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Been uploading old tracks I recorded ages ago and hopefully some new noodles here.
nah, it's still sat in a case in his house with some 30 other old guitars, classic hoarder type haha
Also funny that thirty years ago, you could barely give away late-60s CBS-head Strats, and look at the prices now...
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
I have a set of 69 pickups in my 61 strat so it was interesting to compare the pickup shots.
ICBM is quite right. When I was strapped for cash in 1979/80 I was thinking of selling my (November) 69 hardtail but the most I got offered was £175 which was less then it cost me so I kept it...and darned pleased I did.
I didn't know at the time but my 69 is actually pretty rare. All the Strats being made at that time had rosewood boards as Fender was no longer making the one piece maple neck. But for a limited period of 12-15 mths or so as a special order and at a fair bit of extra cost Fender would supply a maple capped board that they would fit just like a rosewood board. Because the truss rod was laid inside before the maple cap board was fitted, it's the only time Fender didn't need to add a skunk stripe inlay at the back of the net with a maple board Strat. Jimi Hendrix' white late '68 was the same.
There's an interesting article here on neck dates: (see here: https://www.vintageandrare.com/blog/serial-number-identification-and-decoding/)
The neck number on my 69 Strat follows the 9 character 'shape' listed in the article and has 22 (denoting Stratocaster), then a 3 digit batch number, and then 119, denoting November 1969.
Interestingly the Strat in the OP only has 8 digits: "Other exceptions exist as well. For example, a 1970 Strat with the neck code 2231008B. The first “22” is the model (Strat), and the ending “B” is the neck width. But the “008” is not the month and year. There aren’t really any explanations to this, but it appears on the occasional Fender guitar from this era."
Interestingly the Strat in the OP has a 008 neck number which suggests that it too might possibly be a 1970 guitar, & which would be consistent with your observation of the squared off pickup routes.
I also noticed the receipt dated 23/4/62 for a completely different serial number 5827901 whereas the OP guitar serial number starts with a 2 - so that receipt must relate to a different (1962?) Stratocaster!
For what it’s worth it was the best Strat I’ve ever played, and that includes many pre-CBS ones.
(By the way, when he sold it the date was correctly described, but it's impossible to know what might have happened to it further down the line...)
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
It was often assumed, rightly or wrongly, that the serial number gave you the date of birth - Far more accurate today on a Fender - But back in the days of the number on the neck plate, the issue was always the same in that old numbers were not used first - Today we now know how to date pots, pick-ups, necks etc and we use this info to acquire a potential date of birth
If the guitar is all original , then it has to be assumed that the youngest dateable parts, give a more accurate date of birth of the guitar - ie if it has 69 p/up date markings and 70 pot date markings, then it can't possibly be have been assembled in 1969, no matter what the neck date is or serial number date implies - As such it is a 1970 Strat
I was looking at a Jazzmaster only days ago - All original with a mix of parts from 1967 to 1969 - Therefore it has to be 1969
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein