Story / Needs...

[TokyoStratFan]

Hello all! I'm actually looking for a special Christmas present for my father.

When he was in the Navy he bought a Stratocaster off someone in Puerto Rico for $200. He used to play in a band. After he married my mother it just kind of sat around in its case. He would play it everyonce in a while, but since we lived in an apartment, he tended to favor the acoustic guitars.

I used to play with it all the time and I'd make these lip-synch videos pretending to be 1/2 as tallented as he was. Well one day I over-tightend the tremolo and snapped it off (1/2 of it still inside the block).

My dad didnt care much about it until about 10years later when he decided to take it to a guitar shop and get it fixed. He took it in the shop and the manager asked if it was real. "Yea, its real" my dad replied. The guy offered my dad $10,000 on the spot for it. It turns out it was a 1963 Pre-CBS Stratocaster. My father said "no thanks" and ordered a new block/tremolo for it. It came in, but there were a few differences. The tremolo was bent at slightly different angles than the original and the tip was a different color (white vs. bone).

He still has all the old pieces (block and broken tremolo) and I'd love to get him an authentic 1963 tremolo bar for Christmas. I've been searching high and low, but to no avail (I did see a 1962 block go for sale for ~$100 on ebay). The block is not as important to me, with a LOT of care, one could extract the broken piece and it would be fine. But the bar, with its unique angles, does contribute to the feel of the instrument. He is a collector of sorts and has no less than 15 guitars last time I checked. This guitar also has a lot of sentimental value to me since its one of my childhood memories. I'm sure if my father had any clue what it was worth, I would not have been playing with it. That was all over 15 years ago, and I think he'd get a real kick out of getting it back to the way it was.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Strat-Talk]

Hi, it seems like any good tech could extract the threaded rod from inside the block -- you don't want anything "new" If he has a '63 Strat its worth too much to mess with anything that is original.

As to getting an "old" trem arm that should be relatively easy... but expensive.

Pick up any copy of "Vintage Guitar Magazine" and you'll see a few guys advertising that specializing in old parts for guitars. I'm not sure it has to be a '63 trem arm. You could probably get one from any year up to the early-70's. I'm not sure when they changed the shape of the trem arm. In fact, I didn't know that they did.

That "creme" color tip is just age and should mostly be a function of the life the guitar led over the years. I have a '65 Strat and the plastic tip has yellowed with time on it.

Do a search for "Vintage Strat Parts" on Google and a number of dealers will come up that offer such parts. You'll just have to call or email each one for the trem arm you are looking for.

If you didn't have to have it before Christmas you could get on in April at the Dallas Guitar Show. There will be hundreds of dealers there.

Oh... I just noticed you're in Japan. That makes things much more difficult.

PS. I would guess if his Strat is all original 1963 in Sunburst it would be worth $15,000 to $18,000. If it's a custom color it could be $5000 more or even higher.

[TokyoStratFan]

Thanks a lot. I'll use that info. Its the standard sunburst color, and has a few nicks (not mint, but still beautiful). If I cant get it for Christmas, I'll try and get him one for his birthday.

I believe the angles did change, at least on the trem he has vs. the replacement trem the shop gave him they did. I was going to have the machine shop at my school try and bend a piece of metal and then thread it, but I'd rather get an original. There's no way I would ever sell it anyway, to me its priceless

Thanks again! I'll post pics of it whenver I get back to NJ. I'm in Tokyo now (far far away).

-Rob