself. The JB Strats seems a far cry from living up to this, and I am puzzled that Fender has gotten away with selling JB Strats that clearly are quite different from what the artist is actually using.


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Post subject: Re: CS Jeff Beck Stratocaster
Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2019 1:19 pm
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DCdane wrote:
Very interesting, zzdoc. I bought the CS version to get an additional Jeff Beck Strat. I had expected it to be even better than the artist edition, which was flawless. I got sorely disappointed and quality wise the CS is the worst built Fender I own (I also have a CS American Classic 3 pu Tele and a Fender Japan limited edition TL52). Both my JB guitars seem identical to the most recent models, and the pickups are of the noiseless variety. I love the JB model, but I have yet to see JB playing the guitar bearing his name. His pu's and nuts are obviously different. I believe he uses Suhr pickups and the nut on all his guitars appear to be by Wilkinson. Now a days, JB's Strats even have reverse headstock necks (likely baseball bat size as the original signature models had due to his enormous hands). I can understand why Fender choose to outfit the second generation JB signature guitars with necks suited for players with more normal size hands, but I don't understand why the pu's and the nut are not what JB actually uses and have been using since before the signature models were introduced. The nut discrepancy is blatantly obvious, whereas the pu's is more of a guess. However, I have never seen footage or pictures depicting a noiseless pu on any of the Strats he has been playing for the last 20 years. The whole point of a signature series is to reproduce the guitar your guitar hero uses himself. The JB Strats seems a far cry from living up to this, and I am puzzled that Fender has gotten away with selling JB Strats that clearly are quite different from what the artist is actually using.


Suggest you return to your dealer with a detailed written narrative as to what it is about the Custom Shop guitar is inferior to its production line brother, adding to that the contents of the additional commentary you've included here, ship the guitar back to them, at your cost of course, and request that they build you a guitar which satisfies those criteria. Let them know that, if they can't, to at least advise you as to why not. Prior conversations in these pages regarding the Artist Series vs The Custom Shop Signature Series during the time when Mike Eldred ran the operation was, to quote him, the Artist series are a 'snapshot' of the stage guitar. The Custom Shop model is supposed to be the 'real deal'. Now you have to bear in mind that Fender has offered what they call 'Tribute Series' instruments. They are dimed reproductions of the actual stage instrument and, in the case of their JB, might not be what they were striving for in that case and others, but appears to be what you require. In the past decade or more of my participation the Forums, I can comment on one project which fits the description of a tribute instrument but was not brought to completion as such. That would be the Gilmour. The relic model,, excepting for the bridge pickup which differs from that in The Black Strat, but was selected and approved by David, is a dimed reproduction of his stage guitar and he has used his prototype in performance.
I suspect that the price point and availability which David desired in have Fender reproduce his guitar made calling it a Tribute Series instrument moot. Interesting situation you have shared. Keep us updated on your progress.

Doc :wink:

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Post subject: Re: CS Jeff Beck Stratocaster
Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2019 12:40 pm
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ZZDoc, sorry for the delayed response. I really appreciate your input. Unfortunately the dealer went bankrupt many years ago, so that option is not available. Also, time has passed for instituting a normal warranty complaints procedure as the CS was bought in 2004. My two main gripes - the sloppy placement of the neck and the very off color - would likely be dismissed if Fender CS adhere to normal business practice. (I do have photo documentation from July 2004 showing my Signature and CS side by side and also a close up of the sloppy neck fit.) The issue about the discrepancy between what Fender sells and what Jeff Beck use is another matter. Elapsed time strengthens the claim. I am obviously a huge Jeff Beck fan and I am not aware of any pictorial documentation showing Jeff Beck ever using a guitar similar to what Fender sells. As a customer, I feel I have been had, and I have often wondered why no-one has launched a class action suit for false advertising. I would like to take this up with management at Fender CS, but don't know whom to contact. Maybe you or the Administrator can provide a name and an email address!?


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