From: dnj@kauai.verity.com (Dave Johansen)
Subject: Re: 57 strat
Reply-To: dnj@kauai.verity.com (Dave Johansen)
Organization: Verity, Inc.  1550 Plymouth Ave, Mt. View, CA 94043
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 93 19:36:42 GMT

sorry couldn't resist re-posting (it's like a disease, ya know....)


> I own one of these and am generally very happy with it. The 57 and 62
reissues
> are American made, and they started this reissue back in the mid to late 80s.
> The idea was that a number of people were unhappy with the generally poor
> quality, or perhaps the perception of poor quality, when Fender went through
> all those owner changes, Japanese debacles, etc.

Actually Fender was getting hip to the fact that they were competing
with themselves in the collector's market... Why not cash in on the vintage
market that was(is) spiraling ever upward....


> The sticky neck feel may be because the 57 has
> a solid maple neck, and the maple does tend to feel less fluid. Try the 62
> as this comes with a rosewood fingerboard on top of the maple neck, if the
> stickyness really bugs you.

The type of neck isn't as important in the stickyness factor as is the
broken-in factor... I think that the tone is is different for the two
different necks (rosewood vs. maple) so that is something that I would
consider more.... IMHO
 
> Two things to consider: (1) If you get one of these
> with the tremlo, get the dealer to install (or do it yourself) a "TremSetter"
> by Hipshot. The trems on these old guitars make the tuning a bit
unstable. The
> tremsetter is a fancy extra spring with special stops on it that really
> stabilizes the tuning. (2) Keep in mind that the vintage reissues will only
> give you that pure good old strat sound (fine for me as I embellish with
> effects). You can probably get a whole host of other sounds if you opt
for one
> of the newer strats. From all accounts, the newer American made strats are
> pretty much up to snuff again, and you can get all manner of pickups/sensors.
> Hope this info is useful. Cheers. Pat Walsh.

In my "extensive" research I have found that no tremolo unit and or add-on
device will cure the age-old tuning problem... I have found that a PROPERLY
setup tremolo unit will work better... What I mean by properly is that I have
my trem-units set almost flat to the body surface at (equilibrium+.1) where the
bridge is adjusted to be in balance with the string tension so it moves only
a tiny bit when bending, but is still easy to "wang" away with.. Some techs'
method is to over-tighten the springs in the back, thus keeping the bridge
on the body when bent.. This leads to bent/broken wang bars in my experience.
Also I found that a bone-nut helps a lot too, but after it has broken in...
Characteristically it is the vintage bridge and the other insignificant
features that attribute to the "classic" Strat sound.... There are as many
"sure-fire" methods to this issue as there are guitar players, so I am only
giving my opinion of what works for me, as I know lots of people who have sworn
by Floyds and Kalhers... So experiment and find out what works for you!!!

See ya........

dnj 

Organization: Junior, Math/Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA