NORM!!!! please do more of these kinds of videos 👍 there is an audience of people like me who aren't kids that have a thirst for, and appreciate this kind of knowledge. and this repair guy is top notch!
I was born in 1953 and my Stratocaster that I got in a pawnshop in Chicago in 1971 is a 1954 number 260 Taddio Gomez did the neck and Gloria did the wiring which is what I have named her Strats are pretty cool Great channel
1:45 A relic job on this guitar would be sacrilege. It's bad enough to put fake wear and tear on a guitar to look like you have played it for years, but to put fake wear and tear on a guitar that has real wear and tear on it is something I can't understand.
I cant understand that either.why ruin a guitar by putting fake crap on it.it will just make it fake.i cant even understand why anyone would want relicing on any guitar.fake scraches make a guitar look better.makes no scence to me.why not play the hell out of it and make it look real.
Fully agree. Refinish it as how it was back in 54, why not, even tho it will definitely change the sound of it. But relicing...holly crap. That Norman guy has lost his mind.
its a piece of crap anyway. If it was made in Japan in the 80s it would be worth a few hundred. Its an old fender, sure but the only original bits are the bare wood. No doubt some idiot with more money than sense will pay lots for it.
The luthier has great hands, very, very careful and precise in a very imprecise world. Ooooodles of experience, just watching him remove the pickup covers, skill baby, skill! Thanks,
That's Masa, not Tomo. In this instance, Masa actually is luthier but at most shops, they're just technicians. Don't confuse the two. Luthiers have been trained in their craft for years where technicians can learn for a couple of weeks/months and be on their own pretty much. Technicians can't build guitars. They don't do headstock break repairs, etc...
this is the future - people love these types of videos - the internal workings of vintage guitars is very interesting to the question of why some guitars are amazing and why some are not. Like people, we are generally the same - but with interesting differences that are not so easy to first explain.
Interesting. A guitar by itself is inaudible. It takes the human. A many of a wonderful instrument has been in the hands of a many wonderful people who don’t have a fucking clue how to pull tone or even have a sound they are shooting for.
since my 1st in 1982 i find nothing beat a 70"S shergold masquerader .there action is unbeatable and what is interesting to you is the 3 switches with 3 ,,the pick ups can be split and all sorts,also they only sell for 350-£600 ...bought my 1st fender strat (waiting for the order now) just for the wammy go and the great lead sound strats have,,its a tash sultana,(looks so great it may go up in value im told)
@@joshuahymer15 That's very true. There was a mystery for decades and countless articles, interviews with Eddie about how he got his tone. I think he just went along with it but his tone for the most part came from his fingers not the guitar, amps, or pedals. His frankenstrat was really a POS if anyone else was to build it. I say that with all due respect but it's true. It may be worth millions but it was just a hack job. It doesn't hold any mystical powers. He could have played anything and made it sound good.
The thing is the difference in 'tone' could be down to a few additional or a few less wraps on the pickups, and I doubt they're going to calculate exactly how many 'winds' of wire are on each coil!
Here it is 2021. We are going through very difficult times and this 1954 Fender Stratocaster seems to make it all better. Just makes me feel good that it is still around. Thanks, Norman!
Schweet, Great job Norman this video takes me to a great song While My Guitar Gently Weeps,If it could only talk of what it has endured over the past 68 plus years,thanks for a great video.
Back in the 60s and 70s I redid several guitars in my parents storage shed for myself and all my friends. Most of the time I used paint for model cars and for motorcycles. I would spend weeks after school sanding down every little nick and scratch replacing parts and rebuilding each one. My Dad did some wood working and showed me how to steam dents out and make the wood sooth. Most of the guitars were good name brands that were ugly and well used from pawn shops. Loved the video it brought back a lot of memories.
"Look at this lovely rare guitar... let's chain it up to the back of the ford and drag it around the parking lot", anyone that would relic a classic like that is insane.
It’s already been refinished with a color that didn’t exist in 1954. He’s saying it’s not period-specific and would need to be blonde or dark-sunburst to be most like the original condition.
Completely agree, I don’t understand this whole relic thing. I mean I could understand spraying it in a nitro like it was originally, but just start over that thing will re relic in time. I don’t need someone sanding the shit up and making it look like shit on purpose
@@dukenukembubblegum7311 Relicing is about making a guitar look as if it was made in the past. Like if you had a guitar lying in a case for 50 years. I think it's ok to make a guitar look as it should for its age and it takes a lot of crafting skill to do it right. I don't think he's talking about the bullshit some people do to their guitars to make them look "cool" - (like shit) treating them with sand paper, a hammer and smashing them against some stones.
It’s nice to watch these guys dissect such a cool guitar. They live for this stuff and it’s cool to see such knowledgeable professionals do their work.
DON'T TOUCH THAT COLOR! That's one of the most beautiful colors I've seen on a Strat. It's original (implying for a refinish), and unusual. It's looks like a piece of Brach's caramel.
More vids like this, please Norm. Watching these old guitars being brought back, is fascinating. Personally I’m rather partial to Sienna burst type finishes, so would probably leave as is, if it were mine😁
Hilarious if this gets to you one year after your post ( RUclips algorithms, bless them), Yes! You're right, only after you mentioned it did I think," yeah, exactly spot -on - it's a Sienna Burst! Great call, and I know I'm crazy, and Norm is absolutely correct to suggest a refin, but I am charmed by this guitar's folksy take on "sienna Burst", and it looks like I'm not alone in loving the look.
Thanks for posting this up Norman. Very interesting. If anyone says to you that you're lucky to have a job like this tell them.... "Yes. And the harder I work, the luckier I get.!!"
I love the color of this old Strat. It looks very similar to the Bourbon Burst finish on Fender´s 75th Anniversary Commemorative Stratocasters. Beautiful!
So much knowledge and experience instantly noticing the changes like an autopsy. It’s in good hands now and will be returned to correct set up. Make more videos like this 🙏
For a time people turned Strat pickups around to simulate the way Hendrix's guitars were oriented (Low E string over the high E string pickup pole). That may be what happened on this one.
Yes! I was gonna guess that it was for tone-adjustment reasons, given the differing heights. Had not thought of the Jimi/lefty/upside-down thing. btw - can't wait to see the finished resto!
I was going to comment the same thing. Hendrix flipped strings over backward which caused a more trebly tone from the low E and a bluesier bass tone on the high E. The way to replicate that sound is to do this. It probably sounds good this way but the body routing doesn't help value or orinality. Or, a lefty owned it and wanted a regular strat sound.
This was interesting to watch. I don't like to pull the pickguard with pickups attached though when inspecting. I know you guys are experts, but I find it much easier to pull the knobs, remove the locknuts from the pots, unscrew the pickups and pickguard and lift the pickguard off leaving all the electronics in place. Old wiring can be fragile and twisting a loaded pickguard around can be problematic along with the potential to damage the finish with a pickup height screw you slip up.
"Heavy Build" formvar wire on the pickups ! That is why the bobbin is so full and its just under 6 K ! I made some with the same wire and they sound fantastic ! Wonderful video !!Thank You
Now that Lemmo has played this for Straturday, we know these pickups sound incredible too! It’s sad how this guitar wasn’t properly taken care of. But it wasn’t ruined either, and it’s probably the most affordable 1954 Strat out there.
...perhaps the guitar was set up for a player like Eric Gales ie. strings back to front? ...might explain the pick-ups being upside down especially as the poles are staggered?
Lovely. '54 has short skirt knobs, football switch tip, round bakelite pickup covers... and yeah '54s didn't have BLACK outer ring of burst color. It was dark brown. Such a cool video and guitar. Thanks!
I actually love that finish, I’ve been looking for the modern American ash body with that color (Sienna sunburst) for awhile they are difficult to find, they don’t, or can’t use ash anymore… I’d leave it alone, put some new strings on it clean the pots and play the heck out I’d it… In no way whatsoever would I want a fake “relicted” 54, nope…. What it looks like now is what it is… long as it plays…
@@hermannmaier0 Makes sense as to why the pickup cavities were routed to fit them upside down. If it was just a mistake, the fact that they didn't fit that way would be noticeable.
@@JustMe-ed1cq, I remember on my ‘68 strat I could fiddle around to find that sweet spot in between the detents of the 3 way giving me a new fuzzy tone. So the 5 way sw was simpler to use. Click and go. I’m thinking the factory had to rewire that switch to get 2 more positions of tone. Was it an accidental discovery that created this need for a 5 way sw years later ? This is funny after 54 years later, wanting to know why.
@@gabrielspiropol9418 Well, pretty much everyone is keyed into balancing the switch to get two more positions. I don't know why they waited until 1977. But, I am just finishing my dream Strat, a Custom aged 1956 swamp ash body and Fender bridge/pickups ('56 Pure Vintage A3) with an aged 1957 neck, all nitro and custom down to the wiring and proper polystyrene covers and knobs etc. for '56/57. So, I'll be looking for those same sweetspots!
ANWE NEED MORE OF THESE NORMAN WATCHING MASA WORK AT HIS BENCH IS A LEARNING EXPERIENCE THAT 99.9% OF YOUR VIEWERS HAVE NO INSIGHT INTO A PERFECT RESTORATION CANDIDATE PERSONALLY ME NO LIKEY RELICING JUST THE BEST VIDEO IN A LONG TIME THANK YOU NORMAN & MASA MAN CARLOS GUITARLOS 90042
I reckon it WAS a deliberate act to put the pickups in upside down and not a mistake due to the influence of Jimi Hendrix and the notion that his pickups would be “upside down“ in relation to a left-handed player👍
@@williamtolliver4350 Its not a 4000 year old shroud ffs-its a bolt together,mass produced basic solid body guitar! Leo would be laughing his ass off at this shenanigans!
