NGD - So I'm a Strat guy now

[jvin248]

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"volume knob is in the way of palm muting"
"but I use it for volume swells"

I like this Hendrix video. It shows just how much playing he does from saddles to neck that would bump into regular Strat volume knob placement.
Jimi says it's ok to move the volume knob out of your way.
If you go to master tone you can move the volume to the first tone pot hole.
the Strat first tone knob is where a Tele tone knob is, forward of that is a Tele volume knob and it's possible to do volume swells there just fine.
Set up your pickup heights like he has here too, for better tone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rw9JQC8nhhY

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[UlricvonCatalyst]

The stamps on the neck heel look fine for a MIJ Fender of the era. I think it's had a body refinish (duh) but here's another marked up pretty much the same way, with a spaghetti logo and the same tuners:
https://reverb.com/au/item/31894817-fen ... cale=en-AU
However, that decal is noted as a replacement, and I think it is on yours too. I reckon the front of the headstock has been stripped, and that's where the original serial number would have been, like these ones (same model again):
https://reverb.com/au/item/31894817-fen ... cale=en-AU
https://www.northsidebuysell.com/listin ... 7/32121720

Thanks for that. I knew someone on OSG would help me out. It never occured to me that ST-362V was the model designation (maybe based on a Strat from March '62?).

Although I couldn't find any other Strats from this era in the same colour, there's a Japanese catalogue scan of "ST62" (Basswood) Strats with finishes including "SBL", which I'm guessing could mean Sonic Blue. There's always the chance that I can't tell my Sonic from my Daphne, but either way it's hard to imagine someone going to the expense of getting this Strat refinished then selling it shortly afterwards, so I'd veer towards it being the original finish, while accepting the headstock theory as a likely explanation for the absent serial number.

im curious about the quarter pounder. my bandmate sticks them in everything and always sings their praises as "the normal guitar's pickups but beefier"

As I said, to me it lacks bite. Maybe that bite just isn't there in Strats, but I'd guess it's a combination of the pot and cap value - the seller did say something about the QP "taming the ice-pick" sound, but didn't mention changing the pot. I'll tear it down some day and get to the bottom of it.

My recently-acquired Thinline Tele has opened my eyes to the value of a 1Meg pot for getting that biting treble I know and love.

[UlricvonCatalyst]

.
"volume knob is in the way of palm muting"
"but I use it for volume swells"

I like this Hendrix video. It shows just how much playing he does from saddles to neck that would bump into regular Strat volume knob placement.
Jimi says it's ok to move the volume knob out of your way.
If you go to master tone you can move the volume to the first tone pot hole.
the Strat first tone knob is where a Tele tone knob is, forward of that is a Tele volume knob and it's possible to do volume swells there just fine.
Set up your pickup heights like he has here too, for better tone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rw9JQC8nhhY

.

I think mbene is probably going to stick to the easiest solution of all to this problem: not playing a Strat to begin with.

Thanks for the clip, though - it was interesting to note the bridge to neck area picking and all the little runs between lines of the verses that aren't on the record. At the risk of stating the bleedin' obvious, I don't think I'll ever be able to play that good.

[MattK]

Although I couldn't find any other Strats from this era in the same colour, there's a Japanese catalogue scan of "ST62" (Basswood) Strats with finishes including "SBL", which I'm guessing could mean Sonic Blue. There's always the chance that I can't tell my Sonic from my Daphne, but either way it's hard to imagine someone going to the expense of getting this Strat refinished then selling it shortly afterwards, so I'd veer towards it being the original finish, while accepting the headstock theory as a likely explanation for the absent serial number.

SBL is sonic blue, right, but the neck pocket has black under the blue and there's no way that would have happened at the Fender Japan factory. I wonder if the pencil date in the neck pocket - which I've never seen on any MIJ/CIJ Fender, and I've seen a lot of them - is the date of the overspray finish. That would have given it plenty of time to wear and expose the black or burst underneath. But the USA Fender practice of spraying custom colours over bursts doesn't happen in Japan. My guess - a more generic model given a spaghetti logo and a sonic overspray to give it vintage vibes. ST-362 is probably a price-related code for a lower-priced domestic model (e.g. ¥36200), I've had a TL-43 which I'm pretty sure was a ¥43000 model with cheaper hardware etc.

[sookwinder]

I agree … that is sonic blue.
There is some much confusion between sonic and daphne, even in some Fender catalogues in the past 20 years.

To my eyes daphne ore green in the colour than sonic. Sonic is just a soft light blue, where as daphne has a tinge of green to it.

Could that blackish undercoat actually be a spray on shield material?
The Japanese made Jaguar I bought for my nephew 15 years back has some thing like that over the entire body (under the LPB top finish.

