Classic Vibe Owners Club

[BCPete]

Hi Guys

I'm new here. Picked up my CV 50s a few weeks ago, and have been having a blast playing it through a Vox AD30VT.

CGR108000229: RRLT; CV 50's
CGR108000570: Broly; CV 50's
CGRG08000041: jonturner; CV 50's
CGS080100014: Dauntless; CV 50's
CGS080100118: asc67; CV 50's
CGS071100065: asc67 CV 60's
CGS080100139: HB; CV 50's
CGS080100180: dan p; CV 50's
CGS080100181: Chief Dot; CV 50's
CGS080100213: ccrnnr9; CV 50's
CGS080100273: 66musicmaster; CV 60's
CGS080100404: boujsquier; CV 60's
CGS080300093: Broly; CV 50's
CGS080300380: Rockape CV 50's
CGS080300779: Rockape CV 60's
CGS080500841: thaus CV 60's
CGS080400153: celtaidd; CV 50's
CGS080400401: Mikfer; CV 60s
CGS080500409: Rockape CV 50's
CGS080500432: Hiflyer; CV 50's
CGS080600028: BCPete; CV 50's
CGS080600218: Glenn D.; CV 50s
CGS080600956: Glenn D.; CV 60s

Pete

[asc67]

Welcome aboard Pete, fine choice in the CV 50's.

[BCPete]

Uh, when I registered, I forgot to lie about my age....I'm 48.

Pete

[ccrnnr9]

asc, that looks nice! Very unique. Have you already transferred electronics as well? If so, any chance we could get a vid or soundclip of the hyrbrid CV?
~Nick

[asc67]

Well, I decided just to keep the 50's pickups in as I couldn't really tell a difference between the Alnico III's and the Alnico V's.

[ccrnnr9]

Hmm that is weird as I saw this vid awhile ago and heard a pretty noticeable difference between the two:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1a1m9wrjddo

It also could just be a difference in amps and whatnot. Either way it is one good lookin geeetar.
~Nick

[asc67]

Yes, I was expecting to hear a difference as well. I had seen that comparision video before that's why I thought they would sound be a bit darker sounding and maybe a bit hotter.

But all's well I like the sound of the Alnico's in the 50's .

[asc67]

Just a little update, I started thinking about it and the 60's strat was strung up with 9's when I tested the pickups out and I run 11's on the 50's so I thought that the lighter strings might have given me a false impression of the pickups. This morning I put the maple neck on the 60's and strung it up with 11's just to see and my impression is that they are a just a bit hotter and maybe just a hair better balanced. Overall they are pretty similar as in not night and day different.

So anyway there you have it. I still not sure it's worth the bother to switch them over or not.

One other thing that I didn't notice right away is that on the rosewood neck the side fret marker dots are half way on the maple part of the neck and halfway on the rosewood slab which makes them kind of hard to see. On the maple neck the dots are about a 1/4" from the top of the fret board and on the rosewood neck they are only about 1/8" from the top.

I'm wondering if they miss marked them when they built the neck, it dosen't really matter to me cause I don't look at those dots while I'm playing. But maybe someone else with the CV 60's can tell me if the dots are the same on their necks or not.

[asc67]

Well I decided to take a look under the hood to look at the pick ups and I found something strange.

CV 60's marked with a A 3



And the CV 50's marked with a A 5


I'm assuming that the A is for Alnico....Thoughts ?

[HB_NZ]

That is interesting. The number's on the pickups would be for the magnets used ie: A5 would be for Alnico V etc etc. The pickups specs for the guitars are listed as Alnico V for the 60's CV's and Alnico III for the 50's CV's which is in reverse to what your guitars are showing.

[ccrnnr9]

Hmmm...that makes me want to check out under the hood of my CV tele. That is interesting. I will post back with results as soon as I get around the going under the hood. I need to change strings and raise the pickups soon anyways.
~Nick

[Zman]

Not surprised at all. When I first got my CV 50 I always go to the Schematics section and get a parts list for the guitar. I was interested in the differences so I pulled up the 60s parts list as well. To my surprise I found them both listed as the same part number.That has since been corrected.
This was the email and I thought it was kind of open to mistakes. What do you know! Since when does the same part number come in two different pickups.
Brian,

The share the same part # , but the 60’s use an alnico 5 magnet.



