Ok guys, been a while, cause Ive been starting my own guitar line, but i did a trade of one of my better guitars for this Fender beauty. The guy claimed it was a true Vintage Fender, with a few upgrades. He kept the original Pickguard setup, which sounded Oh so sweet, but replaced them with some VERY nice GD EMG 20's... Cant beat that David Gilmour Sound in a Vintage Guitar. I knew most of what his story was true just by looking at it, but have a few questions on it and figired the pro's here on the forum could clear them up for me. My first thing, which I am pretty confident on, and I did a lot of research on everything on this guitar I could, is the neck plate. From a reliable Fender dating site, the serial number, with the large "F" with serial number 210351 puts the plate as a 1968 neck plate. The second is the Body, from what I looked up, dating wise, Fender used a Silver metallic base coat, in this case the Candy Apple Red Color, the so=prayed with Nitro, as evident with the correct Check marks you find over time as Nitro does only through time, now relics can be done this way, but the Silver Metallic Base coat gives it away and you can tell the relic is done through time, and not by a Custom Shop. This was used untill 1965 from the same reliable Fender dating site as I found the neck plate info from. The neck info I found through The Recic Guitar Studio, the Flamed option was available for Fender Guitars and Nitro relic'd, which seem to be the case here, the neck feels just like a Fender, had the pearl dots, 21 frets, maple/rosewood neck, String trees and buttons are frthe original neck and guitar. The only thing upgraded is the EMG's, output jack and the Schaller Locking Tuners on it. i am not sure about the bridge cause it is not stamped with an markings. Here are a few pics of the guitar itself. if anyone can put a date, or an info on this guitar, it would be greatfully appreciated, I know its been put together with a few different vintage parts, but it sounds just beautiful, like an old Vintage Strat should sound. The wonderful sounds I get out of this guitar I cannot replicate on my newer High dollar Strats, which tells me they just dont build them like they used to!! I think I got VERY lucky i=on this find!!!! <br>

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I thought fender were spraying polyurethane by 68, not sure but I think they started quite early.
The base coat for CAR is either silver or gold.
Nice looking guitar.

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No no and no

Geez, that thing is all over the map!

The dot spacing is incorrect for a late '60s lam-board rosewood neck. Likewise, the walnut filler plug and skunk stripe don't belong there either. The bridge saddles should be stamped "FENDER" and "PATENT PENDING" and it should have a separate cold-rolled steel "inertia block" beneath the bridge. A factory CAR finish from the alleged era would consist of catalyzed acrylic Fullerplast, acrylic lacquer undercoat of silver, then the color coat in nitro lacquer. It may or may not have had gloss lacquer clear finish coat.

It looks like a skillfully-relicked parts-o-caster to me (and not all of those parts geniune Fender).

JMO

Arjay

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on the 2nd pic what are the cracks on the back of the guitar near the top and them down low in the paint?? This should be a one piece body right? How ever what it is do you like it? does it play well?? in the end that's what matters.. Mark

It plays great!!! Ive had it looked at by many guitar luthiers here in TN and they are positive the neck plate is the real deal, the body is the real deal, the rest is parts caster. the only lingering question was the neck. because of the run Fender did in the 80's with tiger flamed necks, so they were unsure about that one, but the neck fits right in. the trees and buttons were tested somehoe, and determined that they were of that time era., I wasnt sure, but it plays like a dream, killer sound, light weight, specs match the wood type of the time era and the finish was the metallic then red with nitrto, nothing else. the aging matces guitars fromthat era as far as aging goes, same types of wear. Ive never owned a guitar that old, but if I sell it, I dont wat to over charge and wat to describe it as accuratly as possible.

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Jody lots of good reading here mate.
http://home.provide.net/~cfh/fenderc.html

Namely it's where I got the 68 switch to urethane from. It just took some time to remember.



On your 12th fret dots check the line of your two E strings. I paid more than a cursory glance after reading Arjay's post. The picture isn't clear but it looks to me like your high E is getting close to hanging off the board. If the neck is running slightly offline it could in part explain the A string being off center to the marker. The B string looks pretty close though.
Like he says I dunno what to make of the skunkstripe. A Highway1 neck can be ruled out. Maybe it's a Japanese neck? Maybe it is just a copy. You like it so who cares eh?

Clearer photo's next time please mate

Hope the back is holding up well.

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No no and no

its a nice guitar can I say a quick hello to me buddy nikiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii what ya doing matey hows that rough riding bikie band going ?

