NGD American Special Stratocaster, some questions

[d0sk3y]

Hi everyone,

Now this is a guitar I have wanted for a loooooong time, it's a Fender American Special Stratocaster

The unique combination of neck finish, jumbo frets and Texas Specials was always VERY appealing to me.

It does have one flaw: the previous owner changed the neckplate for a cheap and thin "F" branded one, and tightened the neck screws way too tight, resulting in the situation in the penultimate picture.
The wood was compressed there, and the finish is of course cracked quite badly. The rest of the neck area is however quite serviceable.

Does anyone know if the pickups on this (the last picture) are indeed the original ones? They do seem to be the part, as far as I can tell.

Additionally, would anyone have an idea how the neck plate situation could be addressed? Of course I will buy a new plate, but should I worry about filling in the uneven surfaces on the back of the body? And if so, I wonder what with?











As always, thank you all in advance for your valuable contributions and kind regards from Romania!
Andrei

 

[kelia]

Beautiful !

 

[Stratafied]

Congratulations I had that exact guitar.

 

[Triple Jim]

Nothing would be compromised if you left the damage alone.

 

[Gridlock]

Sorry that I’m not much help with your questions but congratulations on the beautiful guitar.

I believe that factory pickups should be Texas Specials. If you know a good Luther, you might have the guitar looked at for some piece of mind.

My old American Special. I loved the nice rolled neck, jumbo frets and Fiesta Red. Great guitars.

Enjoy

 

[CyFan]

Nice! I've been thinking about getting a large headstock strat. This isn't helping that urge. HNGD!

 

[Willmunny]

HNGD!
I would just try the new plate, I have had guitars with similar issues.
Peace

 

[D7alt]

Good looking strat!.
The stamped part number in the neck pocket is correct.
One indicator to check the pickups is to look for the red dot on the bridge pickup and the blue one on the neck. See pic. Yellow wire going to the midfle pickup.

 

[LostPlectrum]

Congratulations on a great guitar! I wish I’d held onto my Olympic White American Special.

 

[kelia]

Nice! I've been thinking about getting a large headstock strat. This isn't helping that urge. HNGD!

You know what they say hey ! Large headstock ,large !!

 

[Wulfrik]

Dude, that's gorgeous! My American Special is my favourite guitar. All looks legit to me, and I wouldn't sweat the neckplate issue, just play it as it is.

 

[d0sk3y]

Good looking strat!.
The stamped part number in the neck pocket is correct.
One indicator to check the pickups is to look for the red dot on the bridge pickup and the blue one on the neck. See pic. Yellow wire going to the midfle pickup.

Interestingly enough, the bridge pup has the blue dot, the yellow wire is going to the middle pup, but the neck doesn't have a blue dot. However, the pole is slightly differently colored than the others (maybe the color faded)? Also, the neck does look identical to the other two pickups.

What do you think?

TY

 

[Kestrel]

You can get neck plates with a rubber mount that fits under the neck plate and it would hide the damage, where one of the neck screws is at a angle just a couple of well placed cocktail sticks in the neck holes would help to realign it, I always use cocktail sticks rather than matchsticks as they are better wood.

 

[d0sk3y]

You can get neck plates with a rubber mount that fits under the neck plate and it would hide the damage, where one of the neck screws is at a angle just a couple of well placed cocktail sticks in the neck holes would help to realign it, I always use cocktail sticks rather than matchsticks as they are better wood.

Thank you for the tips!!

 

[vivanchenko]

Robin Trower on big head stocks at 0:58. His signature strat is very similar to Specials. Jumbo frets, big head stock, Texas Special bridge pick-up.

 

[MT Poteet]

Congratulations on a beautiful new guitar.

 

[Murdog]

Not sure about your question but wanted to say that guitar is Beautiful! Love a red Strat! HNGD!

 

[John C]

Very nice; congrats! I also have a fondness for CAR on Strats and Teles!

I'm not seeing the blue dot on the neck pickup but I am seeing the red dot on the bridge pickup. I suppose it could have been rubbed off or they just didn't put it on that particular pickup. This is a very early American Special - they weren't introduced until the 2010 Winter NAMM in January, but of course Fender was producing them in the fall of 2009 so they had product in stores and warehouses ready for sale on the day they were "officially" released. Since this one is very early it could easily be that they neglected to color in the polepice blue on the neck pickup.

As for the neck plate - who knows why the previous owner changed it; you could always find the proper blank neck plate for it since that looks like the plate from an MIM Player.

 

[circles]

Gorgeous.

 

[Nick L Plate]

Very nice Strat. To my eye, nothing you mention qualifies as significant or worrisome damage. The plate impressing the finish is a common occurrence. My choice would be to get a period-correct plate and install that without doing anything to the uneven finish. If you find that there is flaking or some kind of unpleasant outcome, then your choices are (1) restoring that area; (2) living with the blemish. Given how nice that guitar looks, I'd likely do the latter.