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The 1960’s – An Era of Change

     Ah, the 1960’s…the rise of surf music, the loss of 1950’s rock icons and across the Big Pond an interest in and resurgence of American blues music will soon give rise to the British Invasion and some of our future guitar legends.

     The guitar manufacturers were also undergoing some changes themselves and as research and development plodded forward, These changes were reflected in the guitars themselves.  Over at Fender, Leo and the gang brought us the Telecaster, and although not its replacement, but by Leo’s standards an improvement in design, he then brought us the Stratocaster in the early 1960’s.  The pre-CBS Stratocasters (1959 to 1964)underwent some significant changes within its own design.  Essentially, the Stratocaster was still the same guitar as always, with some (as enthusiasts contend) cosmetic changes, some of which were esthetically pleasing, minute at the time, but all eventually changed the 50’s ‘Strat.  Some say it changed for the better, some argue it changed for the worse, but we will let that dog chase its tail on its own.

     So what were some of the changes?  Well, first to come to mind was the fretboard – Fender went from a maple fretboard to a rosewood fretboard ,with the maple as an option, the Rosewood  which throughout the 1960’s got progressively thinner, and in late 1962 even had a  bottom radius to match the arch of the neck’s top radius.  The black fret position markers were also changed to clay dot markers on the fretboard face.  Also, the trussrod which was placed through the backside of the neck, and gave us the skunk stripe inlay was placed via under of the rosewood fretboard, thus eliminating the skunk stripe itself and doing away with the pegheads plug inlay.  As a result, I am probably correct to assume that it also facilitated speed in production and less articulation on the builder’s part – remember, Leo was a “bottom line” kind of guy.  But being cost conscious why go from an 8 screw to an 11 screw pickguard cover that was now introduced  ? ( obviously for better coupling) and Fender replaced the thinner one-ply pickguard with a triple-laminated (the mint green coloration, according to Fender, was a mistake) and often a shielded one. Yes Leo was known to shave a dollar here and spend a dime there all the while listening to his field of test players in the trenches, the raves and the complaints were all a grand part in Leo’s quest for perfecting his “girl” the Stratocaster. 

The 3 color “bursts” were phased in over the standard 2 color s( although some 3 color one do appear as early as the later half of 1958) Some of the production models in the earlier 60’s had a strange combo of older and newer parts (again Leo saving a dime) until all the old inventory was used up and production was ramping up. Also we see on dealers charts of the day an array of colors appearing and disappearing, choices such as Lake Placid Blue , Sonic Blue, Sherwood Green , Foam Green, Shoreline Gold Metalic , Olympic White , Surf Green ,  Burgandy mist , Black,Blonde , and The Sunburst were some of the custom color choices as a customer you would have had. Interestingly enough Shell Pink was one that was discontinued and Candy Apple Red was introduced.

 Because of undercoat  “primer” changes from silver to gold in 1965 / 1965 we can also see a wide array of coloration discrepancies all within the same known colors of  a particular guitar.(especially within  the reds)  At times due to a lack of guitar for a customers color order, a desert sand or sunburst that didn’t quite take well was over sprayed the custom color , again to save inventory and probably speed thing up a notch ,we will  never really know. So by 1964 Leo and the gang was kicking out some mighty fine guitars, progress was being made, expansion was constant and changes were taking place.  Then another turn in the house of cards was to take place. In 1965 the sale of Fender to CBS, making what some argue the most highly desirable (PRE CBS) and prized guitars in the market as we know it today. But , That is just another piece to the puzzle and another story for another day and as always this is just my opinion her at  Vintage Guitar News and Views, all brought to you courtesy of Greg at www.Gregsguitars.net. So may all your days be fair all your friends stay true  and all your riffs be killer, Thanks and I will see ya next month .Greg.