70s Strats? Who has one? Thoughts?

NPP

crunchman said:

Get yourself down to Coda:

thanks, this looks great - but I feel far too self-conscious to go to a shop, ask to play an expensive guitar I have no intention of buying, and inflict my lame noodling on staff and customers. 

Clarky

NPP said:

crunchman said:

Get yourself down to Coda:

thanks, this looks great - but I feel far too self-conscious to go to a shop, ask to play an expensive guitar I have no intention of buying, and inflict my lame noodling on staff and customers. 

I'd just like to play it because I've never seen a proper leftie that is older than my 78 strat
and I've heard so much about vintage I'd just like to experience for myself what all the fuss is about

EDIT: Clarky you are such a nob

jeztone2

I played a few of them back in the days when you could buy one used for £250-300. I’m sure some are good, but the ones I remember playing were usually heavy bodies with gloopy finishes, cheap nasty hardware and vile pickups. Before they became vintage, most people back then bought Tokai’s or Squiers or the early AVRI’s. 

Voxman

lovestrat74 said:

Schnozz said:

I cream my pants over a Mocha 70s

I know what you mean. I think we are in the minority but, nothing screams the 70s more than a bit of mocha!

Funkfingers said:

"Mocha"?

For most of the Seventies, up until the arrival of the 25th Anniversary models and the Antigua finish, there were six official colours. Fender called the semi-transparent brown one Walnut. I called it something less flattering.

 Mocha was a special order custom colour in 1969 and 1970 only.  I've only ever seen three and they were all hardtails.  One was in the original Fender Sound House in Goodge Street, one was in Rose-Morris in Shaftesbury Avenue - and the other is one that I have which is a late 1969 hardtail (neck date November 1969) and like Hendrix' it has a capped maple board with no 'skunk stripe' also special order and only offered I think from circa '68 (possibly late '67) -'70. 

Jaded

Here's my '79, another hardtail (okay, it's actually my Dad's). It needs new frets, there's string buzz in a few places, it's not particularly light and I keep hitting the middle pickup and reaching for the tremolo that isn't there but I've honestly been having more fun playing this the last month than I have any other guitar in a long while!

I've also had no hand cramps thanks to the chunky neck which is nice. 

richardhomer

I was at the Whitworth Guitar Show on Sunday and played a lovely, really light ‘74 hardtail in Natural finish. If any one’s interested - assuming it’s not sold - it should be on @guitars4you’s website.

p90fool

@Jaded ; that looks great. I recently stripped the body on mine and it's a very similar colour to yours - you have me thinking about black plastics now! 

It's funny getting oddly nostalgic for things I hated in 1979...

lovestrat74

Love the way the headstock ages to an orangey hue

SNAKEBITE

When I had a bit of money "spare" I was thinking about getting a Strat from 1971, my year of birth, but it was such a minefield I didn't get round to it with enough focus.

With a new hose on the way that idea has gone out of the window!

Philly_Q

SNAKEBITE said:

With a new hose on the way that idea has gone out of the window!

That's understandable.  I look forward to the NHD thread.

SNAKEBITE

Got any 'ose?

p90fool

Mine as it currently stands, I do quite fancy the idea of black plastics though.

BTW, does anyone else have neck lacquer which falls off in chunks? Both of my CBS necks do...

http://i64.tinypic.com/mcgp5c.jpg

http://i63.tinypic.com/v8h0r9.jpg

lovestrat74

p90fool said:

Mine as it currently stands, I do quite fancy the idea of black plastics though.

BTW, does anyone else have neck lacquer which falls off in chunks? Both of my CBS necks do...

Strip it and oil it - nice 

Guitar_Slinger

@p90fool - yes, same thing with mine, around the marker dots.

Philly_Q

p90fool said:

BTW, does anyone else have neck lacquer which falls off in chunks? Both of my CBS necks do...

Would they still be nitro at that stage, or had they switched to urethane?

webrthomson

I was made in 1976 and so was this Strat of mine, for obvious reasons:



The aformentioned interesting neck pocket and mine is a pretty good example - only out by a MM or two:



And the frets - a little low but not too bad:



Mine plays pretty well however the first thing I did was to swap out the whole pickguard and pickups for some Van Zants blues pickups - life is much better now

Jaded

p90fool said:

@Jaded ; that looks great. I recently stripped the body on mine and it's a very similar colour to yours - you have me thinking about black plastics now! 

It's funny getting oddly nostalgic for things I hated in 1979...

Thanks! What colour was it before you stripped it? I love the look of those transitional models with black pickguards and the rest white!

I've noticed some of the finish on mine is getting a little sticky in places. It seems to be a fairly common thing for some reason. 

skinfreak

Much of the comments reinforce my desire for a current American Special. Looks 70's but ain't. Lovely jumbo frets, Olympic White. Roll on next march...

NPP

mine looks very much like that of @webrthomson , just reversed (it's a lefty). I'd like to post a pic but can't make sense of the instructions posted on here - funny how everything else seems self-explanatory these days but posting pics defeats me all the time, even though I'm usually someone who gets asked, rather than asks for, help with computery stuff.  

webrthomson

NPP said:

mine looks very much like that of @webrthomson , just reversed (it's a lefty). I'd like to post a pic but can't make sense of the instructions posted on here - funny how everything else seems self-explanatory these days but posting pics defeats me all the time, even though I'm usually someone who gets asked, rather than asks for, help with computery stuff.  

Here is how to post pictures from imgur - http://thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/comment/thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/54246/how-to-post-pics-imgur

Come on @NPP we want to see it

I bought mine in the US and it was by far the best playing one I could find - I think the 70's headstock looks amazing - and mine is not that heavy, well I dont think so comparing it to my Les Paul's anyway!

Now it's got some decent pickups in it sounds great!!!