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Post subject: A funny thing.
Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2018 5:51 pm
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Fender bring out their Origin series being the best of all things from Fender history but put a 9" radius neck on them. John Mayer goes to PRS to make, in their opinion, the best Strat like guitar available to man and put a 7.5" rad neck on it....go figure?

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Post subject: Re: A funny thing.
Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2018 6:15 pm
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Fender put the 9.5"-inch radius on the USA Originals for modern playability. They already offered a 5-way switch on the now discontinued USA Vintages as a standard feature since 2014.


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Post subject: Re: A funny thing.
Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2018 7:33 pm
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Yep.
The "good old days" were not always "so good" in the opinion of those who lived through them.
9.5" radius is much, much better for heavy bending while maintaining low action, it's not just for shredding.
Truss rod adjustment at the heel, requiring the strings and pickguard to be removed for adjustment, unshielded body cavities... maybe OK for the low-gain amps of the time, but add some florescent lighting and a high gain amp and you know why Rock & Roll gravitated toward the Les Paul and SG.

Early Fenders were cheaply made and sold. Leo never intended to make "fine" instruments like Gibson, Gretch, and Epiphone... his intention was to produce affordable guitars that were easily produced on an assembly line. He did so quite successfully with some extremely playable guitars, but they all had compromises that became more apparent as time and sound moved on and gain increased and tremolo bars became dive-bomb "effects" gadgets.

Fender has been riding the "Vintage" bandwagon since the it started in the 90s. They will continue to produce modern versions of their vintage gear as long as there is a market for it, but these modern versions are just that... modern versions/revisions. They are not clones/copies, they are not reissues. They are updated and improved to match the features and qualities of modern instruments, but to retain the look of the originals.

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Post subject: Re: A funny thing.
Posted: Sat Mar 10, 2018 2:16 am
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CB91710 wrote:

The "good old days" were not always "so good" in the opinion of those who lived through them.
9.5" radius is much, much better .


+1


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Post subject: Re: A funny thing.
Posted: Sat Mar 10, 2018 8:23 am
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One note, though: unless I'm mistaken, there is no 7.25" radius made in USA below CS level at the moment. Regardless of which radius one prefers, that's a bit sad (bluish, if you please).


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Post subject: Re: A funny thing.
Posted: Sat Mar 10, 2018 9:06 am
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jmattis wrote:
One note, though: unless I'm mistaken, there is no 7.25" radius made in USA below CS level at the moment. Regardless of which radius one prefers, that's a bit sad (bluish, if you please).


But there's a compound 7.25-9.5" radius for those who prefer effortless string bending while maintaining vintage feel on the fretboard.


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Post subject: Re: A funny thing.
Posted: Sat Mar 10, 2018 12:40 pm
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That's just about what most 7.25" necks are in real life after a pro level setup. :lol:

But seriously (the shop.fender.com resents any searches I tried, as usual...), is there a 7.25"-9.5" neck on Fender's MIA-selection somewhere?
I recall the Vintage Hot Rod models having a 7.25"-12" neck, but that's water under the guitar bridge, too.


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Post subject: Re: A funny thing.
Posted: Sat Mar 10, 2018 1:01 pm
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jmattis wrote:
But seriously (the shop.fender.com resents any searches I tried, as usual...), is there a 7.25"-9.5" neck on Fender's MIA-selection somewhere?

I don't think so.
The replacement necks in 7.25 are all $199 to $279 except for the Jazz Bass at $449, all are MIM.
All $499+ are MIA and are 9.5, one 9.25.
There's some MIM 12"

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Last edited by CB91710 on Sat Mar 10, 2018 1:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Post subject: Re: A funny thing.
Posted: Sat Mar 10, 2018 1:31 pm
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That's what I believe, too.
From Fender licenced makers, USACG and Musikraft have the compound version. Again, AFAIK.

