The Guitar Man: Part 2

In the first part of this series, the Fender Stratocaster pictured on the right, which has been a part of my life for the last six years, was in serious need of re-fretting. While consulting with my good friend J.C. about the situation, he suggested that it would be cheaper to buy a new neck instead since re-fretting usually costs anywhere from $150.00 to $250.00 and he just happened to have a vintage style All Parts Strat neck that he would sell to me for $85.00.

When I arrived at J.C.'s house, he had the neck set up on a black Fender Tex-Mex body(pictured on the left) with some cheap Squire ceramic pickups. Even though the pickups didn't sound all that great, the combination of that neck and body just melted into my hands, so I bought the entire set up.

I haven't touched my old guitar since I bought the blackie. However since it had those cheap ceramic pickups, I was seriously considering replacing the pickups with some Fender Texas Specials or perhaps some Fender Custom Shop Fat 50's. Then as I started shopping around for prices, I suddenly had a change in heart. After all, my old guitar had a pretty hot set of Van Zandt Blues pickups in it. Since I hadn't played it for a while, I decided to switch the pickguard containing the Van Zandts over to my new guitar and part the old guitar out.

I enjoy playing guitar, but I'm pretty much out in left field when it comes to working on one. This is where my good friend J.C. comes into play once again. So I called J.C. and asked if he would be willing to make the switch and as usual, he was up for the challenge. Actually it wasn't much of a challenge for him at all. As I've said before, J.C. has more than enough talent to be working for the Fender Custom Shop, so this job was pretty much a breeze for him. He made the switch and had the guitar set up and re-strung in less than an hour.

Here's the final result.

J.C. is a history buff as far as vintage Fender Stratocasters go. Note the vintage decal applied above the finish on the headstock. This neck is supposed to be a copy of a 1963 Strat. Most 1960's era Strats had the decal applied above the finish, however I have seen some that were applied before the neck was finished. Also note the vintage style tuning keys.....Fender re-issues.

This is a picture of an original 1963 headstock. Here the decal is applied above the finish. However note the three patent numbers which aren't present on the decal that J.C. put on my guitar. But then again I've seen pictures of 63's that didn't have the patent numbers on the decals. Fender was very frugal back in the early days and it seems that they pretty much put what ever was handy on the guitars. I've seen everything from Strats with red paint applied over sunburst bodies to a 1950's Tele that had two different types of tuning keys. Nothing went to waste. At first I though J.C. might have been off on this one, but after a bit of research on my behalf, it turns out that he may have been spot on after all.

My guitar has pearl dots on the fretboard. However most 63's ( as pictured to the left) had clay dots. I have seen pictures of 63's with pearl dots though. Here again it appears that what ever was laying around went into the guitars and again J.C. did his homework, or did he? Looks like it's hard to go wrong either way.

 This the pickguard with the Van Zandt pickups from my old guitar installed on my new one. These pickups are pretty hot. The neck pickup is 6.0k, the middle 6.2k and the bridge 6.6k. They have a warm crunchy tone on a dirty channel and a clean bell-like tone on a clean channel. Also note the aged pickup covers and knobs. It's amazing what one can accomplish with a little iodine.

The tremelo is a vintage Fender re-issue with a steel block. Vintage Strats had a steel block on the tremelo and believe it or not, that steel block was one of the keys to that vintage Strat sound back in the 50's and 60's. J.C. does his homework once again.

 All in all the end result is a pretty cool looking, awesome playing and very nice sounding vintage style Fender Stratocaster. Once again J.C. comes through with another work of art and he's got me addicted to researching the original pre CBS Vintage Strats of the 50's and early 60's. Beleive me, there's a ton of info out there and it's a never ending learning experience.

All Parts is licensed by Fender, so there are no patent vilolations concerning this guitar. However if you are considering buying a vintage 50's or early 60's Strat, which go for anywhere from $16,000.00 to $25,000.00, I would suggest taking the guitar apart before you buy it. There are alot of knocks off out there being passed off as original vintage Strats.