More highly esteemed than Tadeo Gomez, Herbie Gastelum spent a total of 56 years at Fender, forty of them making necks! Former Custom Shop master builder John Cruz says he learnt everything about making great necks from Herbie. Herbie himself made necks for the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and dozens more big names. (Pic # 4 shows Herbie at work, making sure a Telecaster neck is just right)
Fullerton
While Herbie retired in November 2017, our Strat here boasts one of his killer necks from over three decades earlier. In fact, this would be one of the last necks made before Fender relocated from Fullerton to their new Corona factory. The neck date of March 1st, 1985, also pins the guitar down to being one of the very last Stratocasters produced in the US, before production shifted to Japan from March to October of that year, while the new factory came together.
Custom Shop work
Given the date, and the Herbie neck, it’s quite possible that this Strat was part of a small batch of early pre-official Custom Shop work, perhaps assembled to fulfil outstanding orders domestic orders, while awaiting delivery of the first Japanese-built models.
Exceptional
Anyway, this is an amazing neck. A slightly rounded C-profile at the nut, flattens off from around the 10th fret to a shallow D, making playing an absolute thrill. The feel in your hand is exceptional.
Features
Solid Alder body; old-school small headstock, (with proper gold Fender logo, though the majority from this time period were silver); 5-way selector switch; original top-mounted Freeflyte tremolo system; original Fender hard case.
Condition
For a guitar pushing 40 years, this Strat is in terrific condition – the frets and fingerboard are basically brand new! The scratchplate and body show some light playwear, but nothing more than what you might expect on an axe half its age. (And nothing readily photographed)
Sound
While some people chose to malign the so-called “Smith” Strats for the 15¢ cost-saving measure of dropping one of the tone knobs, lots of three pickups guitars have only the one tone control, so it’s a completely meaningless argument. Every guitar should be judged on its sound – and this one sounds fantastic, with a slightly woodier edge to your typical Strat tone, which is likely down to the Schaller Freeflyte tremolo system. Theoretically only used on 1983/84 American Stratocasters, (including the contemporaneous Elite model), the German-made Freeflyte was an innovative and less intrusive trem arrangement that wasn’t carried over to the new Fender factory at Corona.
Free courier delivery
Complete with its original moulded hard case, (pic # 7 and main), this near four decade old Strat ships with our famous FREE COURIER DELIVERY to any address in Australia. ($100 shipping to New Zealand, $175 to the US, Canada, UK and mainstream European countries)
Weight: 8lb 12½ oz / 3.98kg
Just Guitars
