Xhefri's Guitars - Strats of Interest

Other Strats of Interest!

This is a USA 2000 Tobacco Burst CURLY MAPLE STRATOCASTER DELUXE SPECIAL EDITION. (Serial #DZ0069441). I bought this from the original owner who picked it up new in 2000. It is a "Limited Edition" made for certain Fender Dealers. This one is #20 of 150 made. I have owned 2 of these. There is a number stamped inside the body cavity, which appears to be the production number. Very hard to find. Funny how I came across two of the the exact same guitars from completely different parts of the country. I am sure the body is shot in "thin" Nitro and not the thick skinned poly finish.

The original owner told me this was solid Maple, but found out that it really isn't. This has thin “Maple caps” on alder just like some of the Ultras and Custom Shop Strats. The weight is right at 9 lbs. The Curly Maple is gorgeous. The neck has a nice 1962 C style radius to it and has a gloss vintage finish Maple with some flame in the grain. This model has 3 Vintage Fender Pickups with an over-wound bridge pickup. The neck and middle pickups read the same k as Texas Specials but the bridge is extra hot at 13k. They are marked EC on the back (which I think might be who wound them???). The 2nd tone control, which is wired to the middle and bride pickups, is a Fender no-load control. At 10 it clicks and then you bypass the resistance of the control completely, giving you the raw, uninhibited sound of the pickup.

This is a 1997 CIJ 1968 Stratocaster Reissue. (Serial #A098939) Once again, as you have read on other places on this site, the MIJ (Made in Japan) and CIJ (Crafted in Japan) guitars are excellent reproductions of the original instruments and easily rival the US models. So these are not to be mistaken for the cheap Squire series. This one is completely original except, again, for the electronics. These MIJ Teles and Strats are becoming more of a collector’s item due to their high quality. This 68RI had the pickups changed to a matched set of Seymour Duncan Vintage Staggered for Strat (SSL-1). I have always found that the weak point of the MIJ guitars is the electronics. They use the small potentiometers and cheaper pickups, so I almost always change out the complete guts of these guitars. Since this is a 68 RI, I figured I wanted the best vintage sound I could get, so these pickups were chosen. They are an exact replica of the original Fender Alnico V Stratocaster pickups. The same type of magnet wire is used, as well as the same number of coil windings. The staggered rod magnets are hand-ground, then aged by the exclusive Dun-Aged process; lacquered bobbins and cloth-braid hookup wire complete the vintage look. Every detail is included to duplicate the bell-like tone and the high-end bite that made the vintage Strats famous.

This 68 Strat RI model has a beautiful natural finished split Ash body. The wood is split down the middle with such craftsmanship, that it looks like one solid piece, until you examine the end where you see the grain "fold in" toward the middle. This creates a gorgeous look. The finish is near mint and replicates the deep thick finish they used during this era of Strats. Because of the finish, the grain really stands out. Ash has outstanding grain and gives a great resonance. The pickgaurd is a White, Black, White. Even the routing on these guitars are vintage, instead of the big gaping hole route found in the newer USA Strats. The neck is Maple on Maple, 21 fret laminated fret board. It has the large headstock, like on the Hendrix signature Strats. The bridge is the vintage style with Fender written on each saddle.

This is in near mint Sunburst 1996 50th Anniversary Lone Star Strat. This model has 2 Fender Texas Special Strat pickups in the neck and middle positions and SEYMOUR DUCAN Pearly Gates humbucker in the bridge. Vintage tone, Texas growl, and lots of spank. This came with some trick wiring from Fender. In position #2, for the bridge and middle pickups are engaged, the humbucker is split off to give more equal vintage Strat quack. There is an older type ceramic capacitor on the neck pickup.

Ah! It looks like a Gilmour--but it isn't! This guitar is not a Gilmour Signature Edition, or is it an exact reproduction of his 57 Re-issue Stratocaster. It does have the same electronic features that David Gilmour Signature Strats have and a little more. This is a MINT 1997 Gloss Vintage Red AMERICAN STRATOCASTER. The body is made from Alder, with a high gloss Vintage Red finish. This has EMG’s famous SA Pickup System. They are hot, yet quiet, which is especially important when you're working in a studio, and running a lot of effects or through a big rack. They combine the best features of the early Strat sounds, with added midrange response and higher output. Their “bell-like” ringing harmonics and increased sustain give the SAs greater versatility than normally found in single-coil pickups. They use ALNICO (aluminum-nickel-cobalt) magnets, which help deliver classic overdrive, with smooth midrange distortion, while still retaining the familiar high end of a single-coil.

The EMG electronics are similar to a David Gilmour Strat, but with an extra push/pull tone control. The onboard EQ circuits give you very powerful tone shaping abilities. If you look at the pictures, your will see 4 knobs rather than your standard 3. The lower tone knob controls the EXG - Guitar Expander which attenuates the midrange frequencies while simultaneously boosting the low and high frequency response. The increased low frequency response comes through clean and percussive. The accentuated high frequency response results in improved sensitivity with a well-defined attack. The reduced midrange improves overall clarity throughout the boosted bandwidths to give you a bigger sound. This “scooped” tone helps emphasize the clean, transparent classic Strat tone. The middle center knob (small black one) controls the SPC - Presence Control, or more commonly know as the The Fat Control. EMG invented the SPC to emulate a humbucking tone in the EMG and SA Systems. It is an active midrange boost circuit mounted on a potentiometer that gives up to 6 dB gain in the 1.3 kHz region while reducing high frequency response to accentuate the mids. It comes alive with overdrive tones. The extra middle center knob (other small black one, off to the side) is a tone push/pull pot which cuts the midrange of the neck and bridge pickups and adjusts them as a standard tone control, thus giving you even more tonal control and variation. As soon as I plugged this in, I could tell there was more power than with any other Strat set-up I have owned. The EMG circuits give you almost an unlimited variation of tones; from a fat and full humbucker, to a standard single coil Strat tone. Add to that: hollow, thick, thin, and even clean high fidelity sounds.

The EMG set-up in this guitar has an interesting history behind it. Sometime back I bought a Strat Plus from Billy Sullivan who has been playing for years (and still does) with Gary Lewis and the Playboys also backs up artists such as Mitch Ryder, Mark Lindsay, Billy J. Kramer, Lou Christie, Brian Hyland, Chris Montez, Freddie Cannon, and many other artists on the Oldies Circuit. In 1996, he bought a new Fender Strat Plus, which he had a lutheir professionally install this custom EMG setup for his stage work. I bought the guitar just to get this custom installed system EMG pick-up assembly.