NGD: 1976 Fender Stratocaster - Mocha Brown

[God of Thunder]

Hello gang! This 76' arrived today. Can anyone from the vintage crew confirm if its all original? The tremolo hole seems to be filled in with metal?! Not a bad condition, two piece body. Not a ton of scratches on it. I "think" its the original case, but missing the Fender logo. If its not an original case, its certainly vintage! I thought it was a 75' when I bought it, but taking the neck off makes me think its a 76. Would love everyones thoughts on it yet. Only been here an hour so I don't know if I love it yet - or if its meh! Acoustically it sounds good, but its certainly heavier than my 91 Standard and 12' AVRI Strats.

 

[God of Thunder]

 

[SonOfLerome]

It looks like a trem arm broke off in the hole. Saddles seem to be replaced? Otherwise, to my untrained eyes, looks great

 

[FrieAsABird]

Can’t tell ya much about its originality, but it’s sure pretty- congrats

 

[Exhead]

I have no idea but it sure is pretty. HNGD!

 

[3bolt79]

Congratulations sir. That is a thing of beauty. I love the color. It looks to be in very nice condition. Can’t tell if it’s all original. You would have to take it apart. You have a trem arm that broke off in the hole there. I am currently looking for a Vintera in that color. Happy New Guitar Day indeed.

The saddles may be replacements. And the frets look flat. Like maybe they were leveled and not crowned. I don’t know what year they went to the flat pole pieces. I’ve seen earlier ones that have staggered.

 

[hrstrat57]

I’d wanna see the flipped PG and headstock reverse but looks the same as my 76 hardtail only yours is in much better condition. Saddle replacement is common I wouldn’t be concerned. From front pickups look orig (flat pole pieces)

Should sound great.

Getting the broken trem arm bit is doable or you can just replace the solid block…

Congrats.

 

[mad axe man]

wow very clean nice score

 

[sonny wolf]

Beautiful...I always loved the funky charm of a mocha colored Strat.Congratulations!!

 

[nickmsmith]

Nothing stands out as unoriginal except for the saddles, which weren’t stellar in the stock version anyway.

 

[Pandamasque]

A question. Is there anything actually wrong with the "bullet" truss rod? Or do people hate it just because it was a thing during Fender's worst era?

In terms of pure aesthetics I prefer '50-'60s heel access, but the bullet also looks cool and is way easier to access, so I'd say it's Fender's best solution, unless there's a functionality flaw I'm not aware of. At least it looks miles better than the modern exposed hole in the headstock.

 

[train]

Date it by the pups and pots. Heavy was good in 76. Only a broken rod is bad rod.

 

[arct]

Coulda been mine. Mine had white pickup covers, knobs, switch, wangly bar tip. Nice.

rct

 

[Gridlock]

Love it and Your guitar is making me miss my ‘79 Ash Stratocaster.

Congratulations!

 

[JRSIV]

Congrats brother. I have always wanted a "birth year" Strat, a 1975 in my case. I'm still fairly serious about doing it, just want one that's priced fairly and isn't a boat anchor.

I wish I got one in the late '90's when I was looking then. But I'd see like a beater 1975 Strat that was 9 pounds going for $2800 and I just couldn't fade it. Of course today that specimen would probably be $5000.

There's a nice black '75 on Reverb that claims it's birdseye maple neck is original; it's been seriously tempting but the $4500 asking price and my gut say to pass.

I hope you got a deal @God of Thunder, she's in quite good shape for being 45, better shape than I'm in...I don't see any red flags; the new saddles are something I would of put on anyway, and the neck code is for 1976. It's pretty kick ass...

 

[publius]

Very Nice! Same color as my 76 Telecaster Deluxe.


Me and the boys in the band went one day to the Rockin' Robin in Houston and we all bought gear.
I this Tele another a White Blonde ash bodied Strat. He a few months later joined the army. I bought his Strat, it was heavy, heavy heavy. Later being a young moron I sold it. The young fella that bought it was one happy dude. I have always missed that damned White Blonde guitar. ...I do believe they did have the Block Saddles from the factory....

Not one damn'ed thing wrong with the Bullet either......my CBS Era guitar is smoking'.

Congratulations on your mocha rock n rola....

 

[Parksie]

Hello gang! This 76' arrived today. Can anyone from the vintage crew confirm if its all original? The tremolo hole seems to be filled in with metal?! Not a bad condition, two piece body. Not a ton of scratches on it. I "think" its the original case, but missing the Fender logo. If its not an original case, its certainly vintage! I thought it was a 75' when I bought it, but taking the neck off makes me think its a 76. Would love everyones thoughts on it yet. Only been here an hour so I don't know if I love it yet - or if its meh! Acoustically it sounds good, but its certainly heavier than my 91 Standard and 12' AVRI Strats.

Love it…

The mocha rocker

 

[charlie chitlin]

Very sharp!
I'm trying to sell my black '76.
It's bone stock, a good build for a CBS and sounds great, but the frets are just too small and it's so minty I don't want to refret it.
Your frets look a bit beefier, but it's hard to tell from the pics.

 

[Mr Dunlop]

The case is not original and the bridge is thrashed with the broken tremolo arm.
I would be a bit pissed if I paid too dollar for guitar.

 

[RaySachs]

Coulda been mine. Mine had white pickup covers, knobs, switch, wangly bar tip. Nice.

rct

That's how I remember mine as well. I'm not sure whether mine was a 75 or 76 - I bought it in 1979 ($400) and it was my only electric guitar for about 25 years. And the first 10 of those were when I was playing out a lot, so mine was pretty beat up by the time I sold it. Hard to remember and I can't find any pics, but pretty sure the PG was black, like this one, but the pickup covers and all the knobs and stuff were white.

-Ray