Hello to Norm and Masa. Thanks for a most thorough inspection on this very interesting instrument. One minor thing to point out is that the original 1954 pickup covers were not actually made of Bakelite. The term is used often but it is incorrect. I forget the actual name of the type of plastic - it may have been Formvar or something like that - but anyway it proved to be too thin and fragile and Leo switched to a more durable plastic by 1955 or so. Very few original pickup covers exist. Buddy Holly’s first Strat was a ‘54 and photos show it with the pickup covers broken and missing pieces (Fender even reproduced that detail when they issued their Buddy Holly Strat). That guitar was stolen during Buddy’s last tour so who knows perhaps this is it! Ha ha I think not very likely but it’s something to ponder. Best wishes to all from Petey
Thanks Eric. There was also a commercial name but I haven’t pinned it down yet. Still digging up research - there is a RUclips video posted a couple years ago from a guy in Australia who bought a ‘54 Strat from a guy in Lubbock, the implication being that it was Buddy’s Strat (spoiler: it isn’t). The replies to that video are all over the map with opinions about what actually happened to Buddy’s guitar. Anyway, one interesting tidbit there was that the potentiometers in that guitar are all 100k rather than the 250k more commonly used. It was implied that Leo had used 100k pots on the first batch or so of Strats. Plausible but I have not yet been able to independently confirm it. One more thing - a long time ago in an interview Jerry Donahue talked about turning the pickups around in a Strat. This was probably for the Hendrix thing, having the magnet staggers reversed under the strings. These days it is possible to buy pickups made that way such as the SSL 1 pickups made by Seymour Duncan.
@@ClaudioMartella I do appreciate that. Seymour did a reverse staggered set to take that into account. I doubt though that mounting the pickups upside down would produce the same effect, or make you sound like Hendrix…
@@frantisca I agree that it would not be the same. I think it was because the player was a lefty. You don’t carve out pieces of a body to fit pickups upside down “by mistake”. This was intentional.
Sometimes when norm wants something to be what he thinks it is, he will literally come up with every excuse as to why this or that is not correct at all lol don’t get me wrong norm has the greatest guitars and does know his shit but it’s like come on buddy…. You can’t win them all lol great episode though!
Little annoying actually. Norm should just do it himself if he's not going to take the guy's advice. Video was so much better after the boss got a phone call. It was more like discovering what the guitar is instead the salesman pitch.
@freddy loper exactly bro, I totally agree with you! he never does and just keeps saying “but don’t you think…it’s got to be” and his techs are then like sure norm if u think so lol at least that’s what it seems like there thinking hahaha
I agree. How could he say for instance that it was '54 before they started looking into it? And on another video he said that the truss rod nut had a single slot that indicated that it was early, yet this one had a double slot and of course he never mentioned it! Seems like every Strat he gets is a '54! Not even say a '56 or '57, but always one of the very first ones made!
@@jokermaan1, Norm also mentioned more than once it’s got a really low serial number. That is a factor in his mind that has added value. Also there are plenty of fake vintage guitars, so you have to really dissect them very carefully and inspect all the parts for date codes, tampering of stock wires, resoldering of NOS pots etc. Forensically examine this guitar to know it’s pedigree is not an easy task, but experience and a knowledgeable tech can spot any inconsistencies that can affect value. This example was already “tampered with”, so it’s perceived value is likely less. At this point I would go for the full ground up resto to factory specs. That would likely have a more appealing value to a player/collector than leaving it as is. But that’s just my opinion.
18:02 Regardless of how crude the finish is, if it's actually a 54, I can't believe they let the switch and pots drag across the finish. That's bush league. I wouldn't do that to a $100 Squier. Tape it off, or cover it completely with that green rag.
Yes, it would. For one the quality of that finish is horrible. A blonde refinish in nitrocellulose would look good on that ash body. Have done many of those myself.
had to chuckle, i'm all for restoring stuff .... yes, this has been refinished BUT thinking of relic'ing it seems absolutely crazy to me ;) Greetings though.
Yep! My 66' Tele is a lot like this guitar. It was refinished back in 70's. I do have the original parts. I have good set of Klein Pickups which sound better than the originals. New tuners etc.
NORM!!!! please do more of these kinds of videos 👍 there is an audience of people like me who aren't kids that have a thirst for, and appreciate this kind of knowledge. and this repair guy is top notch!
I second that. This was really interesting. 1954 was a very good year.
I love all of this guitar tech stuff. It's a fascinating combination of technical know-how and historical knowledge.
I was born in 1953 and my Stratocaster that I got in a pawnshop in Chicago in 1971 is a 1954 number 260 Taddio Gomez did the neck and Gloria did the wiring which is what I have named her Strats are pretty cool Great channel
and none of that matters in the end...
@@fixedgear37 Hater’s got to hate…..😂
@@Cream1968 whatever makes your pecker feel tingly man
@@fixedgear37 Go play your BC Rich
@@RideAcrossTheRiver you tried.
If that gets refinished I’m gonna cry 😭😭
Why? it's a bad refinish job in a non-original colour. I hope it gets properly refinished
It's been refinished already! That 'brownburst' is horrible and it would be hugely improved with an original style two-tone burst.
Refinished……it’s dead.
@@japhygoldman8856 Anyway, I prefer this sienna burst than original sunburst, Fender should have chosen that colour back in time.
Obviously Norm knows lots more than anyone on these matters, he is one of the world's best, he knows what he's doing
The maintenance technician is a true specialist. Fantastic guitar.
1:45 A relic job on this guitar would be sacrilege. It's bad enough to put fake wear and tear on a guitar to look like you have played it for years, but to put fake wear and tear on a guitar that has real wear and tear on it is something I can't understand.
I cant understand that either.why ruin a guitar by putting fake crap on it.it will just make it fake.i cant even understand why anyone would want relicing on any guitar.fake scraches make a guitar look better.makes no scence to me.why not play the hell out of it and make it look real.
@@davidr.g.9118 It is already ruined by the sloppy refinish...
If it hadn't been refinished and was all original I'd agree. But it looks like shit and it's all messed up so you might as well restore it.
Fully agree. Refinish it as how it was back in 54, why not, even tho it will definitely change the sound of it. But relicing...holly crap. That Norman guy has lost his mind.
its a piece of crap anyway. If it was made in Japan in the 80s it would be worth a few hundred. Its an old fender, sure but the only original bits are the bare wood. No doubt some idiot with more money than sense will pay lots for it.
The luthier has great hands, very, very careful and precise in a very imprecise world. Ooooodles of experience, just watching him remove the pickup covers, skill baby, skill! Thanks,
Ooodizzles for shizzle my dizzle
beautiful to watch.
Warlocks
i think that's tomo
That's Masa, not Tomo. In this instance, Masa actually is luthier but at most shops, they're just technicians. Don't confuse the two. Luthiers have been trained in their craft for years where technicians can learn for a couple of weeks/months and be on their own pretty much. Technicians can't build guitars. They don't do headstock break repairs, etc...
this is the future - people love these types of videos - the internal workings of vintage guitars is very interesting to the question of why some guitars are amazing and why some are not. Like people, we are generally the same - but with interesting differences that are not so easy to first explain.
Interesting. A guitar by itself is inaudible. It takes the human. A many of a wonderful instrument has been in the hands of a many wonderful people who don’t have a fucking clue how to pull tone or even have a sound they are shooting for.
@@joshuahymer15 The sustain...listen to it. ... You could go and have a bite an'...aaaaaaaaa...you'd still be hearin' that one.
since my 1st in 1982 i find nothing beat a 70"S shergold masquerader .there action is unbeatable and what is interesting to you is the 3 switches with 3 ,,the pick ups can be split and all sorts,also they only sell for 350-£600 ...bought my 1st fender strat (waiting for the order now) just for the wammy go and the great lead sound strats have,,its a tash sultana,(looks so great it may go up in value im told)
@@joshuahymer15 That's very true. There was a mystery for decades and countless articles, interviews with Eddie about how he got his tone. I think he just went along with it but his tone for the most part came from his fingers not the guitar, amps, or pedals. His frankenstrat was really a POS if anyone else was to build it. I say that with all due respect but it's true. It may be worth millions but it was just a hack job. It doesn't hold any mystical powers. He could have played anything and made it sound good.
The thing is the difference in 'tone' could be down to a few additional or a few less wraps on the pickups, and I doubt they're going to calculate exactly how many 'winds' of wire are on each coil!
Should do more of these Normie
I concur. Very cool!
I don't think he will want to after this one. Hahaha
normie????
Okeydokey Alexie
@@whynottalklikeapirat Sherman!!!!
Masa! you are THE MAN! Exceptional! and humble
Here it is 2021. We are going through very difficult times and this 1954 Fender Stratocaster seems to make it all better. Just makes me feel good that it is still around. Thanks, Norman!
This guitar is as old as I am.
To 123spleege...Well-said, Strat friend!
Schweet, Great job Norman this video takes me to a great song While My Guitar Gently Weeps,If it could only talk of what it has endured over the past 68 plus years,thanks for a great video.
This is one of the most beautiful colors I have ever seen on a guitar... Such a beauty!!
too bad its not original
Greatest guitar shop in the Nation. Thanks Norm for all you do. What a find thanks for sharing!!
I'm always completely fascinated by the shows with Norm. I can sit for hours and watch them...
