An Early-To-Mid Mint Seventies 'Black' Stratocaster.

1974 Fender Stratocaster.

This early 1974 Custom Color Black Stratocaster weighs just 7.30 lbs. and has a nut width of just under 1 5/8 inches and a scale length of 25 1/2 inches. Solid alder body and one-piece medium profile fretted maple neck with 21 original frets and black dot position markers. Large headstock with "Fender" logo in black with gold outline and "STRATOCASTER" in black beside it, "PAT 3,143,028" in black below it, and "Original Contour Body Patented" at the ball end of the headstock. Two "butterfly" string trees, each with a nylon spacer. Individual Fender "F" closed-back tuners with octagonal metal buttons. Three-bolt neck plate with large Fender backward "F" and serial number "561686" between the top two screws. Three-ply (white/black/white) ABS plastic pickguard with eleven screws and foil shield between the pickguard and the electrics. Three single-coil gray bottom pickups with staggered polepieces and balanced outputs of 5.73k, 5.33k, and 5.40k. The pickups are stamped on the underside in black "23 24 74", "23 25 74" and "23 24 74". Three controls (two volume, one tone) plus three-way selector switch, all on pickguard. White ABS plastic ribbed-sided knobs with gold lettering. "Mazac" combined Fender Stratocaster six-saddle tremolo bridge/tailpiece stamped "010347" on underside. The neck is stamped "0903 3934" on the end, which indicates that the neck is for a fretted maple neck Stratocaster, finished with a custom color, produced on Thursday September 27th, 1973. The neck and bridge gray-bottom pickups are stamped in black: "23 24 74", the middle pickup is stamped in black "23 25 74" and the potentiometers are stamped: "137 7406" (CTS November February 1974). There is the absolute bare minimum of light scratching on the back but this super guitar is still in mint (9.50) condition. Complete with the original tremolo arm, chrome-plated bridge cover, 'Micro-neck' adjustment tool, allen key, and even the original Fender 12 page Owners Manual with matching serial number. A wonderful 'under-the-bed' example of one of the last of the staggered-pole pickup Stratocaters. This is one of those early seventies custom color Stratocasters with that very distinctive "Jimi Hendrix" sound. Housed in the original Fender black hardshell case with red plush lining (one catch missing) hence (8.75).

"The Stratocaster was launched during 1954 [and was priced at $249.50, or $229.50 without vibrato]...The new Fender guitar was the first solidbody electric with three pickups [Gibson's electric-acoustic ES-5, introduced five years earlier, had been the overall first], meaning a range of fresh tones, and featured a new-design vibrato unit that provided pitch-bending and shimmering chordal effects. The new vibrato -- erroneously called a 'tremolo' by Fender and many others since -- was troublesome in development. But the result was the first self-contained vibrato unit: an adjustable bridge, a tailpiece, and a vibrato system, all in one. It wasn't a simple mechanism for the time, but a reasonably effective one...Fender's new vibrato had six bridge-pieces, one for each string, adjustable for height and length, which meant that the feel of the strings could be personalized and the guitar made more in tune with itself...The Strat came with a radically sleek, solid body, based on the outline of the 1951 Fender Precision Bass. Some musicians had complained to Fender that the sharp edge of the Telecaster's body was uncomfortable...so the Strat's body was contoured for the player's comfort. Also, it was finished in a yellow-to-black sunburst finish. Even the jack socket mounting was new, recessed in a stylish plate on the body face...the Fender Stratocaster looked like no other guitar around especially the flowing, sensual curves of that beautifully proportioned, timeless body. The Stratocaster's new-style pickguard complemented the lines perfectly, and the overall impression was of a guitar where all the components ideally suited one another. The Fender Stratocaster has since become the most popular, the most copied, the most desired, and very probably the most played solid electric guitar ever" (Tony Bacon, 50 Years of Fender, p. 18).