Topic: After 20 years sitting in a cupboard...
I posted this on another forum, but thought that you guys might get have an interest in this one too!
Back in 1983, my final year of high school, I bought (on layby), this magnificent Fender "The Strat". This was Fender's turnaround from the dark days of the 70's. It was apparently the first time they offered a different 'model' alongside their standard Stratocaster offering.
From what I recall, there was only a 3 year window where they built these, from around 1980 to 1983. They were most commonly in Candy Apple Red or Lake Placid Blue, with very few like mine, in Arctic White. Apparently even fewer still were natural Walnut.
The hardware is all mostly brass and plated with real 22 carat gold ! This guitar is HEAVY as heck. And these are the two reasons why I stopped gigging it after a few years. The weight was killing me, and I noticed the gold plating rubbing off the hardware.
So, I unstrung it and basically stuck it in a cupboard for two decades. Almost forgotten.
Then, this week my 14yo son approached me and asked whether he could get a Strat. I already had another American Standard Strat, but it's my "everyday" guitar, so I decided to dust off the old "White Strat" and give it to him to live on another day.
When I got it out of the case, I was surprised to see the pristine Arctic White had turned into a nice Banana Custard Yellow. I quite like this patina. Here are some pics:
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7540/156 … 194d_b.jpg
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7575/158 … 0d02_b.jpg
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7475/156 … 25d4_b.jpg
I cleaned it up, put new strings on, and played it for a bit. I forgot just how delightful this guitar sounds! The weight really gives it some nice clarity and sustain. It sings way more than my other Strat. This model has the X-1 pickup in the bridge, and the second Tone pot is actually a 2 way selector switch.
The manual doesn't say much about this switch except to say that it gives "various serial switching options for the pickups". I would appreciate it if anyone in the know about this wiring could chime in with more info. The selector switch gives a nice range of in and out of phase sounds as I move the pickup selector through the range.
In the end I sadly handed over one of my first "real" guitars over to my son. He loved it, and within minutes was making beautiful music on it - better that I ever could, so I think it has gone to the right person... 
