Features and specs of a ’61 Vintage Stratocaster
Mark Knopfler’s “Sultans” Strat (ser.-no. #68354) is from 1961. The second red Fender Strat he played with Dire Straits (ser.no #80470) was from about the same period (apart from the question in how far it was original Fender at all). For this reason I put together a table to give you a survey about the distinctive features that are different on a 1961 Strat compared with earlier or later Strats.
| 1961 Strat | before | later | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Body wood | alder (ash for models in blonde) | light ash (swamp ash) until 1956 | heavy ash in the 70ies |
| Fingerboard | slab board made of Brazilian rosewood | one-piece maple nack until 1959 | curved rosewood venue from mid 1962 on, optional maple board in the late 60ies, one-piece maply neck available in the 70ies again |
| Pick-ups | staggered pole-pieces, formvar wire insulation, magnetic northpole on top | magnetic southpole on top in the early 50ies | enamel wire insulation from about mid 1964 on, flush polepieces from 1974 on |
| Pickguard | three layers (white/black/white) pickguard of celluloid, fixed with 11 screws, screw #3 between middle and neck pick-up | one layer plastic pickguard (or bakelite before 1957) until 1959, fixed with 8 screws (a few models with three layers and 8 screws in 1959) | screw #3 moved to middle pick-up in 1963, three layers plastic pickguard from 1965 on |
| Bridge | 6 individual bridge saddles made of bent steel, separate steel tremolo block, | same | no separated tremolo block from 19xx on, diecasted bridge saddles, |
| Laquer | thin nitro laquer, standard was three tone sunburst (yellow/red/black), many custom colours available | thin nitro laquer, standard was two tone sunburst (yellow/black) until 1958, only a few (and rare) custom colours available | glossy polyesther finish from 1968 on |
| Tuners | made by Kluson, stamped with one line with “Kluson deluxe” | same | stamped with two lines with “Kluson deluxe” from 1964 on, made by Schaller from 1968 on |
| Pick-up switch | 3-way | 3-way | 5-way from 1977 on |
| Body contours | deeply contoured - individual differences due to hand work | deeply contoured - individual differences due to hand work | becoming less contoured from the mid 60ies on |
| Stratocaster decal | gold “spaghetti logo” with two patent numbers | gold “spaghetti logo”, no patent numbers until 1960, | In late 1964 Fender changed to the fatter gold transitional logo,black logo from 1968 on three patent number 1963-1964, later 4 numbers |
| Peghead size | small | small | big head from 1966 on |
| String holders | one butterfly string holder | one round holder until 1956 | two string holders from 1974 on |
| Number plate / neck fixation | 4 screw number plate with stamped serial number | same (1954 models sometimes with serial number on tremolo plate) | stamped with big F from 1966on, three hole number plate from 1972 on |
| Serial numbers | 5 digits, ca. 50 – 80,000 range | lower numbers | higher, starting with the letter L from 1964 on, 6 digits from 1965 on |
Detail pictures
The Imperial is a two-channel combo with reverb and tremolo. The output power is about 20 watts, coming from two 6V6 tubes. The two channel make use of 12AX7 pre-amp tube, and one 12AT7 driving the reverb, just like Fender amps from the sixties or seventies. In fact it reminds me a lot of a black-face Fender Deluxe amp, which also has a similar layout and one 12″ speaker. In fact you can read on the Tone King website that the rhythm channel aims for that Fender black-face sound. A volume, treble and bass control is all that is required here. Of course the spring reverb – a fundamental ingredient of the Fender sound – works for both channels (note that on Fender amps it only affects the second channel). It will not surprise you that the reverb circuit uses the same two-spring reverb tank (acutronics) and the same tubes like Fender.
The second channel also features just three controls: volume, tone and mid-bite – so no bass and treble control here, just on a small Fender tweed amp from the 50ies. The mid-bite adds a midrange peak and tightens the low end, controling the overdrive tone character that can be blended from Fender tweed to Marshall style.
