Hello Al!
On 02 Apr 98, Al Thompson wrote to Rich Lockyer:
 AT> Did they make the tilt necks tight?  A friend had a Tele Thinline which
 AT> had miserable neck fit.  I had a 74 Strat which I bought new, and it was
 AT> the worst piece of crap I've owned.  I ended up giving it away about 15
 AT> years ago.
That seems to be the reputation, so I would say that the majority of them 
were not tight, however, mine was fine, and I've played a few recently that 
were fine.
 AT> Which begs the question:  How do the Japanese Fenders differ from the
 AT> Mexican or American?
The hardware is pretty much authentic to the original style.  The body wood 
is, I believe, basswood, as opposed to poplar on the Mexican models, and 
swamp ash or alder on the US models.  Original '70s era Strats were all HEAVY 
ash bodies.
 AT> switch on it, though.  This one is wearing out, and I never liked this
 AT> unnatural 5-way switch business anyway.
Nothing wrong with the 5-way, it's the new switch design which uses a pc 
oard
that wears out. Pick up an Allparts 5-way and it'll be the original style 
phenolic switch and it'll last forever and work fine.
C-ya! Rich
--- GoldED 2.40
---------------