Back in the 60s and 70s I redid several guitars in my parents storage shed for myself and all my friends. Most of the time I used paint for model cars and for motorcycles. I would spend weeks after school sanding down every little nick and scratch replacing parts and rebuilding each one. My Dad did some wood working and showed me how to steam dents out and make the wood sooth. Most of the guitars were good name brands that were ugly and well used from pawn shops. Loved the video it brought back a lot of memories.
Guitar archeology, love it.
Best video from Norm's shop in a LONG time... Love the format & subject matter.. Please consider doing more
Norm is nuts! He would be willing to strip it, repaint it and relic it? It is a relic!
Yeah i dont see how anyone would want to mess with the finish on this one? Looks great to me!
"Look at this lovely rare guitar... let's chain it up to the back of the ford and drag it around the parking lot", anyone that would relic a classic like that is insane.
It’s already been refinished with a color that didn’t exist in 1954. He’s saying it’s not period-specific and would need to be blonde or dark-sunburst to be most like the original condition.
Completely agree, I don’t understand this whole relic thing. I mean I could understand spraying it in a nitro like it was originally, but just start over that thing will re relic in time. I don’t need someone sanding the shit up and making it look like shit on purpose
@@dukenukembubblegum7311 Relicing is about making a guitar look as if it was made in the past. Like if you had a guitar lying in a case for 50 years. I think it's ok to make a guitar look as it should for its age and it takes a lot of crafting skill to do it right. I don't think he's talking about the bullshit some people do to their guitars to make them look "cool" - (like shit) treating them with sand paper, a hammer and smashing them against some stones.
It’s nice to watch these guys dissect such a cool guitar. They live for this stuff and it’s cool to see such knowledgeable professionals do their work.
Wow. This was so informative and interesting! Thank you Norm, Masa and whoever was running the camera. I would enjoy seeing more videos like this.
Jen was probably doing the filming.
I could watch these type of videos endlessly, love the history and Norm's analysis is always really interesting, tremendous video.
you might like watching Uncle Doug tearing into vintage amps if you are not aware of his channel already.
I could watch this tech work on guitars for hours. Do more vids like this pls.
The guy calls him Masa
Masa= Master in guitarlick speak
Please don't! There masa curing these instruments.
Yup
This is, by far, my favorite channel on RUclips!! Thank you for all the hours of education, inspiration and entertainment!!
DON'T TOUCH THAT COLOR! That's one of the most beautiful colors I've seen on a Strat. It's original (implying for a refinish), and unusual. It's looks like a piece of Brach's caramel.
its not original its been refinished
It looks cool. I'd leave it
@@timhitt9541 I'm aware of that. The refinish is original, not ordinary, it's unusual for a refinish.
Or Bach's camel -- but that's a different musical channel.
It looks pretty much like my Sienna burst Strat, I love it ;0)
Such a great history lesson, thank you. I have a 63 that’s precious to me seeing 54 taken apart is a rare gift :-)
Its like watching a surgeon, awesome guitar tech
My very first guitar was a 1954 Stratocaster, serial number 0517 or 0571 ... too long ago to remember (1963-1965).
I’ve got a 2010, but same beautiful wood and color. She’s the best piece of ash I’ve ever had.
More vids like this, please Norm. Watching these old guitars being brought back, is fascinating. Personally I’m rather partial to Sienna burst type finishes, so would probably leave as is, if it were mine😁
Hilarious if this gets to you one year after your post ( RUclips algorithms, bless them),
Yes! You're right, only after you mentioned it did I think," yeah, exactly spot -on - it's a Sienna Burst! Great call, and I know I'm crazy, and Norm is absolutely correct to suggest a refin, but I am charmed by this guitar's folksy take on "sienna Burst", and it looks like I'm not alone in loving the look.
Thanks for posting this up Norman. Very interesting. If anyone says to you that you're lucky to have a job like this tell them.... "Yes. And the harder I work, the luckier I get.!!"
The pickups are upside down because it once was used as a lefty. Very common mod when you have staggered pickups.
Or a righty who listened to Jimi
@@jimowen-vz1dn that was my first thought.
These kind of videos are so relaxing to watch.. love it
Always been curious about the techs @ Norman's. Great gig working on some very cool guitars. More of this kind of content please!
I love the color of this old Strat. It looks very similar to the Bourbon Burst finish on Fender´s 75th Anniversary Commemorative Stratocasters. Beautiful!
Is it ash too?
@@RideAcrossTheRiver Yes, it has an Ash body.
So much knowledge and experience instantly noticing the changes like an autopsy. It’s in good hands now and will be returned to correct set up.
Make more videos like this 🙏
Autopsy? I agree it is dead...
That's just stupidography! Norman is destroying this instrument of it's livability
This is was cool to see the ends and outs of these old guitars
Norm should do more of this, hopefuly on really beat tour guitars from some iconic guitarrists
I could listen to Masa all day and watch him work. Wow!
