I was reading the excellent Stratocaster chronicals book over Xmas and it really brought back the feelings of when I was starting getting into guitar and buying my first 'real' one. The strat was the thing, the Les Paul to me was only accessible through guitars like Kay, bought from a catalog and not much good. One early option was the ibanez blazer as the nearest thing to a strat in my budget or in the shops. I recall the bright colours were one of the attractions.
Then came the Squire. I was amazed in the book that after sorting out all sort of quality and image problems that the first model they brought out in Europe from japan was the Squire Popular in 1983 which was a 70's lage headstock, bullet truss rod, three bolt neck with micro tilt system. Why? The book does not explain the logic. When I bought mine I was 'colour blind' I was so green I didnt realise that there were 2 sizes of headstock, I didnt even realise I'd bought a maple neck when I really wanted a rosewood (not sure if they did them for the Popular). I was after the Bernie Torme (Jeff Beck for him) olympic white 62 strat clone. What I got was an excellent guitar that I basically swapped for my Metallic Blue TST55. I'd love to have it back and see what it is like to play and if it has stood the test of time like the Tokais. I think it would have as it was really well built. I remember taking it to bits to adjust the trem springs and look under the scratchplate with my Dad. The black plastic pickups. Three ply plate. Iv'e still got the serial number written down somewhere and the bloke who bought it from me has sold it on so no chance to get the original. I must google or ebay the Popular to see how much they are worth above their ?189 I paid.
It really brought it back to me the feeling and images from the guitar shops and the decision between Squire and Tokai. I think we walked the half mile between CC Music and Cuthbertsons 3 times (sorry Oldbugga!) before i finally went for the Fender name. You just think how great it would be to go back in a time machine and buy a dozen of them to take back. not to sell, but just to play and drool over and see what variation there was between the models and build quality. As they say, hindsight is 20/20!
Then came the Squire. I was amazed in the book that after sorting out all sort of quality and image problems that the first model they brought out in Europe from japan was the Squire Popular in 1983 which was a 70's lage headstock, bullet truss rod, three bolt neck with micro tilt system. Why? The book does not explain the logic. When I bought mine I was 'colour blind' I was so green I didnt realise that there were 2 sizes of headstock, I didnt even realise I'd bought a maple neck when I really wanted a rosewood (not sure if they did them for the Popular). I was after the Bernie Torme (Jeff Beck for him) olympic white 62 strat clone. What I got was an excellent guitar that I basically swapped for my Metallic Blue TST55. I'd love to have it back and see what it is like to play and if it has stood the test of time like the Tokais. I think it would have as it was really well built. I remember taking it to bits to adjust the trem springs and look under the scratchplate with my Dad. The black plastic pickups. Three ply plate. Iv'e still got the serial number written down somewhere and the bloke who bought it from me has sold it on so no chance to get the original. I must google or ebay the Popular to see how much they are worth above their ?189 I paid.
It really brought it back to me the feeling and images from the guitar shops and the decision between Squire and Tokai. I think we walked the half mile between CC Music and Cuthbertsons 3 times (sorry Oldbugga!) before i finally went for the Fender name. You just think how great it would be to go back in a time machine and buy a dozen of them to take back. not to sell, but just to play and drool over and see what variation there was between the models and build quality. As they say, hindsight is 20/20!