Stratocaster closet finds :D

[Telecasterplayer]

I have been asked by the owner of these Strats to clean them up and bring them back to life.

He bought the Monaco Yellow 1981 in 1985 and played it until about the early 1990:s and then left it in a closet until now.

The white one ( bought in 1987 ) is from 1966 or -67 and it has seen a lot of touring ( in it´s first 20 years ) but does not seem to be worn out, it had lived in the same closet for the last 30 years or so

I am going to have a closer look at them and make them playable again and the owner said that if he decides to sell them I will buy them from him if we can agree on a price.

I will post more about the Strats later on.

 

[whoanelly15]

Those are sweet. Keep us posted.

 

[Telecasterplayer]

The 81 in the original plastic case.

 

[Telecasterplayer]

The case of the white strat is a "Järnacase".

Fenders sold new in Sweden in the 1960:s came without the black Fendercases and instead got cases made in Järna väskfabrik, south of Stockholm. Hagström Guitars had the same cases.

 

[Boreas]

The case of the white strat is a "Järnacase".

Fenders sold new in Sweden in the 1960:s came without the black Fendercases an insted got cases made in Järna väskfabrik, south of Stockholm. Hagström Guitars had the same cases.

Very nice!

 

[Telecasterplayer]

The 81 has two Dimarzios and the 66 ( or 67 ) has had the bridge / saddels replaced at some point in its life, there seem to have been tree toggleswitches too and worst of all: a spraycan repaint. I do not know if this was an olympic white from the begining but I will try to find out what it was originally.

 

[Telecasterplayer]

I kind of like the big headstocks on the CBS strats.

 

[Telecasterplayer]

The fretboards are disgusting but I will try to clean them up and make them playable again. All of the strings were rusty.

 

[Telecasterplayer]

Found some original parts in the Järnacase

 

[Telecasterplayer]

The owner was a big Yngwie Malsteen fan and got a pair of picks from him and a sign on the pickguard when he met him at a concert i Stockholm

 

[NTC]

Found some original parts in the Järnacase

I like that the trem cover is still with the guitar. Nice find!

 

[Telecasterplayer]

I like that the trem cover is still with the guitar. Nice find!

Yes I was a bit suprised when I found the cover, they are almost always missing.

 

[Telecasterplayer]

My own Strat is an American Standard from 2014, bought new by me and after 8 years of daily use it was a bit dirty but turned out this nice after a good cleaning and polishing up.

Now back to the other Strats.

 

[Telekarster]

Cool guitars! I'm a bit bewildered at the Olympic white one i.e. 66-67, wouldn't this have been nitro finished? If so how has it not managed to turn to the yellowish tint, even being in its case, after all these years?

Looking forward to more pics of the electronics and neck pockets etc.! Neat guitars man!

 

[Telecasterplayer]

Cool guitars! I'm a bit bewildered at the Olympic white one i.e. 66-67, wouldn't this have been nitro finished? If so how has it not managed to turn to the yellowish tint, even being in its case, after all these years?

Looking forward to more pics of the electronics and neck pockets etc.! Neat guitars man!

Thanks. I am a little surprised that the olympic has not yellowed but i think it has been resprayed at some point maby in a color that stayed more white than the nitro did.

 

[Telekarster]

Thanks. I am a little surpsised that the olympic has not yellowed but i think it has been resprayed at some point maby in a color that stayed more white than the nitro did.

Yeah that's what I was sort of wondering. As I understand it, those finishes back then were not very strong, kind of thin, so they often wore off pretty quickly and people would respray them, as you say. I'd have to guess this is what happened to it at some point, but when you get the neck and such off of em you'll know more I'm sure Looking forward to the pics! Nice!

 

[MattAndTheMachine]

Awesome find, looking forward to more pics and the outcome of the restoration!

My second thought after looking at the first pics also was along the lines of "this is too white" ...
I am curious what you can find out about that finish.
I have a once arctic white poly finished Squier from the 90s that has almost turned cream colored ...

 

[Telecasterplayer]

Today I spent around 8 hours to get the 81 done.

 

[Telecasterplayer]

The frets and board cleaned up nice.

 

[Telecasterplayer]

I did not take the neck of but found this tag with 10 26 81 on it so I suppose that is the production date. That will make it one of the last of the big head Strats before the Dan Smith model was introduced.