I hope you didn't pay much for that thing.

I did a trade for the guitar. I did find out that it is an Original Fender Body. There is no question there, from the base coat to the nitro shot finish, I fully trust the word of the guy who inspected it, a guy who has been fixing and dealing in guitars in Nashville for over 40 years. He said you can't get the type of relic'd cracking or checking, as he calls it, unless its true Nitro sprayed and the base coat is right on the time line of what Fender used in its time era. The Bridge is for real, after uncovering the back plate, it was evident, by the type of block, springs and claws and screws, compared to a 62 and 63 he has, they were identical. The Neck Plate was called into Fender and we found it was authentic, it was the first year they started putting the "F" on the neckplate along with the serial number as opposed to just the serial number. We also asked about the body and without seeing it, they pretty much confirmed it was of that time era correct. Pics would be a better verification, but from the description no Squire, Mexican, Modern or any other type of Strat are sprayed with the grey base coat. The weight of the body of his originals and mine are dead on exact. Unfortunally, the neck, obvously is not, its from The Relic Guitar Studio, the heel was a bit to thick, so instead of shimming down the neck, the neck pocket was sanded, sanding off most of the SN, but you can still make out some of it and what we gave Fender, they were able to verify it is Original Time era correct. The buttons matched his all originals, no doubt it was a patscaster, I wont deny that, but its still a sweet $@! guitar.

I have since done some new mods to it, such as replace all the hardware with Gold hardware, had the body routed so I could put double humbuckers in it, Kent Armstrongs, Distortion in the bridge and PAF in the neck, it is one fully custom tricked out New-Old School Guitar. I am not a collector, so I wasnt looking for an all original and paying 8 grand for a 62 Strat, I traded my friend cause he liked my Tele and I liked his Strat, and i know that it was either at, or near the time era he was telling me cause he uses the same guy as I do, and he is very respected in Nashville, hell if charlie Daniels uses him all the time, ya know he's gotta be good!!!

I will post pics of the new mods later.

-Peace

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Who was the guy in Nashville who looked at the guitar?

Neck plates are easy to come by. Still suspicious in MHO. (But what do I know!) Good luck on your mods and as long as you are happy that's all that counts.

I'm curious about that myself......

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

George Gruhn is about the dealer that has been on the go in Nashville about the longest-from 68 on I believe-I wonder if it was him,as his word would pretty well be gospel.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

Your correct my friend, if he says it's a particular guitar you can pretty much bank on it. OP, get a letter from George!

it wasnt George Ghrunn, althouth I have heard of him and know he is the FINAL word on guitars, I also know it costs roughly 40 bucks to just have him look at your guitar also, and thats not even getting started picking up a tool to get into it.. I will get the guys name, (I am bad with names til I get to know you well) my friend turned me onto him, been doing his work for 16 years, sounds like you guys know your way round TN a bit, I can say its off 24 at exit 41, to the left if you heading twords Nashvhville from the West. I will post his name and shop later today, dont wanna call and wake anyone this early.

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I just want you to feel good about your guitar(no matter what) and enjoy making music with her. We are all looking for our own sound and this guitar may be yours!! Good luck and enjoy my friend!!

Personally, i think the body and neck plate are 100% legit 1968 Fender parts. However, basically everything else is replaced with cheapo parts from what I can see.

Pretty sure its a squier affinity neck. the two string trees, black plastic at the adjustment, spacing and color of the inlays. Also having a rosewood fretboard with a stripe.

The best way to check the body is to measure the width of the bridge. American, Mexican and Squiers all have different bridge spacing. Someone might know them here. That will help determine the body properly.

A 68 neck plate can be added to any guitar remember... And I'm sure there are places that make reproductions of them, seeing as how easy it would be to make.

That is not a Squire Affinity Neck, a Squire would not fit a Stratocaster neck Pocket. The neck is actually a neck bought from The Relic Guitar Studio and they do any modifications you want on them, so what ever you see on the neck is what the previous owner wanted on it. I had to ask him what neck it was because I know for sure that a Squire will not fit a Strat, especially of the era of the body and he gave me the website and everything that he said is right there in Black and white www.http://relicguitarstudio.com/necks/flam ... necks.html that is the exact neck that is on it, but with the specs he wanted on it, so that lays to rest the questions about the neck.

I did a comparison on the bridge to a 70's bridge and it was an exact match, so although this is a Partscaster, it is pretty much all original Fender or as close to Fender as you can get...if not better cause I got it with Shaller Locking Tuners and David Gilmour EMG's, so originality wise, maybe its not spot on, but playing wise, I like it better than an original 60's or 70's Strat....in fact, its probablly the best playing strat Ive played, or at least in the top 5 cause I have played a 57, a 64 and a 77 and those were just bad $@! sounding, but for what I play, I would pick this one over those anyday, cause I can switch from Jeff Beck to AC/DC in a blink of an eye and I have no 60 cycle hum and can dive bomb without going out of tune with the locking tuners. Although now, I have switched a lot of the parts out to Gold hardware and it looks even better, still locking tuners though. pics of the new and improved to come later.

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That is not a Squire Affinity Neck, a Squire would not fit a Stratocaster neck Pocket. The neck is actually a neck bought from The Relic Guitar Studio and they do any modifications you want on them, so what ever you see on the neck is what the previous owner wanted on it. I had to ask him what neck it was because I know for sure that a Squire will not fit a Strat, especially of the era of the body and he gave me the website and everything that he said is right there in Black and white www.http://relicguitarstudio.com/necks/flam ... necks.html that is the exact neck that is on it, but with the specs he wanted on it, so that lays to rest the questions about the neck.

I did a comparison on the bridge to a 70's bridge and it was an exact match, so although this is a Partscaster, it is pretty much all original Fender or as close to Fender as you can get...if not better cause I got it with Shaller Locking Tuners and David Gilmour EMG's, so originality wise, maybe its not spot on, but playing wise, I like it better than an original 60's or 70's Strat....in fact, its probablly the best playing strat Ive played, or at least in the top 5 cause I have played a 57, a 64 and a 77 and those were just bad $@! sounding, but for what I play, I would pick this one over those anyday, cause I can switch from Jeff Beck to AC/DC in a blink of an eye and I have no 60 cycle hum and can dive bomb without going out of tune with the locking tuners. Although now, I have switched a lot of the parts out to Gold hardware and it looks even better, still locking tuners though. pics of the new and improved to come later.

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1. That is completely untrue. I have swapped plenty of Fender/Squier necks just fine. Squiers for the most part have the same neck pocket dimensions as Fenders, so I don't know where you heard that... Example here. Squier Affinity neck on a Fender body ( Rebadged with 70s logo in center)




2. None of those necks even mention an option of a headstock adjustable truss rod, unless I missed something on the link you provided. The black plastic insert points to a Squier Affinity

I think there is a lot of fishyness to this strat that you are just outright ignoring, but if you are happy with it I guess that is all that matters. I wish you would just post pics of the body routes and that would settle everything.

You got some seriously nice Strats there, Yogi!

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY