Help with 1964 Strat clay dot issue please

[kimbo]

Hi, I'm a cheeky newbie who's trying to get something out before putting anything in, so firstly, I apologise.

I'm in the process of buying a 1964 model. The neck has clay dots apart from the dot on the 21st fret which is Pearloid. The guitar has had just one owner and he assures me that he has never had any work done since he bought it from new, and I have no reason to disbelieve him.

As this guitar was coming up to the transition period, did Fender stick one Pearloid dot on the 21st fret as some kind of quirky thing to do and has anyone ever seen similar or owned the same sort of thing?

It seems a little strange that if the guitar had been worked on, why would
they replace an obvious clay dot with a Pearloid?

I'm not trying to catch my seller out here (he may even be reading this!) as I will buying the guitar for the price we have agreed, it would just be interesting to know if anyone has seen this sort of thing before. I like quirky things!

Many thanks in advance for any help.

Kim

[jedistar]

Great article here...

http://www.provide.net/~cfh/fender.html

White dots: used on rosewood fingerboards (Jazzmaster in 1958, all other models in mid-1959). Till the end of 1964 Fender used "clay" dots as position markers. This material has an off-white opaque color. In very late 1964 all models changed to pearl dot position markers. Side markers remained "clay" until spring 1965 when these too changed to pearl.

options for yours:
1. factory installed at the transition point (maybe they ran out of clay dots and your guitar is the transition one?)
2. replaced later..

wouldn't bother me...

Good luck
ww.jedistar.com

[claydots]

The pearloid dot is not correct. Maybe the factory did something strange but I doubt it.

It's an easy fix and it would bother me. OK, I have OCD pretty bad when it comes to vintage gear and everything being correct.

Personally, I would change it, just my .02 cents worth.