Fender American Vintage II 1961 Stratocaster RW Fiesta Red

[barryjh]

Hello,

I think this model was introduced in October this year and although not pure Custom Shop it is supposed to be "comparable" to CS standards and faithful the original model.
I may be late with this but did any of our members get chance to own/review this guitar yet. 
At first glance it interesting but my local dealer doesn't have one available yet.
Any feedback would be appreciated.

Regards,
Barry

[garystrat]

Hi Barry,

This may be helpful:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5UisX61GQQ

Regards

Gary

[sheendigs]

Hi Barry,
I think the American Vintage 1961 must be around 3,000 $ Canadian..!
Sheendigs

[Hendrickx]

www.guitarworld.com/reviews/fender-american-vintage-ii-61-stratocaster-and-51-telecaster-review

[Hendrickx]

findmyguitar.com/reviews/Fender-American-Vintage-II-1961-Stratocaster-review.php

[skye]

Are you looking to buy Barry?

[barryjh]

Hi,

Thanks for the replies. I've always wondered what the original 61/62 sound difference was between them and the 58 version of the Strat and if there was a difference then
does these 62 re-issues capture it?

This rosewood board Strat was used a lot by HM and some reports are saying that Fender used the same Strat PUP's thro' the period ending the late 50's into the early 60's.

I'm no expert on this but maybe some members might be able to help.

Regards,
Barry

[garystrat]

Hi Barry,

I couldn’t say for certain, but this is part of the Fender history from 1956:

www.guitarworld.com/news/pickup-winderbuilder-abigail-ybarra-who-came-fender-1956-retires

I’ve heard and tried these on a custom shop NOS 56, IMO they are quite distinctive and certainly sound right for “That Sound”, personally I used custom shop CS 54’s they also sound right and I believe were used more recently by Hank on the Final Tours.

Regards

Gary

[barryjh]

Hi Gary,

I have CS 54's on a Alan Brason guitar and, as you say, they do sound very close (I'll post a sound file as soon as poss). Not sure if all or any CS PUPs are hand wound these days or what difference it would make to the sound either way (apols to Abigail and Josefina !!) This latest 61 re-issue isn't a CS guitar by all accounts but apparently comes very close in build quality.

I'm sure we will get some feedback soon.

Regards,
Barry

[philc]

I have an original April 62, which I think would be no different to a 61, if you want to compare the sound, quite a lot of my posts are with this guitar.

Phil