For a time people turned Strat pickups around to simulate the way Hendrix's guitars were oriented (Low E string over the high E string pickup pole). That may be what happened on this one.
@PC160 - Or maybe one of the previous owners was a lefty and had turned the pick-ups around because of the strings being upside-down, too!? 🙂
Yes! I was gonna guess that it was for tone-adjustment reasons, given the differing heights. Had not thought of the Jimi/lefty/upside-down thing. btw - can't wait to see the finished resto!
The string orientation on the peghead makes more of a difference than the pups.
I was going to comment the same thing. Hendrix flipped strings over backward which caused a more trebly tone from the low E and a bluesier bass tone on the high E. The way to replicate that sound is to do this. It probably sounds good this way but the body routing doesn't help value or orinality. Or, a lefty owned it and wanted a regular strat sound.
@@944justin Agreed. Some much fro the professional's opinion !
Very interesting work that goes into verification of a guitar! Good stuff
This was interesting to watch. I don't like to pull the pickguard with pickups attached though when inspecting. I know you guys are experts, but I find it much easier to pull the knobs, remove the locknuts from the pots, unscrew the pickups and pickguard and lift the pickguard off leaving all the electronics in place. Old wiring can be fragile and twisting a loaded pickguard around can be problematic along with the potential to damage the finish with a pickup height screw you slip up.
I learned a few things that I should have known (or noticed) a long time ago. Thanks, Norm !
"Heavy Build" formvar wire on the pickups ! That is why the bobbin is so full and its just under 6 K ! I made some with the same wire and they sound fantastic ! Wonderful video !!Thank You
Now that Lemmo has played this for Straturday, we know these pickups sound incredible too! It’s sad how this guitar wasn’t properly taken care of. But it wasn’t ruined either, and it’s probably the most affordable 1954 Strat out there.
@@leamanc Yep, he made it sound amazing !
@@leamanc Good prices fade, quality (or not) stays.
Fasciating video, I'm not a player but guitar construction has always fascinated me.
- puts pickups in backwards -
"Huh, these aren't fitting now. Guess I better route out the wood to make them fit"
🤦
It was obviously setup for a lefty numbnuts.
@@robertpalmer4806 So sad that you have obviously just trawled through the comments making the same obnoxious remark every time.
@@robertpalmer4806 You might as well face it, you’re addicted to being a dick
@@robertpalmer4806 could have been someone wanting the “Hendrix affect”.
@@mraycgz My thoughts as well.
Great stuff, thanks Norm.
...perhaps the guitar was set up for a player like Eric Gales ie. strings back to front? ...might explain the pick-ups being upside down especially as the poles are staggered?
Your friend Bonamassa had a concert in Carnage Hall and just knocked it out of the park, great jobZ!
I hear this would be a great guitar to restore guys
He only said it 6 times. If it weren't for Masa, I would have changed the channel the 2nd time he said it
Yes, more of these videos please Norm.
That is a really nice 'burst finish, I must say!
Lovely. '54 has short skirt knobs, football switch tip, round bakelite pickup covers... and yeah '54s didn't have BLACK outer ring of burst color. It was dark brown.
Such a cool video and guitar. Thanks!
I would have loved to see a proper restoration of this guitar.
Love Your Videos......always the Straight Shot. Much appreciated. :)
1:58 - couldn’t disagree more...imo, it’s precisely because the sunburst is that light that it looks as beautiful as it does.
Beautiful, unique finish. Stop with the "let's relic it" crap!
Agreed. Make it playable but don't touch that finish.
Reminds me of my G & L Strat made the same but had locking tuners . It was my favorite guitar lost it in the divorce
I actually love that finish, I’ve been looking for the modern American ash body with that color (Sienna sunburst) for awhile they are difficult to find, they don’t, or can’t use ash anymore… I’d leave it alone, put some new strings on it clean the pots and play the heck out I’d it… In no way whatsoever would I want a fake “relicted” 54, nope…. What it looks like now is what it is… long as it plays…
Yes, more of these please. Very ASMR.
Wonder if the pickups were mounted upside down to try and achieve a Hendrix tone?
Thats what I think, too. before reverse staggered pickups were commonly available.
@@hermannmaier0 Makes sense as to why the pickup cavities were routed to fit them upside down. If it was just a mistake, the fact that they didn't fit that way would be noticeable.
@@jltrem - Or maybe one of the previous owners actually was a lefty also and turned the pick-ups around to match the different string order!? 🙂
I doubt it.
What a great job/business Norm has. Could imagine just tinkering with old guitars Allllll day and getting paid VERY well for it?
That burst color reminds me of the current performer series strat burst.
Agreed. it's beautiful.leave it alone but sand the neck.
Great video norm....please do more of these
Interesting, I didn't realize they had them with a 3 way switch. I thought all strats were 5 way, you learn something new every day.
