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Hardtail Strat with Rosewood Fingerboard

youngneil1

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Joined
May 6, 2009
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29
What year did Fender manufacture the first hardtail Strat with rosewood board?

I have a dream....
 

somebodyelseuk

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Joined
Jun 10, 2020
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454
What year did Fender manufacture the first hardtail Strat with rosewood board?

I have a dream....
Probably, 59....
There will have been some made, just not many. For some reason, there seemed to be quite a few made in the late 70s. I have a maple board 79, I knew a guy who had the same with rosewood, and I've seen plenty of 79s around with hardtails.
 

VamboRool

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Joined
Nov 25, 2015
Messages
424
I have an '82 Sienna Sunburst Strat hardtail with a rosewood board. The serial number is S9, but the neck date is 1982. Read that they way over bought decals and took awhile to use them up.
 

audiosway

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Joined
Sep 13, 2019
Messages
7
What year did Fender manufacture the first hardtail Strat with rosewood board?

I have a dream....
Mid 59. They started rosewood boards with a slab of brazilian rosewood that summer. You'll come across hard tail's here and there from 59. Hard tailed Strats are my absolute favorite guitar. Especially hard tail's from the pre cbs era.
 

RAB

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Mar 17, 2005
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2,122
Mid 59. They started rosewood boards with a slab of brazilian rosewood that summer. You'll come across hard tail's here and there from 59. Hard tailed Strats are my absolute favorite guitar. Especially hard tail's from the pre cbs era.
Yup, I owned and played an original 1959 hardtail Strat for several decades. Sunburst finish. Serial number 38953, body date 8/59. No neck date. Very light weight, thick Brazilian slab board, birdseye maple back of the neck. A wonderful instrument! I currently have an SVL ‘61 Reserve hardtail Strat. Slab board, Aged Olympic White finish. It actually plays better than my old ‘59 hardtail and sounds pretty darn good too! :salude
 

youngneil1

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May 6, 2009
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29
Yup, I owned and played an original 1959 hardtail Strat for several decades. Sunburst finish. Serial number 38953, body date 8/59. No neck date. Very light weight, thick Brazilian slab board, birdseye maple back of the neck. A wonderful instrument! I currently have an SVL ‘61 Reserve hardtail Strat. Slab board, Aged Olympic White finish. It actually plays better than my old ‘59 hardtail and sounds pretty darn good too! :salude

Hi RAB,
Please post pictures if you can!
 

garywright

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Aug 17, 2002
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15,552
I currently have an SVL ‘61 Reserve hardtail Strat. Slab board, Aged Olympic White finish. It actually plays better than my old ‘59 hardtail and sounds pretty darn good too! :salude

whip it out
 

Guitar Whiskey

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Aug 10, 2006
Messages
2,757
This example from 1959 must be fairly early as it has the transitional mint guard, but still with 8 screws. The 11 screw version showed up by mid 1959.

4eQJxAD.jpg
 

Wilko

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Mar 11, 2002
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20,845
My first real strat was a hardtail with rosewood lam board. 1977.

Ash body. Black guard.
 

audiosway

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Joined
Sep 13, 2019
Messages
7
Yup, I owned and played an original 1959 hardtail Strat for several decades. Sunburst finish. Serial number 38953, body date 8/59. No neck date. Very light weight, thick Brazilian slab board, birdseye maple back of the neck. A wonderful instrument! I currently have an SVL ‘61 Reserve hardtail Strat. Slab board, Aged Olympic White finish. It actually plays better than my old ‘59 hardtail and sounds pretty darn good too! :salude
You just can't beat those old slab board strats. Amazing stuff. I had an all original 62 slab board. Wasn't a hard tail though. Once I went with a hard tail I can't play anything else.
 

agogetr

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Joined
Jan 22, 2019
Messages
451
Mid 59. They started rosewood boards with a slab of brazilian rosewood that summer. You'll come across hard tail's here and there from 59. Hard tailed Strats are my absolute favorite guitar. Especially hard tail's from the pre cbs era.
i think this is an early 59. has the single layer pickguard. the guy got it for a graduation gift along with the amp in 59.
 

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mudbone

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Sep 27, 2006
Messages
34
I bought this new in 1982. I have played the hell out of this guitar. A truly great sounding instrument. Serial is an E2 and the neck date is March 82

IMG-20130830-00071.jpgResizerImage1920X1440.jpgResizerImage1920.jpg
 

McCarthy

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Sep 30, 2015
Messages
107
My 1961 hardtail. Slab board HTs seem to be less plentiful than other eras. Anecdotally, I’ve seen quite a few ‘54s and ‘55s and right up through around ‘57 or so, then they seem to get harder to find until around 1963/64. Lots were made in the 70s, though…

77B8FC4D-77A7-4975-A58C-32963CF62CC6.jpeg

B0EB9A0D-CA3B-4755-B7DA-E1844BB5DD69.jpeg
 
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somebodyelseuk

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Jun 10, 2020
Messages
454
Very nice.
Note the gap between the bridge plate and the scratchplate. At some point after CBS took over, they started fitting them (and trems) with that gap removed, ie, closer to the neck, even though the scratchplate and neck stayed the same. As a result, if you use anything heavier than a 42 and a reasonable action, it's impossible to intonate the low E. I have three post 79 Fender Strats here with a 46 low E where the intonation is off from around the 5th fret up.
 

McCarthy

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Sep 30, 2015
Messages
107
I didn’t know that! The intonation on this one is great, no low E issues and it plays great - I’ve had a few that weren’t :)
 

somebodyelseuk

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Jun 10, 2020
Messages
454
Yeah. They don't 'close the gap' on Custom Shop Reissues... go figure?
I have an '82 Tokai with the gap, which intonates well, but I wouldn't touch a production Fender made after circa 1970.
 

agogetr

Active member
Joined
Jan 22, 2019
Messages
451
Yup, I owned and played an original 1959 hardtail Strat for several decades. Sunburst finish. Serial number 38953, body date 8/59. No neck date. Very light weight, thick Brazilian slab board, birdseye maple back of the neck. A wonderful instrument! I currently have an SVL ‘61 Reserve hardtail Strat. Slab board, Aged Olympic White finish. It actually plays better than my old ‘59 hardtail and sounds pretty darn good too! :salude
rab i,m curius i have seen a couple pre cbs strats with heavy birdseye necks a 59 and a 60 and both were original yet semed to have a heavey kind of thick shiney finish on the back of the neck, did your 59 have a shiney finsish over the birdseye? also heard of a third one the same way. was fender spraying the figured necks differently? wondering
 

S. Weiger

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Nov 25, 2002
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1,743
Very nice.
Note the gap between the bridge plate and the scratchplate. At some point after CBS took over, they started fitting them (and trems) with that gap removed, ie, closer to the neck, even though the scratchplate and neck stayed the same. As a result, if you use anything heavier than a 42 and a reasonable action, it's impossible to intonate the low E. I have three post 79 Fender Strats here with a 46 low E where the intonation is off from around the 5th fret up.
I've had Strats where I had to remove the low E saddle spring, in order to get the saddle further back for better intonation. But at some point the saddle actually begins to pinch the string..
 

somebodyelseuk

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Joined
Jun 10, 2020
Messages
454
I've had Strats where I had to remove the low E saddle spring, in order to get the saddle further back for better intonation. But at some point the saddle actually begins to pinch the string..
Same here. I ended up replacing the saddles with ones with a 'longer hole' for the string.
I would have had the bridge reset on the '79, but it's not that good a guitar that it's worth the hassle.
 
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