PDA

View Full Version : Merry Christmas to me....



duhvoodooman
December 11th, 2010, 10:39 AM
Nailed this last night:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rt=nc&nma=true&item=270673001332&si=LEGS7BoYG1ukMRAeVQac59E4moE%253D&viewitem=

Not bad for $227.50 delivered!

If it's half the guitar my CV '50s Tele is, I'm gonna love it. A couple of nights ago, I set up a CV '50s Strat that a friend picked up off CL, and it played & sounded just great. But I wanted a rosewood neck, so I went for the '60s version. I also prefer the 3TS finish and the tortoise-shell PG of this model over the 2TS and white PG on the '50s. Looked on eBay and this one was up for bid with a starting price of $200 and no bids at that point. Put in a snipe bid and got it, and for quite a bit less than my max bid. :dude :happy

Algonquin
December 11th, 2010, 11:16 AM
Great guitars... period!

progrmr
December 11th, 2010, 11:51 AM
Oh yea, you'll love it. Same guitar I was putting those neovins in - not hat it had to have them either. Great neck and great tone.

marnold
December 11th, 2010, 12:05 PM
You're going to be the Spud of the northeast there pretty soon, DVM!

duhvoodooman
December 11th, 2010, 02:28 PM
You're going to be the Spud of the northeast there pretty soon, DVM!
Not so much. Zero sum game here. Assuming this deal goes through OK (eBay seller looks solid, or I wouldn't have bid), my Xaviere Strat copy (http://www.thefret.net/showthread.php?t=8302) will go up for sale. Fretters will get first shot, of course!

piebaldpython
December 11th, 2010, 02:53 PM
Nice score Vood. I gotta give you a lot of credit for buying someone else's gits sight unseen....someone who you don't know I mean. Of course, the fact you can do your own tech work helps out in that department.

Just curious.........but, uh.........have you modded the Xaviere Strat at all since you bought it nearly 3 years ago??? :poke

duhvoodooman
December 11th, 2010, 03:59 PM
Nice score Vood. I gotta give you a lot of credit for buying someone else's gits sight unseen....someone who you don't know I mean. Of course, the fact you can do your own tech work helps out in that department.I'm always very careful about the seller on these eBay guitars. I look for very positive feedback and lots of ratings, particularly if it's other guitars or musical equipment. This guy had 117 feedback entries, a 100% rating, and specializes in guitars. Seemed like a pretty safe bet to me.


Just curious.........but, uh.........have you modded the Xaviere Strat at all since you bought it nearly 3 years ago??? :pokeOnly one very minor mod--I installed a push-pull pot in the volume control position and wired it to add the bridge pickup in series to whatever pickup is selected. I do this mod to all my Strats, 'cuz I love the bridge in series with the middle ("quack on steroids") and neck (like a very beefy middle Tele 3-way switch position).

BTW, it will probably go up for sale at $125 + shipping. No case. Needless to say, it's in pristine shape.

omegadot
December 11th, 2010, 05:43 PM
Nice!

I'm fighting the urge to either get myself an SG or a bass to play with.

Spudman
December 11th, 2010, 05:50 PM
You dog! I had that one in my watch list. Well, I'm glad someone worthy got it at least. Congrats.



PS. Be careful. It can become addicting.

duhvoodooman
December 11th, 2010, 06:52 PM
You dog! I had that one in my watch list.
Umm, you have to actually BID, not just watch.... :poke ;)


Well, I'm glad someone worthy got it at least. Congrats.Thankee!!


PS. Be careful. It can become addicting.Huh? What'd you say? You're breaking up....

piebaldpython
December 12th, 2010, 07:00 AM
Vood.......how would you compare the GFS Staggered Vintage Alnicos in your Strat to the Alnico pups that were in the Xaviere Tele that you sold to me?

I bet that 12" radius would be great for slide.

Just musing.....sort of........:poke

sunvalleylaw
December 12th, 2010, 08:24 AM
Congrats DVM! That is the one of the CV strats that interested me the most. That sounds like a good exchange to pick up that in exchange for your Xaviere copy!

duhvoodooman
December 12th, 2010, 04:21 PM
Vood.......how would you compare the GFS Staggered Vintage Alnicos in your Strat to the Alnico pups that were in the Xaviere Tele that you sold to me?
The stock GFS alnicos sound great to me, and I've left them in. Very typical vintage Strat tone, which is what I wanted in that guitar, because I have the hotter Texas Specials in my Strat Plus.