The 5 way switch was introduced in 1977.
I thought everyone knew that. This is why these vids are important.
@@JustMe-ed1cq, I remember on my ‘68 strat I could fiddle around to find that sweet spot in between the detents of the 3 way giving me a new fuzzy tone. So the 5 way sw was simpler to use. Click and go. I’m thinking the factory had to rewire that switch to get 2 more positions of tone. Was it an accidental discovery that created this need for a 5 way sw years later ? This is funny after 54 years later, wanting to know why.
@@gabrielspiropol9418 Well, pretty much everyone is keyed into balancing the switch to get two more positions. I don't know why they waited until 1977. But, I am just finishing my dream Strat, a Custom aged 1956 swamp ash body and Fender bridge/pickups ('56 Pure Vintage A3) with an aged 1957 neck, all nitro and custom down to the wiring and proper polystyrene covers and knobs etc. for '56/57. So, I'll be looking for those same sweetspots!
fascinating. thx norm & crew .. .
More videos with Masa, please!
Amazing vidéo of a LEGENDARY instrument !!! Love it 👍. Cheers from France 🇨🇵
ANWE NEED MORE OF THESE NORMAN
WATCHING MASA WORK AT HIS BENCH IS A LEARNING EXPERIENCE THAT 99.9% OF YOUR VIEWERS HAVE NO INSIGHT INTO
A PERFECT RESTORATION CANDIDATE
PERSONALLY ME NO LIKEY RELICING
JUST THE BEST VIDEO IN A LONG TIME
THANK YOU NORMAN & MASA MAN
CARLOS GUITARLOS 90042
I am unanimous with this comment.
Well said Carlos, hope you are well
I'm with ya' on the "no relicing".
I'm with you but, STOP USING ALL CAPS!!;. It negates anything intelligent you might have to say.
Masa knows so much.
I reckon it WAS a deliberate act to put the pickups in upside down and not a mistake due to the influence of Jimi Hendrix and the notion that his pickups would be “upside down“ in relation to a left-handed player👍
Hendrix had a Thermal Burning Bar
@@dancingtrout6719
Explain Please..?
I like the color as it is... put it playable and it´s good... nice video
This is really great content!
Love old strats! Iconic guitars
Do a vid of restoring this guitar....
Great video, more of these please.
LOVE THESE VIDEOS
I agree! That color is beautiful.
Cool really enjoyed this one, maybe do more like this
0269!!! What a gem! Could be worth a fortune at a reputable auction if the right people heard about it.
It's not original.... Brings the price down quite a bit
yeah, there are plenty of deluded suckers out there. nuff said
@@iamanovercomer3253 To what? $20,000?
The reason the pickups are in backwards is a left-handed player had this at one time.
could have been just for a different tone
Why would that make a difference
@@latouselatrec The strings would have been in reverse order.
@@simonharris4873 that's obvious. What I'm saying is the pickups dont look like they have any difference left to right or viceaversa
@@latouselatrec Maybe they do maybe they don't. The pole pieces could be different but look the same.
Watching this at the end of 2022 going to 2023 tomorrow!! Happy New Year to all!!
i love that he feels the need to have an assistant to take the neck off for him! Man,I'll never get those 20 mins back!!!
He doesn't want to touch another man's tools. I suppose you would walk up to your own tech guys work bench and just start grabbing up his tools?
You get old and lose sensitivity/ dexterity, this is a wise choice, I know
@@williamtolliver4350 Pompous cork sniffing nonsense!
@@williamtolliver4350 Its not a 4000 year old shroud ffs-its a bolt together,mass produced basic solid body guitar! Leo would be laughing his ass off at this shenanigans!
That Milwaukee tool he is using.. I have the exact same one.. for building industrial control wiring. Love that tool. Fantastic tool. BTW
This video got sooo much better once "The Sales Guy" left the room.
Absolutely. 👍
This comment section would be sooooo much better without your negativity.
Fascinating! But leave that colour, it’s awesome!
Backwards pickups: maybe the original owner was trying to imitate Hendrix's strat tone on a right-handed guitar?
Hello to Norm and Masa. Thanks for a most thorough inspection on this very interesting instrument. One minor thing to point out is that the original 1954 pickup covers were not actually made of Bakelite. The term is used often but it is incorrect. I forget the actual name of the type of plastic - it may have been Formvar or something like that - but anyway it proved to be too thin and fragile and Leo switched to a more durable plastic by 1955 or so. Very few original pickup covers exist. Buddy Holly’s first Strat was a ‘54 and photos show it with the pickup covers broken and missing pieces (Fender even reproduced that detail when they issued their Buddy Holly Strat). That guitar was stolen during Buddy’s last tour so who knows perhaps this is it! Ha ha I think not very likely but it’s something to ponder.
Best wishes to all from Petey
Polystyrene thermoplastic.
