Thanks, Twelvebar!

Arjay

With the few pictures I have seen I would say the neck is from a CIJ Relic series 2006 on. Not sure of body from just those pictures.

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

np

psst, I think you are wrong about basswood guitars. I have a few, and they are fine. i think a lot of the problem is there are at least a couple strains of basswood, and they are definitely not equal. Also basswood is a cheaper tonewood, and as such can be used a lot in cheaper guitars. When it is used in cheapos, the neck and electronics aren't chosen to be properly voiced to suit the body wood. This has led to a bad rep for basswood.

If you ever get a chance to play a better quality basswood guitar you will see they can have a really nice mid-rangy voice with good highs, but usually not the best bottom end.

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I'm not an expert, but I play one on the internet.

Yes in the U.S. we call Linden Trees Basswood I had a 80ft. one taken down in front of my house because the rock hard BB sized fruits made me nuts on the side walks and such gutters and so on.
A lot of people don't realize that Poplar has almost the exact same sound character as Alder but it is a finish thing.

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

Okay, so I'm wrong......it isn't the first time and it certainly won't be the last.

But all my Fenders are (and will always be) alder, ash, or -- in a rare case -- mahogany.

Just as all my amps are (and will always be) vacuum tubes and alnico magnets stuffed into pine boxes.

IMO basswood belongs on RC model planes. And the use of ceramics should be restricted to ashtrays and coffee mugs.



Arjay

Indeed, poplar is fine for most applications if an opaque finish (ie: a solid custom color) is used.

IIRC all of the vintage Musicmasters, Duo-Sonics, and Mustangs (at least the very early ones) were poplar. Recent use would include the now-discontinued Deluxe Powerhouse Strat and some of the MIM '50s and '60s re-issues. It's a fine tone wood IMO.

Arjay

How was your guitar represented (said Model) to you when you bought it off EBAY?

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

The listing said only "CIJ '65 re-issue Stratocaster in LPB" or something to that effect. I looked at the Fender-Japan website to get some idea of what the specifics were and the instrument seemed to correlate to their "Premium Vintage ST65X" line which seems to have been discontinued now. The price was right so I pulled the trigger. I knew from past experience with the MIJ/CIJ guitars that I'd be deep-sixing the electronics and hardware. The "furniture" is gorgeous though. The poly-goo finish seems to be thinner than that used on the US and MIM guitars. It'd never be mistaken for nitro lacquer but it's real nice nonetheless. And I love the bound neck -- I have one of them on a custom hardtail I built.

Arjay

The Relic series R Serial # guitar ST65B TX w/bound neck sold for $750. and come with U.S. texas specials as stated is recent guitar.

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

is it true that 90s american standard strat has laminated back and top??

Jay they did laminate some. The early Am Std.s they tried eliminating the polyester undercoat.they went all urethane, undercoat/sealer, color, clear.

there was were issues with the paint 'alderizing' which is sinking in where the mineral lines might be. the caps were an attempt to stop the paint from sinking in.

they started using alder caps when they used poplar bodies (90-93) but they kept using the alder caps for a while even after they switched back to alder bodies. My 94 is an alder body alder cap.

The ultras were capped too (maple).

They dropped the cap later on when they started using the polyester (fullerplast,) undercoat again.

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I'm not an expert, but I play one on the internet.

NP Jay

there's a section on this in 'The Stratocaster Chronicles' when Tom Wheeler interviews both Dan Smith and George Blanda.

So to recap if/when people ask 90's strats:

90-93(possibly early 94, but not until 97 or 98 like Ed Roman says,) they used poplar since there were issues getting alder due to environmental concerns.

for much of the 90's they used alder caps, even on alder bodies to combat grain shrinkage on the paint.

If you have a swimming pool routed strat you have one or all of these 'unfavorable' features.

_________________
I'm not an expert, but I play one on the internet.