Fender American Vintage '62 Stratocaster

[Matthew_Eames]

Looking at a Fender American Vintage '62 Stratocaster as an upgrade for my MIM strat for my 21st birthday (a keeper) (basically the same guitar to those not in the know, Rosewood board with 3 colour sunburst...exactly what I want)

http://www.dv247.com/invt/41133/


They cost (left handed) around £1200 and seem like a well specced upgrade over my current guitar (not a fan of the MIA Standards, I like the 60's vibe)

Does anyone on here have experience of these, being a lefty there are not many around and so i'm trying to gauge opinion before I go out and try one (means driving some distance), one thing that concerns me is the fact the body's are not often 1 piece, and are regularly 3 piece, sometimes this makes them look a bit crap.

The other option is to make my own out of Warmoth parts......probably costing about the same and built to my spec (bridge/pickups .etc) though it would be a replica of the '62 strat.....(but missing the fender logo, something which should not bother me but it does.)

Thanks

[funk odyssey]

no direct experience but IMHO sunburst strats should have a glossy maple neck and fingerboard

[Dai Capp]

funk odyssey said:

no direct experience but IMHO sunburst strats should have a glossy maple neck and fingerboard

No direct experience of this particular model but I've played plenty of maple and rosewood fingerboard strats and for me the maple fingerboard always played better and smoother.

For a keeper I'd make sure I spent time playing both types and lots of models. I was bought a Standard Strat for my 18th and it had to be sunburst, rosewood fingerboard, two tone pots etc. I ended up with a black and white 1983 USA Standard 'Hardback' which has one tone pot, with a maple fingerboard but it played so well compared to the others that I would have had to be daft not to go for it



21 years on and it is still the guitar I pick up first and still plays better than anything else I have - I love it.

Actually that's a bit freaky - I was getting this strat the same year you were born. God I feel old now...

DC

ETA There is a specialist http://www.leftyguitars.co.uk/index.html who may be worth a trip to..

Edited by Dai Capp on Sunday 8th February 09:56

Edited by Dai Capp on Sunday 8th February 09:59

[Bob Loblaw]

For me it's rosewood every time.

I've gigged with the '62 reissue and it's a really great guitar, but it's harder work than a modern strat - lower output pickups and much smaller fretwire. The profile of the neck is quite deep but to me it feels great.

The big difference between it and the mexican equivalent is it has nitro-cellulose paint, which will fade and will be easier to damage, but it allows the body to really resonate -it improves sustain a lot.

As with all vintage style strats, the sound you get out of it comes from what you put into it, and the '62 forces me to play cleanly and powerfully - you can't be lazy with it!

ETA: And they look SO much better than new strats, especially in olympic white with a few years ageing

Edited by Bob Loblaw on Sunday 8th February 12:55

[Matthew_Eames]

I'm well and truly set on a 3 colour sunburst with rosewood, still toying with the idea of creating my own guitar from parts myself...though it's basically copying a '62 so it perhaps makes sense to buy one and then perhaps upgrade at a later date, the name on the headstock is important to me...even though I know it shouldnt be

the vintage style pickups do not concern me so much ,I'm going for a mix of Hendrix/Gilmour sounds....so to me the 62 strat will do that perfectly and coupled with marshall half stack (2203) which does not really need much push to overdrive should give the desired result. The mexican pickups are one of the big downpoints with my guitar anyway, shrill and harsh.
But i'm interested about the different frets and radius of the Reissue, will have to play one really.

[Steve McQueen]

http://www.gordonsmithguitars.com/products/categor...

Get exactly what you want, for cheaper, haven't you heard theres a credit crunch.

These guys make damn fine sounding axes, you might even get to watch some of it being made.

[Matthew_Eames]

Just spent the day trying to find one somewhere reasonably locally (100 miles) but to no avail, might get onto Fender UK and take a visit there if I can and pick one from their stock (perhaps have it sent to a particular retailler whom I can then buy it from)

Pain in the arse being a Lefty!

cheaper to buy and import one from the USA!
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Fender-American-Vintage-62-S...

Edited by Matthew_Eames on Monday 9th February 21:07