Sooooo today I'm out looking for pickups and happen to run into a mom and pop music store. I happen to spot a '79 Strat that has seen many , many nights in bars. It's a rosewood lam neck and body stripped to the bare wood in most part (It used to be Olympic White) and the pickguard has been replaced with a mint green one.
I play thing and it's like butter. The neck has been refretted and is very slim for a Strat of this era. It reminds me of a '62 Strat I played about 12 yrs ago. The pickups sound amazing. I had never played a Strat that sounded like this. I'm in love!

Sooooo I ask the price. $867.00. I'm interested, but not convinced. So we take the guitar apart and take a look under the hood.

1st thing I notice is that the original pickups have been replaced with Van Zant pickups and some sort of push/pull pot that changes the tone of the neck and middle pickups (It's a pretty cool tool). The rest of the electronics look good.

It needs some love given to the frets, and the body is pretty hefty. The body has some really rich grain that reminds me of ash, but I'm no expert. It doesn't look like alder to me.

The one thing I did notice was that the contour of the upper body (where your arm pit goes) is pretty shallow. I'm used to seeing '70s Strats with shallow body contours, but I never saw something like this. I did some photo research and saw other '79 Strats with very similar curves, which really surprised me. At first I thought body was aftermarket, but the routing looks correct for the period.

After finding out that the guitar was not stock, I was having some second thoughts. Then I got to thinking, "Why do I want this guitar? Am I buying a name or a guitar that plays and sounds great?" In the end I paid $730 for it.
I do have a few questions:
1. What do stripped '79 Strats going for?
2. Could the '79 Strat owners out there please post some photos of their '79 Strat so I can compare contours or info on this era of Strats.
3. Any thoughts on all of this.

I've seen 79 strats on guitar center vintage for 1800.00 to 3000.00, of course they hadent been stripped of their paint. I'd say for the price you paid you got a nice deal. In a private sell you could probably 900.00 to 1100.00 for it because it is vintage. You technically have a Vintage modified strat. Squire sells reproductions, you have the real deal

I think you got it for a fair price, 1/2 the value for a guitar that's not all original and stripped to boot. The main thing is that you like the guitar and it plays/sounds great. You can always have it repainted anyways.

Those '70's Strats get a bad rap but I love my '78.

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Tune Low, Play Hard & Floor it!

Congrats!
I always love to hear from anybody buying a 70 Strat for a good price.
You could sell the neck alone for $730 in Germany easily.
Fotos would be really great, thx.

Cheers,
Robin

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http://www.youtube.com/robinstrower
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I can tell you one thing,the Van Zandts are easily my favorite pickups,that's one reason the Strat sounds amazing....they're over $200 new,and as far as the rest of the Strat,it sounds like the mojo is there and I think you got a good deal.

Here's mine

Thanks for the photo. Is it my imagination or are body contours very chunky? I'll post some photos to facebook. You can find me under paris thalheimer.

After test driving this guitar for over 4 hrs I've come to some conclutions.
1. The neck feels great, but the frets need a bit of work. They were either bigger and worn out or shaped to be like Gibson ES335 frets (very square). The neck haas srank a bit so the fret anchors are sticking out by a hair. I've seen CS guitars with this problem too. The shape at the neck reminds me of a Fender Jazz bass. Not quite that narrow, but it's the closest neck that I can compare it too. A good fret dressing and this guitar will be the fast neck I own. Feels even better than my beloved '00 Clapton neck. Some of the abalonie inlay is clear so you can see behind it, but over all looks nice.

2. The body is heavy and feels like a really old piece of wood (lots of grooves to it).

3. The pickups played dirty sound best when the tone is turned down a little. It's a very shimmering sounding guitar. I totally agree that the power of this guitar comes from the pickups.

4. The tone knobs are reversed. It's a little confusing at first, but I got used to it.

The body countors of a 79 are normally shallow. I would expect the wood on the body to be Ash and many of them from that period can be on the heavy side, although I think many guitars of that era could be heavy during the late seventies not just strats! Here is a link to a web site that may be of interest. I did have 2 79 strats from new and still have one that i would not part with.

http://www.strat-central.com/70sstrats/index.htm

Here's pics of mine.

Chart first, dunno where I got it, but it shows the difference pretty well.



Pics of mine.







Mine weights in at 9 lbs. All original except for the bridge pickup and pickguard. Guy I bought it from put a humbucker in

All those pics of those 70's Strats are making me want one... Beautiful Strats my friends! Now to figure out how to acquire....lol

Thanks guys for all the information. I don't feel so looney anymore. I'll put some pictures up on facebook in the next day or two.

I need to spend some quality time with my wonderful wife, who made this guitar purchase possible.

Gotta love those wifes! Mine loves guitars as much as me and doesn't even play.

I was finally able to load some pictures on face book. If you want to see them look me up under Paris Thalheimer in the photo album, "Guitar Collection."

I want thank everyone for sending your photos and comments.

So I've got some more information on my '79 Strat. So it turns out that the Neck is stamped, February 20th, 1980 (birthday tomorrow!)

The tuning key buttons are chrome covered plastic. According to a good web site I use, that's just how they made them during that period.

I called Van Zandt Pickups and talked with one of the owners. The pickups are, "True Vintage."

I'm going to pick the guitar up from the shop (new frets) tomorrow. can't wait!

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1975 Sunburst Stratocaster rosewood finger board
1979 Stratocaster with roseowood finder board
2001 Candy Green Clapton Stratocaster
2007 Andy Summers Inspired Telecaster
2007 '51 P-Bass
2012 Taylor 110
2015 Mystic Ice Blue Deluxe Stratocaster Plus