Black block inlay, Ash strat I.D. *Edit* I'm the new owner.

[RTZ]

Long time lurker here. I'm in the process of re-wiring a strat copy for a friend and was just curious if anyone could I.D. it.

I think it may be a Cimar as that seems the closest. I'm unable to find a Cimar though with a black block/maple fretboard configuration.

Here is the closest I've found from Cimar.


And here is a catalog picture showing the Ash stratocaster along with an Ash jazz bass that is sporting the same inlays and pickguard.


Finally here are a few pictures of the actual guitar I have.


Any info would be greatly appreciated.

[VintAxe]

Hi RTZ.

In the 1970's virtually every Japanese company marketed an ash body strat in natural finish. This includes the big exporters like Ibanez, Greco and Tokai as well as the smaller companies like Kasuga and Joodee. They all tended to use similar hardware making a positive attribution tough.

However, I have never seen black block inlays on a strat. Never

As you have discovered, they are not unusual on Jazz basses but are highly unusual on a strat. My hunch is that if you can find another Japanese strat with black block inlays you have found your builder. I looked through 70's catalogs of the distributors mentioned above and none of them used black block inlays on a strat.

[RTZ]

Thanks for the info. That's the problem I've run into too, I've been unable to find a match for the black block neck. I appreciate you looking though.

It's a really lovely guitar, one of the few Strat styles I really like; has a good weight to it. It is in fact a solid wood body, no ply or anything which I was pleasantly surprised about. I can't really tell if it's a 2 or 3 piece body. Overall it's a really clean guitar, no noticeable nicks or dents. I can see a possible re-fret in the future though.

I'm assuming it wouldn't be worth pulling the neck to check for any dates or marks?

[RTZ]

Thought I'd do a little bump of this as I'm the new owner I got this the other night from my friend for what I'd consider quite a steal.







And here's a link to some gut shots from a while back when he wanted me to rewire it.


All in all it's a comfortable guitar, slightly chunky neck with a good weight to the body. All solid wood, no ply or mystery material here. I believe he said his kid bought it from a garage sale although I'm going to ask him again about it's origins for my own curiosity.

The only problems I can see with it are a few frets on the bass side could be filed down. It feels like they are poking out of the edge of the fretboard. Not really noticeable when playing, just if you run your finger up the side of the neck. More then likely won't do anything with that though.

The other issue is a dead middle pickup. No idea what's wrong with it but I'm guessing it needs to be rewound. It puts out sound but it's uber low compared to the neck and bridge pickups. I'm debating how I want to handle that. I have a nice set of Kent Arnstrong pickups I may put in it. Or perhaps a vintage WRHB that needs some work, a la the Wayne Kramer strat. I figure I'll play it as is for now and get it set up before I proceed with anything else. I'm kind of hesitant to route it for anything purely for sentimental reasons. I would like to eventually change the switching to the GFS Brian May set up though. Not sure what color pickguard I'd go with if and when do that.

All in all I'm extremely happy. I've lusted after it since the first time I saw it at his house. Plays great, feels great and looks awesome.

Still can't figure out the brand but that's of no consequence I guess. Being as I'm bumping this and all, anyone feel free to chime in with ideas on this particular strat copy.