My 1954 Fender Stratocaster restoration. The only parts I believe to be original to this guitar when I purchased it is the neck, neckplate and screws, body, bridge, saddles and claw, jack and jackplate, pickguard (since destroyed) and shield, strap buttons and string tree. The pickups are from another 54 strat. The tuners are restored to original No-line Klusons. The switch is an original 3 patent number CRL, the pots are CTS NOS from February 1954, the .1 capacitor is from a 56 Strat. The pickup covers and switch tip are "bakelite" repro's by Jim Rolph of Kentucky. The knobs I believe to be late '50s or '60s, though I’ve since replaced them with Fender’s reproduction ’54 polystyrene short skirted knobs). The pickguard screws are '50s NOS and the trem cover is a repro. The neck has been refretted (at least once some time ago). The body appears to have its original sunburst but at some point was painted red and then removed to the burst and cleared over.

Keep in mind this is a player and hasn't been babied. It’s not a clean all original collector piece that some one wants to hide away. If it was it would be out of my price range and most likely yours. This is the story about how I got it and what I've done too it:

I first saw the guitar at a guitar show in Auburn, MA, in 2000 I think.

At the time it had custom shop 54 pickups in it and contemporary pots and wiring. It also had mid 60's double-line tuners on it that had been replaced after someone had replaced the no-lines with late 60s/70s tuners. The owner at the time, the vendor, was at the show from NY State, about 3 hours from me and I took his number.

I called him a few days later, he hadn't sold it so I drove out with my camera and we took it all apart and photographed it. I came back and passed the photos around to anyone and everyone and trying to authenticate it as best as possible. The consensus was that the neck, body, hardware (bridge, jack plate) were original to that guitar and that the finish (body) was most likely painted over with red or something and then stripped back to the burst and then sprayed over with clear. You can still see the red in some of the grain on top of the burst.

The vendor said he bought it from someone he met through a friend (both antique finders/sellers) who were not really into guitar collecting. Prior to that the guitar was briefly on consignment with Sunrise guitars of New York. They couldn't arrive at a deal so the guitar was returned to the owner. I talked to the person at Sunrise and he said they had it and had advertised it in VG for a while.

I went back, we agreed on a price and I bought it. I spent about a year and a couple thousand looking for era replacement parts.

The no-line tuners I got from a dealer in NY.

The pickups, repro covers, switch and tip from Steve Schmidt from Class Axe in Chicago. Steve said the pickups were from a parted out 54 that was damaged, have the original leads and weren't rewound. They cost me $1200 for the set. The pickup covers and switch tip were made by Jim Rolph in Kentucky and resold to me by Steve.

The 54 CTS NOS 250K pots came from a guy advertising in VG (they’re not the stackpole 100k's that should be in it). Mike Eldred from Fender told me they didn't use 100k's in their limited CS run of 54's last year because they would've sounded horrible. The shafts were slightly taller than normal which necessitated an extra washer but have since been ground to proper height.

The knobs were older Fender Strat knobs, don't know the exact year but are not 54s obviously. They’ve since been replaced with the Fender reissue Short skirted polystyrene used on their ‘54s.

The rear trem cover is a replica made for me by a friend sometime ago from a template supplied by another friend from her Dad's 54. With the bridge locked down the spring hooks in the block protrude ever so slightly that they hit the cover preventing it from sitting completely flat. I also have the Fender polystyrene one from their ’54 reissue runs.

The chicklet capacitor is from a 56 Strat from Cohn Rude in Oregon and the pickguard screws (NOS) from eBay.

I had asked the vendor I bought it from if he had actually parted out the rest of the guitar before I saw it but he said he didn't. Aside from having a friend make repairs to the guard who put some type of adhesive film/paper to the back to reinforce and hold it all together, he had received the guitar in the same condition that he sold it to me.

The frets are playable, low and could probably use a recrowning at the very least. It’s been refretted at least once and has an ugly fret job in my estimation, especially when viewed from the side. I contemplated having Jim Mouradian (now deceased) of Mouradian guitar in Cambridge refret it but didn't think it would add much to the value or playability.

The neck is thin (side to side wise), small and rounded. It’s almost got a subtle V feel too it, not Fat and chunky like a Nocaster. I had almost expected it to be. There was a guy in Western Mass. that had a 54 too and he described his the same way. It’s got the classic rolled over edges to the fretboard and the strings sit close to the outside but haven't presented a problem with fall off to me. It sits narrow in the pocket of the body and there is a gap between as visible in the pix. A friend who I used to let play it described the middle pickup as one of the sweetest he's ever heard. My ears aren't that discernible. When I used to go to jams with it and my 64 VR everyone raved about the tone, not sure which gets the most credit.

I lock the bridge, a bar came with it when I got it but it’s not the original. The bridge itself had some type of yellowed overspray on it when I first got it but I scraped it off. I later saw a picture of a 54 in the "Galaxy of Strats" book with the same overspray and wondered if it was originally on it, but, too late.

The guitar itself weighs in at 8 lbs.

Some people ask about the decal and I have no knowledge to say if it’s original. It matches though to my eyes to others of that vintage I’ve compared it to. There appears to have been a social security number faintly discernible on the rear of the headstock at some point but was removed.

The poodle case by the way is obviously a reissue; I got that from a dealer in LA that bought a lot from G&G I believe they said. It seemed fitting at the time to have a vintage style case for it.

The pick guard is no longer usable, an attempt to unwarp it caused distortion and shrinkage. I was able to obtain a sheet of polystyrene .060 thick and sent it to Bryan Boots in California to cut. The guard came out looking great and for now is an adequate replacement, far better than a new vinyl one would be.

I decided to remove some of the paint from the middlie pickup cavity, the silver conductive paint that someone put in there for shielding. I wanted to see if there was a body date there on the off chance they put it there instead of the rear trem cavity or on tape in the control cavity but there wasn't one. Apparently something was in the trem cavity and was removed when someone removed the paint out of that. I've seen body dates and also vague numbers referenced on others of that era there(ie. "# 3"). Whatever the body date or marking was, it is long gone now save a few un-discernible remnants.

In April of 2020 I replaced the two CTS tone pots with Vintage era 250k Stackpole pots "304333". They're probably more correct for that guitar than the CTS but ideally should be 100k.

I had to disable comments and guestbook entry for those that didn't have a pbase account. There was just too much spam entries to deal with. If you have any questions and need to contact me you can do it through scottymoore.net .