Table of Contents
When did Fender switch to the big headstock?
The so called “big headstock”, which appeared on the Stratocaster in December 1965, was one of the more evident changes of the new CBS management. In general, Stratocaster headstock gradually became even thicker, with substantial differences in 1963, 1967 and in 1971.
How can you tell a vintage Strat?
Here are the four most important parts to check to help date a vintage Fender Stratocaster guitar:
- Neck and body.
- Electronics and pickups.
- Serial numbers on neck plates.
- General features.
- For Fender guitars with serial numbers with 6 digits or less on the neck plate.
- Serial numbers preceded by an “L” 1963-1965.
Which Strat has large headstock?
Two interesting footnotes here are that, one, all Telecaster Deluxe guitars have the large Stratocaster headstock, from the model’s introduction in 1973 right up to the present, and two, that the 25th Anniversary Strat model of summer 1979 did return to a four-bolt neck plate but did not return to a small headstock as …
How can you tell how old a Fender headstock is?
The only way to try to find the date is to remove the neck from the body. If the year is unreadable, it can also be written on the body under the pickguard or in the cavity in which the pickups are. With Fenders from before 1955 you cannot use the serial numbers to determine the exact year of construction.
How do you date a 70s Fender Stratocaster?
First four digits are paired up, 09 is the model number for the Stratocaster, and 00 is the neck configuration, in his case a fretted Maple neck with a Rosewood fingerboard. The last four digits are broken into three. 38 is the week, 9 stands for the year, 1979, and 3 is the day of the week, which is Wednesday.
Are 70s Fenders good?
These were extremely good guitars, and whilst a little more expensive than the Fender equivalent in the UK (not to mention limited in availability), they did show that Fender could be attacked from above as well as below. Fender could not afford to come second to anyone.
How do you date a Stratocaster headstock?
The dates were written by hand under the screw of the truss rod until 1962, when they started to be printed, and it was frequent to find, in particular between ’54 and ’55, also the initials of those who workedat the quality check of the neck. For example, “TG-7-54” means “Tadeo Gomez, July 1954”.
Do all Telecaster Deluxe guitars have a Stratocaster headstock?
Two interesting footnotes here are that, one, all Telecaster Deluxe guitars have the large Stratocaster headstock, from the model’s introduction in 1973 right up to the present, and two, that the 25th Anniversary Strat model of summer 1979 did return to a four-bolt neck plate but did not return to a small headstock as might be expected.
Is a 1973 CBS Stratocaster worth anything?
I have a 73 Strat. It’s okay. It’s old and I feel that an old, well played guitar develops some sort of magical resonance that make it different from a newer guitar but I might be imagining things. 1973 is not a ‘bad’ year for a CBS Stratocaster. Older and especially older 4 bolt 1971 and older guitars are worth quite a bit more.
What was the first Stratocaster with a smaller headstock?
That year, the ’57 American-made maple-neck and ’62 rosewood-fingerboard Stratocaster reissues became the first modern-era models to have smaller headstocks that approached suitably vintage correctness. According to Wheeler, these guitars were “crucial steps toward the authenticity of later reissues.”
Do all Fender guitars have the same headstock?
It’s worth noting here that CBS standardized the headstocks of all Fender guitars except the Telecaster using the larger Strat-style design in 1966, so that the Stratocaster, Jazzmaster, Jaguar, Mustang and Duo-Sonic guitars all had the same headstock, whereas they all had slightly different ones before 1966.