Custom Shop 56 NOS

[alanbakewell]

Pickups?? What pickups???

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[OLDEREK]

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Hi Derek,

You say in your post


I'm also interested the in the comment that a 56 NOS Strat is produced with 22 frets. By its very definition a 56 NOS should be, and I quote Fender, "built .. as if bought new in its respective model year and just found today". As they didn't produce Strats in 1956 with 22 frets - they cannot describe one with 22 frets build today as a ' 56 NOS'. Could you please point me to this instrument on the Fender website? I might suggest that if you look carefully they use the term 'based on' for such models with 22 frets which are probably produced specially for dealers such as the one currently advertised at Guitarmania which, although described as a 56 NOS is, technically, a hybrid and probably explained away by the use of the words "with Custom Shop upgrades".

Cheers,

Ian

Hi Ian I'm sure we had a chat on the phone regarding this , my guitar is a 56 NOS with 22 frets, the COA is below, the Fender Product Number is 9275000537........On the cardboard box it came in, has printed on it 56 Strat NOS FRD GLD H/W - TBC.........

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[MagicOurMorris]

Hi Ian Hi Ya Derek, my guitar's "Fender Custom Shop Cerificate" states (apart from the serial number tha is ) exactly the same as Derek's, but when I purchased my guitar it was listed as a 56 NOS "Limited Edition" - which probably refers to the locking tuners, gold hardware, 22 frets, birds eye fretboard and vintage "Noiseless" pickups which were very definitely not around in 1956 Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!
Best Regards
Keith.

[ScouserJoe]

Hi Derek,

I don't recall you telling me you had bought this one, last I knew you were building one and had obtained some 56 NOS pick-ups second hand to fit to it. When did you get this then ? Have you not thought about trading this in for ... erm .. that 'other' very special guitar we have often spoken about recently ??. But it's an interesting point about this being called a 56 NOS, because technically it cannot be a 56 model if it doesn't fit the spec of that year. I think this is Fender stretching the point here to update a product which has obviously been very popular.

Keith's guitar takes this development on a stage further .. noiseless pickups .. again not something out of the box in 1956 !!

I think Fender need to look again and tighten up their descriptions and marketing strategy, this can only cause confusion and people not knowing exactly what they are buying.

[OLDEREK]

Hi Ian I bought this one just after I sold my Yuri Shiskov's (2007), at the time I needed the money....If we forget about keeping to the 56 spec of the day, the 22 fret guitar is far nicer to play with it's slender satin neck, but it is missing the magic sound of the 56 21 fret p-ups........The body on mine is still stamped 56 Nos.........I have changed the P-Ups to Kinmans HBM vintage, you can't really blame Fender for increasing it's sales by bringing out all these variations based on a 56 NOS, and I don't think they are trying to pull the wool over anyone's eyes, 99% of us know what we are buyng, by the time you can afford one you are long in the tooth anyway.........

[BrianD]

I have just restrung my 56 NOS (21 fret original!) with a set of 12 - 52s. I usually use 10s and as reported earlier in this thread the top E was a little weak with the 10s so I decided to try the 12st to see the difference. The strength of tone across the breadth of the guitar is now stunning - except, I am amazed to say - the wound third. This seems to be giving only two thirds of the volume of all the other strings and doesn't give the same "twang". I certainly didn't experience this with the plain third in the 10s set so I am rather puzzled by this. It may just be a duff string, of course, but before I change it has anyone else experienced something like this?

Brian

[Tab]

Hi Brian,

It can be a problem if the pickups were originally set for a plain third, alkthough this`wasn't a problem I found with my '57 Re-Issue. You may want to substitute the wound (it should be a 24 - I use DRs) for a plain 20 which should give the correct balance. There is another 56 NOS not far from us being set up and fitted with DR 12-52s during the coming week. Let's see if the same problem occurs.

Kind regards,

Terry