SPECIAL
PAWN SHOP PRIZE : THE SMITH ERA STRATOCASTER Roger Zimish �
front of the guitar by relocating the output jack to the front of the pickguard and removing the standard chrome plated output jack that was mounted into the body , The single layer pickguard was able to be pre-assembled with a new wiring harness and mounted on the guitar with 11 screws instead of the normal 12 screws . The standard tremolo was changed to the top mounted “ Freeflyte Tremolo ” that has a single knife edge pivot that goes all the way across the tremolo , so there are no base plate screws in the body . The tremolo arm is a snapin bar and the springs are top loading springs which are adjusted from the top because there is no back plate . This means there is no hole cut through the body and a routed out cavity for the springs on the back . Looking at the back of the guitar you might think it ’ s a hard tail . The neck is a 12 ” radius with a flat fingerboard . Fender also widened the fingerboard at the One of the fun things about hanging out in a nut and made the neck a little shallower from Pawn Shop around Nashville is that you never front to back . They also added bass fret wire know what or who is going to walk through so it ’ s bigger then the vintage fret wire they the door . Loans , buys , trades , and sales have used . Fender brought back the 4 bolt are all parts of the deal . During one of these neck and added their neck pitch tilt adjustment transactions a kind of rare 1983 American mechanism , which was sturdy and made it Fender Standard Stratocaster surfaced . There easier to adjust the neck . No more loosening was something different about this Strat . I the neck and having to put shims in . It also was remember seeing one or two of these back in the debut of their “ Bi-flex ” truss rod . the 80 ’ s that only had a volume and just one tone control on it . This was back when CBS Despite all the cost cutting measures and ran Fender and Dan Smith was Director of improvements Dan Smith introduced with the Marketing for electric guitars , AKA “ The Smith new Fender Standard Stratocasters in 1983 , Era ”. Fender was trying to make improvements the guitars didn ’ t exactly rock the world of while cutting costs to make a more affordable guitar players at the time . The Strat itself isn ’ t Stratocaster . The outcome was “ one of the a bad guitar and it plays really well ( if you ’ re most distinctive mainstream Strat ’ s ever ” at not a heavy tremolo arm user ). The guitar is a lower price of $ 650.00 new . This new , two worth checking out . The Guitar Buyer ’ s Guide knob Standard Series Stratocaster came out in suggests a selling price between $ 1500.00 1983 and lasted only until late 1984 , making and $ 2000.00 , but if you do some looking this a collectible guitar to some . and negotiating you perhaps can find one to fit your budget . Fender only produced this “ Smith There are pros and cons with this line of Strat . era ” Stratocaster until 1984 , making them a You can see where Fender cut costs on the collectible guitar to find in 2017 .
PEDAL SNAPSHOT continued from page 40
The use of this technique seemed to disappear with the advent of pedalboards and buffered pedals , and along with the technique , many of those tones as went away as well . The goal of the Proto Fuzz is to allow players to dial in all of those great ‘ rolled-back ’ sounds from any spot in the pedal chain at the stomp of a switch . This pedal can go from sparkly clean through overdrive to super fat fuzz and everywhere in between .
The Proto Fuzz has two identical foot-switchable ‘ channels ,’ each with so much power of expression , I was able to get so many usable sounds without even trying . Each channel has a ‘ pregain ’ control and a ‘ bass roll-off ’. The pregain control mimics the volume pot on your guitar , allowing you to pre-set two different gain levels and jump between them . The bass rolloff is something greatly needed in most fuzz pedals and is far more usable than a standard tone control . It allows you to make a high gain sound less muddy or fatten up your lower gain settings – it ’ s also very helpful when switching between single coils and humbuckers – it ’ s like having a dedicated fuzz for each guitar , but in one pedal ! There ’ s a master volume control as well , with plenty of output on tap if needed .
The Proto Fuzz was specifically designed for musicians to use on a wide variety of instruments , from guitars to bass to acoustic instruments , or even keys due to its open and extended range of both unfiltered highs and lows . It ’ s pretty rare to find a fuzz that works on horns , strings , or even drum mixes as a studio insert .
My favorite thing about this pedal is the roll-off , chimey , shimmery cleans I was able to achieve by setting the pregain knob lower . Having a two-channel fuzz pedal with this much power and flexibility was , and is , so fun to play . I ' m looking forward to seeing this pedal come to market . Proto is taking pre-orders for the next batch of 50 pedals with a $ 100 deposit through their website : www . ProtoGuitars . com
46 Jul � Aug 2017 CollectibleGuitar . com