Nocaster Reissues

McCarthy · Apr 17, 2016

So - I have been looking for a great tele/esquire to use live as I don't often want to use my '54. I previously owned a few Nocaster RIs and was always a bit 'meh' about them, and I recently found an '07 Nocaster RI with vintage-sized frets locally, but, again, the pickups to me sound weak and uninspired especially compared to my '54. Weight is OK - neck is a bit large but it was comfortable.

Assuming some of you have or have had various Nocaster RIs - do you find the same and do you swap pickups or components? Or, am I just unlucky so far in my RI hunt? Should I be looking at other brands, and which ones? I've heard these things can get close to the original Blackguard sound but I'm not yet finding it.

M

renderit · Apr 18, 2016

I just got this. I wish I could answer your question, but I really know jack about what a blackguard should sound like. This is my first real Tele. Wildwood 10 '51 Nocaster NOS. Twisted Tele neck and bridge pickups, 10" radius neck. Feels and sounds very nice. When you push it the tone can get really fat. Through a clean amp it can sparkle. I am really enjoying the sounds out of it. There was a video on their site for this very guitar with Greg playing it. Don't know what happened to it. Very similar to the reliced one below.

renderit · Apr 18, 2016

Fried okra · Apr 19, 2016

Nice!!!

redisburning · Apr 19, 2016

If I were going to buy a blackguard Fender reissue I'd go for a Cunetto era, preferably with the birdseye maple neck.

My stratocaster is a 1960 relic from that era and it still manages to excite me every time I pick it up (which is all the **** time)

If I were really trying to hit the sound though, well I just got a telecaster built by Dan Strain and it's a fantastic instrument. Mine's a 60's style though. Unbelievable sustain and bass come off of it. He, and K-Line and Ron Kirn and many others build blackguards. Not sure you'd like the 9.5" radius and 6125s Strain puts on his though. They're a touch big IMO, but I like mine smaller. Really a ton of guitar for the money, IMO.

Rev.WillieVK · Apr 19, 2016

When the guitar plays great but the sound needs work, I recommend Don Mare Pickups. :dude:

McCarthy · Apr 19, 2016

That's a great looking tele :hank

Thanks for the responses all - I'll check out Wildwood and the other makers, and the Mare pups might work as well, I'll check those out thanks!

BoyBastos · Apr 28, 2016

renderit said:
I just got this. I wish I could answer your question, but I really know jack about what a blackguard should sound like. This is my first real Tele. Wildwood 10 '51 Nocaster NOS. Twisted Tele neck and bridge pickups, 10" radius neck. Feels and sounds very nice. When you push it the tone can get really fat. Through a clean amp it can sparkle. I am really enjoying the sounds out of it. There was a video on their site for this very guitar with Greg playing it. Don't know what happened to it. Very similar to the reliced one below.

holy sister suzy!!

awesome!!

sonar · Apr 28, 2016

redisburning said:
If I were going to buy a blackguard Fender reissue I'd go for a Cunetto era, preferably with the birdseye maple neck.

My stratocaster is a 1960 relic from that era and it still manages to excite me every time I pick it up (which is all the **** time)

If I were really trying to hit the sound though, well I just got a telecaster built by Dan Strain and it's a fantastic instrument. Mine's a 60's style though. Unbelievable sustain and bass come off of it. He, and K-Line and Ron Kirn and many others build blackguards. Not sure you'd like the 9.5" radius and 6125s Strain puts on his though. They're a touch big IMO, but I like mine smaller. Really a ton of guitar for the money, IMO.

Still don't understand the desire of the Cunetto era? My buddy and I bought a Pair of Cunetto '60 Strat's (sisters) and a Cunetto '56 ash Strat was also in the heard. My guitars are long gone and his Cunetto '60 sits in its case, apparently appreciating in value.

redisburning · Apr 29, 2016

sonar said:
Still don't understand the desire of the Cunetto era? My buddy and I bought a Pair of Cunetto '60 Strat's (sisters) and a Cunetto '56 ash Strat was also in the heard. My guitars are long gone and his Cunetto '60 sits in its case, apparently appreciating in value.

without knowing your frame of reference, I can't say.

all I know is mine is the best guitar I've ever played and I love it to bits. I've not played a masterbuilt and I've not played a pre-cbs strat, so maybe I just don't know any better.

sonar · Apr 29, 2016

redisburning said:
without knowing your frame of reference, I can't say.

all I know is mine is the best guitar I've ever played and I love it to bits. I've not played a masterbuilt and I've not played a pre-cbs strat, so maybe I just don't know any better.

Sorry, didn't mean to offend.

Not trying to knock your guitar and I'll assume you know better. People knock models I love all the time on the webz, so I feel your pain.

Honestly I don't think I ever heard the name Cunetto until recently when I started seeing it on, of all places, the LPF. I asked my buddy (who works in the guitar world) about it and he did some follow up with Fender. Turns out our guitars were/are Cunetto's. Go figure.

They were good guitars, but I can't say they were superior to most other CS builds I've played. I'm also feeling a little internet hype from some owners (not directed at you) that may or may not be warranted, but that can be said about a lot of models and vintages.

I've always struggled with Strat's (at least any made after 1965) and that was toward the beginning of the end of my "find a Strat" buying/selling period. My buddy's guitar collection is anywhere between 60-100 at any given time and would probably have to rip apart his basement to find his. So, maybe we aren't the best examples of Cunetto owners?

redisburning · Apr 29, 2016

sonar said:
Sorry, didn't mean to offend.

