I just bought a second hand American vintage '70 stratocaster. It's Olympic white with a maple fretboard from 2010. I think it's a beautiful guitar and sounds great. Anyone use one?

Mine has some issues. Firstly and foremostly the 3-bolt neck seems to be quite unstable. It had slightly displaced itself towards the high E-string. There's a little crack at the lower solo opening which I think is assosiated with the neck displacement. The neck settled to a better positon with just moving it with hands, not much force required. I guess the bolts were just loose. Doesn't leave a good impression on the 3-bolt system, I guess there's a reason why they discontinued it. Hope the crack is just on the surface. I have to bring it to a pro for adjustment and have him to check it out.

One question: What is the finish on the body and the neck? Fender sites tell me that the neck is gloss urethane and body is polyester. But there's a Fender Lacquer Finishes precautions and care instructions leaflet in the case? I would like to use suitable stand for the finish.

Sorry you're having issues with the neck; it seems like most of the AV '70s are more stable than a lot of the real 70s Strats I remember from back in the day.

Yes, your guitar has the gloss urethane neck finish and polyester body finish. However, it gets the same bag of stuff in the case (also called the "kit") as the the other AV Strats ('57 and '62) which have the nitro finish so you got an un-needed "Fender Lacquer Finishes" flier inside that bag of stuff.

Thanks. I hope the local guitar guy can fix it and that it's not a recurring problem.

While I posted this thread I did some searches and found this:

http://www.music123.com/Guitars/Electri ... 53.product

Is there a special thin-skin edition with nitro finish or what? And how to tell?

I think that was the only thin-skin edition - in natural finish with black hardware - as I think it was only done for music123.com. However, it couldn't hurt to email your serial number to Fender's Consumer relations dept. and see what they say.

Had 3 bolt from 70s, still have one and never had an issue with the neck. If you were able to move it by hand, that's not good at all. I would remove the neck for inspection and the pocket as well.

I think your neck just need tightened the 3 bolts , no ? It's a common to make a neck aligment this way.
Maybe the wood dry ( normaly)