Ed Treat

Fender Consumer Relations

Fender Musical Instruments Corp.

8860 East Chaparral Road, Suite 100

Scottsdale, AZ 85250-2610

Telephone: 480-596-9690 ex. 7274

Fax: 480-367-5262

E-mail: etreat@fender.com




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Brian Stewart [mailto:zstewart@cogeco.ca]
Posted At: Tuesday, September 23, 2008 8:20 AM
Posted To: Consumer Relations
Conversation: Squier Classic Vibe 50s/60s
Subject: Squier Classic Vibe 50s/60s


I recently purchased a Classic Vibe 50s Strat and I liked it so much I was thinking of buying the 60s model. I checked on the Squier web site and pulled up the parts list to see what the differences where.

I noticed that the part number for the pickups is identical on both.

The 50s is suppose to be Alnico IIIs and the 60s Alnico Vs

is this a misprint or are they the same?

[jonturner]

On my 50s CV, when I moved the tone control to the bridge pickup I took some pics of the wiring, but I didn't get a shot of the pickups. Next time I change the strings I'll open it back up and let you know what I find.
(BTW, if anyone wants to see those shots let me know and I'll upload 'em.)

Regardless, asc67, what you describe seems backwards to me. IIRC the product descriptions, the 50sCV was supposed to have A3s, and the 60sCV, the higher output A5s. How could they have switched these pickup sets? Were the guitars both built in the same factory and somebody goofed when setting up the assembly line? Is the body serial # letter prefix the same?

[jonturner]

Originally Posted by Zman

The share the same part # , but the 60’s use an alnico 5 magnet.

WHAT?!? If it's the same part #, it's the same part, period*. "Ed" obviously has no experience whatsoever working in a factory, manufacturing, or inventory control/warehouse environment because that's really a dumb comment which CANNOT be true unless the only difference is a sticker applied to the bottom AFTER ASSEMBLY (which would mean Fender is lying in their product description). The guy doesn't know what he's talking about.

I think the reality is one of two situations: 1) The design originally called for the same pickups but has since been changed
2) Somebody in the design department just goofed and simply copied one diagram for inclusion in the other.

So, that aside, how to tell if the pickups are indeed different?

Put an ohmmeter across the pickup leads.

To measure the magnet strength, just use a stack of paper on top of the pickup and a paperclip on top of the paper. Add sheets of paper betw the pickup/paperclip until the magnet will no longer hold the paperclip in place, horizontally. Move that same stack to the other guitar. Is the other pickup magnet weaker or stronger?

Go to an autobody shop and ask them if they have a "bondo detector". It looks like a tire pressure gauge. You put it against the car body and it deflects an indicator to tell you how strong the magnet is pulled toward the steel body panel. Should work the same for the magnets.

Or just plug the guitars in one after the other and trust your ears to tell you if they're different.

[asc67]

Well , the 60's neck date is older than the neck date on the 50's but it's weird that they would have the opposite pickup numbers of what they are supposed to.

Like I said earlier they don't sound dramatically different from each other. Infact It could just be the different woods in each one sounding slightly different.

A mystery .......

[Zman]

Well another 50s CV turned up with the STA5 as origiinal pickups. Most people like them and I really think now that Squier has messed up on them.

[StratmanNick]

Hi, following on from an earlier post-

Yesterday visited my local Fender dealer and he had both Baja and Squier CV Teles.

The Squier 50's CV Tele is a superb instrument for the price, I really don't know how they do it.

It's only a personal criticism but I culdn't buy it as I found the fret board had too flat a profile. Found it fine for chord work but didn't 'connect' for lead stuff. That's just me I know.

The Baja....having tried one when they first came out I thought I'd give it another try but sadly no. The neck is too thick, similar to my aging Squier Hank Marvin Strat which only gets an airing now and again because of this reason. Strange to think that it was my main guitar for so long.

So still no Tele as yet.

[asc67]

Necks are definitely a personal thing. I absolutely love these CV necks and the radius is perfect for me.
My buddy has the CV tele and those necks are sweet as well.

I'm amazed at the quality of these guitars.

[Eoraptor1]

Originally Posted by StratmanNick

Hi, following on from an earlier post-

Yesterday visited my local Fender dealer and he had both Baja and Squier CV Teles.

The Squier 50's CV Tele is a superb instrument for the price, I really don't know how they do it.