Thanks Eric. There was also a commercial name but I haven’t pinned it down yet.
Still digging up research - there is a RUclips video posted a couple years ago from a guy in Australia who bought a ‘54 Strat from a guy in Lubbock, the implication being that it was Buddy’s Strat (spoiler: it isn’t). The replies to that video are all over the map with opinions about what actually happened to Buddy’s guitar. Anyway, one interesting tidbit there was that the potentiometers in that guitar are all 100k rather than the 250k more commonly used. It was implied that Leo had used 100k pots on the first batch or so of Strats. Plausible but I have not yet been able to independently confirm it.
One more thing - a long time ago in an interview Jerry Donahue talked about turning the pickups around in a Strat. This was probably for the Hendrix thing, having the magnet staggers reversed under the strings. These days it is possible to buy pickups made that way such as the SSL 1 pickups made by Seymour Duncan.
Who's the luthier? He's awesome! More of him please.
Love the color as it is. Thanks for that. Well wishings and all the best.
Quick question. Is this guitar a good candidate for a restoration ?
I was wondering how many more times he would say that is the video went on... Let me guess, for a lot of money he will do it for you?
Very fascinating vid. And I'm not even a Strat fan, but she should get a rescue restoration.
There's a possibility that the pickups were fitted upside down in an attempt to get closer to the Hendrix tone
You're kidding, are you? Hendrix played left handed, but his pickups were straight alright... He did not change the orientation of the magnets.
@@frantisca seymour duncan wired the pickups for hendrix taking into account he was left handed.
@@ClaudioMartella I do appreciate that. Seymour did a reverse staggered set to take that into account. I doubt though that mounting the pickups upside down would produce the same effect, or make you sound like Hendrix…
@@frantisca I agree that it would not be the same. I think it was because the player was a lefty. You don’t carve out pieces of a body to fit pickups upside down “by mistake”. This was intentional.
@@ClaudioMartella you do if you installed them wrong and you're too lazy to rewire it
Very cool! Thanks Norm!
Sometimes when norm wants something to be what he thinks it is, he will literally come up with every excuse as to why this or that is not correct at all lol don’t get me wrong norm has the greatest guitars and does know his shit but it’s like come on buddy…. You can’t win them all lol great episode though!
Yeah they could have scribbled "54" 10 minutes before with a pencil.
Little annoying actually. Norm should just do it himself if he's not going to take the guy's advice. Video was so much better after the boss got a phone call. It was more like discovering what the guitar is instead the salesman pitch.
@freddy loper exactly bro, I totally agree with you! he never does and just keeps saying “but don’t you think…it’s got to be” and his techs are then like sure norm if u think so lol at least that’s what it seems like there thinking hahaha
I agree. How could he say for instance that it was '54 before they started looking into it? And on another video he said that the truss rod nut had a single slot that indicated that it was early, yet this one had a double slot and of course he never mentioned it! Seems like every Strat he gets is a '54! Not even say a '56 or '57, but always one of the very first ones made!
@@jokermaan1, Norm also mentioned more than once it’s got a really low serial number. That is a factor in his mind that has added value. Also there are plenty of fake vintage guitars, so you have to really dissect them very carefully and inspect all the parts for date codes, tampering of stock wires, resoldering of NOS pots etc. Forensically examine this guitar to know it’s pedigree is not an easy task, but experience and a knowledgeable tech can spot any inconsistencies that can affect value. This example was already “tampered with”, so it’s perceived value is likely less. At this point I would go for the full ground up resto to factory specs.
That would likely have a more appealing value to a player/collector than leaving it as is. But that’s just my opinion.
Give us more of these please!
18:02 Regardless of how crude the finish is, if it's actually a 54, I can't believe they let the switch and pots drag across the finish. That's bush league. I wouldn't do that to a $100 Squier. Tape it off, or cover it completely with that green rag.
I love the light Burst
Do you think this is a good guitar for restoration?
In a vintage blonde or two tone burst, maybe...
Yes, it would. For one the quality of that finish is horrible. A blonde refinish in nitrocellulose would look good on that ash body. Have done many of those myself.
@@hatbpto5180 Original 1954 Stratocasters had very, very poor quality finishes.
@@JustMe-ed1cq Thanks for the info. If it were the original finish then I would not say to touch it, but they said it was a poor quality refinish.
had to chuckle, i'm all for restoring stuff .... yes, this has been refinished BUT thinking of relic'ing it seems absolutely crazy to me ;) Greetings though.
Since it's already been worked on, there's no reason not to take it back to period-correct!
Exactly!
Yep! My 66' Tele is a lot like this guitar. It was refinished back in 70's. I do have the original parts. I have good set of Klein Pickups which sound better than the originals. New tuners etc.
that's just dumb Norman
it's so interesting how his work surface is so organized.
All pro tech benches should be. I don't have the room.