Is this really a vintage 1950's Fender Stratocaster? Can you tell?
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- čas přidán 29. 07. 2024
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Tone Twins TV is home to all thing’s 'guitar tone' related;
vintage guitars, vintage amps, DIY, pedals and more!
In this video Ed and Huw discuss a potential 1956/57 Fender Stratocaster… is it the real deal or just a good replica!? Watch on and found out!
Hear the amps with some choice vintage Fender, Gibson and Gretsch guitars and hear the effect that a few simple mods and tone tweaks can have on the tone.
In this episode:
Mystery Gold Strat….
1956 Fender Stratocaster thanks to Lucky Fret Music
Amp audio recorded with Beyerdynamic M160 mic into a UA Apollo Quad into Logic - no Compression or EQ.
Room audio recorded with a Neumann CMV563 into Telefunken/Siemens V72 into UA Apollo Quad into Logic.
Key timings:
0:00 Intro
2:46 The Finish
6:51 The Tuners
8:31 Template Pinhole
10:12 Bridge Saddles
12:43 Spring Cavity
13:37 Body Contours
15:52 Body Date
17:43 Body Template Pin holes
19:33 Neck Plate and Serial number
21:30 Plastic Parts
25:51 Pickups and pots
28:05 Pickup cavities
30:27 Pickup polarity
31:41 The Neck
33:52 Conclusions
37:08 Stay tuned for part two
We hope you enjoy this video.
Special thanks to Andrew and the team at Lucky Fret Music for the 1956 Strat!
Stay tuned for a head to head with these Strats in part two coming soon!!
As always, we’d love to hear your views and suggestions in the comments.
Please subscribe to our channel and ring that bell. Thanks!
Diolch
Keep the gold finish! It looks great and is part of the story of the instrument :)
Very interesting, I have been a Strat player for 40 years now, having bought my ‘78 new from the Fender Soundhouse in SoHo Square. Not nearly as desirable as these two beauties, but I did learn a lot watching this. Really looking forward to part two.
So glad I stumbled upon your channel ... Amazing video and I truly enjoy the chilled out way you are presenting your work 👍
Thanks Thomas.
Found this channel because of your work on Chris Buck's Strat, but have really enjoyed your other content as well. Very informative and entertaining. Subscribed!
Thanks and glad to have you on board.
That 10/56 body more than likely originally had a 10/56 neck . The only reason I say this is because before the internet in the 90's, I used to buy all the American guitar magazines and there was a period when the "thing" was the "10/56 neck shape" , which meant little to me at the time but I got the impression it was a distinct shape of some kind that the Custom Shop was busy replicating for certain Relic Strats and "collectors" were willing to pay top dollar for original necks .
Great insight into the vintage strat
A quick correction on the pickup polarity issue. Brett Wood is absolutely right and we messed up the north/south thing. Opposites attract so if south pulls towards the magnets they're north up and if the magnets attract the north pointer, they're south up.
So our test actually demonstrated that the gold and sunburst pickups were north up and the 60s ones are south up - which is exactly what we had hoped for.
Apologies - we shoot and edit these vids whenever we get a bit of free time and now and again we're going to make mistakes. We are grateful when viewers point them out and will always attempt to make corrections and give credit where credit is due.
That Gold finish appears to be Aztec Gold which Fender had used from 1965 to around the late 60's. But definitely NOT used during the 50's. The minus ( - ) serial number, neck date, neck profile, pots, etc. all scream a 1957 model year.
So I was thinking that should you choose to strip off the Gold finish, and find that there's been some filled in routing (where you said there was a Mahogany plug), I'd choose to properly re-fill / inlay the proper wood, and then paint the body in an original custom opaque color like Fiesta Red. *Yes, there were a very few Fiesta Red late 50's Strats kicking around!! Another good, period correct custom color option would be to paint it Black, or maybe Shoreline Gold (a bit more pale than Aztec Gold).
Anyhow, just for what it's worth. Thanks!!
Nah , to me black is the most boring colour to choose for a refinish lol! Like you said , shoreline gold & Fiesta red would both look nice . I wouldn't mind it in Sonic blue, Daphne blue ,shell pink , Seafoam green ...or Sunburst ! 😊👍
I played along with my '94 '57 RI, without taking it to pieces, and there's even more thing not vintage correct on it tham I remember there being, mostly on the neck.
Great fun.
A ‘Life Hack’ to obviate the problem of stripped Phillips heads is to put a broad elastic band over the screw before applying the screwdriver. It should certainly provide sufficient torque to intonate the saddles, especially if string tension is released - protects what’s left of the head configuration as well.
