POST-CBS & BEYOND
It’s an article of faith among some Strat aficionados that the instruments made before the CBS Corporation bought Fender in January 1965 are the best – and there is (with caveats) a sizeable grain of truth in that. But opinions on that score are changing; Andrew Raymond says the reputation and value of some post-CBS Strats have risen in recent years.
“When I started collecting 30 years ago, the cut-off [for desirability] was 1965. Small headstock with a transition logo, maybe. Anything after that, forget it. Well, that’s all changed completely in the last 30 years. Particularly white Strats from 1968 – the Hendrix Strat – those go for fairly serious money. But the quality was different in that period. I mean, we’ve had a few and Huw Price is actually [servicing and setting one up] for us at the minute, which is a ’69 – a really cool guitar and it plays great. Okay, it’s not quite the same as an early 60s Strat, but it’s still a really cool Strat. So, over a period of time, people’s perceptions and people’s ideas and people’s opinions have changed. To take that a bit further, when I started collecting, people wouldn’t touch a 70s Strat with a bargepole. Now that’s different: early 70s Strats are going for reasonable amounts of money. So I think it’s the whole period thing, but that period now is getting extended.”
Mike Long of ATB Guitars concurs, adding that it’s not true to say that Strats made in the (CBS-owned) decade between 1965 and 1975 are all duds – and it’s now widely accepted that such instruments often sound great and offer relatively good bang for your buck, should you be fortunate enough to be in a position to buy vintage.
“I think ’65s are good value for money at the moment and they can be really good,” Mike says, “especially if you get an early ’65. I’d agree with that. But from ’75 onwards, you start getting into quite dark waters. And by the time we get to the very late 70s, to be honest, they’re often pretty bad and usually very heavy as well.”
That opinion was borne out by our experience in the recent ‘Super 70s’ issue of Guitarist (498) in which we interviewed guitarist Aynsley Lister about his working collection of early-to-mid-70s Strats, which sounded incredible in his hands and lacked nothing as modern blues-rock tools. However, Huw Price says that you need to be aware of some key changes that Fender made to the Strat during the first decade of CBS ownership if you’re to understand the tonal character of these guitars.
“I think there are a couple of watershed changes that Fender made,” Huw says. “I think the first thing is that they changed the pickup magnet wire from heavy Formvar to plain enamel, which gives a somewhat different tone. So that’s a big deal.”
Mike Long of ATB agrees, saying: “I, and a lot of people who I speak to, favour the original black-bottom pre-CBS pickups with the Formvar wiring, before they change over to enamel. Those classic pickups from about ’55 through to early ’64 are fantastic. I think they’re unbeatable.”
But Huw Price adds that the later plain enamel pickups worked to better advantage when the Strat’s traditional bridge design changed to a new format.
“Essentially, the bridge assembly remained unchanged through until the late 60s and early 70s – pressed steel saddles with steel blocks, which were joined to the bridge plate with screws,” says Huw. “I mean, nothing really changed. But I think it’s interesting that they were putting less magnet wire onto the pickups by the 70s, which made them cooler and presumably saved a little bit of money, too. The resulting pickups tended to sound brighter and glassier, and, in conjunction with steel blocks and steel saddles, they can give a Stratocaster quite a metallic tone. So that isn’t necessarily the best combination for some people.
“When I started collecting 30 years ago, the cut-off [for desirability] was 1965… that’s all changed completely in the last three decades” ANDREW RAYMOND
“I think ’65s are good value for money at the moment, especially an early ’65. But from ’75 onwards, you start getting into quite dark waters” Mike Long
“If you’re looking for a bargain pre-CBS Strat, look for a ’58 because they’re not as popular as ’57 Strats… But they sound the same” MIKE LONG
“Then in the early 70s, Fender went to a one-piece bridge,” Huw continues. “I don’t know what the block was made of – zinc or something like that – but, at the same time, they also went to Mazak [also known as zamak] saddles, which have a very different tone. People derided Mazak as ‘monkey metal’, but it’s exactly the same stuff that all those ABR-1 bridges and tailpieces were made from at Gibson [in the 50s]. And Mazak has a really, really nice woody smooth tone, which arguably attenuates the top-end a little bit, which in combination with bright, underwound pickups can be a good thing.”
