Fast forward 12 years later and my guitars since then have nearly all been offsets, save for two 70’s SG’s, a brief pair of teles, and a G&L Legacy Special I had for probably less than a week. When the AVII series was announced the ‘73 strat immediately caught my eye. There’s just something about the combination of a natural ash body, rosewood fretboard, and the large CBS headstock that just looks so cool lol. I tried one in my local shop but wasn’t wow’d enough by it to want to take it home.
A couple days ago I saw this ‘76 strat posted locally and was able to get it for a good price! The neck has a great fullness to it without being too thick, and I love the wood grain pattern of the ash body. Also, back in 1984 someone had installed a set of active EMG’s in it, the originally receipt for which was still in the case lol. I’ve never been much of a fan of EMG humbuckers but these single coils actually sound pretty great! I’ll still probably swap them out for some PV 73 pickups or something eventually though. It’s currently with my tech for a proper setup and to replace the brass nut with a bone one. Despite never thinking I’d have a strat again, I’m overall pretty happy with it and might keep this one for a while!
