{"id":163,"date":"2020-12-24T04:25:55","date_gmt":"2020-12-24T04:25:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vanhalengear.com\/?page_id=163"},"modified":"2021-07-27T20:37:34","modified_gmt":"2021-07-27T20:37:34","slug":"1961-fender-stratocaster","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/vanhalengear.com\/1961-fender-stratocaster\/","title":{"rendered":"1961 Fender Stratocaster"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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1961 Fender Stratocaster: Serial Number 61071<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Contrubution by Dimitri, Don Ward, and Logan Shenk.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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In the club days, Edward was known for his affinity to his 1975 Pre-Serial Number Ibanez Destroyer – one of the first to be unloaded off the cargo boat from Japan. Always experimenting, however, Ed would kick off a history of reinventing the Stratocaster in 1976 when he made his <\/span>first photographed appearance with a 1961 Stratocaster<\/span>, loaded with a humbucker. The story of this guitar is integral to the evolution of his Frankenstrat, and leads Ed down a lifelong path of innovating with his guitars.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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In the club days, Edward was known for his affinity to his 1975 Pre-Serial Number Ibanez Destroyer – one of the first to be unloaded off the cargo boat from Japan. Always experimenting, however, Ed would kick off a history of reinventing the Stratocaster in 1976 when he made his <\/span>first photographed appearance with a 1961 Stratocaster<\/span>, loaded with a humbucker. The story of this guitar is integral to the evolution of his Frankenstrat, and leads Ed down a lifelong path of innovating with his guitars.<\/span><\/p>

Ed tells Jas Obrecht in his <\/span>December 1979 Guitar Player interview<\/span> that his first Strat purchase was of a 1958, two years prior to his acquisition of the 1961 Strat. This purchase was not well received by the bandmates; they hounded him for it\u2019s \u2018thin\u2019 and \u2018buzzy\u2019 tone, leading him to sell the guitar and move on to other tonal pursuits in the interim. Ed was never pictured with the 1958 Strat, which is quite visually distinguishable from the later 1961. In 1958, Fender had not yet made necks with 2-pc slab board Rosewood fretboards – this change would be introduced in 1959. They also used simple single-ply ABS plastic pickguards with 8 attachment holes, vs. the later 3-ply \u2018mint\u2019 colored pickguards with 11 holes, also introduced in 1959. <\/span>(Picture of a 1958 Strat vs. a 1961)<\/span><\/p>

While it would be a joy to have pictures of Ed playing the 1958 Strat, circa 1974 or 1975, it doesn\u2019t appear to play any role in the history of the Frankenstrat, other than to have planted the seed that Ed preferred the Stratocaster platform – the form, the feel, the Tremolo – but not the tone. Thus, fundamental to the acquisition of his 1961 Stratocaster comes an idea. An idea that, contrary to a relatively commonly held belief that Ed had invented, was actually done for some time prior by various musicians experimenting to get the tones they were chasing. That idea, of course, was to modify his 1961 Stratocaster to accommodate the same pickups he had found an affinity for with his Gibsons and Ibanez. According to Ed, he bought a router and the \u201861 Strat, routed it out to accommodate the pickup, and installed a PAF. The story, however, appears to be a little more interesting than Ed\u2019s recollection of events.<\/span><\/p>

Later sightings of this guitar show a large \u2018swimming pool\u2019 style route that can accommodate any array of pickups in any position.<\/span> (Embed pic of WIL Strat with swimming pool)<\/span> Looking closely at the first known picture of the \u201861 Strat with a keen eye tells you all you need to know – the position of the humbucker at the bridge is such that it must have had a very large route – perhaps a swimming pool, even! Furthermore, those later sightings appear to show a relatively clean, professional job, whereas what we see of Ed\u2019s handiwork with a router on the Frankenstrat later on doesn\u2019t nearly match in workmanship. An additional quirk, which thankfully for us provides some evidence to the source of the instrument, is a headstock decal that is anachronistic to a 1961 Strat and in a funny position. <\/span>(Embed closeup of decal vs. stock \u201861 decal install) <\/span>The decal we see on the headstock is of the 1967\/very early 1968 era, whereas the neck is very clearly a 1961 slab board. To anyone who is familiar with vintage Fender, it is immediately obvious that it is not a clone, or Boogie Bodies, or a later Strat neck that was swapped in, but the original, stock 1961 neck. Then why the decal from years later? How did one even get a 1967 era genuine Strat decal in the mid 1970s? What\u2019s going on here?<\/span><\/p>

Enter, Wayne Charvel. Wayne was an ex-Fender employee who had split off to start his own shop to refinish and repair out-of-warranty Fender instruments. <\/span>(Embed pic of Wayne with Leo Fender –\u00a0 I might be misremembering whether or not this picture exists) <\/span>\u00a0Since it would take someone with the right connections to secure a genuine Fender headstock decal of any sort, I believe that Wayne is absolutely responsible. The evidence seems to point to Wayne owning\/working on this \u201861 Strat, which required him to do some finish work on the neck; respraying, (poorly) installing a replacement decal, and, in the meantime, replacing the original CRL 1452 3-way switch with a PA222-674 5-way switch that Charvel was proudly offering at the time – more on that later, in the \u2018Mystery Strat\u2019 section.<\/span><\/p>

