Thought I'd redo the thread now that I have pictures . I recently bought a circa 1980s Fender Strat body, but attached to an absolutey rubbish & cheap neck, as the original got broken off during a live performance.

I'LL UPLOAD PICTURES when I get home this evening, but the only other guitar I own is a 2008 Gibson SG Standard, & so I know almost nothing about Fenders.

I'd massively appreciate any advice anyone can give me on what I should do to make this guitar once again sound as good as it looks (such as the following), because it currently sounds like a cheap beginner's Squier;

- What model fender is it?
- What neck should I replace the current, terrible one with?
- Should I get the electrics/pickups checked out/changed?
- I also need to lower the action because at the moment the strings are almost a centimetre off the neck :s

I THINK the serial number is V510117 903

Again, I'd be so grateful of any advice given,
Adam

I'll lower the action this evening & see if it makes a difference

Hello again Adam. Now I see what you meant by "machined out". Lummy!

Gotta say, I don't think that body was ever anywhere near any Fender factory, even before the mad kid with the chisels got at it. The reason being the depth of the neck pocket. That should be an absolute standard 17 mm on all Strats no matter which plant they come from. Yours is visibly much shallower, which explains the centimetre high action you spoke of. I'm seldom so unequivocal, but there's not the slightest doubt on this one - sorry. This is just some guy's first attempt at guitar building; let's hope he got better or gave up.

Not the news you wanted, I'm afraid. Normally at this point we encourage people by saying that if it plays well then who cares? But by the sound of that action I doubt that is going to help in this case. It will take a real guitar maker to do the carpentry necessary to put that right, and I doubt you'll think it worth the trouble.

But if you do... Go for it!

Cheers - C

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I'd also say the body is a MIJ only, and I mean only, because the neck plate has that little black gasket on it which was common for MIJ guitars.

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I'm not sure that there are any Fender parts on that one - the headstock looks like a budget Ibanez to me.

DetroitBlues - I did want to point out that Fender used that plastic or rubber pad under the neck plates starting sometime in the 70s - my '79 Lead II has one. I'm trying to remember but I think that the last of the CBS models (the Standards and Elites) also had them, but they would have been the last ones as I don't think that FMIC used them on their USA models (and of course the reissues don't have them).

The string alignment on the neck looks way off too, too close to edge on the High E and way too much space on the low E side. I don't know if the neck can be moved over any, or if the bridge was just not installed in the proper space.

Ok thanks everyone. Tomorrow I will try to get a refund for the item as I bought it off ebay - I'd rather buy something that actually sounds good

*Speaking of rubber pads; I did a setup on an newer American Tele. When I pulled off the bridge plate to put the brass one in the customer requested, there was a friggin rubber pad between the stock fender bridge plate and the body??!! I have NO IDEA what the thinking is for this. Just for my own minds sake, i removed it (after I told the owner, and asked for his okay), and put the plate back on sans the rubber pad. It was Tele-like with it on, and was A TELE with it off. I wonder what the reasoning was for it. The only thing i could think of, is maybe modern players dont want the ear bleeding treble, but that can be mitigated without losing a good coupling of the bridge to the body.

Anyway; dude the previous owner must have had a serious termite problem. Do you think its possible, just possible, that prehaps the blank of wood had some parts already removed, and the owner just went a little further? Probably not, but its a thought. Thing must be light at least. Id like to A/B it with a normal strat; straight into a Princeton, or Deluxe, very little preamp, just the pickups and guitar, and see if there's a noticeable difference. I'd bet there is, even though I'm of the thinknig that Strat bodies (probably more so with a floating trem than a decked one) doesnt have as much to do with the tone than most think, do to such little contact area, but something that dramatic must do something.
I read when David Gilmore had a chunk of wood removed from the Black Strat to put a Kahler in, it changed the acoustic tone considerably when he put a standard Fender trem back on, and even after they replaced the missing piece, it still was different. And when EVH took the hunk out of the Ibanez Destroyer, or Explorer or whatever they called it, to make the Shark guitar, it totally changed its tone, and he had to do a bunch of alterations with pickups, bridge, caps, etc to get back to somewhat of its original tone.

I really dig that strat body though, Fender or not, its definitely unusual and different.

It reminds me of thos guitars, I dont remember what they were or who made them, but im sure someone here does, and probably owns one.
The roughly had the body of an Explorer, but there was a bunch of wood removed, like on this one, but with straighter lines. Even the headstock had a piece taken out. It looked like a skeleton of an Explorer. I remember that Joe Perry was playing one in the "Walk this way" video they did with Run DMC

What was it, I want one. And one of those guitars made by a guy with a T in his hame. The ones that sounded like crap, but looked real cool, they were made of a clear epoxy based product. You saw alot of them in 80's videos. Im also looking for one of those guitars that looked like the Guild version of a Les Paul, but had a metal top on it. ANyone know what they were.

I remember those Explorer-like guitars with the holes in the body; in fact I remember 2 different ones. I believe Joe Perry had the Guild version; I also vaguely remember an MTV video of the band Autograph and the singer had one of these as well. The other company that made these was Schecter under their short-lived Genesis brand. Both guitars were circa 1985-ish. That Schecter Genesis brand didn't live past the original firm going bankrupt in 1986 (after both Dave Schecter and Tom Anderson had left and the company had relocated to Texas); and the Guilds kind of died about that same time as I think their ownership also changed - it seems like Guild was sold a couple of times in the 80s before Fender finally bought them in the early 90s.

I'm sorry but I don't recall any Guild LP-style guitars with a metal top; their LP-styles that I'm thinking of (Songbird, Nightbird, etc.) were all pretty conventional but nice single-cut set neck guitars. Are you thinking of a Zemaitis or some kind of Zemaitis copy? I don't think Tussart was around until the late 90s or so. Would love to see a photo.

Thanks for all the advice everyone - I contacted the seller through ebay's buyer protection & he's agreed to take it back & give me a refund (hopefully).

Way to go. I wonder if the seller will in fact turn out to be the maker, too?

Adam, after you've been reimbursed Forum users will be only too happy to suggest more legit Strat models for you to consider, if that would be helpful. Just tell us the budget and...

We'll soon set you up with some hot curry to go with your chapattis... er, chupatty.

Good luck - C

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Hmmm has anyone heard of "Judge Guitars" ?
The decal on the neck with the model name "Catacomb" makes me think that this weird body might be standard- you know, underground tunnels or caverns or something ???
It's been butchered around the cutaways though, and the pickguard in that area.
The Fender bits are a mystery.
What was the description on ebay Chupatty ? I'm so happy for you that it's going back.
Personally, I hate the thing.
Get a nice MIM Strat, even a Squier.
Good luck mate .......Mark.