It's only a personal criticism but I culdn't buy it as I found the fret board had too flat a profile. Found it fine for chord work but didn't 'connect' for lead stuff. That's just me I know.

The Baja....having tried one when they first came out I thought I'd give it another try but sadly no. The neck is too thick, similar to my aging Squier Hank Marvin Strat which only gets an airing now and again because of this reason. Strange to think that it was my main guitar for so long.

So still no Tele as yet.

My personal belief is that the use of CNC routers and lathes has become so refined (SEE CNC HERE: CNC - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ) that these companies are now able to mass produce very high quality necks and bodies at relatively low cost. One of my local music stores let me try out ALL of their new showroom CVs, and I was very impressed with all of them, especially the necks. I have a Squier Strat (I'm not sure whether it was originally an SE or a Standard) that I'm using as a project guitar, and after a few easy mods I'm getting a sound out of that instrument that's within a hair's breadth of my more expensive custom partscaster. I have the strings (.10s) laying nearly on top of the frets with little to no buzz. I got it (a late birthday present) to use as a beater, but now it's almost a player.

JAMES

[raouliii]

As of 10/20/08, the latest revision date, the CV50s and CV60s schematics, indicate different part numbers for the pickups. The CV60s pickups have the added notation of being "imported". The same numbers are found in the 10/08 revised master parts list as well. I haven't checked my CV50s for iii's or v's.

[thaus]

This seems like a cool little mystery......the kind us gear-pigs love to devour!! I will have to disassemble my CV 60's strat today and take some pics of the underside of the pups.........

[Zman]

I checked with DanP him and I had some of the fiirst ones made and his was STA5 in a CV50s. He said he didn't even notice until he checked out a picture he had posted in the FDP. I have a printout of both of the unrevised parts list around here somewhhere.
I will double check. But working in a manufacturing environment all my life, and not to mention my car hobby, a part number is specific to a part. You can have the same part number fit various peices of equipment, but it is the same part, Some of the techies out there will know how to measure the magnets and that will shed a better light on whether Fender is putting one over on us or is the labelling ambiguous.
I really don't think this is an issue where we are getting inferior parts, but it is interesting.

[asc67]

Originally Posted by asc67

One other thing that I didn't notice right away is that on the rosewood neck the side fret marker dots are half way on the maple part of the neck and halfway on the rosewood slab which makes them kind of hard to see. On the maple neck the dots are about a 1/4" from the top of the fret board and on the rosewood neck they are only about 1/8" from the top.

I'm wondering if they miss marked them when they built the neck, it dosen't really matter to me cause I don't look at those dots while I'm playing. But maybe someone else with the CV 60's can tell me if the dots are the same on their necks or not.

Just wondering if anyone could answer this question for me ?

[Zman]

I have only two out of my 10 Strats that have rosewood boards and they are both Squier Standards. Both of them are about 1/3 on the maple and 2/3 on the rosewood.
I don't have a 60th so I can't say. The only other rosewood board strat is an Abilene copy and it seems to have a thicker board and the dots are 100% on the board.
I am sure you will get some feeback from some 60s owners.

[jonturner]

Originally Posted by Zman

I really don't think this is an issue where we are getting inferior parts, but it is interesting.

Agreed! Frankly, I don't care if my 50CVs pickups are wound around Alnico-3, -5 or toenail clippings -- they sound great.

[thaus]

For all of anal guitar people.......just spent 20 minutes taking pics of side markers on all of my rosewood board strats.......(man, what a great way to spend Sunday afternoon!!) So here they are; you can see for yourself where the side markers are located. I think the Squier CV is pretty standard!!

[thaus]

And one more............(because you can only post 4 pics per thread!)

[thaus]

And I too took a look underneath the CV 60's at the pick-ups and they are marked with A3.........I will have to get an ohm meter out and see what the resistance is on each pup. Stay tuned for more anal guitar geek stuff.......but it is fun!!

[asc67]

Thanks guys !!

I was just curious, I had a Squier II years ago that had the dots like on the Bullet neck shown above.

[StratmanNick]

Totally brilliant shots Thaus....and its not too anorak(being polite).

[Zman]

Spudman over at the Fret talked to Fender Customer Service and they said that the STA5 was the product number and they had Alnico 3 magnets. I personally think this is preposterous. Sorry for the big word. I used it instead of calling it a Crock of doo doo.
They messed up and they should come clean. I am sure nobody will ask for their money back. Too damn nice of a guitar for that.

