rickbarclay
Inspired
Last week I took the guitar, a 1978 Strat lefty, to my luthier to see if he would refret it and sand off and refinish the neck. This guitar is in never-been-played condition, has the original frets and a poly urethane finish on the neck. He told me then not to do it as that would ruin any resale value. He said to leave it with him and he would do a set up to make it playable. I agreed and left it. A week later he calls me in and again says the guitar is a rare bird and to take it home and see if the set-up made it playable and if I don't like it to sell it. He even said that it could not be refretted because of the way it was built in '78; that the Fender company no longer frets their guitars in this day and age the way they did in '78 He said this even though he had refretted a 1977 Strat for me a couple of years ago.
So, I played a couple of bars on the '78 at his shop and the action was much better than when I brought it in. I took it home and have been playing it for a week now. Two things I have noticed with the '78: the tone through the Axe is harsh relative to my '77, and even more distinct, there is a big, big difference in the sustain between the two guitars. The '78 cannot hold a note compared to the '77. When I switched from the '78 to the '77, it was like a weight off my shoulders, sweet relief. The notes sang out; the strings bent effortlessly and held the notes.
There are differences to consider here: the '77 is refretted and the neck has been stripped and redone with a light oil. It is fast and plays beautifully. The '78 is all original, plays fast enough, but has little or no sustain, and struggles with tone. I don't want to sell the '78, and I don't want to replace the neck with anything but a Fender that plays like my '77. So my question is: could my problem with the '78 be improved or even solved by changing out the pickups? Is there any way to improve sustain and tone through the pickups I have now? Any adjustments that can be made? Are new pickups an option? Or is the polyurethane and low frets going to forever cause the problem?
These are questions I'm going to ask my guitar man, but I'm going to ask here first because there's a whole lot of knowledgeable people here that I think can help. Thanks for any assistance and have a happy holiday season.
So, I played a couple of bars on the '78 at his shop and the action was much better than when I brought it in. I took it home and have been playing it for a week now. Two things I have noticed with the '78: the tone through the Axe is harsh relative to my '77, and even more distinct, there is a big, big difference in the sustain between the two guitars. The '78 cannot hold a note compared to the '77. When I switched from the '78 to the '77, it was like a weight off my shoulders, sweet relief. The notes sang out; the strings bent effortlessly and held the notes.
There are differences to consider here: the '77 is refretted and the neck has been stripped and redone with a light oil. It is fast and plays beautifully. The '78 is all original, plays fast enough, but has little or no sustain, and struggles with tone. I don't want to sell the '78, and I don't want to replace the neck with anything but a Fender that plays like my '77. So my question is: could my problem with the '78 be improved or even solved by changing out the pickups? Is there any way to improve sustain and tone through the pickups I have now? Any adjustments that can be made? Are new pickups an option? Or is the polyurethane and low frets going to forever cause the problem?
These are questions I'm going to ask my guitar man, but I'm going to ask here first because there's a whole lot of knowledgeable people here that I think can help. Thanks for any assistance and have a happy holiday season.
