Hi all,

This is my first post here. I realise this has probably been done to death but I've done my best to find answers. I found an old thread here that part covers what I'm asking. I would have thought there would be a web page somewhere but I can't find it. I would be willing to buy a book if it had good coverage of what I want to know. I've always been hopeless at searching...sigh.

I am trying to find out the changes that have been made to strats year by year. Particularly the american standard/series guitars from the early 90's to now, but earlier instruments are of interest also. I'm not interested in people, historical events or even really colours specifically at the moment. All those things are interesting but I'm focused on technical changes for now.

I've got an american std left hand tobaccoburst (?) rosewood right now. I had a right handed "flipped" american bullet H2 for many years. Loved that guitar and if I could find a left handed one...but even the right handed ones seem rare as... My first electric guitar was an earthwood strat copy, that'll tell you something of how old I am

Thinking about getting another strat but am not clear on differences, especially the deluxes.

Any help appreciated. Pointers to web pages, books, anything appreciated.

Thank you for reading.

From the early 90's till now the only major changes have been :
Headstock logo
Pickup routing
Tuners (standard to staggered)
Hand rolled fretboard edges
Name change - American Standard, to American Series, back to American Standard
The 2 point trem bridge now has bent steel saddles vs. the older cast block saddles
The newest models have a combo of gloss/satin finishes on the necks
4 different styles of cases have been used over this time period

Don't for get about the pickups. From their introduction, until around '96(?), the pickups were all pretty much identical (except, of course, for the RW/RP middle). Starting in '96, Fender introduced the 'Delta Tone System' which included a slightly over-wound bridge pickup that also featured two large bolts on the the bottom (functioning as a base plate would more or less). The other part of the system was the no-load tone control which replaced the TBX. With the changeover to the 'American Series' banner, the pickup pole pieces were now staggered.

Also, coinciding with the introduction of staggered tuning posts, the string tree on the D and G strings was eliminated.

Thank you very much for the replies.

Could I trouble you to elaborate. I think you've underestimated my ignorance.

I believe the early american standards had the "bathtub" route ? sometimes called universal ? What were the others ?

I haven't opened mine up as I've been too busy playing it. I really like this guitar. I bought it because it was cheap, but I'm really happy I did.

What happened with the pickups ? which ones were reverse wound and which weren't ? Were they all alnico ? What's TBX ?

What are staggered tuners and when did they come in ?

My case is a sort of half coffin, rectangular on the hinge side but cut back on the lock side. It probably works well on right handed guitars but the headstock is very close to the shell on my lefty.

I wish there was a book or webpage on this stuff. I am really sorry to have to pester you with these questions.

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I'm just a startled bunny in the headlights of life. LJ Young

Stratocaster Chronicles - Tom Wheeler

http://www.amazon.com/Stratocaster-Chronicles-Celebrating-Years-Fender/dp/0634056786

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Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.

Try these books....

"The Story of the Fender Stratocaster Curves Contours and Body Horns "
by Ray Minhinnett and Bob Young ... ISBN # 0-87930-349-2 Published in 1995

The Stratocaster Chronicles " By Tom Wheeler
ISBN # 0-634-05678-6 published in 2004

" The fender Stratocaster " by A.R. Duchossoir
ISBN # 0-88188-880-X published in 1988

A TBX Pot is a Treble-Bass- Expander...It allows you to dial in more bass or more treble unlike a standard pot which just cuts out the treble. Also it set with a detente ( or mid point @ 5 so if you go from 1 to 5 you affect Bass and from 5 to 10 you affect treble...

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"C'est parti mon Kiki "

Many questions you have. With regards to the pickups:

- They are always been Alnico.
- The middle pickup has always been reverse wound/reverse polarity EXCEPT for the 50th anniversary model.

The "bath tub" route is usually referred to as the "universal" or "swimming pool" route and was use on the American Standard and its derivatives until around '99 when it switched to H-S-H routing just prior to changing names to "American Series". It's also worth noting that for a brief period during the mid-90's, poplar was used for the bodies in place of alder. With alder being in short supply, poplar was a cheaper alternative....until it became scarce and alder became the cheaper wood.

