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View Full Version : Picked up my new 50'sClassic Vibe strat today



Duff
January 16th, 2009, 11:23 PM
I was really impressed with the CV Strat 50's and I put a down payment on it based on its sound, feel, tone and look.

Picked it up today after having the five way switch modified to have the tone knob assigned to the bridge pup. I talked to Spudman about the guitar and the bridge tone knob mod and decided that the mod was a great idea.
Thanks Spud! It sounds so versitile.

The guitar sounds even better at home thru my Fender Super Champ XD on voice 2, Tweed Bassman.

I can't express how glad I am I took my Epi LP Junior back to GC and saved up to get this CV at a local shop I like to support. They beat MF's price out the door. I saw it, played it and put a down payment on it. Now it's home.

The neck is the nicest of any guitar I own. The wood grain is nice and straight and it has a character that is stunning, even on the headstock. The wood grain pattern is super nice with lots of tiny rectangular blockinesses all over it filling in the straight grain lines. There is zero buzz and very low action that I like. This guitar will get played a lot, guaranteed.

The sound of the guitar is superior to most of my guitars, based upon my initial impression and no comparisons. It is bright or smooth and bassy and has great tone and playability all over the fretboard. If you are wondering, still, about this guitar, it is truly a gem. I think mine might be the 22nd made based on the serial number but I'm not sure how to exactly read the new style serial numbers. Also the way the headstock transitions into the fretted part of the neck is different from any of my other strats, nice and smooth and visually cool looking. Nice big frets as well.

I love the two tone sunburst body and the extra coffee colored pup covers and plastic trim.

Inside the pickups look like high quality items with Fender written clearly on them, a calibrated set of three Alnico III's.

The pots, however are the tiny'est I've seen yet but the tech said that they are what they are and not to mess with them until I have a reason. The solid white pickguard is extra thick, not flimsy or likely to crack or warp as in thinne single ply pickguards. The tremolo block does not look like typical zinc. It looks like steel to me.

It plays, feels, and sounds so good it is the type of guitar that you don't want to unplug. I'm sure I will play myself to sleep several times tonight. I've been playing bass and guitar on my bed at night lately. Play the bass for a while and it seems really easy to play a guitar. This might be a practice method that could help someone make their guitar sound much more manageable. The guitar feels small and easy to master after jamming with the bass for a while.

Also, playing myself to sleep has helped me play better in another way; or should I say helped me pick up a very useful playing ability: I play with the lights out a lot and have gotten to know the sound of chords very well and the sound of the right notes and positions and power chords. When I get messed up I illuminate the area with my computer monitor and get back on track. This method has produced excellent results very quickly in terms of not having to look at the fretboard while transitioning amoung chords, notes, and positions. Plus the psychological depth of the sound goes really deep in the dark, if you know what I mean. Playing in the dark allows me to really immerse my soul in the sound like swimming in water or something. It is the only thing present and is thick and clearly perceptible without visual distraction , just sound vibes without the visual accompaniment. It's cool and I know a lot of you guys and gals play in the dark.

Anyway, this guitar is really a nice example of the Classic Vibe '50s strat. I feel really lucky to be able to own one. I'm getting so that most of my guitars in my assemblage are really nice intruments, irregardless of price paid. And they all sound different.

I'm sure I will be posting more positive remarks as I "learn" the guitar progressively more; especially with this new wiring set up for me. Never had the bridge and neck pups wired to the tone knobs. Makes a lot of sense and I like it.

Hope this amateurish feedback helps someone understand the CV '50s Strat a little better.

This is one outstanding guitar and is probably able to claim a much higher price, considering the big picture this guitar paints.

How is this picture until I get one of the Classic Vibe? The white Deluxe w duncan designed pups; and the "Cherry Burst" Standard with stock really nice sounding pups but the CV sounds different in a very pleasant way and sounds great all over the fretboard. Then the "Black Pearl".

http://i367.photobucket.com/albums/oo120/Duff-B/P1010050.jpg

http://i367.photobucket.com/albums/oo120/Duff-B/P1010064-1.jpg

The mother pure bred Black Labrador:

http://i367.photobucket.com/albums/oo120/Duff-B/P1010016.jpg

http://i367.photobucket.com/albums/oo120/Duff-B/P1010017.jpg

Duffy
Winfield, Pa.

One lucky dude.

PS, If anyone can tell me how to tell by the serial number which number my guitar was produced in the sequence from when they started making them I would appreciate it. The serial number is: CGS080100022. Quality control checked it out on 3/15/08. PO # S NAMM 08. If any of this makes any sense to some of you experts it would be interesting to know what it all means. Maybe it is the one hundred thousand and twenty second one made, not the twenty second.

Those considering this guitar might be quite impressed by playing a good example of one.

Robert
January 16th, 2009, 11:28 PM
Whoa. Amazing post, Duffy!

Spudman
January 17th, 2009, 12:11 AM
The serial number is: CGS080100022

Dude! I just checked the D.C. Police database for stolen guitars and that's one hot guitar.


