1988 Strat (Burgundy Mist, Reverse headstock)

[metalhobo]

grabbed this one last week. couldn't pass up the burgundy mist + reverse headstock + mop sharks on a strat. played it a little right after I got it and it played and sounded great, but had so much human gunk on the fingerboard and back of the neck that I took all of tonight to break it down and do a deep clean and conditioning. it's looking really really nice now. it has a shit ton of play wear and some real honest rounding on the rosewood fingerboard from hand action, but its best years are still ahead of it! the body finish is still awesome looking despite a crack in the finish around the neck joint and a few pinpoint nicks. the frets are noticeably lower than my other jackson strat probably due to multiple fret levels, but the action is still really nice and playability is great so it's got a long while before it will need new frets. alder body as far as I can tell from the neck pocket. haven't weighed her yet but she's got some heft.

neck is 0.79"@3rd to 0.84"@12th. feels a tad thinner than my 1987 jackson strat but noticeably flatter with more pronounced shoulders, whereas the 87 has a more rounded profile.

here she is without a bridge and strings (see below...)



















so there's still stuff I need to do:

1. the JT6 is actually in pretty good shape but I don't want to risk stripping anything out so I'm going to replace it with an OFR. I actually have a spare OFR laying around here. I mocked it up when I took the strings off and D'OH, the arm mount rubbed against the body. common problem, I know. well, I just popped the arm mount off the JT6 and put it on the OFR and it JUST fit in route. awesome. next problem, I forgot the OFR I have has a 37 mm block, and I need a 42 mm block for the top-mount bridge. I need to make a decision whether to just buy a new 42 mm block or get an all new bridge

2. I'm thinking I'm going to get some period-correct strap buttons for this. it has some kind of strap lock buttons that I won't use. fretsonthenet here I come.

3. I might try to source some period-correct jackson pickups for this. we'll see




I just love this finish. I'm a huge burgundy mist nut.

[metalhobo]

I'll take some new family pictures once I get the bridge thing sorted out. I'm starting to realize how much of a score my 1987 gunmetal strat was given how little wear that one had for its age.

[john.w.lawson]

Cool beans, you had the neck off it?

[metalhobo]

Cool beans, you had the neck off it?

sure did

(these pics are from before I cleaned it. you can see how much grime I removed)

[john.w.lawson]

Nicccce!!!! Great find bro

I'd like to find another Charvel strat, ani't no body comin' off of any of them though. Great find!!!

[ed]

is that velcro as a shim? Or just some tape?

[metalhobo]

it's not velcro. not exactly sure what it is. it could be some kind of tape, as it's pretty thin. I already put the neck back on. my new 42 mm block is supposed to get here today at which point I'll set it up and decide whether or not to keep the shim.

[john.w.lawson]

it's not velcro. not exactly sure what it is. it could be some kind of tape, as it's pretty thin. I already put the neck back on. my new 42 mm block is supposed to get here today at which point I'll set it up and decide whether or not to keep the shim.

It's a small shim. It's like .50 or .75 mm or less doesn't effect it's stability at all though.

[Mechayoshi]

So gorgeous. Mine is an 88 too. I have a J-90c. Would that have been in these? I think so.

[metalhobo]

So gorgeous. Mine is an 88 too. I have a J-90c. Would that have been in these? I think so.

all depends on what it was ordered with. could have been any jackson humbucker really. my gunmetal 87 strat was ordered with a j-50bc. unfortunately the original pickups in this one are long gone so I may never know. I think they must have been ones with the covers on them since the pickup ring is oversized.

[metalhobo]

got the bridge sorted out on monday... ended up getting the 42 mm brass block from FR and it's all set-up now! playing real nice. I had dry-fitted the OFR with the retrofitted arm mount and it seems to be fine, but once it was strung up I found the arm mount was rubbing against the bridge route by a c-hair. I ended up filing down the metal arm mount barrel slightly to make room and that worked perfectly.

there's a few things left to take care of
- the original string lock has grooves worn in it on the plain strings so that needs replaced
- I adjusted the pickups (air norton and area 67s) and they sound pretty good. the area 67s especially sound great. I was expecting to have to replace them with real single coils but I think these will stay. the air norton is a really cool sounding pickup but it needs more PUNCH so I think maybe I might try another paf 36th anniversary since I like that pickup so much in my parts strat. also the black/white zebra needs to go, and will replace the covers on the single coils with black ones.
- gotta get some new strap buttons and maybe also a new pickup ring. prefer the slanted kind for this bridge angle vs. the flat one on here now. it's the "oversized" ring type so might have to get that thru fretsonthenet.

I ended up removing the shim, which I found out was a piece of abrasive mesh. it's about 0.03" thick, so it only adds maybe 0.5 degrees neck angle, but the neck angle without the shim is more than enough so it made sense to remove it.

snapped a buddy shot along with the '87 strat. the color is really hard to capture in natural light. the pics on the workbench are closer to what it looks like in real life.

[john.w.lawson]

Yeah, those shim's are factory

Heres one off a 88 Charvel strat, just so people can get a closer look.



20220730_114621[1].jpg

[ed]

I wonder if the shim has a dual purpose so the neck doesnt move after its placed or maybe its just random.

[metalhobo]

I wonder if the shim has a dual purpose so the neck doesnt move after its placed or maybe its just random.

I had a similar thought. but I've never had a problem with neck movement so I figured it would be fine without it.

[Razor]

Very nice score, and nice detail and pictures of the resurrection of it!