Fender Strat Body

[greybagz]

Hi all,
Long time since i was here last, so hope you're all well.
I have a question for all you gurus out there, regarding a Fender body.
Were USA Fender Strat bodies made from many laminations of alder (more than 2 pieces i suppose) or were they 2 solid blocks glued in the middle?
I have a friend who is quite concerned because his 2nd hand "USA Strat" he purchased has quite a number of visible vertical lines thru his gloss black finish.
Its a FNxxxxxx serial number, which i checked were "USA made guitars for export to other countries"
Heres a couple of pics for help with this matter,
are they join lines or grain lines? And is it normal for a suppose-ed "USA Strat"?



Thanks for your time
Graeme

[andy]

I haven't double checked myself on this, but I'm sure Fenders tend to be made of from 3-7 pieces, usually around 3, I think with the 7 happening when the joins runs across curves, with, say the lower bout of the body and the bottom of the lower horn being two extra bits, so it's usual to have a few bits in a Fender.

The more defined lines on the back and by the bridge look like lines from these sort of joins- they should show all or most of the way from end to end, and if the finish is even all over, be mirrorred on the back. The less distinct ones look more like grain- it looks as though they are less strict of a line, and have a rippling effect to them.

So, I don't think you have a 'problem' body here- Fenders are usually made of a few bits of wood, and the fact that these are visible means that the finish is not too thick, hopefully letting the wood resonate more freely. That Floyd Rose almost makes it a moot point though, as they have a reputation of taking the body wood out of the equation somewhat!

[sumgai]

Graeme,

Most Fender bodies of the MIA variety are 3 pieces, glued in the width-wise direction (bass bout - center (as if it were an extension of the neck) - treble bout), but you do find 2 piece bodies quite often. A single piece body just about doesn't happen anymore, they can't wait long enough for the tree to grow that wide. When you do get such a unit, the price will let you know it

This holds true even for the so-called 'export' bodies. There's a finite amount of time versus cost of materials in the formula for deteriming the cheapest way to make a body. It takes a worker X hours to mill the pieces to an exact straightness, then apply the glue, then clamp up the assembly, then clean up, etc. The fewer the pieces, the less time that process takes, and not coincidentally, the less the overall cost of producing that body.

However, there's also such a thing as "Marketing". Just because something is labeled as "so and so", doesn't make it true, does it? The only way to really tell if those lines are glue seams or just in the finish is to take the pickguard off and scrape away some of the primer in one of the pickup areas - that'll give you a definitive answer without hurting the overall value of the axe.

Will a multi-piece laminated body hurt the value? Only if it is a definite case of false advertising. Otherwise, I'm with andy, a laminated body won't really contribute, or detract from, the overall tone of the beast, the FR notwithstanding.

I've "sitting on" a Strat-clone body here that's actually laminated like plywood! 'Struth! I count 15 plies inside the control cavity, so I'm guessing 17 or 18 plies overall? Acoustically it doesn't have any "ring", but with a good set of pickups it's quite tolerable. I wouldn't try to sell it to Eric Johnson, but otherwise....... Just goes to show, not all Marketing hype is false. ;D

HTH




sumgai

[greybagz]

Thanks guys for the replies.
I just wasn't sure is all. I myself own 2 Sambora USA strats and they are both 2 piece bodies (I'm guessing because they're sunburst finishes)
The black one in the pics has all the right gear on it, USA labelled neck with genuine serial#, original Floyd, and Corona California neck plate.
I will mention the inspection of the body cavities to the owner.
Thanks again for your help,
its always much appreciated.
Graeme

[stratotak]

The only strats I have ever owned were copies..I have never owned a Fender made in the US...I went to Musician Friend site and checked out the Amercian Fender Strat..its like $1,000.00...A $1,000.00 guitar and fender is using 2 piece bodies???I mean you can go to Rondo site and get a strat copy made of Alder thats 2-3 pieces..And there like $120...you would think at that at $1,000.00 they would be one solid piece of wood..

[ChrisK]

I mean you can go to Rondo site and get a strat copy made of Alder thats 2-3 pieces..And there like $120...

Yeah, but they ain't vintage-like man!

With all of the "certificates of authenticity" being shipped with the reissue guitars,

are they worried about counterfeit fakes or fake counterfeits?

;D

[stratotak]

Hey..30 years from now that $120 strat copy will be vintage..lol..
I never got into that vintage thing..I could care less if a guitar is a 60's something strat ..and this whole relic thing goes over my head..lol..I rather have a nice shiny guitar..I was on ebay looking around and found some ebay store that sold vintage worn parts..stuff like screws,jack plates..etc... that looked like they were 30 years old..they had a few guitars that were reliced..they had the fender head stock shape but had no markings on back except there name..axe exceptions..something like that..they were selling those things for like 800-1000...and then Fender with there Relic series..prices starting in the high 2,000's...There seem to be alot of people doing the Van Halen frankestein guitar..thats kinda cool..but i saw one kid on you tube..he bought a nice one piece swamp ash body to do his frankie ...thats like $230 worth of nice looking wood..and then goes ahead and paints it with $3-4 spray can paint..he could have done the same thing with a cheap alder body off ebay..the funny thing is after he built it and made a video of him jamming to "J\Running with the Devil"it sound god awful..lol.

[mutato]

I think it's grain checking. I have a mid 90's '62 Reissue Sunburst, which has a three piece body. It has some fine grain cracks in the finish as well. No cracks where the pieces butt together.