Comments on: Features and specs of a ’61 Vintage Stratocaster

By: Ingo

Ingo — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 13:21:46 +0000

This is possible. I admit I took this picture of a 61 Strat from google and did not really check originality here. So thanks for the hint.

By: JK

JK — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 12:01:14 +0000

The decal with 2 patent numbers ion the photo is not the original decal .. the originals had a comma after the first patent number – that decal has been replaced at sometime. Not unusual – many had fallen off or disintergrated within the first 5 years anyway.

By: Ingo

Ingo — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 20:47:29 +0000

I hate scanning but will scan this picture a bit later.

By: Jean-François

Jean-François — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 20:22:51 +0000

would it be possible to see this pic ?
or even all pics of the english edition ?

By: Ingo

Ingo — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 13:45:03 +0000

Then the French and the English version are different (not really a surprise). The picture I was talking about is from the Hope&Anchor (you can see the letters “OPE..” on the wall in the background, Mark is wearing some white shirt over a black T-shirt.

By: Jean-François

Jean-François — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 13:39:43 +0000

I have checked the book
But I didn’t find the pic you’re talking about
on page 46/47, there’s indeed a pic from “Hope&Anchor autumn 1977″, but with David ! And indeed, altough the pic is B&W, we can clearly see that his strat is bare wood finsih, but I’m not specialist to say what kind of wood it is.
But, as Mark is concerned, there’s no pic with him. I have the french edition of the book. Are the pics differents in the english edition ?
I know that the cover is different : the english edition is Mark with the schecter sunburst strat, while the french edition is Mark with the mapple red strat (I guess Paris 1979, as it looks quite the same as the ones at the end of the book)

the other early DS pic I was talking about is on page 77. Mark is with the rosewood strat, and has the same clothes as on Chorus, Rotterdam 78, or live at BBC cover.
Thers’s no caption. the “portobello road” is from the text page 76.

To me, the finish of the body looks like red on this B&W pic, but I’m not sure.

By: Jean-François

Jean-François — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 15:25:33 +0000

I have the book at home, but can’t check it now.

If memory serve, I remember a pic of Mark with the rosewood strat at the end of an early chapter, but the french caption says “Mark at portobello road” or something like that. he has the same clothes as on Chorus, Rotterdam 78, or live at BBC cover.

Is it this one ? How are you sure with the date of the pic ?

The only other very early pic with a strat featuring on the book, is the one with the maple neck.
The others pics seems to be from after summer 78, so in red finish for the rosewood strat.

By: Ingo

Ingo — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 14:39:36 +0000

The picture in question is in the Michael Oldfield book on page 46/47 (Mark at the Hope&Anchor…). Need to scan it first.

By: Jean-François

Jean-François — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 13:43:26 +0000

@Ingo #7
Could you show us these pictures of the strat with the bare wood finish, or are they the ones on the “Clapham Common bandstand” article ?
Do you have more ? Do you have any color pictures ?
I would die to see Mark with his strat like this.
Many thanks

By: Ingo

Ingo — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 12:36:21 +0000

@Jeff-Anthony #5
You mean Mark’s 61 strat? While theoretically a 61 can have an ash body (e.g. the blonde ones had, and generally ecverything was possible back then)Mark’s strat seems to be alder. There are only very few pictures around showing it with the bare wood finish it had before it was painted to red, but one of the pics looks very much like alder.
The PUs are really similar to those from the late 50ies.

@Jean-Francois #6
1977 is confirmed by many sources, and the success of Sultans in the US was in 1979.
The black Fender decal was introduced in 1968 and might in fact make the head shape appear different.