Hi,
Just got this strat and needed some id help. would like to know the year and if you could give me a website or some reference points i would appreciate it.





The first pic is the stamp under the neck, second is under the first pickup, and the third is under the third pickup.

Thanks.[/img]

Need to see the guitar and the serial no' too mate. Non of that really tells us much except that the guitar had a microtilt mechanism that someone has removed part of.

_________________
No no and no

Yeah, a lot of doweling going on in that neck pocket. Makes me think it might have been a 3-bolt at one time ...

Are there more pics available? Like: under the pickguard, headstock, etc ...

_________________
Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

Thanks for the responses,
The last two pics are of under the pick guard only stamps i could find on the body. The neck that came with the guitar did not match the body, it is a 69' 4 bolt and the body is a 72+ 3 bolt so it was modified to fit... was just wondering if there is any way to match the exact year of the body so i could buy a neck to match. thanks.

So you are planning on returning it to a 3-bolt neck/system?

Who told you the body was from 1972? That four digit code, 2493, might contain a date (it was used on various parts in the '70s: pickups, necks). Unfortunately, the encoding system changed over the years. So it might mean:

1) 2, 49, 3 = 1972, 49th week, 3rd day
or
2) 24, 9, 3 = 24th week of 1979, 3rd day

The first option confirms your 1972 date. I'm not real confident regarding the second option, as I'm not sure that kind of 4 digit code lasted that long into the '70s.

_________________
Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

Yes, I would like to eventually restore this guitar to it original form. I know its atleast a 72 because that was the first year they switched to a 3 bolt neck. The body is the natural finish, with the vibrato springs cavity. I have searched allot of websites and books and i know that a body stamp was rarely used after 63 except on mid-late 70s but i cant find out how to read the code i have.

I'm nowhere Orville's league with this stuff, but...

Isn't the finish a refin? Surely it was red, or had a red undercoat originaly. Evidenced by the red paint in the pickup cavities.

_________________
No no and no

Yeah it was red, the original owner did a quick cheesy red paint job. he had painted over the original clearcoat and the red was peeling off, so i sanded it all down and am going to re-finish the original natural finish.