Pre CBS or CBS headstock?

[Doug Ferguson]

Pre-CBS, although at the time I liked the CBS's. Funny how personal tastes can change over time.

[boris bubbanov]

It might've been fun if Fender had used the big one on some models, the smaller on others, to avoid the sharp timeline association with the less than halcyon days of CBS corporate foolery. Perhaps Jaguars with them, Jazzmasters without, etc.

No offense intended to any of my Tele-philes here, but the application that I guess irked me, and turned me, was the big headstock on the 72 Deluxe Tele. It sort of disenfranchised me, made me feel like CBS Fender did not need me. I've got a T type 2 HB with the little Strat headstock, which I like.

[gaddis]

Originally Posted by Del Pickup

... Having said that, has anyone ever wondered about why CBS didn't restyle the tele headstock as well? There must have been a reason for it. ...

Then it wouldn't look like a foot!

[casterway]

Someone should get one of those scaled down Squier Strats, and put a full length big headstock neck on it. That would rule the universe. Yup.

[Telarkaster]

The singer in my band loves bullet truss rods and huge 70s headstocks.

I like the modern smaller headstock, with discrete truss rod access at the nut.

But when I play my singer's 70s Strat, the last thing I look at is the headstock...

[Cyrithicus]

FAT!

[Vol. Knob]

Can't decide. So I have one of each. Mind you, both are '80s MIJ Squiers...

[mijstrat72]

My first exposure to the strat...that I retained, was of Jimi Hendrix playing a large headstock strat. And that has stuck with me and been "my" idea of the "stratocaster".

I remember the first time I saw a small headstock, I didn't think it looked right.

So when I bought my first strat, it had to have a large headstock (mij 72 ri).

But I have played a few of my buddies various strats and really enjoy playing the 62 style neck on his photoflame (small headstock).

So I have began to get used to the look of the small headstock, and have just purchased a bullet strat (daphne blue) with the small headstock to help me aquisition to something more american someday.

I do think there is some loss of sustain on the smaller headstocks (less wood=less sustain), but tell that to EJ.

[XKnight]

I'll take the original when offered.

[rushcentrale]

pre is my preference, but the big CBS is great too! reminds me of jimi

[hockey_head]

pre is best but if you need a shovel to get the car unstuck, the post is the only way to go (unless your drummer comes along with a cymbal).

[nic'o'caster]

The guitars I buy for aesthetics are the ones that I end up reselling because I never play them... i.e. Gibson L6-S, Zion Ninety, Ibanez Iceman, di Pinto Galaxie...

[DAVID KORNBLATT]

the dorkyness of Fender and really all 70's companies appeals to me because people who lived as adults at that time thought it was so cool ie nudist parties and the like and isnt divorce great

[1293]

Originally Posted by Doug Ferguson

Pre-CBS, although at the time I liked the CBS's. Funny how personal tastes can change over time.

+1

I have an '82 Strat which is when they switched back to the smaller headstock. The smaller headstock just didn't look right to me at the time. And now, 25 years later, the big ones just look too big.

[JackStraw]

Much prefer the pre but like the CBS as well.

[Loco]

This Strat fan has a lot of affection for both. Love to have a natural finish Classic '70s in my collection.

[Telemaniac]

I really used to dislike the CBS headstock, but that was because I remember them from new and how they spoiled the look of a Strat back when I was young. Then they put it on the Tele deLuxe which I had and liked, and now my view is that they both look good - Loco's influence over many years, perhaps! There is another way to make the headstock on a Strat look good, though . . . .



. . . . only joking, I did this because I had some spare parts lying around.

[airwarrior]

I prefer the CBS style. Makes the guitar stand out from a sea of small headstocks. Especially with a nice vintage tint.

[Loco]

CBS were clever. The Stratocaster name could be so easily read on that large headstock - even on a TV screen. Must have shifted thousands of Strats from free advertising alone! And watching repeats of music programmes recorded in the seventies; appears to reveal that CBS Fender Strats couldn't have been all bad - plenty of musicians from that era were obviously quite happy playing 'em...

[bryan-is-magic]

Black or 2-tone burst: small head and 1-piece maple
Surf green, daphne blue or fiesta red: small head and rosewood
Olympic white, 3-tone burst or sienna burst: large head and rosewood
Natural: someone get it the hell away from me
Short scale student models: Large head unless pre-64, then small
However, a Telecaster must be butterscotch blonde with small head and maple.

[Cheesehead]

I used to like the Pre more because I grew up with 70s Strats and always thought the pre-CBS head represented higher quality. Now I have a nostalgia for the 70s and like 'em both. I had a Tele Deluxe for a while with the big Strat headstock and like the new Highway Ones...

[Post Toastie]

Big Headstock= Richie Blackmore

[flyingbanana]

My wife said "No big headstock." When I had Tommy start on my new neck. Now that...is the definitive answer.

[SouthpawGuy]

I have both, but I really like this one.

[Stuco]

Pre-cbs Why didn't you make this a poll?

[caliban335]

Pre. I don't know who was responsible for the design, but it's perfect.

[mjb1967]

Pre

[Tremolo7]

Same as he said.

[cmcoram]

Originally Posted by SouthpawGuy

I have both, but I really like this one.

I dig the CBS w/bullet truss rod.

[scratchman]

This debate will run and run for ever. I think if you disassociate the larger CBS headstock from the emotional side of things (big corporation coming in and treading all over Leo's work) then I honestly think it's a beautiful design which stands up in it's own right.

I've had mid-90's US Strats with pre-CBS type headstocks and I own an original '74 with the big fat design and it is a work of art.

So if I had to choose, objectively, it would be 70's CBS design.

[prawnik]

Cats prefer CBS, and I am not even that much of a Hendrix freak.

All the Strats I have built were CBS, although I will someday build a 1956 Mary Kay as a tribute to the first good replica I ever saw and designed to get Ike Turner tones.

[Brad J]

Problem with the CBS headstock is that most people align it with the 70's strats, but it first came around late '65,
I love the look of Hendrix's early CBS strats, and you can't mistake the tone they have.

[jrich99]

Have one of each, like em both.

[Old Cane]

Originally Posted by Ronkirn

I totally agree… is FMIC had any sense they’d bury anything relative to the 70’s except the Thinline.

The whole decade of the 70’s was pretty much identified by junk, from Disco music, to pot metal bridges on Strats. We also were given “Big Hair” women the AMC Gremlin, the 8 track, and a slew of “Detroit’s finest”.

The best thing that ever happened is when Fender hired Leo back as a consultant in the early 80’s and his first bit of advice, “Why don’t ya just build ‘em like I used to,” That did not include the big head.

Ron Kirn

Not just the '70s. I have a Feb. '66. How much I wish it was 6 months older.

[Rob DiStefano]

the WORST thing about most 70's fenders was that damn catalyzed epoxy finish they slathered over bodies and necks and frets - yuk.

[Chris Boyd]

Pre for me....













www.bigredmusic.net