question about my cherry sunburst strat

[jruss]

I have a cherry sunburst std that i bought off my friend, and i have been trying to figure out what wood it is made of. It's an 07 and on the info i've found some say alder some agaithis. so does anyone know? i can get pics if that would help.

[Spudman***]

There are tons of "strats" out there. Can you be a bit more specific or post a photo. American, Chinese, Japanese, Indonesian, Squire? What?

Got the first 4 characters of the serial number?

[jruss]

haha my bad,its a squier made in china (cy07) and heres a pic, crap cellphone quality though.

[ZMAN]

Mine is a 2004 model and I have the corresponding Fender frontline for that year. They are listed as Standard RW SE. Wich mean Standard rosewood Special edition. The Cherry Sunburst was introduced as a special limited edition in 2003, along with 9 others in various colors. The cool thing about the old Fender Frontline is that they have a detailed spec sheet on every guitar.
The model number for the SLE Special Limited edition was 032-1603-530, and it was an Alder body.
In 2004 there still was a listing for an 032-1603-530-RW SE also listed as Alder.
The last Frontline I have is a 2006 and they are listed as Agathis in that one.
After a couple of years that color 530 Cherry Sunburst was added to the standard lineup with a Rosewood Board, and the SE label was dropped.
I do not have any listings for 2007, but my best guess is that they are Agathis.
Hope this helps. I did a lot of research on this one a couple of years ago. It has a lovely neck and the Alnico 5 pickups are very responsive.
Spud has one as well, as do a lot of guys on this forum.
I just checked and I guess they have added it as a special edition again with it's own listing on the Squier web page. Again it is listed as Agathis.

[Spudman***]

It's a Cherryburst. I have 2 of them and they are alder.

[ZMAN]

Hey Spud. What year are yours? I looked up the specs on them and the later ones are now Agathis. I thought because of the wood grain they might stick with the Alder. Of course you cannot trust the specs on the Squier site. I have found multiple errors there.

[Spudman***]

Hey Spud. What year are yours? I looked up the specs on them and the later ones are now Agathis. I thought because of the wood grain they might stick with the Alder. Of course you cannot trust the specs on the Squier site. I have found multiple errors there.

They are in the cases buried in the west wing. I'll check later on the dates.
Squier is famous for using blanket descriptions for their product specifications so I take them with a grain of salt.

If jruss will post a photo we might be better able to give a more assured answer.

It's pretty obvious when looking at the grain which is which. I've personally never seen a burst clear agathis finish. I don't think it's a flattering grain to show off. Especially the Cherry finish.

Does yours look like this jruss?

[M29]

That is nice Tater, I always check out the Cherry bursts at the shops, I really like that model . All that I have seen were Alder, that is one of the things I like about them.

jruss.....

[ZMAN]

I agree Spud. Looking back at the original SE in 2003, on the master spec sheet, all of the clear finishes ie you can see the grain, are in Alder the painted finishes are all Agathis.
Can''t beat a 200 dollar guitar with an Alder body.

[jruss]

heres a few pics, best quality i can get for now. i was leaning toward alder since it does show woodgrain. In any case it is a great guitar and plays great! i put i klien s-5 pickup in the neck position and i really like it but i decided to go with a set of fender custom shop 69 pickups =]

Attachment 1982

Attachment 1983

Attachment 1984

[Duff]

Mine is just like Spuds. Mine is an '08 and has the alder type grain that does not look at all like my burst LP copy agathis guitar that has closely spaced little pinhead dot pores in the grain that are clearly visible to the naked eye.

I really like that cherry burst and it picked me out, not visa versa.

It now has a Seymour Duncan 'lil 59 in the bridge, for how long I don't know, might change it out for something else; but the 59 sounds super great.

I have found my agathis guitars to be good sounding and have no problem with them.

I believe wood tone is important and that agathis is a good tonewood, however, I think a lot of the tonal lacklusterness of some of my guitars is directly related to the electronics, meaning wiring, pots, switches, grounding, etc., in the guitar. Probably the individual pickups are not as much of the contributing factor to the lacklusterness but I have noticed definite improvements when installing high quality pickups, especially when replacing the rest of the electronic components.

Think about Danelectro guitars for instance. They are made out of multiple types of material in the bodies of a single guitar, including waffleboard type stuff in the core; but the have a reputation for sounding really good. What's up there?

[Duff]

One more note on my Cherryburst. It states on the front of the headstock that it is a Standard Series Squire stratocaster. Don't know if this will help.

[Spudman***]

Yup, that's alder. Unfortunately it looks as if it was plagued wood. The body might split apart at any time. Your best bet is to unload it quickly to M29. If you're lucky he might give you $75 for it.



















Does this make me evil?

[M29]

What...what.............

[jruss]

haha pass, i think ill keep it ha im also looking to upgrade the trem, have any of you done this upgrade? or know a direct fit replacement?

[Duff]

Also noticed that my '08 Cherryburst was made in China, CY plant I believe. Don't know if this is of interest or not.

[sunvalleylaw]

Does this make me evil?

no, not by itself, but you kinda are . . .

I have seen Spud's. If yours is like his, that is a nice axe!

[marnold***]

Does this make me evil?

I think we crossed that bridge some time ago, didn't we?

[Spudman***]

I think we crossed that bridge some time ago, didn't we?

That was my cousin under the bridge. I don't do bridges. Only choruses, refrains, intros and outros and of course the obligatory crescendo.

Sweet guitar for sure. I have no plans on selling mine but maybe a pot upgrade in the future. Otherwise, it's a completely gigable guitar and I've made money with mine.