The body and neck look legit everything else appears partscaster but if it has your mojo rippling its all good blaaaaaa and twaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa its a great guitar chill out attack all stratocasters with oooooomphhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh their tough buggers not like those wimpy $@!&# footing Les pauls though nice most guitarist cry when a dimple appears on them crazyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy horses

I would like to see a picture of what it looks like under the pick guard.

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you know what if you like the sound and feel then it doesnt matter what is incorrect. bottom line is the sound and how it plays. if you like it then its a jewel good luck and enjoy

Nikininja, that was a GREAT site for a better understanding on what to look for in trying to date a few things. I am pretty much convinced the neck is a Japanees neck, VERY good quality though, but for sure to new to be of the same time era, Or possibly a replacement through The Relic Guitar Studio, I found my exact neck on there with the tiger Flame option. The neck plate is time era correct for sure, as well as the trees and strap buttons, I have no doubt there, it verified that perfectly. Number matching perfectly...and description of the plate and parts of the trees and buttons. I know the jack is replaced cause of the added EMG's cause you need the jack with the 3 prongs, so thats out of the question. The body for sure has the silver base coat, with the paint next. Now as far as if it was nitro finished, I examined it against other pics of nitro guitars for vintage guitars, and it has the same, for lack of a better phrase, the same exact nitro spider lines in the finish. Although it does have extensive wear and tear, I take it as a well used guitar. But I saw an old 60 something Strat in Nashville in the Vintage section much more beat up than mine, but ALL original, the only thing that has me leaning more twords the "real" side, after reading your link, which I thank you for, is that silver base coat. Thats all there is, the Silver, then the paint, and when you run your hands across it you can just feel the difference that its not post 70's when they switched to a poly or rather changed their style of finishing. I am going to take the pickguard off soon and will post pics up soon and maybe that will clear some things up for some more help on this matter. I want to take the EMG's out and put some more mellow sounding pickups in it.

Also, THANKS TO EVERYONE FOR ALL THEIR HELP AND INPUT, KEEP IT COMING, IT REALLY HELPS ME OUT A LOT!!!!

Peace my Fender Brothers,
-J

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Legit or not, that is one sweet lookin Strat!

Personally I think you may have been ripped off.

The bridge looks like a Squier Affinity and the neck does too.

If you look close at the peghead you can see a truss rod adjust with a black plastic insert which is correct for a Squier Affinity but incorrect for a 68-70.

Also the saddles are correct for a Squier affinity but incorrect for a 68-70 ( Check to see if an ash tray cover will fit. If it doesn't definitely a Squier bridge).

If you peek closely at the rear shot, you can see that it has a tiny trem block like a Squier.

Has 2 string trees, also incorrect for the era.

Neck plate looks legit, but that is easily faked ( People sell repo strat neck plates complete with serials and wear just check ebay)

Skunk stripe is correct for an affinity but incorrect for the era.

Too many sketchy details.

A pic of the routes and neck end will be more telling, but for now I believe it is a Squier that has been refinished and relic'd.

Measure the spacing of the 6 bridge mounting screws.

Show us pictures of the body under the pickguard and in the neck pocket if you want some help with the body.

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My other guitar is a Strat.

One book I have says that in the mid 1970s the "Thick Skin" high gloss all-polyester finish were introduced. Ummm... interesting guitar!

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Ok, I did some major checking into some of the parts, not all, but some...heres what I found. The neck plate is an original 1968 neckplate. The neck is from The Relic Guitar Studio with the Flame option, you can get different options from there and kind of build you own neck with Fender specs. The body, from a Fender website tells me it is a swamp ash (the lighter wood, cause it is light as a feather) and has the silver base coat, Red paint with the Nitro sprayed into it, cause you cant feel any type of finish on to of it, no clear urithane, poly or anything, very thin skinned. I found a bridge on ebay that was a 62, and if you look REAL close, you can barely make out Pat Pend in the saddles...took me a good half hour to see it, along with a magnifying glass, but its there. So the neck is not original, its a Relic replacement Fender Spec with custom options, with the additions of Schaller tuners. the finish even is spot on with how a nitro sprayed guitar gives that spider crack finish., hard to duplicate with how old it looks and the guy showed me the receipt when he bought it back in 83 for the original owner. I thinks I am gonna bring it to Guitar Center in Nashville and get a professional verdict on it. Even if its a Japaneese model, its one of the highly sought after ones I think....I dont know, sometimes you win some some times you get screwed. If thats the case, I am trading the guy back and am getting some thing extra for trying to scam me, thats for damn sure, but i do know I do have some original pieces. My digging confirmed that, especially the digging on the serial number on the neckplate.

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