The MIJ's seem to uphold the torch with their 184,1mm radiused Traditional series Strats. I would have posted a link to Fender's product page, but the shop.fender.com rejects it again - it's on the shop.fender.com/ja-JP section, which is unreachable for my regional settings. :wink:


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Post subject: Re: A funny thing.
Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2018 11:23 am
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CB91710 wrote:
Yep.
The "good old days" were not always "so good" in the opinion of those who lived through them.
9.5" radius is much, much better for heavy bending while maintaining low action, it's not just for shredding.
Truss rod adjustment at the heel, requiring the strings and pickguard to be removed for adjustment, unshielded body cavities... maybe OK for the low-gain amps of the time, but add some florescent lighting and a high gain amp and you know why Rock & Roll gravitated toward the Les Paul and SG.

Early Fenders were cheaply made and sold. Leo never intended to make "fine" instruments like Gibson, Gretch, and Epiphone... his intention was to produce affordable guitars that were easily produced on an assembly line. He did so quite successfully with some extremely playable guitars, but they all had compromises that became more apparent as time and sound moved on and gain increased and tremolo bars became dive-bomb "effects" gadgets.

Fender has been riding the "Vintage" bandwagon since the it started in the 90s. They will continue to produce modern versions of their vintage gear as long as there is a market for it, but these modern versions are just that... modern versions/revisions. They are not clones/copies, they are not reissues. They are updated and improved to match the features and qualities of modern instruments, but to retain the look of the originals.


In my >35 years playin' Fender Strats I never had an issue with 7.25" radius. I actually prefer that radius over 9.5.
Fender's were not cheap back in the 50's and the workmanship was good as well. My all original '56 Strat is as good as it get's.


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Post subject: Re: A funny thing.
Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2018 11:55 am
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6120gb wrote:
In my >35 years playin' Fender Strats I never had an issue with 7.25" radius. I actually prefer that radius over 9.5.
Fender's were not cheap back in the 50's and the workmanship was good as well. My all original '56 Strat is as good as it get's.

I wasn't saying that they were bad guitars, absolutely not. Fender QUALITY was always top-notch when Leo was running the show, and when he was a consultant for CBS. But the intention of the design was to mass-produce something good that was affordable. Leo did for the guitar production industry what Henry Ford did for auto production. "Cheap" in the 50s was a relative term. I paid a little under $600 new for my '78 Strat. A Les Paul was out of the question.

But improvements in materials, as well as upgraded features such as the 5-way selector have made a modern Fender every bit as good as they have ever been.

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Post subject: Re: A funny thing.
Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2018 1:16 pm
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CB91710 wrote:
6120gb wrote:
In my >35 years playin' Fender Strats I never had an issue with 7.25" radius. I actually prefer that radius over 9.5.
Fender's were not cheap back in the 50's and the workmanship was good as well. My all original '56 Strat is as good as it get's.

I wasn't saying that they were bad guitars, absolutely not. Fender QUALITY was always top-notch when Leo was running the show, and when he was a consultant for CBS. But the intention of the design was to mass-produce something good that was affordable. Leo did for the guitar production industry what Henry Ford did for auto production. "Cheap" in the 50s was a relative term. I paid a little under $600 new for my '78 Strat. A Les Paul was out of the question.

But improvements in materials, as well as upgraded features such as the 5-way selector have made a modern Fender every bit as good as they have ever been.
My 1966 Strat was around $350 in 1966. I'm always trying to figure how expensive that was in relation to other things. It was a nice guitar, but my current 2014 American Standard Strat was $1,200 and the quality is better in so many ways. It's has a better finish, parts, PUPs, plastic and even the case.


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Post subject: Re: A funny thing.
Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2018 8:00 pm
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LawFlow wrote:
My 1966 Strat was around $350 in 1966. I'm always trying to figure how expensive that was in relation to other things.
How about a 1966 Mustang convertible?
Eight 2018 Stratocasters aren't going to buy a 2018 Mustang... might get you a Corolla ;)

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Post subject: Re: A funny thing.
Posted: Fri Mar 16, 2018 6:33 am
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CB91710 wrote:
LawFlow wrote:
My 1966 Strat was around $350 in 1966. I'm always trying to figure how expensive that was in relation to other things.
How about a 1966 Mustang convertible?
Eight 2018 Stratocasters aren't going to buy a 2018 Mustang... might get you a Corolla ;)

Image

Sssssssh! Fender will hear you and maybe raise their prices. We could of course protest the new Mustang price. :lol:
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