The TBX tone control was carried over from the old Elite series. It is the 2nd tone control from the volume knob. If you turn it to "10", it sounds a bit brighter. Almost as if no tone control were connected to the bridge and middle pickups.

Staggered tuners have string post heights that get lower from the low E (which is the height of a normal tuning post) to the high E (where the post height is lower and the string is held closer to the headstock face).

Again thank you for the replies, and your patience.

The answers are clear and complete, thank you very much for that.

I was going to buy the Stratocaster Chronicles, but I got the impression from the amazon reviews it was a history rather than a book of technical changes. Maybe it's both ?

I guess I should buy it, then I won't have to bother you all again.

I had read that some american stds were poplar in the early 90's but that had ended by about 93 or 94. I wonder how I might tell on mine ? Being a burst the grain shows. The serial indicates a 95 build. I had actually done as much reading and searching as I could before I posted, but as I said previously for some reason I've always been absolutely hopeless at it. I found a few articles but they often created as many questions as they answered. I found one older thread here that was good but didn't answer all my questions.

What I'd really like is a left maple board white deluxe. I wonder if it's possible to order a deluxe in a custom colour..

_________________
I'm just a startled bunny in the headlights of life. LJ Young

Just bought a 2011 RH American Standard Tobacco Burst. Absolutely rocks on my VOX AC30!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEpbMaZE ... ture=g-all

Poplar is not a particularly attractive piece of wood (it has a greenish color to it) so guitars that have a burst or translucent finish would likely have some sort of veneer covering the area where the grain would be visible. It should be noted, that poplar is considered by some to be inferior to alder, but I have not found this to be true. Alder (and ash) is a traditional Strat body wood but poplar is also an acceptable alternative and does not make a Strat a lesser guitar than one made of more traditional woods.

Poplar can be attractive, it does have a greenish tinge but that is dependent on different tree's.
I have a 3/4 x 8 x 5ft lenght of board which resembles flamed maple, I actually thought it had been misplaced when I bought it but no it is just a unique piece of Poplar.

Poplar has been used mostly in the housing ( finish carpentry ) trim industry, as trim casings such as crown moldings, window casings etc...It is excellent for painting far superior to Pinus and Ash or Alder.

_________________
"C'est parti mon Kiki "

The latest American Standards with a translucent finish have a swamp ash body as it has a prettier grain. My Sienna Sunburst is gorgeous!

Indeed it is.

The Strat's developmental history as well as its technical specs (and their variations as the years progressed) are pretty comprehensively covered. If you can buy only one Strat book, this is the volume to have.

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

http://stratcollector.com/newsdesk/archives/000204.html

This is the article I mentioned previously. I don't know if this is right or not.

Since 1956, most Strats had been made of alder, except for the ash-body transparent finishes.

Dan Smith: “For a while, the environmentalists didn’t want us cutting alder. There was an endangered species controversy, with some logging restrictions up in Oregon, so we had to use poplar. Leo had used it on many guitars — Musicmasters and others — and we later used it for the Bullet guitars. It’s a good wood. We used it on some American Standards in the early ’90s. From the beginning, poplar was spec’d to be used on the American Standard as a substitute.”

George Blanda: “All the Strat bodies were alder up until about 1990. When it got so hard to get alder, we were faced with either using poplar or not making guitars. There’s a misconception that poplar is not a good tone wood. Actually, it’s fine. James Burton actually specified it for his signature Tele in the late ’80s, after trying a lot of different bodies. We never regarded poplar as a second-rate wood, but a lot of people preferred alder so when the restrictions eased, we were able to go back to alder in ’93 or ’94.”

_________________
I'm just a startled bunny in the headlights of life. LJ Young

You posted this while I was putting together the previous post.

Thank you. I'll get that book. Might get the boss to buy it for me for christmas.

_________________
I'm just a startled bunny in the headlights of life. LJ Young