Does anyone know what neck profile and radii that a 1974 stratacaster has? Even an approximation would be nice. My parents bought me this guitar new, and I think it is time to find another to drag around. The guitar sounds great, but I almost lost it at a show. Let's just say panic set in until I found it.

I've been shopping around and it definitely is not a C profile as they feel much much thinner. The V neck feels more like it, but not quite. Things get complicated as I like the sound from the heavy ash body and the choice of necks with ash bodies are not great.

'70s Strats could vary quite a bit from guitar to guitar but I suspect they were mostly "U" shaped necks that I would call a "medium" depth - although as I said necks could vary a bit more back then than they do in the modern production era. Also all Fender was making was 7 1/4" radius necks at that time.

What would be the closest to what you have? Probably one of these 3 (listed from least to most expensive):

1. Classic 70s Strat (MIM built)
2. American Vintage 70s Strat (USA production line)
3. CS Time Machine '69 (these were retired in 2009 but they can still be found)

+1

I'd characterize the mid-70's Strats as a "U" or a "D", both of varying depths. Most were actually quite comfortable to fret.

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

Yep, I would call them a U shape, and they did indeed have a 7.25" radius