Fender Classic '70s Stratocaster

When CBS started really changing Fender, they made a few changes to the guitar that some people loved and some people hated. Three bolt necks, large era headstocks, bullet truss rods, etc. The guitar features an ash body, a maple neck with a maple fretboard (one piece with a skunk stripe), 21 frets, large CBS headstock, dot inlays, vintage tremolo, three single coil pickups, one volume, two tones and a five way switch.

UTILIZATION

The guitar itself is put together fairly nicely, and you'd be hard pressed to find a CBS era guitar put together as nicely as this was. That's one of the benefits of buying a reissue guitar. The fretwork is about on par with all of the rest of today's Fender guitars, so while it can be a bit hit or miss at times, it's generally pretty decent. You might need to spend some money on a fret level, but it's nothing real major. The nut was cut nicely, so no issues there either. The guitar weighed a bit more due to its body wood, so if you're not a fan of heavier guitars, you might want to look elsewhere.

SOUNDS

The guitar was brighter due to its ash body. These are also available in alder, so keep that in mind. The ash guitars have an extended high end and extended bass range compared to the alder ones. The pickups in this were pretty cool, and I was able to get some old school Hendrix tones without any problem. I kinda wish they had some more output, but they definitely work for blues and rock. I assume that's what most people with these guitars will play.

OVERALL OPINION

The guitar is part of the love/hate era of Fender. I personally prefer the smaller headstock and regular truss rod, but there are tons out there who love this larger headstock. If you're one of those, definitely check out this guitar. They can be a bit much for what they are, so I recommend buying them used instead of new.

Fender is probably the biggest music company in the world when it comes to amp and guitars. When it comes to a Fender STrat it can be one of the most if not most recognized guitar in the world. They have been played all over the world from beginner learning guitar players to the best professionals in the world. Any guitar who has ever been playing the guitar longer than a few year most likely have picked up owned a Fender Stratocaster at some point. Even to this day many builders have used this instrument as inspiration to build their own custom creations.

UTILIZATION

MODEL NAME: ‘70s Stratocaster
MODEL NUMBER: 013-7000-(Color#) and 013-7002-(Color#)
SERIES: Classic Series
COLORS: (300) 3-Color Sunburst, (305) Olympic White, (306) Black, (321) Natural, (Polyester Finish)
BODY: Ash
NECK: Maple, “U” Shape, (Gloss Polyurethane Finish)
MACHINE HEADS: Fender/Schaller Vintage “F” Style Tuning Machines
FINGERBOARD: Rosewood (p/n 013-7000) or Maple (p/n 013-7002), 7.25” Radius (184 mm)
NO. OF FRETS: 21 Vintage Style Frets
PICKUPS: 3 Vintage Style Single-Coil Strat Pickups with Alnico Magnets
CONTROLS: Master Volume, Tone 1. (Neck Pickup), Tone 2. (Middle Pickup)
BRIDGE: Vintage Style Synchronized Tremolo
PICKUP SWITCHING: 5-Position Blade:
Position 1. Bridge Pickup
Position 2. Bridge and Middle Pickup
Position 3. Middle Pickup
Position 4. Middle and Neck Pickup
Position 5. Neck Pickup
HARDWARE: Chrome
STRINGS: Fender Super Bullet 3250L, Nickel Plated Steel, (.009 to .042), p/n 073-3250-003
CASE: Deluxe Gig Bag
PICKGUARD: 3-Ply White
SCALE LENGTH: 25.5” (648 mm)
UNIQUE FEATURES: “U” Shape Maple Neck, Large Headstock, ‘70s Style Decal, Bullet Truss Rod Adjustment Nut, 3-Bolt Neck Plate with Micro Tilt Neck Adjustment
WIDTH AT NUT: 1.650” (42 mm)
ACCESSORIES: Deluxe Gig Bag


SOUNDS

The only thing that I wish they would have done with this guitar is to keep the glaze off of the instrument. I think they should just have it bare oiled neck and body so that it gets reliced naturally and keeps the stories on the condition of the guitar. So please remove the lacquer from this guitar and you have a cool guitar. This guitars features three pickups cascading up the body and a selector switch. The three pickup option is basically standard on all Fender Strats. Not too much as far as features go but this guitar is a player's dream. If you like the natural wood look on guitars and don't care where the production was made then this is a great guitar for you. I like the natural look but I would prefer a custom shop build and an oiled body like a Washburn N4. It will collect dirt and oil from your hands and naturally relic after a few months of playing time.

OVERALL OPINION

I am not a fan of Mexican made products. Japan made is great since the Fender builder over there have to go to luthier school. So this guitar is going to feel a little cheaper made than an American made one will feel like. However, this guitar is going to be a few hundred dollars less than an American made one..I would recommend this guitar to anyone who doesn't want to spend $1100 on an American fender Deluxe guitar. At new these guitars come in at a round $750. This is a bad price but you will need to replace the pickup because they are terrible.

This Fender Stratocaster is part of their Classic Series line of guitars. Made in Mexico, they are designed to capture the different "classic" eras of Fender guitars such as the fifties, sixties, and seventies. This model is the seventies Stratocaster. The features list is as follows:

*Ash body (with three colour sunburst finish)
*Maple neck with rosewood fretboard and 21 frets
*7.5" neck radius
*CBS style headstock with bullet truss rod
*Fender "F" tuners
*Vintage style synchronized tremolo
*3 single coil pickups with standard controls (volume/tone/tone/5 way selector switch
*More stout body contouring overall
*Fender Deluxe gigbag included

It's essentially your typical 70s Stratocaster in its features, but with better quality control, so many of the issues of the past have been left in the past. For being a MIM, this guitar was surprisingly well crafted and held up very well in various rock and blues projects that I was in.


