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Post subject: a question about strat necks
Posted: Sat Jun 04, 2016 4:55 pm
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i'm wondering exactly what year did fender start using 9.5 inch radius fret boards on their guitars. were they avalible in the 50's or 60's ? you have lovers and haters of the 7.25 radius even back then.


Last edited by bluesdudet1d on Sun Jun 05, 2016 4:27 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Post subject: Re: a question about strat necks
Posted: Sat Jun 04, 2016 5:38 pm
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bluesdudet1d wrote:
i'm wondering exactly what year did fender start using 9.5 inch radius fret boards on their guitars. were they avalible in the 50's or 60's ? you have lovers and haters of the 7.5 radius even back then.


It's my understanding that some of the very earliest Broadcasters and Esquires were 9.5" radius, but then they settled on the 7.25" radius long before the first Strat came out in 1954.

However, the first Fenders I can think of with the 9.5" were the American Standards, which date to late 1986 with an official introduction at the January 1987 NAMM show. The 1983-84 Elite and Standard models were 12" radius, as were the MIJ Contemporary models.


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Post subject: Re: a question about strat necks
Posted: Sat Jun 04, 2016 6:05 pm
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John C wrote:
However, the first Fenders I can think of with the 9.5" were the American Standards, which date to late 1986 with an official introduction at the January 1987 NAMM show.


+1

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Post subject: Re: a question about strat necks
Posted: Sun Jun 05, 2016 4:34 am
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was it possible to get one custom made with a 9.5 back then? i know Leo had input from artists in those days. there is a reason for my questions. i'm trying to settle an argument about a certain famous guitarist's specs of his guitar(original).


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Post subject: Re: a question about strat necks
Posted: Sun Jun 05, 2016 10:18 am
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That argument may very well remain unsolved. Remember, those were the pre-CNC days of handwork. Even when done by top professionals with the finest radius gauges, all necks were not the same. Add to that the age of the guitars in question here - the ones that have been played have also needed some fretwork, most likely more than once. And there's two sides to these fretjobs; preserving the radius isn't easy, plus the radius was very often flattened (even "compounded") on purpose.
The frequent playing & maintenance is apparently why e.g. Rory Gallagher's 1961 has been measured as a 9.5".
Keep in mind that the difference between 7.25" and 9.5" radii is really small on a guitar neck width section of a circle...

And sorry, but I don't know the answer to possible custom ordered flat necks.
I'm guessing no, since
a) there was no custom shop yet,
b) there doesn't seem to be any records of early customized Strats, and
c) it seems that even the most famous players way back then made á la carte orders only regarding color.
But with Fender, anything is possible - maybe someone knew someone who had a relative on the factory.
:wink:


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Post subject: Re: a question about strat necks
Posted: Sun Jun 05, 2016 1:31 pm
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bluesdudet1d wrote:
i'm trying to settle an argument about a certain famous guitarist's specs of his guitar(original).


Who's the artist in question?

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Post subject: Re: a question about strat necks
Posted: Sun Jun 05, 2016 1:40 pm
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ahh...you guessed it. Rory. we were arguing about his statement about a flatter radius. i brought up that the point, guitarist Jim Connolly ordered it to be a specific color was it possible that he ordered a specific radius too. maybe it wasn't a fluke, Rory really got a one off strat for that time period. we love useless knowledge. and you guys might have won me a free beer. LOL!


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Post subject: Re: a question about strat necks
Posted: Sun Jun 05, 2016 1:47 pm
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Rory's Strat will have been refretted a few times, so it's perfectly feasible that the radius would have flattened slightly,
Rory also preferred larger frets than the standard vintage ones.

A similar thing happened with SRV's number one.

As has been said, there's not a great deal of difference between a 7.25" and 9.5" radius.

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Post subject: Re: a question about strat necks
Posted: Sun Jun 05, 2016 5:42 pm
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so it is a mystery? no one but Jim Connolly could say what the neck's radius was when he parted ways with it 1963 . damn shame. it really doesn't matter i guess. like i said "useless knowledge". Rory is one of my favorite guitarists no matter what he played.


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Post subject: Re: a question about strat necks
Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2016 12:06 am
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bluesdudet1d wrote:
Rory is one of my favorite guitarists no matter what he played.

One of my all time favorites, too.
But I think we can assume with great certainty that his '61 Strat originally was "normal" with the 7.25" neck. Rory put the Irish magic in it later. :wink:

Here's an excerpt from Dan Muise's Gallagher, Marriott, Derringer & Trower: Their Lives and Music. It's only fifteen pounds on Amazon, so it could be worth buying the book, whether you're a fan of just Rory or all of them.
Quote:
Jim Connolly, guitarist for The Irish Showband, went to Crowley’s Music Store in Cork to buy a Fender Stratocaster. They had to be individually ordered directly from the factory in California, a world away from Cork. Connolly ordered the cherry red model, just like the one owned by hank marvyn of the shadows.
But when it arrived it was sunburst in color. Michael Crowley reordered the cherry red model and let Connolly use the sunburst in the interim. When the correct model arrived, the switch was made and the sunburst was put on sale as a second hand item. It cost £100, an absolute fortune at the time.
Rory talked Donal into taking the day off school and accompanying him to see the Strat. They went down and stood in front of the shop window and eyed it. Says Donal, “It was the proverbial Holy Grail! The contours… it was an icon of instruments. ‘The Guitar!’ he had a look of determination on his face.”
Rory bolted in and cornered Michael Crowley. Within moments he had traded in his Rosetti for a fifth of the price of the Fender guitar and had Donal nod in agreement that their mother approved of transferring the guaranteed debt. Then Rory walked out with the Strat.


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Post subject: Re: a question about strat necks
Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2016 1:31 am
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Quote:
One of my all time favorites, too.


Agreed! Have most of his work, saw him live... A great loss to music.

Love the anecdote about him getting a ding in the Strat and insisting it be repaired!

Cheers - Peter.


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Post subject: Re: a question about strat necks
Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2016 2:32 pm
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i bought the beer. we agreed that the strat was most likely a 7.25 radius and Rory played the heck out of it and as we all know frets wear down and those strats had small frets anyway. a re-fret was likely in order and if you watch some of the old videos you can see bigger frets and what appears to be a more level fret board. i'm satasfied it was original at the start sense there was no custom shop, you ordered the strat in the color you wanted and got another color in the original specs. case closed.


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