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Post subject: 1996 Fender USA Strat. Need info about type of unusual wood
Posted: Mon Nov 03, 2014 8:38 am
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Hello. This is my first post here and my first ever Fender guitar. I'm a Gibson Les Paul convert. Never thought I would switch but that tone just drew me in. I just got this 1996 Fender American Standard for $500. I've been trying to find info about the type of wood for the body and the type of pickups that were used. Can anyone please help me with this? The guitar has heavy relicing. Some of the frets are worn down and kinda flattened. The tone knob was modified to work the bridge pickup. Other then that it's all stock. Thanks in advance for all your help. I seriously love this guitar!
http://s1372.photobucket.com/user/Normr ... %20Uploads


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Post subject: Re: 1996 Fender USA Strat. Need info about type of unusual w
Posted: Mon Nov 03, 2014 10:06 am
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best thing might be to call fender direct and give them your serial number.
one of the others who know much more about fender than I may be able to verify if fender can give details off of serial numbers

nice gtr


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Post subject: Re: 1996 Fender USA Strat. Need info about type of unusual w
Posted: Mon Nov 03, 2014 1:11 pm
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My guess is alder, although a bit atypical but IMHO in limits.
I believe only the "natural" finish AmStd was made of (swamp?) ash in 1996.
That's a 3-tone sunburst, right? (The pics don't show the yellow very well.)

And this is assuming that's not any FSR model.


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Post subject: Re: 1996 Fender USA Strat. Need info about type of unusual w
Posted: Mon Nov 03, 2014 1:17 pm
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It could be Western Balsam Poplar?

Call customer relations for exact specs.

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Post subject: Re: 1996 Fender USA Strat. Need info about type of unusual w
Posted: Mon Nov 03, 2014 2:03 pm
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Looks like an Alder body to me...

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Post subject: Re: 1996 Fender USA Strat. Need info about type of unusual w
Posted: Mon Nov 03, 2014 3:03 pm
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I think Mike is prolly on the right track. In those years it was common to see a Fender with a poplar body veneered with alder or ash. The trem cavity pic seems to indicate a veneered back. The relic wear pattern on the upper horn seems to indicate a veneered top. It could be alder over poplar.

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Post subject: Re: 1996 Fender USA Strat. Need info about type of unusual w
Posted: Mon Nov 03, 2014 4:20 pm
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This is infact a Strat with a vaneer top. During the '90s Fender was having trouble getting alder. The bodies are poplar. The top looks like alder to me (narrow grained wood). It doesn't have the wide grain of ash.

You can always tell these guitar due to the way the sunburst follows the belly contour.

In modern Strats (late '80s till now) all have a tone knob that adds in the bridge pickup. That's standard.

The pickups look stock. Fender changed back to the staggard pups when they changed the Strat in about 2000 with the release of the American Series Strat (which replaced the American Std).


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Post subject: Re: 1996 Fender USA Strat. Need info about type of unusual w
Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2014 6:13 am
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paris wrote:
This is infact a Strat with a vaneer top. During the '90s Fender was having trouble getting alder. The bodies are poplar. The top looks like alder to me (narrow grained wood). It doesn't have the wide grain of ash.

You can always tell these guitar due to the way the sunburst follows the belly contour.

In modern Strats (late '80s till now) all have a tone knob that adds in the bridge pickup. That's standard.


Interesting comments paris, thanks.

I didn't know about the veneer tops/poplar bodies in the 90's.

I don't think my Strat Plus', the only 90's models I've owned, were Veneered.

Is that only for specific models?

The Tone Knob comment is a surprise. Again, model specific?

Do you mean a Blender pot or Push/Pull pot for "Bridge On"?

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Post subject: Re: 1996 Fender USA Strat. Need info about type of unusual w
Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2014 8:06 am
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danagos wrote:
paris wrote:
This is infact a Strat with a vaneer top. During the '90s Fender was having trouble getting alder. The bodies are poplar. The top looks like alder to me (narrow grained wood). It doesn't have the wide grain of ash.

You can always tell these guitar due to the way the sunburst follows the belly contour.

In modern Strats (late '80s till now) all have a tone knob that adds in the bridge pickup. That's standard.


Interesting comments paris, thanks.

I didn't know about the veneer tops/poplar bodies in the 90's.

I don't think my Strat Plus', the only 90's models I've owned, were Veneered.

Is that only for specific models?

The Tone Knob comment is a surprise. Again, model specific?

Do you mean a Blender pot or Push/Pull pot for "Bridge On"?


Looking at some Strat Ultras and Pluses, I'm seeing that poplar was used for these guitars as well.

http://www.guitar-museum.com/guitar-402 ... uitar-New-

Scroll down and you can see an early Strat plus, front and back.
https://reverb.com/item/304457-fender-s ... 9-sunburst

Any time you see the sunburst dromatically stop at the belly cut, the guitar will have a vaneer.

As to the tone knob, for modern Fender Strats, it shouldn't be a push/pull pot. What Fender did was to wire the middle and bridge pickups to the second pot. This can be done by soldering a "jumper" to connect the pickup to the pot. As to it being model specific, yes. Many Fender Strat models have various configurations. The Clapton Strat uses a mid-range boost in the second pot location. To control basic tone, all pickups work through the first pot location.


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Post subject: Re: 1996 Fender USA Strat. Need info about type of unusual w
Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2014 8:11 am
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Here are examples of vaneer top and non-vaneer body.

Vaneer top

http://www.guitarsushi.com/item/guitar/ ... index.html

Non-vaneer body

https://reverb.com/item/172940-fender-a ... 0-sunburst


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Post subject: Re: 1996 Fender USA Strat. Need info about type of unusual w
Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2014 12:52 pm
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paris wrote:
This is infact a Strat with a vaneer top. During the '90s Fender was having trouble getting alder. The bodies are poplar. The top looks like alder to me (narrow grained wood). It doesn't have the wide grain of ash.

You can always tell these guitar due to the way the sunburst follows the belly contour.

In modern Strats (late '80s till now) all have a tone knob that adds in the bridge pickup. That's standard.



Looking at some Strat Ultras and Pluses, I'm seeing that poplar was used for these guitars as well.

http://www.guitar-museum.com/guitar-402 ... uitar-New-

Scroll down and you can see an early Strat plus, front and back.
https://reverb.com/item/304457-fender-s ... 9-sunburst

Any time you see the sunburst dromatically stop at the belly cut, the guitar will have a vaneer.

As to the tone knob, for modern Fender Strats, it shouldn't be a push/pull pot. What Fender did was to wire the middle and bridge pickups to the second pot. This can be done by soldering a "jumper" to connect the pickup to the pot. As to it being model specific, yes. Many Fender Strat models have various configurations. The Clapton Strat uses a mid-range boost in the second pot location. To control basic tone, all pickups work through the first pot location.

Thanks paris

I agree, that extra black covers up a lotta sins. :D

I read somewhere that the 2TSB was originally designed in the 50's, by Fender, to hide join seams.

Seems to me, that trick has been around for several centuries.Image

The Ultra has a what, Flame Maple cap, needs Black edge camouflage?

Still no reason to hide the back wood unless it's "by design", veneer or seams...and it ain't seams. :roll:

and

You meant a Master Tone for Mid + Bridge, I misunderstood, sorry.

This is probably not a good thread to expand THAT conversation.

(I'm doing a build - Clapton Mid Boost + P/P "Bridge On" switch...unsuccessfully) :oops: :evil: :P :lol:

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