The variable quality and changes during the CBS years meant that people looked back fondly on the pre CBS years and
wanted guitars from earlier days, so Fender decided to make them again. Various reissues were released early in
1982 and appeared in the 1983 Catalogue. There were some details of these that were not vintage accurate,
probably because of re-tooling costs, but they were well received and started the whole business of vintage reissues
which is still carried on today. I doubt many would think that the 5 way switch wasn't an improvement on the three
way so Fender solved this dilemma by fitting a three way switch but including a 5 way switch if owners wanted to fit it.
These reissues are known as the Fullerton reissues or reissues having the Fullerton curves or Fullerton body.
Estimates vary but it is thought that somewhere around 13000 reissue Strats were made by CBS the earliest known serial number is V000003, though why there isn't a 1 or 2 I don't know unless they are long gone or hidden in someone's attic somewhere. V000003 is a tribute to Buddy Holly and was presented to his widow Marie Elena. It has gold hardware and a special neckplate. The Estate subsequently sold it I don't know who now owns it nor what the role of the Moody Blues was
As well as Strats there were other models Teles Basses etc. Taking the total serial number for CBS to around V016000 by the
end of 1984 roughly issued in date order the serial number can give you an idea of the date but there are many anomalies.
You would expect V007681 to be about half way through to around June 1983 but in fact it was made a year earlier than that.
Maybe batches of neck plates were in a box and used in random order
Some early ones have dates stamped in black ink in the trem cavity, most but not all have pencil neck dates.
Colours are shown below but the rarer colours seem to attract a higher price. Mainly LPB, CAR and Fiesta Red.
Between 5% and 10% of strats were made in these three colours.
Serial numbers are on the neck plate but some also have serial number stickers in the neck pocket or the pickup routes.
There are some slight anomalies in the early body routings when they didn't quite leave enough room for the controls.
Fender uses the words "lovingly recreated" and "Faithful details" on the 57 Strat include" rather than say this is a copy
of the Stratocasters made in 1957.
Body Alder with Nitro cellulose over poly base coat
Neck Maple with Nitro finish and approx slim C profile
Fretboard Maple 7.25" radius 21 vintage frets
Headstock Pre CBS style with spag logo 1 butterfly string tree
Tuners Vintage Kluson Style Nickel
Pickups 3 staggered magnet most black bobbin Alnicos white covered see note below
Controls 1 volume and 2 tone all plastic 3 way switch* white tip
Nut 1.65"
Hardware Chrome
Bridge Vintage style 6 pivot vibrato
Pickguard 1 ply white 8 screw
Colours 2 colour Sunburst, Black, Candy Apple Red. Fiesta Red, Vintage White, or Lake Placid Blue
Period Correct Tweed case
Similar in many respects to the 57 but with obvious 60s styling details
Body Alder with Nitrocellulose over poly base coat
Neck Maple with Nitro finish and approx slim C profile
Fretboard Rosewood 7.25" radius 21 vintage frets
Headstock 60s style with spag logo 1 butterfly string tree truss rod adlust at body
Tuners Vintage Kluson Style Nickel
Pickups 3 staggered magnet most black bobbin Alnicos white covered see note below
Controls 1 volume and 2 tone all plastic 3 way switch* white tip
Nut 1.65"
Hardware Chrome
Bridge Vintage style 6 pivot vibrato
Pickguard 3 ply white often described as having a greenish tinge 11 screw
Colours 3 colour Sunburst, Black, Candy Apple Red. Fiesta Red, Vintage White, or Lake Placid Blue
Tweed case
Note on Pickups
The pickups vary from time to time some are cloth wired, some plastic and there are red and grey bottom pickups.
The red bottoms featured on the earlier ones in early 1982 and like the grey bottoms had plastic covered wiring, the various colours
often appear in combinations on the same guitars. Perhaps because of rarity the red ones are often seen as the most desirable.
Only the black bottoms had cloth covered wiring.
Some notes from Clement of the Strat Forum
Pickups Specs (Fender data)
Magnets: Alnico 5
Type of wire: 42GA plain enamel
Number of turns: 7800
Resistance: 6.1k Ohms
Inductance: 2.3 Henries
“Q” factor: 2.1
Top frequency: 6.2k Hertz
.
For this very first vintage reissue series offered by Fender, the body contour is very special: more rounded edges,
narrower/shallower forearm contour and a deeper tummy cut compared to the later Corona Vintage Series.
The neck shape of the 57 and 62 Vintage series are identical and particularly thin (Slim C). John Page contributed greatly to the
choice of shaping these necks, based on his analysis of 25 Stratocaster necks dating from 54 to 65. The photo with the measurements
of these 25 necks is in Duchossoir's book.
The Fullerton Vintage couldn't be fitted with the original Kluson tuners because that company closed in 1981. So Fender resorted to
good replicas made by Gotoh in Japan, and they still do.
The vintage-style tremolo bridge assembly is very similar to those from the 54 to 71, but the saddles are simply stamped twice with
"FENDER" in the same direction.
Thank you for that Clement
Quote from Dan Smith
Those first guitars could have been closer to the originals....it would have taken too long and they had been delayed long enough.'