I was looking at a '62 Reissue Strat (American Vintage Series, I think) at a music shop the other day and one of the guys who worked there told me that a '65 reissue is coming out in September. Is there any truth to that??? I haven't been able to find anything on Fender's website. Is there a '65 Reissue Stratocaster that isn't from the Custom Shop?

Currently the CS'65 is the only '65.

Fender generally doesn't leak information about upcoming models. They'd much rather have you buy a '62RI now instead of tempting you to wait for a new upcoming model -- they might change their minds and never make the model you're waiting for, or you might change your mind while you're waiting and buy a Gibson or something instead.

And they generally don't introduce new models in the Fall.

So I wouldn't put too much stock in what the salesman told you.

Even if they do introduce an American Vintage '65, it'd most likely just be a '62 with a big headstock and different pickguard. They'll most likely put an inaccurate slab fretboard on it to keep costs down like they did on the AV'70s. Outside of the Custom Shop I can't imagine they'll ever do production round laminate fretboards again.

I guess the guy at the music store was right...

http://www.fender.com/products/american ... 0111800800

Hmmm. '56, '59, '65

Looks like the '57 and '62 are only offered in the Hot Rod versions. Have they dropped the AVRI '57 and '62?

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Por favor, disculpe mi español, no se llega a la práctica con mucha frecuencia.

I have to eat my words -- the '65 looks realy nice. As do the rest.

That's what I'm getting from reading on the new series - AV '57 and '62 Strats are gone, as is the AV '62 Tele Custom, AV '62 Jaguar, and AV '62 Jazzmaster. All replaced by the new line. The only old one that was updated was the AV '52 Tele.

I guess they figured we we would find the '56 or the maple board '59 a reasonable replacement for the old '57, and the rosewood board '59 or '65 a replacement for the '62. But they couldn't really replace the early blackguard Tele with a later 50s white blonde/white guard Tele.

+1

My only disappointment is with the paltry selection of finish colors......



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