This is the headstock of mine - 2005/06 model. Love it

Edit : Might as well show you ''the rest''

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A-man

Here are the logos were are talking about

Early lite ash logo


Later lite ash logo


I have a lite ash tele great guitar would certainly add a lite ash strat to my collection

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ukraider
"money cant buy you love but it can buy guitars!!!!!!"

Lots of logo-lore, I can see ! It's the lack of a "Stratocaster" decal that really throws people off, and it's definitely a bit odd, given the myths-and-legends-minded obsession people have with such matters. But I'm going to see if I can pick up a copy of that catalogue to keep around.

Yeah, that photo of the natural finish black pickguard, that's exactly what I've got. I changed the pickguard to an off-white (but not cream) pearloid. Sounds even better, now

Aha ! So that's what it's all about !! I like the sound of mine very well , but if it could be even better sounding with a pearloid .........

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A-man

Well, my car always runs smoother when it's clean, too. Myserious how these things work.

By the way, does the wammy bar on that Strat wobble in the threads ? Mine didn't have one and I can't find anything that really matches the thread, even a supposed replacement that ressembles the original. Ended up screwing down the bridge and readjusting the neck.

I bought mine last winter - and this one did not have a trem-arm , either. I went to the local guitar store to find one - they had a drawer full But it certainly took some time to find one that fitted ! I then learned that those come with threads in both metric and US/english measures - as well as a couple of thicknesses, if I remember it right . Some more knowledge about that among others here , I know ! So I 'm not quite sure if mine is like it is supposed to be - but it fits pretty snug . About the same as my other Strat.
You could always change the tremblock to get it as you like Good luck

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A-man

Your buddy is dead wrong.

For a few years the Lite Ash Strat was arguably the best value in the Fender catalog.
sweet guitars. in fact the soft 'V' neck is no found very often outside of more expensive models.

A few years ago, I almost bought one, I regret not pulling the trigger fast enough, because when I finally decided to buy, it was gone.

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I'm not an expert, but I play one on the internet.

There is a simple answer to this. Just explain to your acquaintance that he/she is stupid, afterwards don't accept their calls and don't answer the door to them.

Problem solved.

By their estimation there hasn't been a real Fender since 1965.

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No no and no

Very Early 1965,

Art

That's so funny. What is "real"? Some arguments just can't be won, as they're based on myth, idolatry and other such mental vapors.

As for my MIK light ash, I am really happy to have a really great guitar for which I paid not so much ($500), and whose value is intrinsic - in the sound, the playability. Funny thing is the guy in the shop who sold it had it sort of hidden on a back shelf, and everything on it was radically ill-adjusted, screws loose... He was trying to sell me all sorts of MIMs... When I pulled that one out and told him to adjust it for playing, I saw his face decompose... He was just a counter guy, and I think he was hoping nobody would buy it. One year later the store was out of business and I think he was just biding his time... But now I'm putting myth into MY instrument, and that's playing some of the same game.

A friend of mine has a 1965 strat and he's finally going to sell it because he doesn't play it often enough. Great sound, to be sure, and it radiates history, but the $12 estimate is paying for something else, mostly lost on me. I could put that money to much better use in my studio.

Enough from me. So glad to chat with other MIK owners and people in the know.

On that page with the catalogs, there are two buttons under each. One say's view, the other "download." Choose this button and you can save it to your hard drive and pull it up anytime with Adobe Reader or most anything else that reads PDF files.

Art

Yep. That's what I did, and then I screen-saved the cover and pertinent pages into a PDF file and sent them.

Thanks for all the help !

Hi Minstrel63: I'm late to this thread and there's not much that needs adding. But just for the record, I have the Lite Ash Telecaster and, like Twelvebar says, I think it was about the best bang for the buck in the catalog at that time - not only nicely spec'd with the well matched ash body, the birdseye maple neck, the abalone dot markers and the Duncan designed pickups, but very well and accurately built too (in that controversial Korean Cort factory). Great guitars.

Only problem is that non-standard headstock logo. I've had two different guys patronisingly explaining to me that I bought a fake and they absolutely were not going to be told otherwise. D'uh!


On that, I notice that the trussrod nut on mine is metric sized, not imperial. So I expect that goes for the thread size on the whammy bar too. If you hunt around sellers on the net you will discover that there are vibrato bars available in either imperial or metric, and it is one of the latter that you need. If you use the wrong sized thread then even if it functions OK-ish you will gradually be doing damage to the threads of the hole in the block, and eventually the only fix for that is a new block. Which costs more than a new bar.

Anyway. Now you can enjoy sending your "friend" to this thread and letting him know he's not as smart as he thinks he is. That'll be fun.

Cheers - C

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