cool, man. I'd suggest a '54 relic or NOS, in a kick-@55 color like Taos Turquoise, or Cimarron Red.

you could also buy this:



It is a Fender Limited Edition '54 Reissue with a "Thin-Skin" Nitro finish. it is a special run with Wildwood Guitars, and several other dealers. here is the link:

http://wildwoodguitars.com/electrics/fe ... e07023.php

That is if you don't want to go the route of the Custom Shop.

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hello frantic hope your having a wonderful day yes I own the 1980 strat its beautiful i deleted it from ebay. It has stcickers numbers dates everything I did check this one out have owned it for several months and unless I am desperate will never sell it its 29 years old and classed as vintage originally candy apple red but the USA owner sanded it back and Im very impressed with the grain revealed by the alder body I never thought alder had any grain what so ever. Another question why doesnt Fender go back to ash bodies better sound and higher quality.

I never thought of it. they still use it for all the custom shop relics and reissues of strats from '54-56.

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They use ash bodies chanman for custom relics and reissues really not alder I never knew that

Hi vinnypop -- I'm glad that you've had most of your money returned, I was beginning to worry about Australia's reputation. I wonder if the seller is going to be upfront about this guitar next time it lists or if he'll try to fleece someone else. Hopefully all concerned have learned a lesson.

Regarding ash versus alder bodies: Traditionally, ash has been used for guitars with sunburst, natural or blonde finishes because it has a more noticeable grain. It's also more porous, so it takes a lot more paint to cover it up. It's best to play to its strengths and put it on show.

For a while at the end of the CBS era (beginning of the '80s) Fender had surplus stocks of ash bodies, so just about all the guitars were going out in heavy ash regardless of finish. There were a lot of "natural" finishes in the '70s... I think I've seen more of those than any other strat from that decade.

Alder and ash have their different characteristics, but it's not really possible to say that one is any better than the other... each guitar has to be evaluated on its own merits...

Anyway... if I had 6.5K burning a hole in my pocket now, there'd be plenty of reputable dealers around Sydney I'd trust to show me some great guitars. I'd be inclined to go for a second hand custom shop guitar, as it seems to be a bit of a buyer's market just now. I've seen some lovely masterbuilt ones going for much less than that.

Hey Vinny if you want a true vintage guitar there is a guy over on the Harmony Central Forum with authenic 63 Strat i think he wants $16,000 for it but i can't remember exactly..Very nice guitar and has been confirmed as the real deal by Fender

Hello mondo and invadercc thanks for that 16k is a lot of money but it sounds nice a 63 out here in aussie sells for about 5k more than in the states. Ok so ash really isnt better than alder then I think my strat is alder and it has a nice grain when i join flickr ill post some pics up here

Chanman dont worry i'm not offended but my question wasnt ignorant. Infact your answer that 2 guitars from the same year proves the question. There is no set 54 sound especialy if they all sound different.
I doubt anyone could tell me exactly what the 54 sound is let alone quantify it as a percentage.

For the record i didnt make the customshop remark. Though i do agree with it.

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Oh yeah the 58 for £7K at guitar village is a legit guitar at a authorized vintage dealer's shop. It was refinished sometime around 61/62. The pickups and pots are all unaltered, the solder appears to be unaltered. So Doc you now know how your 58 would have gone.
It would certainly make a nice addition to my 59 watkins amp.

I certainly dont need lessons in buying vintage guitars from someone who paid $6500 for a far eastern copy. Thats like me advising Orvilleowner on maths. Perhaps Vinny should get a job for sotherby's advising them on antiques.

What a joke.

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We should contact fender in regards to getting the publishing rights for this thread so that someone can publish this masterpiece.
We might have to advertise the book as a fiction, mystery, novel, but shoot, I know I wouldnt be able to put it down.

I know this guy, who grabs pics of nice lifted trucks, and mercedes benz, and so on off the net. Then he copy's and pastes the pics on to his myspace page and labels each pic as "his new truck or car", while his real car is a pos with no paint sitting on 3 flat tires in his front yard.

I don't understand how that is cool. Back to guitars... this same guy claims his father is the guitarist for deep purple. Furthermore, he claims to own the guitar that smoke on the water was written on. The actual guitar is a non playable steel string acoustic with nylon strings, you get the picture.

Im afraid some people really can't help themselves when it comes to fibbing.
In this case, it is sad that someone would falsely advertise the guitar in question, and it is good to see you took some of the expert advice given to you for FREE in this forum. I hope you get a guitar that you are happy with!

I never heard of vietnam fenders in my life I thought it was a prototype fender yeah Lonely Boy Amazing Grace even God didnt want the youtube clip played on this guitar thats why he made the pc refuse to accept the cam clip I did thats very weird but profound the guitar is famous now though its all over various fender sites and I read that people evn contacted ebay and forced them to remove it but ebay never told me why they just said to me talk to the owner about it and he then tells me it was because he worded the postage insurance details incorrectly.

At least he took his guitar back and gave you your money. You can buy so many truly amazing guitars for the price of that fake.
If I was you, I would go hold a few real strats, and see if one bonds with you.
Regards

Thankyou woody nice to meet you I know fender owns this site but I dont give permission to anyone to print this anywhere my shame is enough here and that bloody guitar and ebay listing is spreading all over the place
banks have told me it takes 2 days for money to be transferred to my account so im still poor I saw those fake vietnamese strats sell for about 250 US.

You can buy an ash MIA Deluxe. I've got one. Seems that there are several self proclaimed experts on this thread. Very interesting thread to read. Keep it up as it's very enjoyable and revealing!

Your post will remain in web history forever Vinny! Nothing you can do about that! Well you got your wish, you are famous!!