Like the look, hate the feel.

***

Orvilleowner, I am worried that your '55 might be a recent Affinity Strat with a fake decal. What can you do to convince us?

Bedtime on this side of the planet: maybe we'll all meet again on this thread tomorrow... - C

G'night.

It's a '54! You can come over and smell it! I guess I should post a pic of the old beat up tweed case ... they don't put Affinities in them boys.

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

I like the ashtray look too. Unfortunatley i never got to try one in play.

Orville the guitars aren't dirty at all, i just have a insane compulsion to be near the 54 and marshall.

Want me to bring some good british pedals over. Now thats fun waiting to happen with a plexi.

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Oops, sorry: '54.

Seriously for a second, it has never occured to any of us for a moment to doubt Mr Owner's vintage Strat. In contrast to all the reservations we exhibit over newcomer's "rare" guitars. Strange but true. Perhaps it's because he's not asking how to get cash for it.

I'd love to hear the story of that one, some time (sorry if I've missed it in an earlier thread)...

But now I really am going to bed. G'night, guys - C

yeah how about a bedtime tale for the brits?

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The tale isn't so good on that one. I don't know the whole story, but it had been abused in its lifetime (sob sob). Like: spray painted blue! But luckily a lot of the original paint was still under it. After a good cleaning, the dark was touched up (black and brown!) and clear coated, but it's quite a "thin skin" and I believe it's a one-piece body (at least no one's been able to find any seams in like a quarter century, if you want detailed pics, let me know). The trem claw still has a trace of blue paint on it.

The pickguard, pickups and electronics aren't original (more: sob sob). It was restored with 1971/72 electronics, pickups, and knobs (in the early '80s), but it currently has a set of mid-90's Texas Specials in it (installed when I had it refretted around 1995). Those '72 pickups are now on the trem neck of my sonic blue Fender/Warmoth doubleneck.

The tuners, tremolo, and jack plate are original, so what does that make it, 75% or 67% original? The trem cavity still has its penciled "7/54" date and it's got a 4 digit serial number on the neck plate: 10xx. Put it in this late '50s case and pretend you are Buddy Holly going off to a gig



Aahh, no, wait a minute, forget all that, my major professor back in Iowa found it stashed in the corner of the barn on the farm he was renting. He showed it to me knowing I knew about guitars and I bonked him over the head with an old weathervane and made off with it. I had to get a new major professor, but that was a small price to pay! And nearly all lived happily ever after.

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

too right,
whats the mental apptitude of a professor matter when theres the most drop dead georgeous strat in the race. Sorry prof but you got no chance.

Its lucky it wasnt me he showed it to, decapitation tends to offend.

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I have the 54 Custom Shop. I left the ashtray on mine. I had a string break once and shot the ashtray across the stage!
Bigfrank

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Frank
A legend in my own mind.

Very nice to hear about your '54, Orvilleowner. I think it is ideal that it is not 100 percent (obviously you wouldn't agree!) - it means you can play it, rather than merely displaying it and paying big insurance premiums.

For the vintagely under-informed, would you mind explaining what the issue is with the low E string on some old Strats? Why should it angle off the fingerboard like that? I've heard people mention the problem as if it was something that develops over time. Is that right, and if so - how? Or did it leave the factory that way?

Anyway. At last we're getting down to the nitty-gritty with a real 50s Strat on this thread, if not the one we came here for!

Cheers - C

The E string problem is still common today, Ive seen it on a few mim's and mia's and have it on good authority that decent shops sort the problem before the guitars go on display. My squire series had the high E slipping off when it was new.
I read in total Guitar or Guitarist magazine that the answer is to loosen the neck screws and crank the neck into place by putting your knee into the top rib contour holding the bottom of the body near the jack socket and the head end of the neck then pull the body and neck towards you.
Apparently it was even in the fender manuals of the late 50's. I dont know how much truth is in that, but i did it and its a good fix.

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Hi, Niki. Yeah, I know about that issue regarding modern guitars. What confuses me as far as this one is concerned is that it seems to you and me that Orvilleowner is one of the most experienced and knowledgeable people on this forum - if it was just a matter of tugging the neck around and retightening he would have done it.

I've got the notion from somewhere that there is something additional concerning the bottom string on some 50s Strats, some fundamental manufacturing problem that got addressed as the decade wore on. I feel I've heard vintage expert-types talking learnedly about it - but I'm not really clear what it's all about.

Guess that's because those kinds of instruments are simply out of my league!

Cheers - C

looking at that picture (i saved and magnified it 400%) both E's are off position. The low E looks like its completely off from about the 14th fret. The high E looks close to the edge too. The nut end is perfect so it must be a bridge issue. The only solution i could think of to solve that problem would be to fit narrower saddles and tie wire around em to keep em together.
Who in their right mind would want to do that?

Orvilleowner i'm sorry to be so analytical of your beautifull guitar, truth be told this is the first time i've seen a vintage strat that i trust to be original.

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CSI Fender Forum!

"Oops, we made the bridge too wide on this one." That can't happen. So did they sometimes just make the heel end of the neck too skinny, and yet still fit it to a body? Good grief, surely not?

- C

Yes, that's the only way I can explain it. Tolerances weren't so tight and hand shaping/sanding too imprecise: the neck's just a bit not wide enough!

Why do you think they went with smaller string spacings?

Anyway, there's no getting both E's to play okay on it, so my "compromise" is to let the low E fall off above the 12th fret. The high E plays just fine (the angle of the photo makes it look too close to the edge I guess). I just don't try to play those frets on the low E, though you can pull the string over if you absolutely must play the 15th or 17th frets.

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

whats the measurement across the 21st fret?
the guitar i suffered the problem on measures 2 1/8" 53mm across the 21st.

of course the neck heels being different sizes makes perfect sense.
The guitar is all the more appealing for it too.

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