I was wondering what the differences are between the American vintage 6-screw style tremolo you would find in a Fender Artist series (like the EJ), vs. the vintage 6-screw tremolo you would find in an American Special Strat? Are they the same, except for block size, saddles, etc? Or are the American Special parts made in Mexico?

Andy

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'10 American Special Strat
'02 Les Paul R8
'08 Charvel US San Dimas
'85 Jackson Soloist

Splawn Quick Rod

Just for Clarification the USA six screw bridge is not made in the US, but is made in Japan by Gotoh who also make the vintage style tuners.

The big difference between the two is that the Eric Johnson and Reissues use a bridge with Vintage Screw spacing and Vintage string spacing. The American Special has vintage screw spacing but the not as wide import spacing that is used on MIM standards. Also I believe the bridge assembly is made by the Asian company ping instead of Japanese like the Gotoh bridges.

Thanks Yogi!

So, if the Special uses MIM string spacing, can I assume the necks are MIM too? Or are they MIA necks, with MIM string spacing?

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'10 American Special Strat
'02 Les Paul R8
'08 Charvel US San Dimas
'85 Jackson Soloist

Splawn Quick Rod

Necks don't really have string spacing. The neck is MIA, the smaller string spacing just refers to how for the Stings are spread out, even some other MIAs have the smaller string spacing like the American Standard and some MIMs ( Classic Series and JV) have wider vintage spacing. Spacing IMO doesn't matter that much. I prefer the wider vintage spacing but I get along just fine on the smaller import spacing.

Necks be they CustomShop or Squier have a 56mm wide heel and anywhere from 38-43mm wide nut. Most are around 42mm wide at the nut.

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No no and no

You'll think differently if you buy a Strat with an import-spaced bridge and tear most of your hair out trying to figure a way to get the strings centered over the pole-pieces of the pickups -- all of which are sized to fit traditional string spacing.

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

like I said I prefer the wider spacing but have strats with the import spacing and they sounded and played just fine.