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1964 #Fender #Champ (left) with 1957 Champ and 1966 #Musicmaster II. I already got my #Christmas #present this year…and it has quickly become my second favourite #amp ever. When I bought it at @shyboytexrepairs they told me resistors had been changed...

1964 #Fender #Champ (left) with 1957 Champ and 1966 #Musicmaster II. I already got my #Christmas #present this year…and it has quickly become my second favourite #amp ever. When I bought it at @shyboytexrepairs they told me resistors had been changed to eliminate some of the midrange tones that these little boxes tend to produce…and this mod has made it sound fantastic! I’m even thinking of having them do the same mod to my ‘57 tweed Champ! Except it’s all original and mod'ing it would just be silly… ;)

#guitar #guitars #fenderguitars #vintageguitars #vintagefender #fenderamp #vintageamp #guitarphotography

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Dec 23, 2015

Friends!  Have you ever wanted to improve the neck angle on your post-1970 Stratocaster?  But, for whatever reason, you’re not comfortable “shimming” a neck?  Maybe your neck already has minimal relief, your saddles are adjusted down to the bridge plate, and yet the action is still too high for your taste?

Enter the ingenious “Micro-Tilt” neck.  This feature was added to the Stratocaster model at the same time that the much maligned 3 bolt neck was added, and though it was a great innovation for adjusting the angle of a bolt-on neck (and, I believe, it was also the very last thing Leo Fender invented before leaving the Fender Company for good!) it kind of got lost in the negative buzz around the 3 bolt neck.

Here is my recently acquired 1988 American Standard.  I did all of the above:  straightened the neck, lowered the saddles as much as I could, and still the action was too high for my liking.  I was about to shim, when I remembered the Micro-Tilt, and decided to use it for the first time ever (which is pretty incredible if you consider that I have owned around 20 Stratocasters - many of them with the Micro-Tilt feature - over the years).  

  • Photo 2 shows the neck plate.  The hole in the middle (between the two back neck bolts) is the access hole for the Micro-Tilt.
  • Photo 3 shows a 1/8th inch hex wrench that I have inserted into the hole.  In less than one full clockwise revolution of the Micro-Tilt, I was able to increase the neck angle and lower the action significantly.

I didn’t even have to take the neck off…just loosen the two back bolts…and it was all done in about 2 minutes.  So easy.  Thanks for another great invention, Leo! 

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May 22, 2014

1988 Fender American Standard Stratocaster.

I still can’t believe my brother just GAVE me his Stratocaster!  I swear…I had bugged him for YEARS to sell it to me, but he wasn’t interested.  And now he just up and gives it to me as an early birthday present!  

Remind me to tell you one day about how he came to acquire it.  Without giving too much away, it involves his older brother borrowing his Olympic white 1987 American Standard Stratocaster to use as a backup guitar for some gigs, but then falling in love with it (the Olympic white Strat), and it gradually became his (the older brother’s) main gigging guitar, which he then proceeded to use at every gig for about a year - dozens and dozens of shows - during which time it (inevitably) got somewhat cosmetically damaged, and when he (the older brother) returned it to him (the younger brother), he (the younger brother) was angry because it had gone out the door as a pristine, mint condition Stratocaster was now banged up a bit (OK, a lot…), so he (the younger brother) demanded compensation for the damaged guitar, and so he (the older brother), who happened to know many local musicians, most of whom owed money (probably to dealers!) and who needed to sell any spare instruments fast, so he (the older brother) found this very guitar and bought it from a friend for 500 bucks and then he (the older brother) gave it to him (the younger brother) who was happy again because he (the younger brother) once again has a pristine condition Stratocaster.

Remind me to tell you that story some day.  

PS:  I (the older brother) still have the Olympic White ‘87 Strat to this day!  Here it is:

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May 19, 2014

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