LARGE HEADSTOCK
By the end of 1965, after almost a year of transition, the guitars’ shape began to change. The so-called large headstock, which appeared on the Stratocasters in December 1965, was one of the most striking changes made by the new ownership. Many people thought that the purpose of the transition to the large headstock was to make the new Fender logo more evident on television. According to Scott Zimmerman, luthier at Fender between 1977 and 1984, the new headstock was a shared idea by Freddie Tavares and Leo Fender in 1964, because they were sure that increasing mass meant increased sustain. Then CBS bought Fender, but Freddie continued working in product development and, as per contract, Leo was kept on as a consultant. In 1965 the large headstock was introduced, but both Leo and Freddie soon understood that it didn't bring any advantage to the sound of the guitar. “That’s without a doubt the stupidest idea we ever came up with together,” they declared!
BULLET TRUSS ROD AND 3-BOLT NECK PLATE
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In late 1971 CBS replaced the neck shim and the 4-bolt neck plate respectively with the new micro tilt system and the 3-bolt neck plate.
Few know that while Leo Fender worked as a consultant for the CBS, he, with the help of Freddie Tavares, came up with a new invention: the tiltable guitar neck incorporating thrust absorbing pivot and locking elements, also known as tilt-neck or micro tilt. Thanks to the micro tilt the neck angle could be adjusted via a smaller wrench inserted into the lower hole below the screw of a 3-bolt neck plate. In addition to the serial number, the new neck plate was stamped with a huge “F” of Fender and the words “FENDER MICRO-NECK-ADJUST PAT. 3550496”. At the same time the truss-rod could be adjusted via a wrench inserted into a metal bullet located above the nut, without disassembling the neck, hence the name bullet truss rod. Although it is considered by many to be one of the causes of the decline of the CBS Stratocasters, the tilt-neck concept was valid and it is still used today for many acclaimed guitars. |
Tilt neck patent. Although Freddie Tavares was not mentioned in the patenet, he helped Leo Fender to design the Micro-Tilt
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According to Dan Smith, the problem was that the necks of the ‘70s Stratocasters moved around because the neck pocket was too big: “The slot had to be enlarged so they could mount the neck. The problem was, the neck mounting screws goes into a threaded hole in a little disc in the pocket. The disc was a punched part, and if it was punched crooked, it would be misaligned when they threaded the hole. Then, when they mounted the neck, it would pull to one side. Because they didn’t understand what the problem was, they’d take a hand-held router, which isn’t the most precise kind of tool, and enlarge the pocket.”
However, CBS introduced this mechanism at the beginning of 1971, but ignored other Leo’s ideas, such as the Fender Bender, a system that would have allowed changing the tension of the strings and therefore the intonation of the guitars during the bending.
However, CBS introduced this mechanism at the beginning of 1971, but ignored other Leo’s ideas, such as the Fender Bender, a system that would have allowed changing the tension of the strings and therefore the intonation of the guitars during the bending.
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The large headstock, the "bullet" truss rod and the 3-bolt neck plate typical of the CBS Era Stratocaster
Tuning Machines
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When CBS bought Fender, one of the first things Don Randall wanted to do was to make their own tuning machines, thus avoiding buying the Klusons.
Forrest White stated in his book that he had the idea of the design of new keys that would be mounted easily on the six-in-a-row headstock with the use of two screws. According to Forrest, Fender bought West German gear-hobbing machines to make the gears for the keys they wanted to make. |
The Fender Keys
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The gear-hobbing machines were set up in Race and Olmsted’s Tool & Die shop, which made the parts for Fender because the machines had to be operated by trained machinists, and Fender didn’t have employees with that particular skill. Forrest also claimed that Schaller, the German company, copied his design in making some of their keys – although a few former Fender employees remember they were supplied by Schaller and shipped from Germany in the typical Schaller orange boxes.
Regardless of how things went, Kluson tuners were gradually discontinued and replaced by the so-called Fender keys in the course of 1967, characterized by an octagonal chrome-plated plastic button and the “F” (for Fender) marking stamped on the back of the cover.
Regardless of how things went, Kluson tuners were gradually discontinued and replaced by the so-called Fender keys in the course of 1967, characterized by an octagonal chrome-plated plastic button and the “F” (for Fender) marking stamped on the back of the cover.
Woods
As a general rule, ash bodies from the '50s were lighter on the average than those from the '70s, which were particularly inconsistent.
Due to the increased production, reduced production times, and wear of machines, the contour has been gradually reduced to seem almost hinted compared to the deep one of the '50s, but, above all, it was not consistent and there could be a noticeable difference between one body and another, especially in the second half of the '70s.
John Page, who launched Fender Custom Shop in 1987 and led the shop for the next twelve years, was hired in May 1978 as a neck buffer on the production floor. He recalls he went to the wood shop and found that even though they had templates and tooling, they weren't be used. That meant quality depended on which guy was carving, and their mood. So, contours were all over the map. When John told to the shapers, “You’ve got to use the templates and tooling,” some guys had the attitude, ‘Oh, that’s too difficult’ or ‘That would take too long.”
Dan Smith stated that when he arrived at Fender in 1981, he had an early shock as he toured the factory. “I remember looking at the body contours,” he says. “People were complaining about contours, and here I am looking at racks of hundreds of guitars. Every one of those guitars had a different edge contour! We went and pulled guitars out of the warehouse, and we did a series of general re-inspections on 800-plus guitars. Out of those, I think only about 15 passed the existing criteria.”
