Pre-CBS Strat Body Contours

[sikoniko]

I know we have many pre-cbs Strat owners here. I've been discussing body contours on strats and it is tough to find a 'good' collection of body contours from various years (1954 - 1965).

I would like to propose (request) that owners take photo's of the strat bodies to document how contours changed from year to year. Because the final sand was by hand, it would be great to have multiple examples from the same year, for comparison.

Would everyone be willing to participate? Perhaps if we get good participation, we can sticky the thread for future reference?

Here are a couple pic's of my 1960 to start it off. If people have suggestions on how to photograph the contours better, I'd love suggestions.

1960 Strat:
Dan's strat

 

[chasenblues]

Just offering my .02c..

But you need either better lighting or camera.

Sorry if that sounds harsh but those 2 pic's look hazy/dark to me.

 

[sikoniko]

Just offering my .02c..

But you need either better lighting or camera.

Sorry if that sounds harsh but those 2 pic's look hazy/dark to me.

not harsh. I agree. I hadn't seen the pic's at that resolution prior to posting.

I'll update the pic's if the thread gets some participation. Otherwise, I'll just let it fade away with hazy pic's...

I don't mean that to sound like an ultimatum, but I just want to know the effort is worthwhile...

 

[Cogswell]

I wish I still had some examples to photograph & post
I used to own a '61 Strat, & I happened to have it with me one day when I went into the Monte Vista guitar shop on Aurora in Seattle. There was another guy in the store at that moment, bragging about HIS '61 Strat! lol
I took mine out of the case & we compared the two, his having much deeper contours. This was back in the late '80s & nobody had phones w/cameras, lol

 

[sglp63]

Here's a picture of my '54, '58 and '61 Strats. The '58 has a '57 body and clearly has a slimmer "waistline" than the earlier and later ones.