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Post subject: Tech Help HSS
Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2015 4:07 am
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1. I have a "96 Fender American Deluxe Strat HSS Anniversay Issue" with a square neck plate with a hole in it for a flathead screw driver adjustment. What kind of adjustment is this?
Is it a neck curve adjustment that works in addition to the truss adjustment?
Is it a side to side adjustment?
Is it an up/down adjustment?
Is it an angle adjustment?

2 I can't find an owners manual download.

3 How can I verify if the pups in it are the ones it came with?

4 The pole pies do not line up perfectly under the strings. Even on Fender website fotos the single coil poles under the high E string is not under it at all.
How can this be?

5 I suspect these are the original pups. I first suspected the previous owner put a neck pup at the middle position yet brand new Strats have this QC issue.


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Post subject: Re: Tech Help HSS
Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2015 7:00 am
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Professional Musician
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Joined: Fri Oct 10, 2008 6:45 pm
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Location: Kansas
The hole is for the micro-tilt adjustment - it acts like a neck shim if you need to alter the neck angle slightly when doing a set-up.

There was no such thing as an American Deluxe back then; in 1996 you had these USA models that were based off the American Standard:

American Standard
Lone Star (American Standard with HSS pickups - a Duncan Pearly Gates + and 2 Texas Special single coils)
Roadhouse (American Standard with 3 Texas Special Single coils)
Big Apple (American Standard with HH pickups - a Duncan '59 neck and Pearly Gates + bridge)
Strat Plus (stain finish locking tuners, roller nut, 3 Lace Sensors with gold logos)
Strat Plus Deluxe (changes to a red logo/silver logo/blue logo Lace Sensor set, adds locking bridge and ash veneers)
Strat Ultra (changes to chrome tuners, dual red/gold (sometimes silver)/blue Lace set, maple veneers)

Of course there were several Artist Signature models, a couple of models with Floyd Roses, and various MIJ models back then as well.

I suspect you've got a Lone Star Strat if it's HSS; you should email the serial number to Fender (consumerrelations@fender.com) and they can tell you the specs as it left the factory.

I'm pretty sure the owner's manual was a generic one back then; I did find a link to the Lone Star Strat's "Service Diagram" on Fender's website (of course, if it's not a factory Lone Star then just look up the service diagram for whatever model they tell you it is):

http://support.fender.com/service_diagr ... B_SISD.pdf


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Post subject: Re: Tech Help HSS
Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2015 4:18 pm
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Yep as John C has mentioned the micro tilt acts like a neck shim.
The adjust thru the hole is an allen key type.
Slight misalignment of the pickup pole is possible especially if the neck has moved to one side and is not central. :D


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Post subject: Re: Tech Help HSS
Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2015 5:06 pm
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Thanks for the links and help.
My advice to anyone buying off the internet is to do more research than I did because what I bought is not what was advertised. It was a wreck when I got it as well. I really thought I had just thrown away money.

That being said I worked on this guitar I hated for a couple of hours today to adjust the neck, pup height and staking the tremola and I ended up being totally turned on by what I hated yesterday. I must have done a good job. I even used contact cleaner on the electronics and eliminated ALL the crackle in the controls of which there was plenty..
This guitar really responded to TLC. I raised the pups and balanced them. You may be right about the Humbucker being a Pearly Gates because it outshines other humbuckers I presently own(SD Hot Rodders, 490R/498T). The humbucker is super impressive once you set the height correctly. I finally got to hear that Strat tone on the single coils after I set the heights. This guitar was radically maladjusted. I ended up learning about the microtilt adjustment feature and utilizing its' help getting a lower action.

I was really bummed about this guitar until today.(paid $700). It arrived with no case in a peanut packed cardboard box which horrified me.

I actually like it better than my Les Paul now. Amazing what a setup and repair job will do for a bubba'd guitar.
I think I'm going to go to lighter strings though. This neck seems like it loves having the strings bent but I think it has 11s on it.

BTW I think you got it right that this is the Lone Star version you linked to because it is dead-on as far as features listed in the owners manual schematics. The owners manuals I found earlier weren't very accurate.


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Post subject: Re: Tech Help HSS
Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2015 7:58 pm
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Joined: Sun Jul 01, 2007 12:20 pm
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Glad everything worked out! Ended up with a nice playing guitar and likely learned a lot in the process.


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Post subject: Re: Tech Help HSS
Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2015 3:18 am
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Joined: Mon Jan 02, 2012 12:40 am
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fenderfan wrote:
Glad everything worked out! Ended up with a nice playing guitar and likely learned a lot in the process.


I think the guy I bought it from had misadjusted it so bad that it was unplayable so he had to sell it. He turned it into a hunk of junk.
It only took two hours of actual hands on work to get it purring again.

Basically,I learned that Fender took a Strat and stuck a Pearly Gate and two Stevie Ray Vaughn coils on it. They suped it up. I kinda feel like I bought James Dean's Porsche Spider under a tarp in a dusty garage no one had been in for years.
.

If you are a Strat fan you really oughta read this review. It is sensational. This guy nailed the perfect description of the Lonestar.
https://reverb.com/item/554137-fender-american-lonestar-stratocaster-1996-hss-strat


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