Not stolen - just a hot guitar.;) :D Glad that you like it. Now play it like your head is on fire. :rockon: Rock on Duff.

Duff
January 17th, 2009, 12:31 AM
Glad you guys liked my post. One awesome guitar. I think I am starting to gain a lot more respect for strats than I have previously had. Very versitile and these nicer ones are sounding great.

Duffy

Katastrophe
January 17th, 2009, 06:11 AM
Awesome, Duffy! Now post a pic or two when you get the chance.

Jimi75
January 17th, 2009, 08:44 AM
Great post! Sounds like you bought your dream instrument or shall I say you fell in love with that guitr?!?!?!

Fender did an awesome job on this series and one should get one before they go out of production.

Duff
January 17th, 2009, 12:06 PM
I talked to the Fender Corporate tech guy yesterday and asked him about Fender discontinuing the CV line because of the exceptional build quality, tone, etc., and he said that no they won't be doing that becase it is a big money maker for them.

He also liked the bridge tone control mod that Spudman suggested to me and which I had done free by the tech at the local guitar shop. I like that bridge tone control too!

Also, on another disonant or consonant note, depending where your head is at, my lab had a litter of ten puppies starting at daybreak this morning. She was impregnated by my late pure bred Newfoundland. All the puppies were small and easy for her to deliver, luckily. I got the day off to aclimate the first time mother to her pups. She is being a great mother. Maybe some of you have seen her in some of the guitar pictures I've posted. I was also lucky enough to have some compasionate horse stable owners around her take care of me an made sure I got a pure bred Newfoundland male puppy, still has needle sharp puppy teeth; to replace my big six year old Newfoundland that impregnated the lab. He was killed by a car about six days ago and I've had the puppy for four days. Got him for 450 US dollars, unheard of for a purebred Newfoundland around here. There are some great people in the world and we don't even know them. Sometimes when you are down and out or suffer a tradgedy they materialize from the unknown, like these great people and they live right by me.

Again, twice more lucky: the puppies and the puppy. I'll probably give all the Lab/Newfoundland ones away.

Grooving on that new chiming guitar. Playing it all day in between helping with the puppies.

Duffy

Thanks to all of you for the great info on the CV '50s on all the threads. I'm sure I would not have gotten one if not for the posts written here.

bigoldron
January 17th, 2009, 12:40 PM
Sounds like a good day overall, Duffy! Congrats to you Brother!

just strum
January 17th, 2009, 12:42 PM
Hey Duff, you going to post a pic of the guitar and new pups?

Sorry to hear about your dog, but sounds like you have a lot of things to take care of. I would drive over and pick up a pup in a few weeks, but aren't those going to get to the size where you can throw a saddle on them?

Duff
January 17th, 2009, 09:34 PM
You might not be able to throw a saddle on them but you could put a harness on one and load a large cart with guitars and amps and it would haul them around for you.

The CV '50s is definitely nice, all around.

Duffy

Rx Tone
January 19th, 2009, 07:10 AM
Great news about the guitar...tragic news about losing your Newfie....but good news about the pups...I have three Weimaraners...can't even contemplate losing one.
anyway...all the best to you.

Duff
January 20th, 2009, 03:09 AM
Losing Blackmar was rough but I was able thru the compassion of some horse stable owners by me to get a new Newfoundland male puppy, Blackvar, from their cowboy. 450, fantastic price for a purebred Newfie.

I play the blues on my new Squire and it helps express my grief and apprecation of the goodness in the world.

That '50s Classic Vibe is really a nice guitar. I hand picked mine at a local shop, perfect action, tone, feel, playability and I had the switch modded to control the tone of the bridge pickup and the middle one now wide open sounds really great, loud and clear. All the other positions sound great too but the ability to vary the tone on the bridge is awesome. Great mod.

I have some pics on my cell phone and need to take some with my digital camera.

Was supposed to have a few days off but the schedule is full of my name for the rest of the week.

Thanks,

Duffy

Iago
January 20th, 2009, 01:23 PM
[QUOTE=Duff]The wood grain is nice and straight and it has a character that is stunning, even on the headstock. The wood grain pattern is super nice with lots of tiny rectangular blockinesses all over it filling in the straight grain lines. There is zero buzz and very low QUOTE]

That's how you know you've got a quarter-sawn maple neck. Seems the big majority of the Classic Vibes have quarter-sawn necks, what is quite incredible, since we usually seem them only in high priced guitars from the Fender line.

And I think you are right about the serial number, you have the 22nd made :bravo:

Duff
January 20th, 2009, 08:32 PM
Wow. That's really awesome if I have the 22nd one made. I heard the early runs had quarter sawn necks.

I got this from a local fairly big shop and I think that Fender distributed a lot of the first runs to places like that instead of the big internet places to keep their local franchiez'es supported.

So hopefully it is the 22nd made. That's cool.

It plays great as well. Really nice strat tone.

Duffy

PS See my pictures I edited into my earlier post of some Squires and the mother of the puppies. Pics of the CV to follow when my schedule lightens up.