Fender 50's Classic Stratocaster....

[stephen]

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Just over a week ago, I was looking through the For Sale section in the current issue of Guitar & Bass magazine, when I saw this guitar advertised for £330 at a location in Essex. Anyway, I 'phoned up out of interest and thought that I'd go and have a look if it wasn't too far away. Amazingly, it was actually in Colchester, just 9 miles away from me.

The guitar was just 6 weeks old and was in perfect nick complete with all the bits and the original receipt from a Colchester music shop, so difficult to resist! I'd had the 'OK' from my wife to go ahead and buy it, providing a couple of my other guitars were put up for sale (see the Marketplace section of this site), so I made an offer of £300 and it was accepted.

I've got a couple of other Mexican Strats (the all gold 'Homer Haynes' 50th Anniversary & the white Hendrix LSR one) and it's surprising how different they all are in terms of weight, 'feel' & sound. This new one's definitely a good 'un and is also the lightest. Strangely, it's a good 2mm or so thinner than the other two, so that's probably got a lot to do with it. The previous owner had the bridge pickup wired to the middle pickup's tone control and I think that's one of the best mods that you can do to a Strat and I'm tempted to have my other two done as well. I was also a bit surprised that the colour wasn't as vibrant as I'd expected. It's certainly more subtle than my Burns Shadows Custom and more similar to the red of the Oasis special run Stratocasters.

Although it's a purely cosmetic thing, I do have a fondness for gold hardware and I spent a couple of days sourcing all the parts I'd need to change everything on this new guitar. Although it isn't strictly HBM/'56 NOS correct, I decided not to change the 'aged' plastic parts. I've always thought that all white 'guard/covers/knobs/tips etc., looked a bit bland, although I'm sure that some wouldn't agree with me! If you want a Fender one (which I did) they're not that easy to get hold of in the UK and you have to get the USA Vintage spec one for the Mex Classic series. Anyway, it all came together in the end and I'm thrilled to bits with it!

I'd wholeheartedly recommend a 50's Classic to anyone as I think that they're really great value, great sounding and certainly look the business!

Stephen.

[geoff1711]

My pal I play guitar with bought one last week, when comparing to my Jap Hank bought around 96 I didn't notice any difference in thickness, but the colour under fluorescent lighting was a bit darker.

My Jap was upgraded with gold, which hasn't warn off yet and the pickups were upgraded to Kinman but are now Fender noiseless which are aged in colour, the scratch plate has aged as well but I think yours with the bright white looks better.

The Mex 50's and 60's are nice guitars, you certainly got a bargain.

Geoff M

[stephen]

Yes, Geoff, I think that I was lucky to find a 6 week old one for that price and vitually, around the corner from me! Doesn't always pan out that way, where guitars are concerned!

I don't think that I'll be changing the pickups. I'm just a home player and at the volumes I play at either through my Valvetronix amp or via headphones into my EFTP equipped Zoom G2, I seriously doubt if I would hear any difference/'improvement' from fitting a more expensive set.

I certainly don't wish to go the same route as some members who seem to have tried every pickup combination on the market, in their search for 'that sound'. Therein lies madness, methinks............Still whatever floats their respective boats, I suppose!

I can't help feeling that some people forget that the elusive sound they are chasing, just emanated from a standard Fender guitar fitted with standard pickups. Perhaps a certain degree of pleasure comes from continually throwing large wads of cash at bits of hardware, because it's often disproportionate to the improvement in tone/sound.
Stephen.