And, yes, Fender did ‘batch build’ bodies and necks ‘back in the day’, so a mismatch of a few months, in the relative dates, is not necessarily unusual.
Thanks for all the measurements and close up shots! What were the fret dots distances at the 12th?
The gold was a shot at Homer haynes 50s one off shot over white.
its morning pee color looks more like firemist from 65 wrong for 50s
they were trying to do gibson gold top gold so it would not glare on TV
for Haynes guitar that is. Michael Stevens taught me how to use horse shoe rasps to shape
necks and bodies.. you might know that name he was chosen to run the first custom shop when fender
went back and tried to get back on specs.
My first real fender strat looks just like this. Hope you kept the finish!
Well done guys thank you!
27:40 interesting, my 04/57-05/57 was dug out in that same spot with a shallow channel scraped back to the control rout.
And I mean "dug out". Yikes it looked like the creator didn't even bother to sharpen his spoon. 🍴
But that's okay, it has been my little sweetheart for fifty years now.
I wonder what the mod of the day was, anyone know?
Dang, I'm so excited about this video I can't stop commenting.
The neck end dates at 32:15 reminded me of "4/57 FT" on mine.
Freddie Tavares so I'm told. No idea why stuff like that makes me happy.
Really enjoying your videos, I watched all of the Chris Buck ones one after the other, wish I could find a ‘62 in a house clearance. The detail and skill of that restoration is astonishing. I have a ‘72 I got a couple of years ago (I like the big headstocks, grew up with Ritchie and Uli as my heroes) and have a ‘79 I bought new in ‘81 ( don’t ask what I have done to that over the years). My ‘72 has been refinished in white before my time and just doesn’t look right. It should be yellowed and worn like Yngwie’s especially as the neck is worn and looks great. I would not have been able to afford it were it original though. Would love to see you work on a late ‘60s or 70’s Strat but I suppose a bit downmarket from your usual stuff!!
Not at all. We think 70s Strats are their own thing and there were some great ones.
Great episode guys 👍🏻 wot size are the plugs in the body?
If owner my definite wish would be the sunburst fin again. Just - not any doubt...
Absolutely fascinating and thank you for sharing your expertise with such detail. Might it be worth getting a set of plastic callipers. I can't help wincing every time I see those metal points near the finish!
The finish is way past worrying about on both of these Mark, but we are as careful as we can be ;)
@@tonetwinstv2863 I am sure that's true. I'm squeamish about reliced guitars too!
add gold hardware and pickguard and that was homer model he painted over the white
cause they were on Tv alot and it caused issues..
Keep in mind that Shell Pink, Daphne Blue, & Seafoam Green are early 60's colors. So they wouldn't be period correct colors for any 50's Fenders. At least Black is/was the most common "custom" color back in the 50's. There are also "one-off" sparkle finishes out there, which are super rare.
Interesting! Thanks for sharing
Think I would keep the gold.. even though I wouldn't buy a gold guitar personally
Neck plate and slight V neck profile would indicate a 1957 Strat neck.
I really like the gold too,but gold hardware I have never liked-gross. But why in hell would someone change from awesome sunburst to gold? good lord! Great vid guys...I wish people were as interested in mexi strats as USA or Japan. They are awesome,I have 4
We agree Jon. Some great Fenders coming out of Mexico.
@@tonetwinstv2863 I have two roadhouses 2016,2017 and they are perfection ,amazing guitars.same pickups as the Eric Clapton signature model .vintage noiseless are very good. But they are not true strats in my opinion.the other two ,2002,and 2006 mexi strats have these wacky high output ceramic pickups that sound as authentic as those two guitars you guys were playing (within reason of course). guitars are fun
I could buy a USA strat easily but why bother.but the contradiction is that I believe and live by everything you said about the ones you payed.they sounded beautiful,and i'm glad you didn't go overboard with reverb or any other effects
Fascinating Analysis. The comment about the material loosely called Bakelite: what is it really, and was there ever actual Bakelite used during any year? If not, how did this inaccurate verbiage find itself becoming so common? Also: I vote for Mary Kaye Blonde re-fin as well! Thanks!
We believe it was actually polystyrene - at least on the very early Strats. Not sure why people call the early plastics bakelite but as you say, it has become the accepted term.
Did you ever do this for a 1968 strat ?
Can you say what it cost and what it would be potentially worth when refinished? I assume because it's already a refin you wouldn't decrease the value at all. Is your friend's worth a lot more?
