Hi everyone. Went to GC last night to do some "window shopping" and spotted an oly white '62 AVRI Strat. I've really wanted to try some AVRIs but it's the first one I've spotted at this particular store so I plugged into an Orange amp (not sure which one but it allowed for 15 watts or 7 watts and had 3 controls on top-vol, tone and gain).

Anyway, I'm not very good so I made sure to turn the amp down so as not to draw too much attention to my playing. The guitar was beautiful and I wanted to love it. My dream guitar is the '57 AVRI but they had none of those so I thought this would be the next best thing.

The neck was not as comfortable as my '08 Am Std, and the fret ends were rough. However, the pickups on this thing were killer. Bell-like tone, incredible sustain and great string-to-string clarity. The color was really nice as well, though I'm partial to a maple neck rather than the RW that this one had.

At the end of the day, I was very excited that I got to play it, and I may just have found the quintessential Strat pickups (I'm assuming 57/62?). But I was a bit disappointed in the neck.

To those of you who have an AVRI, could this have just been a bad example off the wall at GC, at least regarding the neck? Anyway, still dreaming of being able to play (and possibly own!) an AVRI.

_________________
2008 MIA Standard Strat 3-tone Sunburst
2007 Taylor 310 Acoustic
Fender Blues Junior NOS Amp
Digitech Bad Monkey OD pedal

The AV '62 neck does have a different shape than the American Standards - it is a bit narrower at the nut, has a bit "rounder" C shape than the "modern C", plus they tend to be a thicker neck, starting out just a little bit thicker up at the 1st fret but because they have more "taper" they will be quite a bit thicker at the 12th fret (I've never found the actual spec on either neck). The AVs will also have the smaller frets, and don't forget the AVs have a rounder radius than the American Standards - AV's have a 7.25" radius, and Am Std's have a 9.5" radius. All the dimensional changes will make the neck feel different.

However you can blame the rough frets on Guitar Center - they are notoriously dry environments (high ceilings, kind of "warehouse" like) which can cause the necks to shrink a bit - the longer that guitar has hung there the more likely the dry winter weather has cause the neck to shrink a bit.

I will agree with you on the pickups - I love the AV '57/'62 pickups; the AV 62 has always been my favorite Fender production model Strat.

Agreed on Guitar Center being the problem. This time of year, anytime I go there to try something out it seems like almost every guitar out on the main floor has a wicked bow in the neck and frets sticking out of the fingerboard. Terrible.

i have a 62 surf green and the neck on it is great not a sharp fret or any other problems it could be dry

I think the neck is one of the best things about the '62, so maybe the one you tried was abnormal for whatever reason. Don't give up on it, but maybe look somewhere else for one.