Description
'The high production costs of "The STRAT" led to it being discontinued in the course of 1983'
Oh yes, rare, The STRAT. Only made for 3 years, and of course, was a horrendously expensive exercise for Fender at the time.
Was a bit of a return to pre CBS specs...a smaller headstock and 4 bolt neck plate..but what set the Strat apart was full gold plated hardware and and a choice of 16 cool as f...hell colours..
The one we have here is a very very yellowed out Olympic White..yep, this guitar smokes, in more ways than one!
This guitar also had a quite unique pickup set up..
There is a two-way rotary selector which replaced the lower tone control, and is wired for more pickup witching combinations (nine in total).
On top of your classic Stratocaster tones, you could pull another 4 tones..they are:
- neck and middle pickups in series
- middle and bridge pickups in series
- neck and bridge pickups in parallel
- neck and bridge pickups in parallel with middle pickup in series
The stock bridge pickup, is a Fender X-1, which is slightly hotter than your usually Stratocaster fare...rams your amp in a really cool way.
OK, now to the guitar...
The neck has been been stripped of the lacquer on the back, making it feel super in your hand.
It's had a pro refret at some stage (not hard to guess why, with that amount of wear on the board.
It is NOT a lightweight instrument..weighing in a 4.65kgs. However, as we all know, weight = tone, or at least it did in the 1970s and 1980s.
Comes with a beautiful tweed Fender case with the instruction booklet and Fender cloth.
Made in the USA in the Fullerton Factory, sometime in 1980..and has a serial number that goes like this....G022400.