This is the Black Stratocaster You've been looking for. It was produced at the original Fender factory in Fullerton, California U.S.A. in 1972. It has date codes from the 10th week of 1972, in fact. The guitar is super solid, plays and sounds great. The non-trem bridge features the strings through the body for added sustain and resonance. It has thicker and darker tone than the tremolo versions. It has newer knobs and otherwise it is completely original. Best of all, the original custom color Black finish looks killer!
The body has nice contours and a comfortable light weight. The original black finish has a solid hue, with typical handling wear all over. There is a sliver of arm wear on the top edge and a few dings and dimples here and there-mostly on the back. Overall-it is in decent condition and solid-see photos. There is an original Fender employee stamp in the neck slot: T. Chambers. The neck joint is solid with no issues.
The maple neck is straight and has the classic vintage C-profile. Time to mention that this neck has a factory employee stamp on it from HERB G! Yes the same Herb that sculpted all of the necks on Stratocasters used by Hendrix, Clapton, Beck and others. Herb Gastelum is a legend at Fender and if you look up his name "neck guru" will probably be the first search result. Its is a really awesome feature of this guitar. It measures 1.64" wide at the nut. The neck depth measures .856" deep at the 1st fret and .955" deep at the 12th fret. The original F-key tuners all function smoothly and the guitar stays in tune very well. The big CBS headstock and logo display excellent. The decal is the early version-and the serial number is on the backside of the neck plate. The fingerboard is clean and the frets have been professionally leveled, crowned and polished. The frets are shiny and crisp and appear like new condition-see photos. The string height is currently .010" at the 1st fret and .050" at the 12th fret. The action is low and the guitar plays like butter.
The pickups all have an excellent signal and the guitar has the classic chime and 'bell' tone you'd expect from a vintage Stratocaster...The strings through body design adds more depth to the tone and the guitar just sounds thicker than tremolo model Strats. The pickups have the highly desirable staggered pole pieces and sound just like the 60's pickups. They have a great balance. The neck position measures 5.63 ohms, the middle measures 5.39 ohms and the bridge position measures 5.84 ohms. The original 3-way switch is the Centralab CRL 1452 unit with the dark brown board that Fender used all through the 60's. This is probably one of the last ones to have it, as they switched to a straw-colored board around this time. The potentiometers date to the 10th week of 1972. They all function smoothly and quietly.
The guitar is nice and lightweight-it weighs in at 7.72 lbs. It is fun to play and really sounds amazing with any quality tube amp. The original Fender hardcase is included.
