1979 Strat Neck? Authentic?

I own a '79. That one is legit, right down to the three holes left after someone put one of the stupid Elite fine-tuner locking nuts on it circa 1983. (A truly hilarious choice with a bullet truss rod, but I digress. Suffice it to say that a lot of Strat necks from that era, including mine, show scars from 1980s attempts to adapt them to the Superstrat era.)

 

nut doesn't appear to be original. are the 3 marks above the trussrod adjuster screw holes? if so it looks like it may have had some kind of string clamp there. does look like a late 70s neck though

 

Ever seen the string clamps with the fine-tuners that Fender included with the 1983-84 Strat Elites? Three screws, the middle one a bit bigger, in exactly that pattern. I have one somewhere, if there's interest I'll dig it out and post a photo tonight.

 

Oh, and what @monwobobbo said - that graphite nut isn't original. It would have had a bone nut originally, but see above comments about the Superstrat era.

 

The only thing is these necks are fetching pretty big $$ these days and I'm just not sure it's justified. I wouldn't pay much more than any other decent partscaster but I'd certainly be happy to have a neck like that if was a player.

 

I had a '79 for decades, it's legit. The thing is, are you prepared for the baggage that comes with a '79 neck? Very slim, 7.25" radius, small flat-topped frets that defy you to ever bend a note?

 

This is (probably) what was on that neck at some point, posing with my '79 for reference. It's a string lock with fine tuners. They were standard on Stratocaster Elites in 1983 and for a while in 1984, but many owners got rid of them and it was common to find them for sale cheap in guitar shops in the mid-'80s.

(You can see that my '79 once had a Floyd Rose on it... much more destructive modification.)

 

String it with 10s, put a little relief in the neck to raise the action above the 10th fret or so, and bend away. A lot of us made it work just fine back in the day.

 

The serial number dates the neck to 1981......1978-1981 were pretty much the same....

 

Can you say that with certainty? All I've ever heard is that S9 decals were used from late 1978 into mid-1981. Has someone definitively narrowed it down?

 

That one looks like the 7 has been rubbed off. I think that would make it a 78-79. Can't imagine how that would happen by accident.

 

No it doesn't. The spacing looks just like mine.

 

Yeah, that's definitely better than buying a good neck.

 

Ah, so "good neck" = fat frets and flat radius. Okay. I'm glad your expert opinion cleared that up for those of us who own vintage guitars.

 

LOL, "vintage guitars", I'm so impressed.

Like I said, I had one for decades. Didn't say I hated it, why would I keep it for over 30 years? I was just pointing out some of the drawbacks for those who are not familiar with the quirks of a late-70s strat, so they are prepared for what they get. Oh well, I'll let you get back to admiring your "vintage guitars".

 

I was being facetious. Sorry to have confused you.