The Smith Strat || 1982 Stratocaster || Guitar Series

This is the one that started it all for me.  My first true love of an electrical instrument.  It began one day about 14 years ago when I walked into The Starving Musician in Santa Clara.  I saw wall after wall of these Fender guitars.  Besides the paint job they all looked the same to me.  The only difference that my novice eye could see in them was the price tag.  They seemed to range from $200 to $2000.  Why?  I gauged that it was probably something to do with quality but I really wanted to find out what goes into making a good guitar.  Especially a classic.

Some easy definitions were where they were manufactured.  Overseas seemed to be cheaper.  Vintage american instruments got to an outrageous amount of money for an instrument.  More importantly as I searched deeper and deeper into peoples passion for stratocasters, I realized that there was this romantic love for this instrument.  Be it maybe the musical life cut short of Buddy Holly or seeing Clapton gravitate to them in mid-career, people loved them.  Then I started picking them up and understanding why they loved them.  They are like a fine wine or a fine woman.  They just feel right.  Leo Fender hit it out of the park when he designed his second solid body guitar in 1954.  The stratocaster has become as American as Baseball and Apple Pie.  And I wanted one.

Many trips to Starving Musican came that year back in 2001.  Their inventory always kept changing and they keep the shelves stocked with a good cross-section of instruments.  Then it happened.  The '82 stratocaster caught my eye.  The first thing I noticed about it as I grabbed to take it off the rack was how heavy it was.  It was a solid piece of machinery.  It appeared aged, but not worn.  I placed it on my knee and strummed a chord.  Everything just felt right.  It was the most solid piece of musical equipment I had ever felt.  Still being a novice I knew little about this guitar besides that it just felt right.  So after giving it an initial test run through an amp, I finished up my lunch break and went back to work.  Not before noting the first couple of digits in the serial number on the headstock.  E207....

Back at the desk I searched the internet for how to read Fender Serial Numbers.  The first two digits were the decade and the specific year it was made.  That would translate this one to 1982.  But what caught my eye beyond the serial dating was an article.  Somewhere out there on the internets, a fellow lover of the "smith strat" (as it became to be known) wrote about guitars made during the time that Dan Smith was hired as marketing manager for Fender.  The Fender Musical Company wanted to attract players back to their instruments.  They wanted the draw and allure that they had before Leo sold the Company to CBS in early 1965.  Dan Smith had the idea to not cut corners and to use the same materials and quality control that had gotten away from Fender by the big corporate purchase.  CBS was all about mass production and cutting costs.  They started building quality instruments again in this magical year of 1982.  They also had a revolutionary idea that year and a great marketing ploy to actually be able to charge more...they started the Vintage Series.  They built reissue '57 Strats and reissue '62 Strats.  Two key years in Stratocaster design.  They were able to phase out the high cost of the typical american series strat and get more money for it by saying it was a vintage reissue.  Brilliant.  But for one key year they built all instruments of quality.  Then the divisions began.  They shipped off product to japan for the low-end entry level guitars, continued making the mid-level "american series" along with the new high end "Vintage Reissue" series.

So out of sheer luck and the lack of lore that now bestows the '82 Smith Strats, I was able to pick up my baby for the cost (at the time) of a brand new American Series.  I thought it was quite a bargain back then.  She taught me how to play the electric guitar.  She taught me how to explores tones.  She was my Number 1 for a good 10 years.  I had many a good guitar.  And utilized many a different guitar onstage as well as record.  However, no guitar has been on more recordings or been played live more than my '82 Strat.  Her frets are wearing a little thin and her paint job is a little more chipped than when I got her, but she is still a beauty in my eyes.

They are still out there.  If you can find an '82 Strat in good condition for the price of a new Strat, my recommendation is at least plug her in and see how she sounds.  My bets are that you wont be disappointed.

And this is how it sounds....

Pirate Pat's Lost Treasure || 1976 Black on Black Stratocaster || Old Guitars

I think I need not mention my love affair with the guitar.  If you have read any of my earlier posts it comes across quite evident.  When one ages, we tend to acquire more things.  From the previous spoken love, I started collecting guitars.  The true guitar behind the 1976 stratocaster is actually a 1964 Fender Jaguar.

I love the off-set shape of the jaguar and wanted a vintage one.  This preceded me learning the valuable lesson of "never buy a guitar on eBay".  I was misled by this online dealer that I decided to attempt to acquire a jaguar from.  Vintage City Music out of Lansing, MI sold me an "all original" guitar.  Jaguars are known to be complex instruments.  When I received it I couldn't figure it out.  The bridge pick up seemed dead.  I called up Guitar Showcase and they pointed me toward the direction of Mark Brown, whom I am forever indebted to in the guitar buying world.  I took the guitar right over to Mark.  He told me that the neck had been refinished, possible fret job, new reproduction tuners and the neck pick up needed to be rewound.  All in all about $700 worth of work to get it up to snuff.  I said, "ah, I got ripped off" and Mark so eloquently replied, "How much did you pay for this guitar? $2500.  You didn't get ripped off, with the work you would have a $3200 guitar, about the price of a vintage jaguar in good condition."  I love his thought philosophy.