UTILIZATION

The issue I have with Strats is that they're generally cumbersome unless you get one with modern refinements. This guitar was certainly no exception to the rule. Seventies Strats are generally very clunky and hard to get around for me and unfortunately, the reissues suffer from this flaw as well. It's inherent in the design but it's still a grievance to me. The upper fret access was average at best. Getting to the 21st fret wasn't overly difficult but it wasn't as easy as I would've liked because of the neck heel getting in my way.

The 7.5" radius was a huge problem as well. Bends of more than a half step were almost always choking out, especially as I went higher up the neck. Oddly enough, I replaced this with a real deal 1979 USA Stratocaster and had no problems with the vintage radius... though the contouring was even less pronounced than this MIM reissue.

Getting good tones was very simple. The pickups were great. They had a slightly overwound character that allowed them to have a bit more punch and raw attack than the 50s/60s style pickups. It allowed clean tones to be much fuller and beefier, and the distorted tones took on a very throaty, viscous quality that was (to my ears) very reminiscent of Ritchie Blackmore of Deep Purple or Ulrich Roth of The Scorpions.

SOUNDS

When I owned this guitar, I was primarily using a 6V6 loaded Orange Rockerverb 50 head and a Haggerty 2x12 loaded with Eminence speakers. As I stated in the above column, the tones delivered by this guitar were great. I was almost surprised that a MIM could sound as good as this one did...

The clean tones had that classic seventies "overwound" texture to them. They weren't wimpy, nor meek and quiet. Chords and fast passages asserted themselves with a dominating brilliance throughout a band mix that sat very well with bass and drums. Adding a bit of reverb helped to bring lead based passages some more depth to help them really cut through. They had a great sound for jazzier or bluesier styles and worked very well overall.

The dirty tones were great as well. Again, that overwound character comes into play here. The rhythm tones were surprisingly thick and booming for a Strat, but they still had that glassy shimmer from the single coils that allows Strats to cut in a mix so well. Tonewise, the pickups were definitely more vintage than modern (again: think classic Deep Purple or Scorpions) but they had a ton of serious punch and worked well for even heavier rock at times.

The biggest thing to watch out for (and Strat users will already know and understand this) is that the 60 cycle hum from the pickups can be problematic. A good noise gate can compliment this but it's still worth mentioning that these pickups aren't noiseless and will hum and buzz when serious doses of gain are applied to the signal.

OVERALL OPINION

All in all I thought this was a killer example of a Strat. Sure, it was heavy (solid ash body), clunky, not so ergonomic, etc, but the sheer power and pummeling nature of the pickups was a real shocker. Mind you, I replaced this guitar with a '79 and found the pickups to be even better. Perhaps I just like them? It was a very well crafted guitar that held up to whatever I was doing and never gave me any trouble.

If you get a chance to try or buy one of these and you're looking for a cool throwback to that era where it was all about the power, go for it. You won't be disappointed.

(Originally written by Chroune/translated from Audiofanzine FR)
- Where was it made? (USA, Japan, Mexico, France...)

Mexico

- How many frets and what kind of pickups does it have? What's the pickup configuration?

21 frets, three Fender vintage single-coil pickups, 5-way toggle switch

- What about controls (volume, tone, pickup selector...)?

One volume and two tone controls

- What kind of neck does it have?

Maple neck

UTILIZATION

- Is the neck comfortable?

It's a real pleasure to play it. You have the impression that it's oiled and the hand slides smoothly along it!

- Is the access to the upper frets easy?

Easy access to the upper frets!

- Is the instrument ergonomic (body shaping, weight...)?

The guitar is neither too heavy nor too light. The shape of the body is great... A wonderful Strat (mine has a sunburst finish in three colors).

- Is it easy to get the right sound?...

Yes it is. I haven't played it with a low-end amp but with my Marshall MG100DFX it sounds terrific (although I just got it yesterday)!

SOUNDS

- Do they fit your music style?

I wanted a blues and rock'n'roll sound and I have it. It's a 70's Fender! You get a twangy and warm sound! I haven't played heavy metal with it because that's not the music I play!!!

- Which amp(s) or effect(s) do you use with it?

Marshall MG100DFX

- What kind of sounds do you get and which settings do you use ("crystal-clear", "fat", ...)?

I haven't played it enough to answer this question...

- Which sounds do you prefer / hate?

See above...

OVERALL OPINION

- How long have you been using it?

One day!

- Which feature do you like the most / the least?

I love the neck and it's natural wood finish, the typical Fender headstock shape!

- Did you try any other models before buying it?

I played an Ibanez GRX40, a basic model conceived for heavy metal... So it's impossible to compare them. I also tested a 60's model and I went for the 70's version because of its neck!

- How would you rate its value for money?

Very good value for money... But I got it at a very nice price after some bargaining...

- Based on your experience, would you buy this product again?

I don't have enough experience with it... I also thought about buying the 60's version for its cherry finish... I don't regret having bought it. It's a Fender and it's great! I recommend you to try it out...

Yes, I would buy it again!