CONCLUSION
Our trawl through Strat history with the experts was illuminating, but you can’t escape the feeling that, as far as individual taste goes, there can be no one ‘ultimate’ Strat because each player has different ears, hands and needs and so each person’s notion of the ‘perfect’ Strat is inevitably different.
However, what is clear is that some historic versions of the Strat offer modern players a more relevant, all-round useful playing experience than others. Thus we can name 1970 to 1974 as a fertile period in which to find good-sounding, later-era vintage Strats. We can also name 1960 to 1964 as a particularly strong era in which to find punchy, midrange-rich Strats that perform incredibly well for the modern rock and blues player. And, going back a couple of years further, many would find the alder-bodied late-50s Strats just as compelling, if a little more springy and sprightly in character. Such guitars can also lay claim to being the most beautiful of all Strats, due to the amount of time lavished on sculpting and sanding their contours – a level of detailing unlikely to be found on reissues. Some purely aesthetic factors have also shaped which years of production are today regarded as classics.
“1958 Strats don’t tend to be that popular,” Mike Long says. “Now, there’s no difference in sound between ’57 and a ’58. The only differences are neck feel and the fact that 1958 was the first year of the three-tone sunburst – in that particular year, the sunburst was sprayed using a red that generally lasted the course of time. Whereas from 1959 through to late ’61, they used a different red in the three-tone sunburst that faded very quickly [which people tend to prefer today]. So if you’re looking for a bargain in pre-CBS Strats, you should probably look for a ’58 because they’re not as popular as ’57 Strats. The unfaded finish makes them less desirable than both the two-tones that went before or the later three-tones that faded over time. And they’ve got a C-shaped neck rather than a V-shaped one. So they’re considered not as desirable as other ones, and hence prices aren’t up there. But they sound exactly the same.”
So, given all the variables outlined above, can we really identify an apex moment from the Strat’s history? As we’ve seen, so many aspects of our appreciation of the Strat hinge on subjective factors. But we can probably identify a year that combines an optimum combination of woods, good pickups and high build quality. Hence, we’d humbly suggest 1961 as our peak year.
Why? Well, firstly you have a slab rosewood ’board and, all things considered, we’d choose that over a veneer ’board if only because its potential to be refretted without damaging the maple beneath is higher than with the thinner veneer ’boards. Necks were slim in ’61, ensuring slinky playability, and as far as pickups go, no-one has ever suggested Rory Gallagher’s ’61 sounds bad, to say the least. Also, after 1960, you have access to the finishes found on Fender’s first custom colour chart, from Olympic White to Foam Green, while the elegant contours of the body itself hadn’t yet become as squat and burly as they became in the latter half of the 60s. And given that half the world wants a ’62 or a ’63, we can’t help liking a ’61 Strat for being a breed just slightly apart.
Finally, we’re tempted to introduce a final curveball feature to our ‘ultimate’ Strat: a hardtail. So many players, from Bonamassa to Robert Cray, rate the Tele-like resonance and clarity a hardtail Strat can offer, as Huw price observes.
“Bonamassa’s hardtail ’55 is his favourite – he calls it the best Strat in the world,” says Huw. “And I have played that one. And Billy Gibbons, of course, has been using that hardtail Strat of his since the beginning, on tracks like La Grange – it’s a combination of Pearly Gates and his hardtail Strat. A hardtail Strat is taking you back more towards that Telecaster kind of approach.”
Are the alleged tonal benefits of going hardtail worth the loss of the whammy bar and all the shimmer and shake that’s such a hallmark of the Strat sound? Well, best argue that one out among yourselves…