It's worth a lot more ;) And no, sympathetically refinishing the gold one will increase its value.
So what colour did it go guys?
Well currently it's still gold...
Lovely strat I wish it was mine😎 cellulose usually sinks into the woodwork over the years, it's quite soft and can see the grain shape in certain lights, also that's not shoreline gold so Refin - looks like Aztec or firemist to me not a 50's colour
You're right, it's not cellulose and it certainly isn't Shoreline Gold. This one started life as a sunburst.
@@tonetwinstv2863 cool vids fellas - subbed👍
The smooth part of the screw is called the shank.
Thank you. Always nice to learn something new.
The one with the filled nail hole on the back of the neck, is the real one.
Desert Sand!
I think this could be the Fleetwood Mac strat. It had a switch added in the same place. Check out the videos and you'll see it. PS I'm lucky enough to own dash 18250 so knew it was a 1957.
Very nice. I have dash 18523. Neck pencil date of 2-57 and body pencil date of 3-57. Enjoy and cheers!
👍🏻
-17355, 04/57 & 05/57.
Nice to hear from '57 owners. I also have #53271 1960. I'm not trying to boast because I'm 66years old and to musicians of our age these were just second hand guitars back then. So many Gibson's and Fenders have been in me and my brother's collection.
Martin that's really cool, we understand. I'm 66 as well and so fortunate to have had so many truly lovely guitars pass through my hands (🤔 and heart).
Ain't it great!
Good health guitar brother.
You failed to check the polarity of each set I have known of a mix of south /north in the same original set
Gibson did the same usually on their 3 pick up Customs the middle coil has a opposed magnetic field
Really Anthony? Were you in the room with us? Can't say we noticed you ;) Just because we didn't show you each and every pickup being tested doesn't mean we didn't actually test them. Rather than leap to an erroneous conclusion, wouldn't it have been more sensible for you to ask if we tested each and every pickup's polarity? And you don't need a compass to tell you when you have a mixed polarity set - your ears can do that.
I well never thought you where smart asses
You only tested the 1 magnetic field on each guitar. THE FACT YOU DID IT OFF CAMERA MEANS NOTHING TO TH VIEWER...
Keep the gold finish!
I think she need to go Mary Kaye style, of you go sunburst it’ll seem just a bit clinical.. if it’s already been refined I’d just do a better job rather than take it back to stock.. either way just jealous!
Thanks Geoff. A Mary Kaye would be nice, but it's alder rather than ash under that gold paint job, so it won't look quite right. It'll all become clearer when the body finally gets stripped.
Tone Twins TV Good luck.. hope you grow the channel.. I’m 50, a vintage nerd and a kindred spirit... more old gear please.. vintage pedals too.
I have just discovered this channel recently...wow. It’s like porn for guitar nerds. And that 2 tones sunburst is just purely awesome...🤤
It really is. An amazing vintage Strat and the best of all the 50s ones we've played so far.
Geez dudes! Get a polarity app!
Finish on the fretboard tells me no
That was after a quick look
@@paulcowart3174 In which case Paul, if you had taken a slightly longer look at the video you might have heard us say that the neck and headstock have been refinished. Which doesn't mean it's not a 50s Strat and equally doesn't prove it is. But at least we can agree that the fretboard finish is non-original...
It is an absolute crime to put jumbo frets on a Strat. This takes away the magic of a Strat. Biggest single mistake I see in restoring Strats. It was popular in the 80's but nowadays nobody is doing this- for good reason.
I know where you can get a good deal on a ‘42 Stratocaster.
Hmmm 🤔 what color is it?
@@c.amoroso Dyed blonde at a guess
We can all see that you can play but please work on that vibrato
We will I promise...
I was under the impression that pulling apart old valuable vintage guitars was a big NO NO. I am therefore surprised that the owner of the sunburst let you take it apart?
Not that big a deal
Fender guitars such as Strats were designed for easy serviceability. Taking them apart such like this is no problem. It isn’t like taking the neck off an old Martin.
Not at all, but changing the parts will change the value. Refin, refret or repair will really hurt the value as well.
Those frets certainly aren’t vintage.
Nothing screams fake like changed frets ;)
Tone Twins TV nothing screams not original like modern frets on a vintage guitar
Great effort on this video, hats off to you but man you really need to work on your vibrato
very simple to tell .smell the wood .if its smell old it is old.if its smell nitro paint and crap its fake new guitar wood.shit
Tone Twins new video on differentiating wood by the various smells comes out first on next month 01/04/20 Many thanks