Is there a better or more decriptive set of images that anyone knows of that shows the differences of the Strat body contours as it pertains to different years and models than this?




If so, please post pics or link. Thanks!

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Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

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That's a GREAT pic, Mike!

Thanks for posting (it's going into my archives).

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

Very interesting Mike - thanks for sharing. The 56 looks like it could double as a boomerang!!!

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Robert Moog - "Hey... where do all these patch cables go?"

I can add a '55 to that if you can wait about 2 weeks....and I don't forget.

Mike - very cool; thanks for posting! We always hear about how much the contours varied over the years; it is nice to have photographic evidence.

Hi Mike and all,
...and guess where I spent my first year at Fender? Dat's right!! The woodshop on the body line. Since all modern body fab is computerized ( i believe since the late 80's) the contours throughout that time are pretty consistant within thousandths I'm sure.
I've told this story before (and probably will again LOL):
Before that time there was a great deal of variance because it was done by hand. In 80/81 we would get the body, place a pressboard template over it, trace a line with pencil, get this little wooden stand to put the body on, and bandsaw the contours. We would do about a stack of three hundred at a time. We would then bring the stack to a big belt sander and sand the countour smooth. I don't remember seeing anyone measuring the results of those operations, and consequently each body was just a bit different. The same goes for the Front contours as this operation was done at the same time.
Another reason for variances was that during the CBS years it was a union shop and had Quantity standards for each operation. Punch in to start sawing. Punch out when completed sawing. My recollection is that the standard (in my time) was 150 an hour to do contours. The belt sander was 300 and hour.....but much easier to sand then to saw, right?
SO what inevitably happened (my observation anyway) is folks couldn't hit 150 on the saw easily and you started seeing very minimal contours. Some would saw a bit off, then do the rest on the sander. Some would do the minimal amount of work on both operations.....hence alot of 70's and early 80's guitars ended up with barely a contour at all.
Anyway.........just a bit of history from my own perspective.
All the best,
rob

Great documentation. Contour me baby.............. Mike

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The blues ain't nothin but a good man feelin bad.

Hi Rob, thanks for your input! I know you're busy with other things, but it's always great to have some 'hands on' information!!!

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Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

Great idea, but to be fair, there needs to be a better set up for taking these pics. Something to hold the bodies and camera in the exact same position. Reason I say that is some of the bodies are tilted and give a false perception of a more curved look. I would love to see a better version of this comparison -- anyone able to do it?

Please tell me that you're not serious - - do you know the value of what's in that picture?

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Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

Yes I know. But if you look at those pics, someone did it, they were all taken at the same location. So maybe it can be done again in a more precise way.