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Post subject: Fender's secret
Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2008 11:46 am
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Aspiring Musician
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I have an 07 AMStd strat and I noticed that is quite bassy [for the lack of the better term] compared to the other 07 mad now new 08AmStd and reissue models i have played in guitar stores. I remember when I bought it the sales person mentioned that it was a "custom order" but the customer did not take it on the delivery day he took the other guitar from stock. I wander now does Fender use a different pickups in their production run or is it the timber (god knows what else) that is causing tonal differences.
I know from auto industry that manufacturers would in mid production change part suppliers due to the various reasons. You would end up having the same car model on the lot and one with problems and one without.
Anyhow just wondering don't have any issues with mine just noticed a quite different tonal properties [and shhootin' breeze, my boss is off today].

Thanks


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Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2008 12:07 pm
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My guess is that it's a little bit of everything. Like you say, you would have to think that parts (or at least materials) suppliers could change. Also, if it was a custom order, it might have a custom setup.

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Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2008 11:25 am
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So, either
1) it came as a Fender Custom Shop order, or
2) it got some custom treatment by the local shop that sold it to you

So....
If (1), contact Fender who will know.
If (2), go back to the shop with the git. If they do not maintain good records, maybe showing the git to whoever likely made "custom" change will spark their memory.

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Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 7:54 am
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It could also be an issue of wood. Every tree grows differntly and not all guitars are made from the same tree. I do a lot of wood working myself and going back to what you said about the same type of car on a lot being diffenent I've noticed how different cuts of wood in the same chord cut and shape differently. The body could be the diiference in tone. Good luck

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Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 8:10 am
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stephenr66 wrote:
It could also be an issue of wood. Every tree grows differntly and not all guitars are made from the same tree. I do a lot of wood working myself and going back to what you said about the same type of car on a lot being diffenent I've noticed how different cuts of wood in the same chord cut and shape differently. The body could be the diiference in tone. Good luck


+1. Very likely the answer.

I felled and had slab sawn two ash trees of similar age which had grown about 50 yards apart. They were certainly self sown and in all likelyhood grew from seeds from the same parent tree. Yet they produced timber of different densities and noticeably different colors.

I'll come back to you at some point over the next year or two and tell you how they sound against one another as guitar bodies!

Cheers - C


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Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 8:17 am
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Ceri wrote:
stephenr66 wrote:
It could also be an issue of wood. Every tree grows differntly and not all guitars are made from the same tree. I do a lot of wood working myself and going back to what you said about the same type of car on a lot being diffenent I've noticed how different cuts of wood in the same chord cut and shape differently. The body could be the diiference in tone. Good luck


+1. Very likely the answer.

I felled and had slab sawn two ash trees of similar age which had grown about 50 yards apart. They were certainly self sown and in all likelyhood grew from seeds from the same parent tree. Yet they produced timber of different densities and noticeably different colors.

I'll come back to you at some point over the next year or two and tell you how they sound against one another as guitar bodies!

Cheers - C


I would love to hear how that turns out I've built a couple of guitars but all from factoey parts and slabs. That would be so cool to make one from a tree I actually have seen grow and maybe even taken care of. Let us know.

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Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 8:46 am
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stephenr66 wrote:
I would love to hear how that turns out I've built a couple of guitars but all from factoey parts and slabs. That would be so cool to make one from a tree I actually have seen grow and maybe even taken care of. Let us know.


Thanks, man: I most certainly will.

I have a couple of hundred trees on land I inherited from my grandparents some years ago in the west of England. What makes it even more personal is that they planted many of those trees - which are of course therefore far too young to be used for anything. Though we have old ones as well.

But most of them are of no interest for guitar building. Lots of beech, oak, hawthorn, lime and such. Some pretty big spruce which is getting closer to felling time - but again not of use for soundboards, because its growing conditions are too temperate and moist; so wide, soft grain.

However, the ash is more promising and has given me a few good blanks already. And I have some poplar which may have uses if it is dense enough. Also some large old English sycamores which will need thinning at some point. And most interesting of all, we have a lot of quite large wild holly which produces fabulous hard, pale, fine grained timber - so I have a notion to make some holly necks at some point if I find the right pieces.

And a couple of years ago a huge pear tree came over in a storm and had to be felled: I have that well seasoned by now and am toying with what to do with it. Not spectacularly figured, but very hard, heavy and dense. So again, I am wondering about necks - ever come across a pear wood neck? On the other hand, it has produced a couple of nice large flat pieces big enough to squeeze a one-piece body from: maybe I should make a body or two just because it is possible. What do you think?

Anyway. Always deeply fascinated to hear about other Members' building projects. Any you'd like to share?

Cheers - C


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Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 9:24 am
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The tonal qualities seem to be endless for you there with all the different varieties of wood. The pear neck would be really cool. Ceri you’ve been apart of this forum as long as I have but I can’t remember if you ever mentioned if you are a die hard rosewood or maple neck player or if it doesn’t matter. Was wondering because if you did do the pear neck would you leave the fretboard pear? That is if it is a good option Any way this probably is taking away danielhelc’s thread but then again in the larger scheme of things it may be an answer

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Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 9:39 am
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Hey, no worries we are still chatting about wood tonal qualities. That is why every Strat player should have mannnnyyyy Strats in their collection just to cover the tonal spectrum from different woods :)))) Try to explain that to your better/prettier half. (just sucking up in case she reads my post).


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Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 11:00 am
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stephenr66 wrote:
The tonal qualities seem to be endless for you there with all the different varieties of wood. The pear neck would be really cool. Ceri you’ve been apart of this forum as long as I have but I can’t remember if you ever mentioned if you are a die hard rosewood or maple neck player or if it doesn’t matter. Was wondering because if you did do the pear neck would you leave the fretboard pear? That is if it is a good option Any way this probably is taking away danielhelc’s thread but then again in the larger scheme of things it may be an answer


(Thanks, Daniel) Hi again, Stephen: I'm a maple man, for purely visual reasons. I once got into trouble with ZZDoc for saying that I do believe maple is brighter sounding than rosewood, but that the difference is so small as to be lost beneath pickups, amp and such, and so we are justified in choosing whichever we think looks nice. The Doc said my reasons for hearing a difference were subjective and didn't stand up to clinical testing standards - which is true! You don't pick an argument with the Doctor over scientific methodology!

Far as the pear and holly are concerned: if I manage to make necks out of those then I'll definitely go for one piece jobs. No point in using an off-beat timber and not showing it. Unlike some, I very much like the paleness of modern finished maple necks. And that holly is super-pale in appearance, at least when freshly cut. I haven't brought down any big enough to justify seasoning yet, so I don't know whether it will darken with oxidisation.

On the other hand, after two years the pear has already darkened to a sort of honey amber. But I haven't worked it yet so I don't know what it will feel like. I've been seasoning it very slowly indeed: now I'm shortly going to bring it into a room temperature environment for a few months prior to using it. I'll post pictures when I have something to show. But don't hold your breathe - you'll suffocate!

Cheers guys - C


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Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 11:15 am
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can't wait to see it and daneilhelc thanks for letting us use your thread and as for the prettier half I've never had a prblem with the amount of guitars but she keeps hassleing me about my amps because they take up so much space... and I'm a small amp kinda guy. But that is for another thread. Thanks again

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