'Under The Bed' for Thirty-Five Years.
1978 Ash Bodied Blond Stratocaster With Rosewood Fretboard

1978 Fender Stratocaster.

This rare late 1970s 'blond' Stratocaster weighs 9.70 lbs. One-piece ash body with a wonderful see-thru blond finish. One-piece maple neck with a nut width of 1 5/8 inches, a scale length of 25 1/2 inches and a medium-to-thick profile. Veneer rosewood fretboard with 21 original medium frets and pearloid dot position markers. Large headstock with "Fender" logo in black with gold trim, "SERIAL NUMBER S 894584" in black beneath, "STRATOCASTER" in black beside it, and "MADE IN USA" in black beneath. Individual Fender "F" closed-back tuners with octagonal metal buttons. Two "butterfly" string trees with nylon spacers. Three-bolt neck plate with the Fender backward "F" logo and small hole for allan key neck tilt adjustment. Three black plastic Stratocaster pickups with balanced outputs of 5.58k, 5.60k, and 5.80k. Two of the pickups are stamped in black on the underside "170778" and the third one is stamped "780816". Three-layer black over white plastic pickguard. Three controls (one volume, two tone) plus five-way selector switch, all on pickguard. The potentiometers are stamped "137 7745" (CTS, November 1977). Black plastic ribbed-sided knobs with white lettering. Fender "Synchronized Tremolo" combined bridge/tailpiece. The end of the neck is dated "0901X0785" (Stratocaster; custom color; rosewood board, February, 1978). The neck pocket has two circular ink stamps; the back of the neck has a similar circular stamp and also the number "1082" stamped in black. The neck pickup cavity has a large "2" in black marker and the middle pickup cavity has another similar circular stamp and "0285" stamped in black. There is also a small printed label with the matching serial number on the back of the pickguard. This guitar is in near mint (9.25++) condition. The only reason that we do not give it a 9.50 is that there are a couple of really tiny surface marks on the body and a miniscule amount of fretwear which is commensurate with this guitar having spent most of its life 'under-the-bed' in its case. Complete with the original termolo arm with black plastic tip and the original chrome bridge cover. Also included is the original Fender leather guitar strap, case keys, allan keys, spare tremolo springs in original envelope, original guitar cord, original owners manual with matching serial number various other hang tags and case candy. The best example we have ever seen. Housed in the original Fender black hardshell case with black plush lining (9.25).

"The Stratocaster was launched during 1954 [and was priced at $249.50, or $229.50 without vibrato]. Samples around May and June were followed by the first proper production run in October. 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 [and in some ways seemed to owe more to the contemporary automobile design than traditional guitar forms], 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).