2004 Fender Mexico Modded Stratocaster Electric Guitar

April 30, 2018

2004 Fender Mexico Modded Stratocaster Electric Guitar

The owner of this Strat bought it from the proprietor of Frugal Amps who'd put it together to have three distinct, classic sounds to test his amps out with. To this end it's a basic 2004 Mexican Strat that's had a Lollar P90 stuck in its middle and a USA-made Seymour Duncan PAF-style humbucker slapped at its bridge. It's out-of-phase between the bucker and the P90, but otherwise operates as-normal in switching. It has a replacement trem block but I'm not sure what it is -- could it be graphite? I'm sure it's an upgrade vs. the normal stuff you see on Mexi-Strats. There's also a rub-out/chip-out just below the logo on the headstock.

After a quick setup and a new set of strings (plus investigation of the innards), it's a great player and has an excellent neck. There's something about the early-2000s Mexican necks -- they're way more vintage-feeling in their mild-to-medium C-shaped profile and steeper radius, save that the nut with is 1 11/16" rather than the vintage 1 5/8" spec. More space for the modern player, I suppose!

Other oddities? There's no cover for the P90 and the neck pickup is a mystery-supplied Strat pup -- it has six poles but a bar magnet on the bottom. It sounds good -- a little warmer than your average Strat neck pickup, but in the usual territory. If it had a normal design to the pup I would've knocked the "vintage stagger" with the raised-up G pole down a bit on the G, but I'll leave that to the next player to decide on.

Specs are: 25 1/2" scale, 1 11/16" nut width, ~10" radius to the board, 1 13/32" sting spacing at the nut, 2 1/32" spacing at the bridge, 12 5/8" lower bout, 11" upper bout, and 1 3/4" depth. The neck is straight and the frets have just the mildest fretwear -- not near enough to justify and leveling/dressing at all.