There was nothing wrong with the stock p'ups in the Xaviere Tele, but the ash body & maple neck made it a very bright sounding guitar, so I went to the rounder sounding Alnico 3's.

Brian Krashpad
December 13th, 2010, 02:05 PM
Congrats!

That looks great.

Monkus
December 14th, 2010, 06:51 AM
Congrats! If its anything like my CV 50's you'll love it!

duhvoodooman
December 20th, 2010, 01:22 PM
Supposed to be delivered tomorrow, 12/21. In the meantime, thanks to the nice folks at Zzounds.com, I can look at the guitar BIGGER THAN LIFE:

http://cachepe.zzounds.com/media/quality,85/brand,zzounds/0303010500v2_hi_Done-73806a6339895388511012cdc8926f91.jpg

sumitomo
December 20th, 2010, 01:48 PM
Dang!!! That's a BIG one!!!! Sumi:D

duhvoodooman
December 20th, 2010, 02:55 PM
Dang!!! That's a BIG one!!!!
Yeah, that was my reaction, too! I remembered they had large product photos at Zzounds, but I didn't expect it to be half-again larger than the real thing!! :eek:

duhvoodooman
December 22nd, 2010, 12:03 PM
OK, here's a couple of shots of the actual guitar.

The previous owner did NOT take good care of it. It arrived in a condition I'd expect for a 10 year-old guitar, not a 2 year-old one. Filthy, for one thing, but that cleaned up easily enough. The strings were rusted beyond belief, and several of the P/G mounting screws and the two bolts that hold the 5-way selector are rusted, as well. Those of you into relicing may find this kind of stuff cool, but a fussbudget like me definitely does not. A fresh set of D'Addario 10's took care of the strings, but the rusty hardware will have to stay, for now.

But the thing that surprised me the most was this head-shaker: Whoever removed the plastic protective film from the pickguard apparently didn't have the patience to peal it from around the pot knobs or remove the knobs to get at it underneath. Instead, it appears that they cut around the perimeter of each knob with a utility knife, cutting down into the pickguard underneath. They weren't even very careful about it, with a couple of obvious slips resulting in cut marks radiating out from the knob circumference. Fortunately, on a tortoise-shell P/G, they're not that noticeable, unless you look closely. But it surprises me that anyone would treat a new guitar this way, even a relatively inexpensive one.

The body wood itself is in pretty good shape, fortunately. There are a couple of digs on the perimeter of the upper right bout, next to the edge of the P/G, visible in the body shot below. Not too deep, though, and a little glossy blacky enamel daubed there should hide them pretty well. The back has a couple of scratches, but is fairly clean, overall.

Now on to the good stuff, of which there is plenty. After thoroughly cleaning and restringing the guitar, I'm certainly impressed with how the guitar plays & sounds. These CV series Squiers really are amazing for the $$. The action is set a little high, but the neck feels great and there's very little fret wear. Intonation is right on the money. No buzzing or any other neck anomalies that I can find. The tuner's are the vintage slotted Kluson style, and are very smooth & stable.

The electronics seem to be rock-solid--no scratchiness or other funny noises from the switch or pots--and the pickups sound REALLY good. These are Alnico 5's, and the bridge, middle and neck pickups measure out at 6.64, 6.24 and 5.91 Kohms, respectively. From what I read at the Fender and Squier forums, these are essentially Tonerider vintage-style Strat pickups (made in the same factory, though to slightly different specs), and they have great clarity & definition. I see no reason to upgrade them, since they are everything I look for in a vintage-tone Strat pickup.

So bottom-line: Once I got past the neglect/abuse the guitar had apparently suffered in it's first couple of years, it definitely lives up to the high expectations I had for it, based upon my first Squier CV guitar, the '50s Tele. I'll probably replace the rust screws and the gouged pickguard at some point, but they're fine for now. Now 'scuse me, while I kiss the sky.... :rockon:


http://duhvoodooman.com/miscimages/musical/CV60s_Strat/CV_60s_Strat_full.jpg http://duhvoodooman.com/miscimages/musical/CV60s_Strat/CV_60s_Strat_body.jpg

sunvalleylaw
December 22nd, 2010, 12:15 PM
Cool! Those little dings won't hurt it. And I am sure it appreciates finding its way to a good home. Sometimes the second hand dogs you adopt from the pound become the best dogs!

