The American Vintage II '70s Stratocaster recreates the big-headstock, three-bolt era of Fender's history, a period players either love for its raw character or find quirky next to a modern Strat.
9 mods reviewed: 7 drop-in, 2 need modification.
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Andertons
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The American Vintage II '70s Stratocaster recreates the big-headstock, three-bolt era of Fender's history, a period players either love for its raw character or find quirky next to a modern Strat. That 3-bolt neck plate with a Micro-Tilt mechanism is the key difference from the 4-bolt mounting found on most other guitars in this range, so a standard replacement neck will not bolt straight on without matching this specific pattern. It also has a 7.25 inch fretboard radius, flatter than a fresh vintage board but rounder than a modern Fender, and a narrower 42mm nut width than the 43mm nut found on many current-production guitars.
Tailpiece
None (bridge-integrated)
Neck mounting
3-bolt (Micro-Tilt)
String spacing
56.4mm (2-7/32")
Scale length
25.5" (648mm)
Nut width
42mm (1.654")
Not published by Fender: tuner hole size and bridge mounting spacing. Measure these before buying tuners or a bridge.
This guitar uses a 3-bolt neck plate with Micro-Tilt adjustment, a genuine fitment detail worth knowing before swapping neck plates or necks, most replacement neck plates and many aftermarket necks assume the standard 4-bolt pattern.
A premium vintage-spec bridge upgrade that matches the mounting and spacing already on this guitar.
Callaham's Vintage S Model is built to the true vintage 6-screw spec, matching this guitar's factory bridge.
See current price at Reverb
View at ReverbBuilt to the same vintage-style mounting and spacing as the bridge already on this guitar. Should drop straight in.
Wilkinson's VSVG reproduces the vintage 6-screw Strat bridge and mounting pattern, matching this guitar's factory vintage-style bridge and true vintage 56.4mm string spacing.
See current price at Amazon
View at Amazon
Fits the standard Strat pickup route. Needs soldering, not a plug-and-play part.
Vintage-voiced single-coil set built to the standard Strat pickup route and mounting.
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Fits the standard Strat pickup route. You will need to solder it in, this is not a solderless swap.
Standard staggered-pole Strat single-coil, drops into the same route and mounting as the stock pickups.
£104.99 at Andertons
View at Andertons
More output than a vintage-style single-coil while keeping true single-coil character. Fits the standard route, needs soldering.
A hotter modern-voiced staggered single-coil, standard Strat route and mounting.
See current price at Reverb
View at ReverbA popular budget-friendly pickup upgrade. Fits the standard Strat route, needs soldering.
One of the most widely bought Strat pickup sets on the market, standard single-coil route and mounting.
Matches the vintage-style tuner holes already on this guitar. Should drop in without reaming.
This guitar ships with a genuinely vintage-spec headstock, so these vintage-bore tuners match the existing holes directly.
Sized for a modern locking-tuner headstock, not the vintage-spec holes on this guitar. Expect reaming and new mounting holes.
These use the modern 10mm 2-pin locking mount found on current Player and American series necks, a different, larger bore than this guitar's genuine vintage-spec headstock.
Help confirm this fit
See current price at Amazon
View at AmazonThis is the modern-bore version of this tuner. Your guitar has vintage-style holes, so this specific version would need reaming.
This particular set is Sperzel's modern 10mm line. This guitar has a genuinely vintage-spec headstock, so these would need the holes reamed out.
Help confirm this fit
If you have fitted any of these to this Fender American Vintage II '70s Stratocaster, tell us what you found and we'll update the data.