[asc67]

Sounds like a crock of doo doo to me as well.
And I suppose STA3 is a product # and they have Alnico 5 magnets....makes perfect sense to me...

[raouliii]

Adding to the list:

CGR108000229: RRLT; CV 50's
CGR108000570: Broly; CV 50's
CGRG08000041: jonturner; CV 50's
CGS080100014: Dauntless; CV 50's
CGS080100118: asc67; CV 50's
CGS071100065: asc67 CV 60's
CGS080100139: HB; CV 50's
CGS080100180: dan p; CV 50's
CGS080100181: Chief Dot; CV 50's
CGS080100213: ccrnnr9; CV 50's
CGS080100273: 66musicmaster; CV 60's
CGS080100404: boujsquier; CV 60's
CGS080300093: Broly; CV 50's
CGS080300126: raouliii CV 50's
CGS080300380: Rockape CV 50's
CGS080300779: Rockape CV 60's
CGS080500841: thaus CV 60's
CGS080400153: celtaidd; CV 50's
CGS080400401: Mikfer; CV 60s
CGS080500409: Rockape CV 50's
CGS080500432: Hiflyer; CV 50's
CGS080600028: BCPete; CV 50's
CGS080600218: Glenn D.; CV 50s
CGS080600956: Glenn D.; CV 60s

Here's my CV50's with my custom Harvard G-Dec Jr.

[ccrnnr9]

Cool pics thaus! Is it just me or do the frets on the CV look better than the whole bunch with the exception of possibly the CIJ you have shown?

raoulii, I like the look of that g-dec. Did you do it yourself? If not, who did? Are there any operational or functional mods or is it purely aesthetic?
~Nick

[raouliii]

Originally Posted by ccrnnr9

.....raoulii, I like the look of that g-dec. Did you do it yourself? If not, who did? Are there any operational or functional mods or is it purely aesthetic?
~Nick

Yes, designed based on the Fender Harvard and fabricated by me. The G-Dec Jr, being a small, cheap, practice amp, comes stock with a cheapie 8" speaker, a sealed back and a front port. The functional changes were a larger, open back, cabinet and a Jensen C10Q. The changes really woke it up. And I really like the tweed era ('52 -'64). It fits perfectly with the Classic Vibe 50's.

More photos here: My Harvard G-Dec Jr. Project

[Zman]

Very nice work. What wood did you make the box out of. The finished result looks very professional.

[raouliii]

Originally Posted by Zman

Very nice work. What wood did you make the box out of. The finished result looks very professional.

Thanks. Since it was my first amp cabinet, I used some scrap birch plywood left over in my shop. I'm a decent amateur woodworker, and a professional electronics engineer but a NOVICE guitar player. My next project will be a tube twin amp with a more exotic wood choice.

[Zman]

All of the higher end boxes are being made from Birch anyway. I am thinking of making my own 2/12 cab. I have a good friend who has a complete wood shop at his home and I could probably get him to make me the cab resonably inexpensively.
Where did you get the tolex? Also can you buy the feet and corner protectors?
I suppose some vinyl adhesive and a roller and away you go. Oh and the grill cloth as well, where did you get that.

[raouliii]

Originally Posted by Zman

All of the higher end boxes are being made from Birch anyway. I am thinking of making my own 2/12 cab. I have a good friend who has a complete wood shop at his home and I could probably get him to make me the cab resonably inexpensively.
Where did you get the tolex? Also can you buy the feet and corner protectors?
I suppose some vinyl adhesive and a roller and away you go. Oh and the grill cloth as well, where did you get that.

I purchased all of my hardware, grillcloth and tweed from Mojo Musical Supply and Angela Instruments. Between the two suppliers, they have just about everything needed for a cabinet build. The tweed was actually a lacquer/shellac coated fabric as opposed to vinyl tolex. I installed it with waterbased contact cement from Lowes. I applied a coat of amber shellac and clear top coats to get a less blonde/more aged look.

[dan P]

Great looking cabinet...! You just gave me a heck of an idea, I own a old seymour Duncan 84-50 ( pics on the gretsch-talk site) the amp sounds wonderful, but the cab its in is beat up pretty good, would love to have something like yours to retro-fit it in....thanks !