First photos from forum noob, here's my 77 strat, a natural relic

stratntele

I've come across other hard-tail Strats from the 70's that were also light weight compared to the 'run of the mill boat anchor' tremelo ones from that period.
Perhaps Fender was saving the lightest woods for their hard-tails in order to compensate for the supposed extra weight from not having a tremolo unit fitted? Does anyone know if this could be true or not?
Nice looking guitar by the way......

Bridgehouse

stratntele said:

I've come across other hard-tail Strats from the 70's that were also light weight compared to the 'run of the mill boat anchor' tremelo ones from that period.
Perhaps Fender was saving the lightest woods for their hard-tails in order to compensate for the supposed extra weight from not having a tremolo unit fitted? Does anyone know if this could be true or not?
Nice looking guitar by the way......

I'm not sure there was any sort of intelligence to it whatsoever to be honest. 

The 74 Precision I've recently picked up is 8lb 4oz dripping wet - really light and certainly lighter than a 76 I tried reasonably recently which was well north of 10lbs. 

There was no real difference across the Precisions at that time so it couldn't be that. Unless it was custom colours? Mine's an Oly White custom colour, the 76 was a Sunburst so bog standard. Mind you, this strat is a natural - don't think that was a custom order in '77?

DulcetJones

Bridgehouse said:

You can't post images because:
- You haven't started a thread on why a Strat/Les Paul/PRS is the best and all you need
- You've not touched a Terry Morgan
- You've not ranted about a Helix/Axe FX either positively or negatively
- You haven't discovered that "tone is all in the brass saddle/screws/tuners" etc..




(Right click, open each image in a new window - copy the link and post..)

   What, no tele?   Nice strat BTW

richardhomer

stratntele said:

I've come across other hard-tail Strats from the 70's that were also light weight compared to the 'run of the mill boat anchor' tremelo ones from that period.
Perhaps Fender was saving the lightest woods for their hard-tails in order to compensate for the supposed extra weight from not having a tremolo unit fitted? Does anyone know if this could be true or not?
Nice looking guitar by the way......

I played a '77 hardtail in Walnut (a sort of see-through brown, which was actually quite cool in a '70s sort of way) a couple of years ago.

It was about (at a guess) 8lbs - certainly it felt very light for a mid-late 70s guitar.

I doubt Fender would have had any kind of deliberate policy around weight - it seemed to be something which they simply didn't consider by that point. Yet it's interesting that a few of us have come across light(ish) hardtails....

As they were quite rare, I wonder if they had a stock of older bodies, which they gradually used up - made when lighter ones were more common? The one I played had more pronounced contours than Strats typically had by '77 - which could also be a sign of earlier manufacture.

fendergibson

I've owned at least 20 strats in my time, this 77, an 87, loads between 2000-15, custom shop relic, squires, jap, mexican etc etc. The difference in weight between them all was ridiculous.

Some of the later ones were 8.5 to 9lb.....which is the last thing you want in a strat ( but they were a nice colour lol which is why I acquired them - doh )

The CS 60s relic was a lovely lightweight guitar but I got bored of daphne blue and thus it was sold on same as all the others except for this 77 and my new one, bought from Angus on this site, an AVRI 62 in sunburst. Now this one is 7lb 3....a featherweight and one I'll be keeping hold of.

I think even now Fender have no remit towards making them to a certain weight....unless they are custom shop.

My 77 is a two piece body from what I can see, I wonder if that contributes to its lightness, also wonder if that's quite rare for a 70s strat ?

richardhomer

fendergibson said:

My 77 is a two piece body from what I can see, I wonder if that contributes to its lightness, also wonder if that's quite rare for a 70s strat ?

Most pre-CBS Strats I've seen have three-piece bodies and late period CBS guitars often had five.

If it is a two piece body, I'd suggest that's pretty rare. Presumably they tried to use fewer pieces on natural guitars, as the joins would be more noticeable?

p90fool

stratntele said:

I've come across other hard-tail Strats from the 70's that were also light weight compared to the 'run of the mill boat anchor' tremelo ones from that period.
Perhaps Fender was saving the lightest woods for their hard-tails in order to compensate for the supposed extra weight from not having a tremolo unit fitted? Does anyone know if this could be true or not?
Nice looking guitar by the way......

Wouldn't the tremolo block, springs and claw weigh more than the wood removed for the cavity?