X-rated Bob wrote
That's not a Smith strat. The Smith strats came a little earlier
thats true Bob .if you read what i wrote i never called this a
dan smith strat but a
dan smith 'era" strat and thats what they are known as in the vintage guitar books ect .... and online...
and yes the debate is raging whenever anyone leaves out the "era" when naming them and calls them a dan smith
i been researching these guitars for last few days .... the Dan smith strats were re issues( about 81/82 ) but these were called dan smith version II guitars and only ran in 83 and part of 84 with the cost cutting measures .....but undeniably still designed by Dan and made by him in the same factory on the same production line as his up market reissues so nothing was outsourced ..and i did read that dan was not forced into this model but himself thought it may be a way to cut the price.unfortunately the strat fans didn't bite...... so the link to him is still very strong ...
the interesting point i found in my research is that people are pegging these to be a collectors item in the next 10 -15 yrs.they already got a book value in the vintage guitar circles of $1200 but sell at around $750 on ebay ..... but because they were of the last fullerton factory runs( when cbs sold the fender brand shortly after these were made they didn't sell the original factory at fullerton with it ..so fender actually moved to japan for a few years before restarting in corona ... so thats an interesting point that i did not know that for a period in history there was no fender usa guitars made at all.......) and that they limited to only a 1 year run and so radically different in design ..... and of course because of the dan smith connection, albeit that they are not dan smith re issues....... anyway an interesting history for sure .......and deispite them not being favoured by purist strat players ...the collectors who collect the full range of fenders will want them for their (albeit failure in the mass market) part they played in fender history ....
and as you said bob ..frankly i like the sound ..... i wanted the guitar long before i even knew who dan smith was or read about the fullerton factory ...... and i even read the posts of purists slating this model as a hybrid strat before i bought it so i went in with eye's open to what i was buying
anyway this post is me celebrating my new guitar ......... and not me trying to qualify that what i bought is better than anything or even a good strat ( in fact in my original post i think it's more of a tele sound anyway and i back any critisism that says this is not a "purists strat " ) or even that it's a collectors item......
however what this is is a way cool sounding/feeling and well built instrument that has a tone i love......... ? and as you know i'll play a tomato box with strings attatched if the tone is right