The jaguar story does have a good ending.  They had a 24 hr. return policy, and honored it as "24 hr. business days" and took the guitar back with me paying the shipping.  Now I had cash burning a whole in my pocket.

60s Smugglin' Pat

The cosmos must of aligned wanting me to have, our family friend, Pat Ryan's 1976 black stratocaster.  I met Pat through my uncle Craig.  This guy was a real character; boisterous laugh and parrot on his shoulder.  Pat had a rough go at the end of his life.  He lost his wife, Carol, from a obscure ailment and this sent him into an unfortunate tailspin.  He couldn't hold down a job leading to a depressed & broke dude.  He stated it was his buddhist teachings that made him want to get rid of all of his prized possessions and live a simple life.  Looking back on it now and think he was just preparing for the ending.  Unfortunately Pat took his own life at the age of 58.

80s Jammin' (note Blackie in the background)

Before the end, he approached me about buying his 1976 Black on Black Stratocaster.  It was in good shape with just the tuners being changed.  He wanted $1900 for it.  I was flush with the return cash of the jaguar.  I wanted a vintage instrument and the opportunity to try and help a buddy out.  I did give him the caveat that if he ever wanted his Strat back, I would give it to him for the money I paid.  He said he would not be wanting it back.  An unfortunate truth.  This is the story of how I am in possession of a beautiful 1976 Stratocaster.  He said he bought it because David Gilmour of Pink Floyd fame played one.  But he said he never played it that much because he was much more of a Gibson man.  I understood this philosophy because I am more of the opposite.  I love Fender guitars.  And this one was a beauty, right down to the instruction manual and extra springs.  I did have Mark Brown set it up for me and the tone pots needed replacing and I also had him put back on the original tuners.  It plays and looks great.  See for yourself...

 

 

 

And this is how it sounds......

Patrick Joseph Ryan 1951-2009

What Happens to Pickle's First Love? || '82 CAR Fender Stratocaster '62 reissue || Old Guitars

I love old guitars. New guitars have no soul...yet. But old guitars tell stories. They tell tales of old smoke-filled dive bars with remnants of beer splattering encased in between rusty screws and beat up pick ups. They have performed. And that is the reason why we love instruments so much; it is in their performance. So give me the most beat up ugly guitar and that is a guitar that has been truly loved by an owner. It is the 30 year old guitars in pristine condition that scare me. If that guitar sat around and wasn't played, that's telling me something. That is the story of a guitar that never found the right tone for someone.

This brings me to Sweet Pickle's (aka Mr. Laflen to some, key axe wielder in Them Slack Jawed Sons of Bitches as well as life-long member of The Ex-Old Ladies) 1982 Candy Apple Red AVRI '62 Stratocaster. No one sees this guitar much lately, but I am lucky enough to currently have it on loan and in my possession. For that reason I decided to snap some pictures of this beauty and tell it's tale via Sweet P.

This guitar, 1982 Candy apple red Fullerton reissue strat, was my main axe with my old bands in the 90's, The Lowdown(funk-rock) , Big Joe(alt-country), the Money Shot and SpaceFish(hippy Jam band). I have some great pics somewhere.

So I purchased this guitar somewhere in the mid-90's. A time I refer to when I was in Tucson as 'the lost weekend'.

I had a fullerton black maple necked reissue stolen from my house in the Sam Hughes district near the University of AZ. I loved that guitar and I was crushed to come home and find it missing. My band practiced in the house so it was easy for the wolves to figure out there was an electric guitar to be had. I came home to find the input jack of the guitar still attached to the cord meaning they grabbed my guitar and literally ran out the back door with it. The only thing left was the jack of the guitar as a memory of my own blackie. No insurance. So... I looked in our weekly paper and in the newspaper and found a Red reissue strat for sale for 550 bucks. The guy was freshly married and clearly on a new path. He pulled the perfect condition strat literally from under the bed where it was stored. I played it and new it'd be the one. I think I ended up paying 500 but can't recall. We were both happy with the deal. I still do not recall how I got the money for this guitar back then as I was as poor as everyone else with pickup jobs and par-time work while I was going to school.

I primarily used this guitar with a 4-10 bassman, vintage rat pedal, cs-9 chorus and Boss DD-2 delay. It served me well and the neck pickup is amazing.

That is the story on this beauty, now let's look at some pictures of this true relic.  And next time, you see him on stage make sure to ask Pickle where the hell is the red strat!