In 1965, the Brazilian government, to favor local businesses, imposed an embargo on the export of Brazilian rosewood, which could no longer be exported as it was, but already partially cut into blocks. Fender, which was not satisfied with the quality of the blocks of wood from Brazil, therefore stopped importing this wood and soon ran out of supplies, preferring the Indian rosewood.
Due to the increased production, reduced production times, and wear of machines, the contour has been gradually reduced to seem almost hinted compared to the deep one of the '50s, but, above all, it was not consistent and there could be a noticeable difference between one body and another, especially in the second half of the '70s.
John Page, who launched Fender Custom Shop in 1987 and led the shop for the next twelve years, was hired in May 1978 as a neck buffer on the production floor. He recalls he went to the wood shop and found that even though they had templates and tooling, they weren't be used. That meant quality depended on which guy was carving, and their mood. So, contours were all over the map. When John told to the shapers, “You’ve got to use the templates and tooling,” some guys had the attitude, ‘Oh, that’s too difficult’ or ‘That would take too long.”
Dan Smith stated that when he arrived at Fender in 1981, he had an early shock as he toured the factory. “I remember looking at the body contours,” he says. “People were complaining about contours, and here I am looking at racks of hundreds of guitars. Every one of those guitars had a different edge contour! We went and pulled guitars out of the warehouse, and we did a series of general re-inspections on 800-plus guitars. Out of those, I think only about 15 passed the existing criteria.”
In 1965, the Brazilian government, to favor local businesses, imposed an embargo on the export of Brazilian rosewood, which could no longer be exported as it was, but already partially cut into blocks. Fender, which was not satisfied with the quality of the blocks of wood from Brazil, therefore stopped importing this wood and soon ran out of supplies, preferring the Indian rosewood.
Finish
Until about 1968, Fender mainly used thin coats of nitrocellulose or acrylic lacquers on its guitars. Nitrocellulose was fairly unstable, harder to deal with and can generate dangerous toxic fumes. After CBS took over Fender, polyester finishes were brought in, primarily because they allowed a significant time savings, because polyester dried very quickly, and are better suited to mass production.
Heavier coats of polyester soon generated a major change in the look and feel of Fender guitars as the company developed its ‘Thick Skin’ high-gloss finish - in opposition to the old ‘thin skin’ - typical of the ‘70s instruments.
Regarding the huge use of polyester Fender/CBS made, the Master Builder Mark Kendrick said: “They just blew a tsunami of polyester on there because it was easy in production and filled very quickly, it was chemically hardened, and it was very forgiving in that you could sand off as much as you want amd mot hit the wood. I’ve seen some guitars with between 50 and a hundred thousand [of an inch] glopped on there. Encapsulating the guitar in a cocoon of plastic like that is going to dampen the sound.”
In 1979, Fender was asked by both the Air Quality Management District and the Environmental Protection Agency to modify its spraying installation and to find a less polluting finishing method. Then Fender decided to try water-based finishes, which could be electrostatically sprayed on bodies, but the result was disastrous: the water-based paint was prone to cracking, it just came off in big sheets, and looked like broken eggshells, and consequently Fender was forced to return to polyester finishes.
Heavier coats of polyester soon generated a major change in the look and feel of Fender guitars as the company developed its ‘Thick Skin’ high-gloss finish - in opposition to the old ‘thin skin’ - typical of the ‘70s instruments.
Regarding the huge use of polyester Fender/CBS made, the Master Builder Mark Kendrick said: “They just blew a tsunami of polyester on there because it was easy in production and filled very quickly, it was chemically hardened, and it was very forgiving in that you could sand off as much as you want amd mot hit the wood. I’ve seen some guitars with between 50 and a hundred thousand [of an inch] glopped on there. Encapsulating the guitar in a cocoon of plastic like that is going to dampen the sound.”
In 1979, Fender was asked by both the Air Quality Management District and the Environmental Protection Agency to modify its spraying installation and to find a less polluting finishing method. Then Fender decided to try water-based finishes, which could be electrostatically sprayed on bodies, but the result was disastrous: the water-based paint was prone to cracking, it just came off in big sheets, and looked like broken eggshells, and consequently Fender was forced to return to polyester finishes.
Bridge
In late 1971, CBS changed the design of the Synchronized Tremolo to a cheaper one-piece, die-cast unit made of a metal alloy named mazak, whilst during the Strat’s first decade and a half, the base plate and the perpendicular inertia bar were separate pieces. The knife-edge parts of the new bridge were less sturdy, and cheaper die-cast saddles were blamed for a loss of sustain and a thinner tone. The hardest part on some die-cast components was the plating, and once that flaked or broke, that component could wear out rather quickly.
The new CBS die-cast bridge, picture from "The Strat Chronicles" by Tom Wheeler
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Pickups
During the CBS era, Stratocaster’s pickups changed a lot. In 1965, with the CBS takeover, Fender gradually replaced the old-style hand-guiding machines with new auto-winders and conversion ratios brought about some confusion. In the mid-60s, the black bottom pickups with formvar insulating coating were replaced with grey bottom pickups with plain enamel insulation, and since the end of 1974, the staggered pole pieces were replaced by slightly smaller flat pole pieces.
However, the most important complaint about some CBS Stratocasters was that their pickups were microphonic because they started to stop dipping pickups in wax.
However, the most important complaint about some CBS Stratocasters was that their pickups were microphonic because they started to stop dipping pickups in wax.
Antonio Calvosa