Not trying to knock your guitar and I'll assume you know better. People knock models I love all the time on the webz, so I feel your pain.

Honestly I don't think I ever heard the name Cunetto until recently when I started seeing it on, of all places, the LPF. I asked my buddy (who works in the guitar world) about it and he did some follow up with Fender. Turns out our guitars were/are Cunetto's. Go figure.

They were good guitars, but I can't say they were superior to most other CS builds I've played. I'm also feeling a little internet hype from some owners (not directed at you) that may or may not be warranted, but that can be said about a lot of models and vintages.

I've always struggled with Strat's (at least any made after 1965) and that was toward the beginning of the end of my "find a Strat" buying/selling period. My buddy's guitar collection is anywhere between 60-100 at any given time and would probably have to rip apart his basement to find his. So, maybe we aren't the best examples of Cunetto owners?

dont worry about it.

looking back at what I wrote I didnt mean it the way I wrote it. it was meant a shrug/I genuinely dont know better kind of comment and came across like I was being defensive.

I really meant it more as a "in my own experience, this is the best I've played" kind of post but that's not what came out so you dont owe me any sort of apology.

I happen to think mine plays great and sounds better. I also recognize that I have limited exposure. within that limitations, I do believe it to be a special instrument and at worst on par with my CC les paul and my Danocaster

what I like about that era, and this is the non-hype part, is the fingerboard radius, the frets and the figured maple necks. that, plus my experience with my own strat from that era, do make them more interesting to me personally.

MK.II · Apr 29, 2016

Cunetto aged the bodies, necks and the parts and sent them back to Fender as parts. Fender still did the build/assembly of the guitars. Great guitars, although not exactly vintage correct spec wise as far as being a correct reissue (headstock shape slightly off, for one thing). Fender also made custom shop non-aged versions of the same guitars during the Cunetto relic era, but they generally don't get the same love that the relics get!

BoyBastos · Apr 29, 2016

20th anniv fender customshop '51 nocaster

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Monroe · Apr 29, 2016

renderit said:
Wildwood 10 '51 Nocaster NOS. Twisted Tele neck and bridge pickups, 10" radius neck. Feels and sounds very nice. When you push it the tone can get really fat. Through a clean amp it can sparkle. I am really enjoying the sounds out of it.

My Wildwood 10 Black Guard (they're calling mine a 52, not a Nocaster) is an awesome Tele as well.
Mine weights 6lbs-8oz and has the Broadcaster flat-pole bridge and Twisted Tele neck pickups,
and the neck is ~slightly~ slimmer than the baseball bat Nocaster carve. Sparkle with balls.

Hot_Snake · Apr 30, 2016

MK.II said:
Cunetto aged the bodies, necks and the parts and sent them back to Fender as parts. Fender still did the build/assembly of the guitars. Great guitars, although not exactly vintage correct spec wise as far as being a correct reissue (headstock shape slightly off, for one thing). Fender also made custom shop non-aged versions of the same guitars during the Cunetto relic era, but they generally don't get the same love that the relics get!

the early ones share some cunetto specs (fret size, hot bridge pickup, neck shape) along with the new "time machine series" specs (ex : correct hardware, ...)

MK.II · Apr 30, 2016

Hot_Snake said:
the early ones share some cunetto specs (fret size, hot bridge pickup, neck shape) along with the new "time machine series" specs (ex : correct hardware, ...)

The Cunetto era was before the Time Machine models. A few of the specs they corrected from the Cunetto era with the Time Machine series Strats were the headstock shape, the size of the radius on the body edges, supposedly more correct pickups (no longer calibrated per the originals), fret size and they stopped shielding the body cavities with shielding paint. I may have forgotten something.

redisburning · Apr 30, 2016

MK.II said:
The Cunetto era was before the Time Machine models. A few of the specs they corrected from the Cunetto era with the Time Machine series Strats were the headstock shape, the size of the radius on the body edges, supposedly more correct pickups (no longer calibrated per the originals), fret size and they stopped shielding the body cavities with shielding paint. I may have forgotten something.

it's odd that they stopped the shielding. I love how quiet the Cunettos are.

did those early time machine guitars have fancy necks? Ive seen two in person; mine has more than a little flame and the other (a maple neck) was full on birdseye madness

MK.II · May 1, 2016

redisburning said:
it's odd that they stopped the shielding. I love how quiet the Cunettos are.

did those early time machine guitars have fancy necks? Ive seen two in person; mine has more than a little flame and the other (a maple neck) was full on birdseye madness

The thing with the Time Machine series was that they were supposed to be as close as possible to the originals, so no shielding since the originals had none. I had a couple early Time Machine Strats with flamed out necks but that started to be more uncommon with them (like the originals). A lot of the Cunetto era Strats had highly figured necks.

Hot_Snake · May 1, 2016

MK.II said:
The Cunetto era was before the Time Machine models. A few of the specs they corrected from the Cunetto era with the Time Machine series Strats were the headstock shape, the size of the radius on the body edges, supposedly more correct pickups (no longer calibrated per the originals), fret size and they stopped shielding the body cavities with shielding paint. I may have forgotten something.

yes, but on the 99 and early 00 Nocaster you still have the strong bridge pickup, bigger frets and a smaller neck ... different animals compared to the "normal" Time Machine ones !

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