[UlricvonCatalyst]

Could that blackish undercoat actually be a spray on shield material?
The Japanese made Jaguar I bought for my nephew 15 years back has some thing like that over the entire body (under the LPB top finish.

That occured to me also. My Jazzmaster has it in the cavities. I'm not sure whether any made it into the neck pocket, but I can see how that might happen.

It's also worth noting that if the 1984 date is indeed correct that'd place it right in the timeline where Fender had no production facility in North America, and Japanese Fenders were going out to most of the rest of the world, selling particularly well here in the UK. I can imagine that sudden level of demand accounting for a few quality control anomalies, possibly including the seeming absence of a primer coat that even my Seafoam Vista Jagmaster had.

[MattK]

Plausible, but none of the MIJ factory finishes (all polyurethane except ultra premium models) wears like that, and none of them have dates in the neck pocket. Why is it so hard to believe it had an overspray when the headstock's been refinished as well?

[Embenny]

Plausible, but none of the MIJ factory finishes (all polyurethane except ultra premium models) wears like that, and none of them have dates in the neck pocket. Why is it so hard to believe it had an overspray when the headstock's been refinished as well?

Yeah, I'm with you on that one. I've had a fair number of MIJ Fenders pass through my hands, including a bunch of early-mid 80's ones, and their poly finishes don't wear like that.

This looks like a nitro refin job to me, which to be honest might appeal to a bunch of folks more than the original finish.

[UlricvonCatalyst]

Plausible, but none of the MIJ factory finishes (all polyurethane except ultra premium models) wears like that, and none of them have dates in the neck pocket. Why is it so hard to believe it had an overspray when the headstock's been refinished as well?

I guess it's perfectly believable. So would it have been stripped right back to the bare wood and nitro sprayed without a primer coat?

[UlricvonCatalyst]

And if it's nitro should I be worried about having it on that guitar stand? (I've heard it can react badly with foam rubber.)

[jthomas]

And if it's nitro should I be worried about having it on that guitar stand? (I've heard it can react badly with foam rubber.)

Yes! (be worried--- don't do it---from personal experience)

[Fiddy]

And if it's nitro should I be worried about having it on that guitar stand? (I've heard it can react badly with foam rubber.)

Test if it is nitro. Put a dot size acetone drop on the back of the heel.

[MattK]

I guess it's perfectly believable. So would it have been stripped right back to the bare wood and nitro sprayed without a primer coat?

Hard to say, the spots where it's worn through look black in places. It could have been a clear natural or a burst finish and just oversprayed - need detail shots to tell.

[UlricvonCatalyst]

the spots where it's worn through look black in places.

That's just the quality of the pictures. There's some grime on some of the bare wood patches, particularly around the edges, but absolutely no sign of black paint anywhere other than the neck pocket (so far).

I was convinced there was nothing under the blue, but on close examination I've just found a couple of spots where tiny flecks of blue have flaked off to reveal a white layer underneath. There's definitely no evidence of the yellow dye that would denote a sunburst finish. Feeling the large area of wear on the back, I think the theory that it started life with a clear coat could be the most likely. Then again, couldn't the smoothness I'm feeling there just be grain filler? The theory that the black in the neck pocket could be shielding paint seems like a decent guess, as there's no evidence anywhere else that this guitar was ever black (though I still haven't looked under the scratchplate).

Regarding it being a nitro over poly refinish: if nitro has a particular wear pattern that poly doesn't have, wouldn't it be absolutely obvious if there was an original (white?) poly finish underneath, rather than all the wear revealing bare wood, or does the nitro react with the poly in some way that makes them both flake off together?

The biggest question mark, for me, is the timeline: all the other ST-362Vs I've come across - with serial numbers - date to the '84-'87 period. That being the case, and absent a serial number, the theory that the pencilled date refers to an April 1984 refinish just seems weird, though not impossible. Firstly, how likely is it that someone refinished a new guitar perceived at the time to be a cheaper alternative to 'the real thing', rather than just buying the colour they wanted to begin with? Secondly, in those pre-internet days of 1984, was there even a widespread belief that "nitro is best"? It's worth remembering that in 1984 today's sought-after vintage guitars were just old and second-hand; other than appealing to a few connoiseurs who'd noticed a general decline in quality standards over time, the main attraction of these old guitars was that they were generally cheaper than new ones.

I'm not being wilfully ignorant, needlessly argumentative, or playing Devil's Advocate here, so I apologise if my inability to accept your firm convictions without question are pissing you off; I just want to be able to make sense of the various anomalies, particularly the fact that all the wear appears to go back to bare wood.

[JVG]

This is interesting.

I think it’s time to remove the scratchplate and see if that yields any answers.