Hi Folks,
I have a 1975 Strat with standard bridge and would like to mount a vintage tremolo.
Who can send me a drawing of the appropriate cutout in the body for the tremelo?
Do not worry, I work at a university with a superb mechanical workshop, so the job will be done in a professional way.

Kind regards, Jan Rector

Hi rector,

Do you mean that you have a "Hard Tail" Strat bridge, with no routing in the body for a tremolo bridge? The routing is not just a "cutout", you also have to route a cavity in the back for the trem claw and springs, and drill holes for the mounting screws. If you route the stock body, you will ruin the resale value of the just now vintage guitar. You also need a way to perfectly align the routes, or the body will be completely useless with a crooked route. Probably would be cheaper, smarter and easier to get another Fender body already routed for a tremolo, and save your factory body. If you have the three-bolt neck, either a "Classic Series 70s", or an "AVRI 70s" body would be perfect.

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Por favor, disculpe mi español, no se llega a la práctica con mucha frecuencia.

+1000

THIS IS A FOOL'S ERRAND!

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

I wouldnt worry too much on the value of a '75,they're not the most in demand strat, especially a hardtail if thats what it is. But, a lot of things people shunned are looked at with a better opinion once enough time has passed. Its just that I wouldnt do it because its just a lot of work, when you can drop $150 and buy an aftermarket body. If you are set on doing it, just go to a guitar shop and take measurements. The mounting screw spacing is readily available, I dont know it off the top of my head. you can go for the vintage 6 screw, or the 2-point. I find the 6 screw stays in tune better for me, but the two point-being a knife edge bevel, allows you to set the trem to be able to go further up in pitch than a vintage can.

I agree that the best way to go is to get an aftermarket body - or just another Strat. However, I have to disagree as it seems like mid-70s Fenders have really increased in price lately. I don't know if they are selling, but people are asking well over $2,000 for these things on places like gbase.

Yes, despite Gruhn's attempts to dismiss the value of the 70s Strats, they are still increasing in value.

_________________
---> "The amp should be SWITCHED OFF AND UNPLUGGED before you do this!" <---

Por favor, disculpe mi español, no se llega a la práctica con mucha frecuencia.

That's because people who collect guitars instead of playing them are dumb.

How can 70s Strats become "vintage" when their supposed inferiority to the guitars made before the CBS purchase is the entire reason the idea of a "vintage" Fender came into being?

Givest thou unto me a break. Solid body electric guitars do not improve with age, they just get old. People starting buying "vintage" Fenders because the 70s guitars, according to conventional wisdom, sucked. But now they are "just becoming vintage?" Anybody who falls for that deserves the fleecing they have coming.

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Jim Bordner
Gravity Music - www.gravitymusic.com
Composer, producer, Egnater Artist

I agree. Even a crappy student model Fender Bronco guitar sells for $700-1000.00 on ebay. Yikes! Please don't butcher that guitar! Get a mim stratocaster instead, you'll get vintage setup with modern machining and quality at a bargain basement price.

God why? No offense to the owner, but its not like he built it, but those going up is like a Pinto suddenly increasing in value.
But if you like it, its your guitar. If you like the neck, id just go with an aftermarket body, they're short money, and well made. You can get a one-piece body for <$200, or just a really light one for $150-170. Unfinished of course.

Frankly, I am not a big fan of the 70s Strats, but the simple fact is that they are increasing in value, and despite the "era" in which they were made, they are still US made Fenders.



The collectors certainly don't set the price. And the term "vintage" has a meaning, you should look it up. Vintage doesn't mean necessarily good or desirable, just mainly that it is a certain age. The CBS Fenders were still made in the US, and that will give them a certain amount of collect-ability in-and-of-itself. Maybe I'm out of touch, but to me, someone who collects items (anything) that increase in value is pretty darned smart, or at least fortunate, but far from dumb. I guess that some collectors are unable to speak if that's what you meant.

_________________
---> "The amp should be SWITCHED OFF AND UNPLUGGED before you do this!" <---

Por favor, disculpe mi español, no se llega a la práctica con mucha frecuencia.

I just checked ebay and asking price for a hardtail Fender strat from the 1970's is $1000.00-$3000.00!!!

The 70's and 80's saw the biggest decline in the quality of US made durable goods, and we're not just talking about guitars. Automobiles, appliances, culture??, take your pick. Made in the USA wasn't the golden seal of a well built product that it was before, and again later at tail end of the century. This was when the conventional opinion was that Japan would own the US. An increase in the demand for well made US goods that forced manufacturers to do a better job, and japan's own banking crisis(which well over a decade later they'rev still diggingb themselves out of) put the brakes on that thought. But if you'll recall, this is when Japanese made guitars like Yamaha, Ibanez, and Japanese made versions of American guitars, like fenders, were in high demand. Even the Japanese made knock offs were considered more desirable that what was bring put out here. That was the main reason you saw a major shift in what guitar players were using. Strats, Tele's, and even Les Pauls all but disappeared, except for mostly the veteran players, but most of them were playing pre-cbs, or NOS transitional guitars. You could pick up a 1960 Strat for a few hundred bucks. It wasn't until the early '90s, when "alternative" rock bands were in vouge, and. They were playing with vintage equipment, did you see Fender and Gibson start to make a come babck. And thankfully, after the employees bought fender back from CBS, and they finally fazed out the garbage that they were forced to make by CBS, US built instruments retook their place at the top of the pack again. So made in the USA isn't always a good thing. If you look at the quality and materials of Martins made before WW2, and the ones made in the few years that followed the end, there was a huge difference. This wasn't their fault like it was with Fender, and later Gibson, rationing for the war effort limited what they could do. But you see a major swing in values between a 1933 D28, and a 1945 one.
So, people are2 correct that the 70s strats are starting to fetch a premium, but not because their great, they're just old.