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Post subject: Re: No stamps in neck pocket?
Posted: Thu Apr 14, 2016 7:06 am
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jmattis wrote:
I do not know everything about Fenders. All my ramblings on the forum should be read with proper caution, and I may be wrong.

But, I re-checked by the pickup numbers of the wiring diagram, they come up with staggered, non-beveled poles like this (here's the "Hot bridge):
Image

I've always been under the perception that up till 2000, the AmStandards had non-staggered poles, then the AmSeries went staggered.

On the Frontline 2006, the AmSeriesStrat (lousy quality) pic shows faint shadows on pickups; I'd say the poles on that pic are staggered. Googled "2006 american stratocaster pickups", pic search brings up a lot of Strat 2006's with staggered pups.

2006 was an anniversary year, so anything is possible. I fully trust your word on your Strats, and let's not turn this into an argument. Still, pics are always nice...


jm - that is my recollection as well. The advertising for the American Series talked about all the upgrades, and staggered polepiece pickups were part of that advertising. It was supposed to be a "modern stagger", so they weren't as staggered as a vintage Strat pickup. The oldest Fender Frontline on their website is from 2006; in the description paragraph for the American Series Strat it specifically says "three staggered single-coil pickups".

Hey, this is Fender; you just never know what could come out of the factory.


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Post subject: Re: No stamps in neck pocket?
Posted: Thu Apr 14, 2016 9:54 am
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I found an ad for the American Series strat. It indeed says "custom staggered pickup magnets"

Here's the ad (it's really difficult to read):
Image


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Post subject: Re: No stamps in neck pocket?
Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2016 1:39 am
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Quote:
I do not know everything about Fenders. All my ramblings on the forum should be read with proper caution, and I may be wrong.

Me too, JM! I'm not arguing, just discussing!

But here's the evidence, m'lud: A loaded scratchplate taken direct from my new white 2006 AmStd (Series). I converted the guitar to HH setup soon after I bought it, and this is what was on it. Same for my other 2006. Plus, I had a 2001 chrome red AmStd that I couldn't get on with (traded for a CS) and - as I recall - that had non-staggered p/ups too. These were UK sales, of course, but surely that wouldn't make any difference...?

ImageImage


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Post subject: Re: No stamps in neck pocket?
Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2016 3:32 am
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Yours may be a UK seller/importer exclusive - that was I believe the SOP at one time in the UK.
Or they are the exceptions testing the rule.
Or FMIC just sent guitars adjusted to left hand traffic in the UK.
Or something else.

But what's that number pressed on the back of the pickups? (Not the white marking.)
And: have you done the serial number test (sending the # to Fender consumer relations), just to see if you get the same list as R3-AUA did?
(And a hint to Fender: the general specs aren't exactly sufficient. In the good old days the answer included info on the particular guitar the serial beloged to; even the original color is a helpful piece of knowledge. But that was when a certain distinguished gentleman with seven consonats, one vowel in his surname, was taking matters seriously...)

In general, Fender polepiece heights are a jungle. Flat to stagger to modern stagger accompanied with vintage stagger (actually, what the heck is that..?) to custom stagger... They've even made pickups under the same name but with different staggers (can't remember if it was Tex-Mex's or TexSpec's...).


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Post subject: Re: No stamps in neck pocket?
Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2016 6:48 am
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Peter S wrote:
Quote:
I do not know everything about Fenders. All my ramblings on the forum should be read with proper caution, and I may be wrong.

Me too, JM! I'm not arguing, just discussing!

But here's the evidence, m'lud: A loaded scratchplate taken direct from my new white 2006 AmStd (Series). I converted the guitar to HH setup soon after I bought it, and this is what was on it. Same for my other 2006. Plus, I had a 2001 chrome red AmStd that I couldn't get on with (traded for a CS) and - as I recall - that had non-staggered p/ups too. These were UK sales, of course, but surely that wouldn't make any difference...?

ImageImage


As I always say with Fender never say never - jmattis has a good suggestion about checking out the part number stamped on the black coil. The neck pickup actually looks like one polepiece is higher than the others to me, but that could just be the camera angle of the photo. The middle and bridge look pretty flat, but they also look a bit more uneven than I remember the old flat pole Fender pickups being from the 1980s-1990s American Standards. Now my old '79 Lead II had perfectly flat polepieces, but they were the "X-1" pickups, not the regular Strat pickups.


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Post subject: Re: No stamps in neck pocket?
Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2016 8:47 am
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Quote:
But what's that number pressed on the back of the pickups?


It's 016730, JM & John.

You may be overestimating the buying power of my little country! From reading this forum I gather that US firms like GC order AmStds to particular specs? Pretty sure ours don't (or can't). Some of ours do, but they're Custom Shop guitars. EG: We have a great little shop called Guitars4You in central England and they stock CS 'Tone Zone' Strats, which I understand they've ordered to their specs. But unless someone can correct me, it doesn't happen with AmStds.

I'd say the nearest we've had were the 'painted headstock' models, like the 1995 ones, and I think you had them in the US as well? Oh, and we get some FSR's, but that's just a special colour, like the 2001 and 2013 surf greens. Certainly not produced for a particular UK retailer.

So the Strat these p/ups came with is a bog-standard 2006 AmStd (or Series if you like), bought new, straight from a shop floor in England. And - as I say - I have another 2006, originally bought from a different shop on the other side of the country, with the same p/ups. Needless to say, both have '06 serial nos.

I think you're right: With Fender, (to quote Chuck Berry) you never can tell!

Cheers - Peter.


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Post subject: Re: No stamps in neck pocket?
Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2016 9:01 am
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Further - from a bit of trawling, 016730 seems to just refer to the bobbin, not the p/pup?

