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Post subject: 1959 Fender Stratocaster
Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2013 10:08 am
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Hello all.

While viewing houses I came across an old Fender Stratocaster.
Preliminary research led me to believe that this is in fact quite an old guitar.

The neckplate shows the serial number as 035022.

According to http://www.guitarnucleus.com/fenderserial.html, it might in fact be from 1959.
However, what puzzles me is the leading zero, as according to the website a leading "0" or "-" occurred only in 1957 and 1958.
The headstock seems to date in the 1954 to 1960 range which fits to the serial number.

I am aware that the date might be printed on the bottom of the neck but i don't want to take off the neck as it might void any information about whether the guitar has been tampered with by any previous owners (screw tightness and so on). Since it is not my guitar, the current owners might actually want to sell it so that might be crucial information for getting a correct price estimate.

Does anyone have a bit more insight as to the age of the guitar?
The funny thing is that the current owner claims to have bought the guitar new from a music store 10-15 years ago for about $100.
It struck me as strange that a music store should not recognize a guitar that old, and even for a Stratocaster of that time that price seems too low.

Here are some images:

http://tinypic.com/r/20538mt/6
http://tinypic.com/r/2ivz95x/6
http://tinypic.com/r/11kbl6w/6

Any help on dating is appreciated.

Cheers.


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Post subject: Re: 1959 Fender Stratocaster
Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2013 10:16 am
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Do you need some assistance?

Image

Image

Image


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Post subject: Re: 1959 Fender Stratocaster
Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2013 10:38 am
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Is the truss rod plug Plastic or walnut? Hard to tell in the pic. What do the back of the tuners look like?

Looks a little like a tex mex strat, but not sure. It's not a 1959 for sure, They didn't have truss rod openings like that until the 80's.


Last edited by JasonSD on Tue Jan 15, 2013 10:44 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Post subject: Re: 1959 Fender Stratocaster
Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2013 10:41 am
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Considering the angle of the headstock decal I'm not even sure if the neck came from a Tex-Mex; it looks more like a complete fake to me.


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Post subject: Re: 1959 Fender Stratocaster
Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2013 10:45 am
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yeah Tex mex don't have the small text underneath. Tuners kind of look like the cheaper diamond ones but can't really tell from those pics.


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Post subject: Re: 1959 Fender Stratocaster
Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2013 11:03 am
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Thanks for the input. Some more images:
The truss rod plug does seem to be plastic to me.

Image

Image


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Post subject: Re: 1959 Fender Stratocaster
Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2013 11:11 am
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Yeah it's a fake Fender.


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Post subject: Re: 1959 Fender Stratocaster
Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2013 11:23 am
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Thanks for the information.
Anything else of note?

From my limited capabilities it plays and sounds really nice, although it might benefit from a fret job as some strings mute during strong bends.

Any ideas about what such a guitar might be worth? The owner does not use it anymore and was willing to part with it. I gave him the link to this discussion (not trying to rip him off).

Edit: one of the pots seems to be dead and the guitar has bits of color on it from being in a room which was being painted, but they come off easily.


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Post subject: Re: 1959 Fender Stratocaster
Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2013 11:38 am
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JasonSD wrote:
Yeah it's a fake Fender.


+1

Tuners are not period-correct.

A genuine '59 should normally sport a set of Klusons.


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Post subject: Re: 1959 Fender Stratocaster
Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2013 11:45 am
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The tuners should be split post
The headstock is too long after the 1st string tuner (too much wood length on the round )
Logo is wrong angle

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Post subject: Re: 1959 Fender Stratocaster
Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2013 1:11 pm
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An authentic rosewood Strat neck from 1959 wouldn't even have a truss-rod plug -- plastic or otherwise. And there would be patent numbers beneath the "WITH SYNCHRONIZED TREMOLO" decal on the headstock.

Yet another example of "Milli" and "Vanilli" plying their trade.

:lol:

Arjay

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Post subject: Re: 1959 Fender Stratocaster
Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2013 6:59 pm
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Retroverbial wrote:
An authentic rosewood Strat neck from 1959 wouldn't even have a truss-rod plug -- plastic or otherwise. And there would be patent numbers beneath the "WITH SYNCHRONIZED TREMOLO" decal on the headstock.

Yet another example of "Milli" and "Vanilli" plying their trade.

:lol:

Arjay


Not to mention the lack of a Laquer finish on the headstock and the dot markers are in the wrong spots and not of the correct clay dot material or color. Not even a good fake...I love the Milli Vanilli reference!!!

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Post subject: Re: 1959 Fender Stratocaster
Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2013 12:29 am
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Many thanks to all contributors. I will notify the owner.


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