70th Anniversary 1954 Strat American Vintage II

Strat54

New out....£2649 at the dealer

https://www.fender.com/en-GB/electric-guitars/stratocaster/70th-anniversary-american-vintage-ii-1954-stratocaster/0177002803.html

Dreaded 7.25 and skinny frets though. Nice package alas.

Whitecat

Username checks out

Offset

Yep.  Radius, frets and price mean I'm out.

Aside from that it looks very nice :-)

Schnozz

...And this is what he came up with before passing in '91.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buwrQZSD84o
https://i.imgur.com/3CX93Oh.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/XERS3zK.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/ztOxeJo.jpg

Schnozz

I had a '57 AVRI Strat and a '62 AVRI Tele from the original series, which cost £1500ish and they were awful; ditched those and found a G&L George Fullerton Signature in Knighton Music...Incredible difference in quality, but same money.

bbill335

Strat54 said:

Dreaded 7.25 and skinny frets though.

wouldn't be a reissue if it didn't! 

Strat54

bbill335 said:

Strat54 said:

Dreaded 7.25 and skinny frets though.

wouldn't be a reissue if it didn't! 

The Custom Shop didn't get that memo....

https://www.fendercustomshop.com/guitars/stratocaster/limited-edition-70th-anniversary-1954-stratocaster-time-capsule-package-1-piece-quartersawn-maple-neck-fingerboard-wide-fade-2-color-sunburst/

Medium frets and a compound 7.25-9.5 radius.

RandallFlagg

bbill335 said:

Strat54 said:

Dreaded 7.25 and skinny frets though.

wouldn't be a reissue if it didn't! 

Tone control 2 is wired to the bridge pickup according to the specs on the website, that's not vintage correct though.

Recent Fender “vintage frets” haven't been as low profile as the originals either, not sure what's fitted on this reissue but the frets on the AV I 52 Tele were tall enough for comfortable string bending and the 7.25” radius was barely noticeable and strings didn't choke out when bending up the dusty end.

The Custom Shop version has the vintage correct tone pot wiring but with a 5 way switch and the regular factory version has modern tone pot wiring but with a 3 way switch! 

Iamnobody

RandallFlagg said:

bbill335 said:

Strat54 said:

Dreaded 7.25 and skinny frets though.

wouldn't be a reissue if it didn't! 

Tone control 2 is wired to the bridge pickup according to the specs on the website, that's not vintage correct though.

Recent Fender “vintage frets” haven't been as low profile as the originals either, not sure what's fitted on this reissue but the frets on the AV I 52 Tele were tall enough for comfortable string bending and the 7.25” radius was barely noticeable and strings didn't choke out when bending up the dusty end.

The Custom Shop version has the vintage correct tone pot wiring but with a 5 way switch and the regular factory version has modern tone pot wiring but with a 3 way switch! 

Fear not. All that will be fixed in the 75th anniversary editions.

guitargeek62

£2,649... who would buy this over a used CS?!

guitars4you

See there is a 70's version in 'puke burst' or mushroom burst - Okay Antiqua to be correct - To be a good replica it will need to be heavy and have a poor body/neck join/pocket and a finish that is thicker than banana skin

CountryDave

guitars4you said:

See there is a 70's version in 'puke burst' or mushroom burst - Okay Antiqua to be correct - To be a good replica it will need to be heavy and have a poor body/neck join/pocket and a finish that is thicker than banana skin

I’ve a mate with an original Antigua. I concur with all your comments above apart from the weight. His is surprisingly light. Well, light for a 70’s Fender anyway.
As for the neck joint. A handful of business cards would have fit easily down there. It almost echoed back when you spoke. 

guitars4you

CountryDave said:

guitars4you said:

See there is a 70's version in 'puke burst' or mushroom burst - Okay Antiqua to be correct - To be a good replica it will need to be heavy and have a poor body/neck join/pocket and a finish that is thicker than banana skin

I’ve a mate with an original Antigua. I concur with all your comments above apart from the weight. His is surprisingly light. Well, light for a 70’s Fender anyway.
As for the neck joint. A handful of business cards would have fit easily down there. It almost echoed back when you spoke. 

