Nostalgia aint what it used to be!

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!

It wasnt Cuthbertsons it was Grants Music. Those indeed were the days....getting the train up to Glasgow, stopping and getting potato fritters with brown sauce from the Kings Cafe.

I still say you should have got the Candy Apple Red with matching headstock (I know you have that now).

Was having a ligh at my own expense remembering going up to Glasgow with my Aria Pro II ZZ Guitar with my plastic trousers on and jumping off the train as it was pulling into the station. That was back in the good old days when you could open the doors as they train still moved.

I learnt a valuable lesson that day. DONT jump out of a moving train with a guitar case. First foot hit the ground, the rest of me kept moving at the same speed as the train. I went down like a ton of bricks! Result......holes in my trousers and smouldering knees and a train full of people having a laugh at my expense.

Ah yes, hindsight and train journeys to see guitars takes me back. In my case a train from Watford to Leicester to see a lefty Gibson 335 at Humbucker Music in 1982. An orange label 60's model in great condition, which regretably I passed on at ?300 due to the three different woods used!
Did your Metallic Blue 55 have a matching headstock Iain? I bought an 83? recently, I play left hand primarily and right hand a little.

The metallic blue didnt have matching headstock, it was a 50's model maple neck.

Oldbugga, you forgot the bit about surfing down the platfom on the guitar case. I bet you also got up off the ground with a sping in your step as if you'd meant to do it! Good thing was that ripped jeans came into fashion shortly after that so the breeks didn't go to waste.

I also remember your other trouser related story from our metal days - If I recall, you were upstairs in Virgin trying on a pair of red and black striped skin tight drainpipe jeans in the changing cubical behind a curtain when you tripped up in your efforts to pull them on, over balanced and ended up writhing around in your y-fronts in from of the whole store! Laugh!

To answer my own question above, I reread the section and Fender decided to protect their US made guitars by differentiating as much as they could so the Japanese Squire Populars came out with the 70's design. it all worked as a guitar and was really well made but I wonder how many more sales they could have had by going for the 50/60s models