Recently noticed a person selling an MIJ, 50th anniversary (1946-1996 sticker on the back of neck/head), what he called a '57 Strat but upon inspection, I noticed it had the "washer" catch for the 1st & 2nd strings @ the head. I thought the '57 had the "butterfly" catch on the head & the '54 had a washer catch. Any help here?

Historically, the butterfly string tree replaced the round "Tele" style around the end of the '56 model year -- just about the same time that alder was substituted in lieu of ash for the bodies (excepting the Mary Kaye models).

HTH

Arjay

_________________
"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

Yeah a 57 reissue should have a butterfly string guide and a 54 should have the disc string guide.

I just bought a 54 MIJ reissue of Ebay, should be here like Thursday.

Pics Jason or it didn't happen.



Arjay

_________________
"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

I'll take some pics when I get it, but here's a little teaser pic from the auction.

Mighty schweet!

It'll look even better with some ocotillo and sahauro in the background......



Arjay

_________________
"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

Maybe I can even get a coyote in the pic, there's a few that live behind my house.

That's right. And a '57 reissue-type model will typically have a V-shaped neck.

_________________
Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

They still have a 54 model in Japan. It's the 3rd series down on the left, The Vintage Specials.

http://www.fenderjapan.co.jp/fender/200 ... caster.htm

The have a lot of cool models we don't have here, a 58 model, 68, and 71. Pretty cool stuff.

That website says 2008 fenders, so not sure of the current fender lineup there.