Edwards & Navigator St***s

stratman323 said:

I wasn't referring to the new Fender US re-issues - the ones that start off with a poly undercoat. I was talking about the 82 to 87 or 88 US re-issues that were all nitro.
Mike

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Bro, my 65 reissue is a 2003 and it's all nitro..........there's a difference between the Custom Shop reissues and the standard Fender USA specific year reissue models such as the 1962. Your earlier email I responded to called out the Custom Shop reissues specifically.

The early 80's Fender reissues are superb........they were the Custom Shop equivalents because they hadn't started doing Custom Shop reissues back then.

stratman323 said:

If the Springy ST80s are seriously as good as these, I really must get one with a rosewood board, though we very rarely see them for sale in the UK. There are probably too many stuck in cases owned by collectors who never play them. What a waste....

Mike

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My ST80 (far right) gets played reguarly! If you are ever 'up North' you're more than welcome to give her a spin!

Looks very nice, though what I really really want is one in a metallic colour, ideally Lake Placid Blue. I assume they did the ST80s in LPB? Or even metallic green, like the ST55 I recently bought. The 80s were nitro finished, weren't they?

That's a kind offer, thanks. I may be "Up North" at some point, whereabouts are you?

Mike

Actually, could I raise one more question? I know this isn't the Fender forum, but you guys seem so much more knowledgeable. I have a 1994 Custom Shop 1960 Strat (complete with CS cert & early CS decal). I showed it to a friend yesterday as he said he might be interested in swapping it for his 83 Fullerton 62RI. Trouble is, he reckons that the finish on my CS feels like poly, and I have to admit he has a point.

I know that they were using nitro by 99 for the Time Machine series, but do any of you know if they would have used poly on the 94 models? It seems strange if they did.

Thanks,

Mike

Thanks for missing me, Luis ; )

I just got back from Madrid, Spain, and before that, Yokosuka, Japan. I was out of the US for 7 years and it is really strange being back where everyone speaks your native language! I am really excited to be with my 90+ guitars again though! For the last 2 years I had one guitar, my Seymour Duncan DS-200/M strat and that was it. I couldn't take anything else with me since they wouldn't pay for it to be shipped.
So it is like many Christmases all at once being able to play all my guitars again. I know, it's kind of ridiculous to have that many, and that's why I am selling out, trying to whittle them down to my favorite 10. That is HARD, though.

As far as Navigators and Edwards are concerned... the worst thing about the Edwards is the top finish... you first have this really nice satin nitro and THEN after you play it a while, it rubs off to shiny new poly underneath and looks hideous. Nothing you can do about that except wear the entire guitar's finish down, which is harder than you think.

The Edwards are great for players, and I love the relic models because you get a real lacquer finish and can see that the wood is better on those since the wood shows. They are great guitars on a budget.

But, I ended up getting a Navigator and there was just no comparison. Even the strats have appointments that are just crazy... like individual fret edge binding on a strat and/or on a tele... yep. I guess Fender did a few like this in the early 60's but it got too time-consuming and difficult so they stopped that practice. Well, Navigator did that on many of their earlier 2000s models. Even my '52 tele with a maple fretboard has this individual fret edge binding carved by hand up to meet the edges of each fret - talk about a smooth feel... no other company I have ever seen did that or does that now - not even Fender Master Grade guitars have that as far as I have seen.

But, the new Navigators are not like the early 2000s models. They bear the same model numbers in most cases, but have not been up to par with the earlier ones - like on the strats and teles, they now put the serial number on the back of the headstocks. Not stamped into the neck plate like the early ones. And the cool fret-edge binding I described on mine - they don't do that anymore either.

BTW, my Seymour Duncan DS-200/R (the blue one on my site) has this fret-edge bidning as well. Not standard for sure, and there are not many like that in existence. I have seen a lot of them. And I had a DS-280Pro a while back and that one didn't even have it - go figure.

Nice to read you again,Andrew!

I?m very tempted by Tokai ES-150J you have for sale,but I?m poor at this time

I agree with you about Navigator strats,I luckily own a NS-300M and it?s a fantastic strat,it sounds great and cuts through the mix,a very inspiring guitar and better than a F. Custom Shop no doubt.I?m vey excited with this guitar.My only concern is a so thin laquer finis,so that reliced veryeasy(I don?t care at all of course).

apmechling said:

But, the new Navigators are not like the early 2000s models. They bear the same model numbers in most cases, but have not been up to par with the earlier ones - like on the strats and teles, they now put the serial number on the back of the headstocks. Not stamped into the neck plate like the early ones.

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Interesting to see this old thread resurected again. I guess one advantage of putting the serial number on the neck somewhere is that it's much harder to change or fake than if it's on the neckplate. What could be easier to change on a Strat/Tele than the neckplate? It is a pretty daft place for the serial number, it's just that we're all so used to it.

Moving back to the main subject of this thread, thanks for all the Edwards/Navigator info. Could I widen the discussion - what about Fernandes Strats & Teles? There have been a few vintage series and Revival guitars on eBay UK recently. Could anyone comment on how these compare to ESP/Edwards/Navigator/Tokais?

Interesting stuff - I've an (ESP) Seymour Duncan Traditional Series Stratocaster from 1990 which is great. Beautiful grain, two piece body with an almost invisible join. I found it while searching for some SD SSL-1 pups on eBay! Bought it for a song, great guitar, neck's a bit plain to look at compared to the body, but plays really well with great tone too. Pics and some SD info at www.plankspankers.co.uk