The theory is as such:<\/span><\/p>

Ed comes along in 1976 and starts hanging out at Wayne\u2019s shop. They get talking about Ed\u2019s tonal needs and earlier experience with the 1958 Strat, and the decision is made that Ed buy the 1961 Strat from Wayne. Ed, recently equipped with a hand-held router, then expands the bridge pickup cavity on the body to accommodate a PAF. He uninstalls the existing single coil bridge pickup, expands the bridge pickup cutout on the pickguard, screws down and wires a PAF direct to the master volume, and begins using the guitar live. The first incarnation of this experiment was not without flaws though, as the aforementioned position of the pickup was such that the rear bobbin of the PAF was in-line with the old centerline of the single coil, thus pushing the pickup very far forward and giving a deep, boomy tone. Ed speaks of the sensitivity of pickup positioning for years after he learned this early lesson. The next time the guitar is pictured, he had wallowed out the cutout on the pickguard even more and moved the pickup closer to the bridge, where it performed better. He also had traded in 2 white\/clear \u2018speed\u2019 knobs that previously adorned his Destroyer. The Destroyer would receive the vintage Strat knobs in turn. The 1961 Strat, in this configuration, would be Ed\u2019s main stage guitar for the remainder of 1976 and into 1977. In a final fit of experimentation, Ed would spray paint the 1961 Strat white-over-sunburst. He was pictured a handful of times with the guitar in this configuration, before the totality of these experiments would manifest in his new pursuit – the Frankenstrat.<\/span><\/p>

First sighting in 1976:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

When the guitar is first seen it has the original finish, but on the neck the Fender logo has been moved, presumably by Wayne Charvel. We can also most likely assume that Wayne is the person Ed had route out the \u201cSwimming Pool\u201d pickup route, allowing him to fit the Humbucker in a spot which wouldn\u2019t be physically possible with Franky’s routing. (See Donny\u2019s Overlay)<\/span><\/p>

Also when it is first seen, the switch is seen in the middle position held by what appears to be tape, and has a Zebra humbucker in the bridge. The pickguard has not yet been fully routed as seen in later shots, but the first knob has been removed\/moved, leaving 2 left. We already see similar wear to the Franky, which makes sense since it’s Ed who is playing both guitars.<\/span><\/p>

OG Specs (Donny you do this part lol):<\/span><\/p>

*Mid to Late 1976*:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

The guitar now has 2 speed knobs from his \u201875 Pre-Lawsuit Destroyer (later turned into the shark) instead of the fender ones, which all 3 instead went to the Destroyer. According to Allen, according to Marvin Rinning, Ed made this swap for the ease of volume swells. The pickguard had also now been further modified.<\/span><\/p>

1977:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

These bo shannon shots, along with a single audience one shows that the burst has been painted over with a white, but is already starting to wear through. The wear through spots only show black, which made many people think that it was the franky, but it works in the theory that it’s the \u201861 as since the burst of eds was more \u201ccompact\u201d the wear spots would show black, not burst.<\/span><\/p>

Once Ed got the Franky, the \u201861 was a parts donor, such as the \u201c61071\u201d neck plate, bridge, and initially the neck.<\/span><\/p>

Late 197\/8, New Years Eve Whiskey a Go-Go Show:<\/span><\/p>

At the New Years show, you can see the \u201861 leaned up against the bomb as his #3, (#2 with a trem) which by this point in time is the first time we see it when it was stripped from a finish completely, showing the raw alder. This is also the first evidence of it having the Coke Bottle Danelectro Neck. It also has the original kluson tuners installed.<\/span><\/p>

Early 1978, First World Tour:<\/span><\/p>

At the 3 Whiskey Promo WB Videos for VHI, you can see in the background (most prominent in YRGM) we can see the \u201861 in the background with the swimming pool route and tele+bridge pickup showing as there is no pickguard. Since the dates are so close we can guess that this is the state the guitar was in at the New Years show.<\/span><\/p>

December 1978, VH II \u201crecording\u201d shots:<\/span><\/p>

The 1961 strat now has a gray bottomed tele bridge pickup, 1961 Strat pickup (no cover) and the Red Mighty Mite Phenolic single coil which soon after went into the Franky, and stayed there for the rest of its life.\u00a0 It also kept the two pots from the 61, and the added PA222-674 switch which was added by Wayne when it was in his possession. It also has a new pickguard which was sold by charvel in 1977&78: A\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Early 1979:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Horns have been shaped differently, pickguard removed again. After this the Dano neck is put on the Charvel star, after its stint on the 1979 World Vacation Tour, but still white. (See Zlozower \u201cAxes\u201d photo shoot).<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1961 Fender Stratocaster: Serial Number 61071 Contrubution by Dimitri, Don Ward, and Logan Shenk. In the club days, Edward was known for his affinity to his 1975 Pre-Serial Number Ibanez Destroyer – one of the first to be unloaded off the cargo boat from Japan. Always experimenting, however, Ed would kick off a history of …<\/p>\n

1961 Fender Stratocaster<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanhalengear.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/163"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanhalengear.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanhalengear.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanhalengear.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanhalengear.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163"}],"version-history":[{"count":37,"href":"https:\/\/vanhalengear.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/163\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2835,"href":"https:\/\/vanhalengear.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/163\/revisions\/2835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanhalengear.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}