Katastrophe
December 22nd, 2010, 12:15 PM
Nice!

She's got a few dings, but I'll bet you'll have her looking good as new in no time!

There is something about Strats that they attract dings. Mine has a few after 4 years, and I don't know how they got there. Maybe kids playing around, but who knows? My old Ibanez has a few spots where the paint has chipped off in a couple of spots, and I babied the thing, keeping it in it's case. That one I'll blame on the soft basswood body.

duhvoodooman
December 22nd, 2010, 12:44 PM
Coupla more pics that I took while "under the hood", inspecting the controls & wiring. I mentioned this in another thread--these Squier CV's are really nicely assembled. The cavity is neatly coated with shielding paint, there is shielding foil on the underside of the P/G above the pickups and controls, and the wiring is very expertly done. I can tell you that I've been inside MUCH more expensive guitars that didn't have nearly this degree of workmanship and attention to detail.

http://duhvoodooman.com/miscimages/musical/CV60s_Strat/CV_60s_Strat_wiring.jpg

http://duhvoodooman.com/miscimages/musical/CV60s_Strat/CV_60s_Strat_cavity.jpg

Monkus
December 22nd, 2010, 12:47 PM
Noice ! Great score !

marnold
December 22nd, 2010, 12:58 PM
Wow. That's awfully nice shielding. My '51 certainly isn't shielded like that. OK, it's not shielded at all.

NWBasser
December 22nd, 2010, 05:32 PM
Besides fretboard and pickups, what other differences are there between the 50s and 60s models?

Eric
December 22nd, 2010, 05:55 PM
Those of you into relicing may find this kind of stuff cool, but a fussbudget like me definitely does not.
...
Now 'scuse me, while I kiss the sky.... :rockon:
Kiss this guy??? I mean...yeah, that joke probably doesn't work with text...

Thanks for introducing me to a new word: fussbudget. I like that one -- I'll try to use it in the near future.

Oh, and congratulations on the new axe!

Kazz
December 22nd, 2010, 06:33 PM
Vood....if you decide to replace that rusty hardware let me know....I might be interested in buying it from you for my tele project :-)

duhvoodooman
December 22nd, 2010, 06:51 PM
Besides fretboard and pickups, what other differences are there between the 50s and 60s models?
AFAIK, that's pretty much it--maple fretboard and alnico 3 p'ups in the '50s and rosewood/alnico 5 for the '60s. And the color choices are different, of course. Oh, one more aesthetic difference--single ply P/G on the '50s, 3-ply on the '60s.

Tig
December 23rd, 2010, 08:45 AM
Happy New Guitar Day, DVM!
I like that CV 60's. Nice to see it has a good home now.

I'm a real sucker for well crafted, incredible sounding burst guitars that don't empty bank accounts or threaten marriages.

ZMAN
December 23rd, 2010, 02:28 PM
That brings up an interesting observation. I wonder why they called the Alnico 5s STA3 and the Alnico 3s STA5. We went through this before and it caused a lot of confusion. You can definitely hear the difference with the A3s.
Nice to see such detailed shielding under the hood. It really does show how these guitars are excellent bang for the buck.

duhvoodooman
December 23rd, 2010, 05:23 PM
That brings up an interesting observation. I wonder why they called the Alnico 5s STA3 and the Alnico 3s STA5. We went through this before and it caused a lot of confusion.
Yeah, I've seen this raised a couple of times. Interestingly, it seems to tie in with the "Tonerider theory". Here's a quote from a post in the Squier-talk.com forum:


"If you check up the Tonerider codes for their equivalent sets, you see a similar numbering system which seems too much of a coincidence, i.e:
CV50s Alnico 3 pickups (Fender-STA5) = Tonerider "Surfari" Set (TRS5)
CV60s Alnico 5 pickups (Fender-STA3) = Tonerider "Classic Blues" set (TRS3)"
It surely does seem like more than a coincidence. Now why Tonerider picked that seemingly conflicting numbering I would have no idea....