Painted on them is 56205, with 56206 on the middle p/up (because of RWRP?).

Still none the wiser!

Cheers - Peter.


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Post subject: Re: No stamps in neck pocket?
Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2016 10:10 am
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Two things first:
I don't doubt what you've written or the originality of your guitars or pickups.
And, I know this "detective work" is a) useless waste of time (the sound is more important than any pedigrees) and b) boring to read to anyone not involved. :wink:

OK. I suspected the dreaded 016730 would pop up, it's a dead end - plastic bobbin number that can be found in almost any pickups of a MIA, MIM, MIJ...

After a bit more (useless) googling: That white number series is associated to US Strats, more often to 'Standard' than 'Series', but that may just be that the (unsignificant) difference hasn't been noticed.
The white numbers; if I understand correctly, your neck and bridge pickup are the same, but the tone2; is still a no-load pot? The original(?) Delta Tone idea was AFAIK to have that hotter (than neck) bridge pup. It seems more common to have a pup set with 56205(B), 56206(M) and 56207(N), which in a way makes more sense.

But, checking the Frontlines from 2004 to 2008, only staggered pups get mentions. So my final conlusion is, those good fellows of FMIC just played their tricks.

Oh, just making sure: How accurate is your 2006 dating; based on serial number or stamps/markings?
And another: these are not the pups you pushed the pole pieces in, right? :lol:


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Post subject: Re: No stamps in neck pocket?
Posted: Sun Apr 17, 2016 1:52 am
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You've lost me, JM? You're saying this discussion is a waste of time and boring, then you're asking more questions (all of which I've already answered). :?

As this subject originally came from my belief that OP's p/ups weren't original (and I've showed the evidence), but everyone else says they are, I agree we probably can't get any further!

Be nice to hear back from OP to see if he's had a look at his p/ups!

Cheers - Peter.


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Post subject: Re: No stamps in neck pocket?
Posted: Sun Apr 17, 2016 2:31 am
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"Waste of time" in the sense that we most likely can't find a definite answer, since it seems there is no solid Fender SOP and no info to be found from that era.
"Boring", but "to anyone not involved"; often this kind of subjects interest only those who happen to have the gear in question, or are interested in every single detail.
Plus, there was that *wink* symbol in the paragraph...


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Post subject: Re: No stamps in neck pocket?
Posted: Sun Apr 17, 2016 7:27 am
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Peter S wrote:
As this subject originally came from my belief that OP's p/ups weren't original (and I've showed the evidence), but everyone else says they are, I agree we probably can't get any further!

Be nice to hear back from OP to see if he's had a look at his p/ups!

Cheers - Peter.


I haven't yet, sorry. I just had it setup. But I will as soon as it's time for a string change. Original or not, they sound nice and I like 'em, especially the bridge pup.

However, the ad I posted above clearly states that the AmSeries (made I believe between 2001-2008) had staggered pups. This is also supported by other threads and info I gathered. On the other hand, someone did mention Fender's inconsistencies. So who knows?! Yours might have other pups than mine based on the month/year of production? Mine being 2005 yours 2006? Ah, the world may never know (until, of course, I peek under the trunk so to speak).

Will keep you posted.


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Post subject: Re: No stamps in neck pocket?
Posted: Sun Apr 17, 2016 8:34 am
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Yeah sorry, JM, the thread just seemed to heading to the suspicion that I'm a numpty who believed he bought 2 x 2006 and 1 x 2001 US Strats without knowing what he was buying (or talking about)! As I've been buying US Strats since 1979, that's a bit annoying!!! :)

R3-AUA, fair enough! As we agree, if they sound good, who cares? I just thought you might have an expensive set in there, which would mean you'd got even more for your money! Why mine are staggered and yours aren't, none of us knows. Except Fender, perhaps!

Cheers - Peter.


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Post subject: Re: No stamps in neck pocket?
Posted: Sun Apr 17, 2016 9:28 am
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Peter S wrote:
the thread just seemed to heading to the suspicion (etc.)

Noticing the same, that's exactly what I tried to avoid with the previous.

Still, to get one thing straight: on that era American Series Strats, staggered pole pieces (like R3-AUA's) are the standard, level polepieces (like yours) an exception.

And the reason why I've been such a nuisance asking you all those questions is, you have been promoting the idea of pushing pole pieces for quite some time... With Occam's razor conclusion, the simplest explanation is you leveled the pole pieces a long time ago, then have simply forgotten it.
Quoting:
Quote:
Peter S
Post subject: Re: Why the pickups magnets are set differently Posted: Tue May 22, 2012 7:24 pm

You can always push the pole pieces backwards/forwards in the p/up if you want. I always push them flattish as I don't like the jagged edges that Fender seem to think is good engineering!

Post subject: Re: Why the pickups magnets are set differently Posted: Fri May 25, 2012 1:28 pm
Agreed there are probably p/ups that would be ruined by this but I haven't managed it yet with AmStd, '69's, Tex Specials.


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Post subject: Re: No stamps in neck pocket?
Posted: Mon Apr 18, 2016 1:24 am
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Yes, JM - agreed, I'm one of those people who do level the pole-pieces when we feel it necessary (yes, can be risky but has worked for me), but I think you can see in the pics that these pole-pieces are level back and front, which obviously means that they're all the same length, and therefore untouched.

Also, I did say - or at least hint - that I bought this guitar (and the other '06), immediately took the loaded scratchplate off and replaced it with a loaded HH plate which I already had waiting to be fitted. The original scratchplate (and the other one) has then sat around for 10 years while I've been playing 2 x 2006 HH Strats (not at the same time, though!).

Anyway, no offence intended or taken! It's all very odd, though, isn't it...?

Cheers - Peter.


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