I knew a customer who had the set - P + J bass - Strat + Tele - Owner and all with appropriate cases 

I recall Arbiter (old Fender distributor of the day) had loads sat in the store room, for ages, that they could not sell - In fact the rumour was that Ivor Arbiter told his sales staff to send 50 out to 50 different accounts - Knowing some will come back as never ordered - But if only 30 came back then 20 were now sold, as somehow staff/accounts departments/boss/admin had not noticed such stock arriving - Sneaky but some sold as far as Arbiter concerned 

randella

Offset said:

Yep.  Radius, frets and price mean I'm out.

Aside from that it looks very nice :-)

Same here - lovely looking thing (I do like a two-tone burst) but at that money a lightly used custom shop with a flat fretboard and 6100 fretwire surely couldn't be far off the radar.

Anyway, guitarist in isn't-going-to-buy-guitar-with-features-he-doesn't-like shocker .

Philly_Q

Offset said:

Yep.  Radius, frets and price mean I'm out.

So long as they keep doing that it takes away any temptation to buy.  Which is fine.

I like the '70s Vintera in Antigua, it looks good to me.  Hardtail too.  But it's 7.25" again.

Whitecat

Strat54 said:

bbill335 said:

Strat54 said:

Dreaded 7.25 and skinny frets though.

wouldn't be a reissue if it didn't! 

The Custom Shop didn't get that memo....

https://www.fendercustomshop.com/guitars/stratocaster/limited-edition-70th-anniversary-1954-stratocaster-time-capsule-package-1-piece-quartersawn-maple-neck-fingerboard-wide-fade-2-color-sunburst/

Medium frets and a compound 7.25-9.5 radius.

Not sure about the frets but the CS does like to put compound radiuses on guitars where the USA counterpart gets a 7.25" - the last example I can think of was the Broadcaster 70th. I guess they can still say it's "historically accurate" since a lot of vintage guitars do in fact have compound radiuses just by virtue of their being hand-finished and with a fairly wide tolerance for variation.

RobG3294

Iamnobody said:

RandallFlagg said:

bbill335 said:

Strat54 said:

Dreaded 7.25 and skinny frets though.

wouldn't be a reissue if it didn't! 

Tone control 2 is wired to the bridge pickup according to the specs on the website, that's not vintage correct though.

Recent Fender “vintage frets” haven't been as low profile as the originals either, not sure what's fitted on this reissue but the frets on the AV I 52 Tele were tall enough for comfortable string bending and the 7.25” radius was barely noticeable and strings didn't choke out when bending up the dusty end.

The Custom Shop version has the vintage correct tone pot wiring but with a 5 way switch and the regular factory version has modern tone pot wiring but with a 3 way switch! 

Fear not. All that will be fixed in the 75th anniversary editions.

They enlarged (slightly) the frets on the AV1 series for this reason.

On the topic of AV1 - the 2014 60th Anni. '54 will run rings round these new ones - for starters the pumpkin necks on these versus the subtly tinted necks on the now ten year old ones. As does the whole AV1 series to the AV2.

Of course, again, there's the crowd that can't tell the difference between the AVRI/AV2 quality and the AV1 (which had inflated MSRP to any other re-issue, even today with inflation) as they were essentially re-badged CS Time Machines, but to each their own opinion. 

If it's what you want, it's what you want. 

Strat54

Cheaper already at Coda.....

https://reverb.com/item/80091183-fender-70th-anniversary-american-vintage-ii-1954-strat-2-color-sunburst-v700137?utm_source=rev-ios-app&utm_medium=ios-share&utm_campaign=listing&utm_content=80091183

Most of these are going to be 8lb plus guitars.

gumbothewiddler

Nice to see the more rounded pickup covers, straight side vol and tone knobs and early switch tip being used though.

I know aftermarket’s have been around ages but IIRC it wasn’t that long ago those things were only seen on the 2004 masterbuilts. 

Strat54

Yeah they put those plastics on the 2014 re-issue '54s after the Masterbuilts (team masterbuilts that is lol)

munckee

I’ve had three 70s fenders and all sub 8lb, did all the heavy ones sink at some point?