I've been looking at a possible new strat, but looking at the vintage reissue, I noticed all of them were 7.25" radiuses. When did Fender switch to the modern 9.5"? I feel most comfortable with that radius, but like the rest of the appointments on the AVRI's but I don't want that radius.

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"Epitaph on a blues musician’s tombstone: “I didn’t wake up this morning”" Davy Knowles


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I'm assuming your talking about USA guitars. Aside from some oddities very early on (it seems like they standardized to the 7.25" radius in the early 50s) the switch to the 9.5" radius was when the American Standards came out in late 1986. I'm not sure about the MIJ guitars - it seems like the reissues were 7.25" and the Contemporarys and the MIJ Standards might have been 12" radius. The 1983/84 2-knob Standards and the Elites were also 12" radius.

I don't know what your budget is, but it seems like most of the current CS Time Machine guitars are being made with the 9.5" radius and larger frets. Also some of the larger dealers have been ordering their CS reissue guitars with the 9.5" radius for some time now.

The other option would be the Vintage Hot Rod guitars if you like their specs (the HR '62 has a larger neck than the standard AV '62; the HR '57 has a slimmer neck than the standard AV '57 and noiseless pickups).

the fender vintage hot rod series is a great option as stated by John C. but you definitely want to play the 62 prior to purchasing it. the neck is a monster but if you have large hands like me it is comfy

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My hands are bigger than SRV's. I thought the neck of his signature strat was a little thin.

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"Epitaph on a blues musician’s tombstone: “I didn’t wake up this morning”" Davy Knowles


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same thing with me so I think you would love the 62 hot rod neck. for me it made thumb over chording effortless. you should give one a try.

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Very true - I have the opposite problem (small hands and kind of stubby fingers) and find the '62 Hot Rod neck to be a bit too large.

The '62 Hot Rod is the thickest neck that I have on any of my Strats,and it's a 9.5,they're great guitars.

Which particular vintage reissue are you looking at?

Others have already mentioned the Vintage Hot Rod line and the Custom Shop Time Machine line but the Time Machine line used to have vintage specs. I'm pretty sure that they come with a 9.5" radius now and 6105 frets but you would have to look into that because the older ones would probably have the 7.25" radius.

Another option is the Mexican made Classic Player line. It's sort of like the MIM version of the Vintage Hot Rod line.

For what it's worth, I found the 7.25 radius to be uncomfortable when I first played one, but I got used to it and eventually grew to prefer it.