settebello said:Are you sure?I found only Fenders 1958:Mable neck,8 Hole Pickguard
1959: Rosewood,11 Hole Pickguard.
And whats about the Skunkstripe on Rosewoodnecks?Peter says there
where only made in 1979,but my Springy is a 1980.
Dont know,whats Rossi's SN says,but might be interesting?
Volker
Tokai Strat guitars with small headstock are replicas of Stratocaster Pre CBS era ('54-'65).
And for these guitars ONLY maple neck has skunk strip. This is the reason why I say that Tokai with rosewood fretboard and skunk strip are for me hystoric false. You can find on old Strato of '59 (the year neck and other specs were changed) maple or rosewood with pickguard 8/10/11 screwholes and 1 or 3 ply pickguard. This because when Fender changed specs (from maple to rosewwod and from 1 ply to 3 ply pickguard), they had in stock many parts of previous years, so in the very early 1959 Stratocasters was simple to find "hybrid" combinations of necks and pickguards (very $$$ and rare on vintage market). But all Stratocaster I have seen on books, website and so on, only maple necks have skunkstripe. Not rosewood. Sincerly I don't know why Tokai (but Greco too) have put skunkstripe on a Stratocaster with rosewood fretboard and small headstock.
Here is an interesting quote:
Maple fingerboard, 1950s: from the start in 1950, Fender used a one piece maple neck with a walnut "skunk" stripe down the back (except on early Esquires with no truss rod), where the truss rod was installed. This was the standard neck on all models until 1958 (when the Jazzmaster was introduced with a rosewood fingerboard; the rest of the Fender models changed to rosewood fingerboards in mid-1959).
Maple fingerboards, 1960-1968: available as special order. Different than the 1950s one-piece maple necks. These used an actual slab maple fingerboard glued to the maple neck, and no "skunk stripe" down the back of the neck for the truss rod.
And this about hybrid combination:
* Starting May 1959 "slab" Rosewood fingerboard with white "clay" position dots and 7.25" finger board radius. Bottom of fingerboard (part glued to maple) is flat. This change was implemented for the summer 1959 NAMM show. Basically Strats 5/59 and later will have rosewood fingerboards.
* Celluloid "mint green" three layer (white/black/white) pickguard (sometimes called a "nitro" pickguard), with 11 attachment screws. This celluloid pickguard was implemented around 7/59. So for a short time rosewood fingerboard Strats were made with a single layer white pickguard with 11 screws. Some 7/59 Strats even had a single layer white pickguard with 8 or 9 or 10 screws (though this is rare). Also in the same time period some 1959 Strats were made with a maple neck and a 8 screw three layer celluloid pickguard (this implies the body will not have a "shoulder" under the pickguard in the control cavity).
* A thin aluminum sheild the size of the pickguard is installed underneath the three layer pickguard. This replaces the thicker and much smaller shield previously used on single layer pickguards (this older style shield encompassed just the three pots and the switch).
* Stratocaster body now has a "shoulder" in the potentiometer control cavity. This "bump" in the cavity was implemented to allow the use of another pickguard screw by the 3-way switch. This shoulder can only be seen with the pickguard removed. All rosewood fingerboard Strat bodies with 11 pickguard screws should have this shoulder.
* Fender used a very photo-reactive red dye in their sunburst finish, causing many 1959 Strats to fade from a 3-color sunburst to a 2-colors (the photo-reactive nature of the red caused fading from ultra-violet light). This is typically seen on the front of the body, where the back often still has the red in the sunburst. If the pickguard is lifted, the original red finish in the sunburst can still be seen.
* Neck now has a very thin "D" backshape. As 1959 progresses, the neck backshape gets even thinner. By the end of 1959, the neck has an extremely thin backshape. Also most mid to late year 1959 Strats will usually not have a neck date below the truss rod adjustment.
* Brown paper rectangle tone cap changes to white "chicklet" paper tone capacitor.
* A metal spacer was added below the butterfly string tree.
7/59 rosewood fingerboard Strat with single layer white pickguard.
Note the red has faded from the sunburst finish.
A 1959 Strat with a maple neck and an 8 screw three layer celluloid pickguard.
Sorry if I'm gone OFF TOPIC, but look.......
What a beauties...
The first pic made me crazy...