70s Strats? Who has one? Thoughts?

impmann

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...

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

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

I was told that the acrylic lacquer used didn't have much of a plasticiser (sp?) in it, meaning that the finish was brittle. Couple that to it being applied with a trowel meaning theres a lot of finish to 'move' with natural movement of the neck. It tends to chip/crack/split around the fret ends and the side dots - I'm told this is because as the neck expands and contracts with atmospheric conditions, the different materials (frets/dots) don't and this cracks the finish when its this brittle.

I was viewing a mid 70s Strat with this issue for a mate - he didn't buy it - and it was the salesman's excuse for the cracks.... make of that what you will.

NPP

ok the imgur instructions seem straightforward and don't even require an account to be created so bear with me:

https://imgur.com/2W75GI0.jpg

If you see a pic it shows my lefty Strat, built some time around 1979-80. I've had it since 1986. As I explained further up in the thread, I stripped off the finish a few years ago. One could say it's been heavily modified - it's had various new pickups over the years, finish stripped of the back of the neck in 1989, a refret in the late 90s, stripped of its poly sunburst paint and refinished in oil and wax in 2014, contours added to the body, set up with the neck flat in the pocket, without use of the micro tilt, Wilkinson trem. When I got it in the mid-80s, there wasn't much choice, in particular for lefties and in Germany, and I bought it not as a vintage guitar or an investment but just as a run-of-the-mill second hand guitar with a few battle scars. It has served me well over the years and it sounds good now, but I guess that without the mods it would be a very average guitar indeed.  

Edit: well you don't see a pic. I knew it wouldn't work. But at least there's a link. Hey ho. 

NPP

oh, the pic has appeared! But I seem to have killed all interest in the thread. Sorry ...

ICBM

impmann said:

I was told that the acrylic lacquer used didn't have much of a plasticiser (sp?) in it, meaning that the finish was brittle. Couple that to it being applied with a trowel meaning theres a lot of finish to 'move' with natural movement of the neck. It tends to chip/crack/split around the fret ends and the side dots - I'm told this is because as the neck expands and contracts with atmospheric conditions, the different materials (frets/dots) don't and this cracks the finish when its this brittle.

I was viewing a mid 70s Strat with this issue for a mate - he didn't buy it - and it was the salesman's excuse for the cracks.... make of that what you will.

That’s the correct explanation.

But what it means is that valuing these guitars by ‘originality’ is the wrong approach. It would be much better to refinish them.

That also gives the opportunity to do what NPP did - I did one as well. When I got it, it had been badly painted over the top of the original finish, but when I tried to clean it off, I found it had discoloured the original finish and made it ‘rubbery’. The frets were also quite worn, but I could see that there was actually enough height left under the lacquer to avoid refretting it.

So I stripped the whole thing apart from the headstock face, took the opportunity to re-contour the body - which got rid of some deep dings as well - fitted veneers in the neck pocket to make it a good fit, gave the whole thing an oil finish, and the only hardware I changed was the bridge, because the old arm was broken off in the hole and I couldn’t get the stump out.

It was really nice - at least a pound lighter, very resonant and sounded great, even with the original pickups. Massively improved over the lumpy-feeling, clinky-sounding piece of junk it had been before...

But by today’s standards it was only worth about half as much, probably.

Funkfingers

https://i.imgur.com/aS7U1Rq.jpg?2

ICBM

Funkfingers said:

Philly_Q said:

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

lovestrat74 said:

Love the way the headstock ages to an orangey hue

The front face of the headstock was nitro-cellulose. The remainder of the neck was urethane. 

Examined closely, the nitro often exhibits tiny severe shrinkage cracking and falls off in pieces. It discolours - except under the machinehead ferrules and string guide(s).

Edited for accuracy...

I think it looks horrible. There are often orange blotches on the sides of the head too, since they didn't bother about masking - no reason to at the time, since it was clear lacquer that was going to have more clear lacquer over the top - it was only after the nitro darkened over time that the typical Essex Tan effect developed.

The reason for doing it was because the decals reacted with the urethane lacquer and wrinkled, so they fixed the problem by protecting the decal with a thin coat of nitro first.

skippy76

http://imgur.com/gallery/vqI61



Here’s my 1976, I bought it a couple of years back for £500 as I was after a birth year Strat

It it had been chopped up over the years with a Floyd and some kind of locking system so I stripped it back and refinished in nitro than aged the body a bit to match the natural aging on the neck.

Weighs a ton but plays and sounds good imo. I have the original black pickguard and knobs in the case for good measure.

skippy76

Btw I’m after a rosewood fretboard neck if any one has one from that era

fendergibson

I’ve got an original ‘77. All intact with case n candy.

Had it refretted with jumbo steel frets and neck pocket tightened etc.

Great guitar.....but having owned a CS 60’s Strat too....I’d rather play the CS

webrthomson

NPP said:

ok the imgur instructions seem straightforward and don't even require an account to be created so bear with me:

https://imgur.com/2W75GI0.jpg

Now that is a good looking strat - love the natural wood under the finish, much better than most of the 70's finishes!

jeztone2

skinfreak said:

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...

Yes. I very nearly bought one two years ago. They are exceptional guirars. Traditional but with sensible modern player-friendly features.