There’s one big rule to consider if you’re seeking to make a vintage Fender Stratocaster your very own: Don’t go it alone.

There are so many factors to accurately dating and valuing early Stratocaster guitars that even professionals with decades of experience, such as Guitar Center Director of Used and Vintage Jack Hetherington, rely on feedback from their teams. They may also need to refer to photos of similar instruments and parts, pour over manufacturer data and histories, and pursue feedback from other knowledgeable experts in the field.

“Anyone who wants to buy a vintage instrument should look for what my team and I look for,” says Hetherington. “And while this has nothing to do with parts or finishes, one of the things we look for is trusted counsel. Reach out to as many people as possible who know about vintage gear to get their opinions.”

In this article, Hetherington shares some more tips and techniques for taking the classic-guitar thrill ride, and he also lets you into the Guitar Center Hollywood “vintage lab” for his team’s evaluation of a ’60s Stratocaster.

“It’s a learning process,” says Hetherington. “So, don’t beat yourself up if you make a few mistakes. Take your time, learn as much as you can and have fun with it.”

The Timeline of Vintage Stratocasters

“When people talk about vintage Stratocasters, it typically falls within two periods—the golden era from 1954 up until about 1965, and the years when CBS owned Fender from 1965 up to the mid-1980s,” says Hetherington. “For the most part, the Fender Stratocaster didn’t change all that much over that 30-year period—even though Stratocasters from the pre-CBS era are the most sought-after. But just because your Strat is a 1975, doesn’t mean it's not super cool and, in some cases, super collectible.”

Decoding Collector-Grade and Player-Grade Vintage Strats

We’re sure you can probably guess the differences between collector- and player-grade vintage instruments, but the question does come up on guitar forums from time to time, so here’s a brief explanation. Hetherington defines collector grade as “100-percent original and pristine.” These are the not-entirely mythical guitars that are occasionally discovered after “hiding” for decades in closets, garages and under beds. In other words, if you jumped into a time machine, traveled to a music store in 1957, bought a new Stratocaster off the rack and then hightailed it home to 2024—that would be the unspoiled and spotless condition a collector-grade Strat should present. You may see “near original condition” caveats in some guitars being offered as collector grade, and this harkens back to Hetherington’s advice on having a team help evaluate potential vintage buys before you lay out the cash.

Pictured: 1974 Fender Stratocaster in Sunburst

Player-grade vintage guitars typically have been loved and perhaps relentlessly played, so the condition of the body and finish certainly isn’t flawless. In addition, the owner (or owners) might have changed the pickups, added non-original parts, had a neck refret or two, and perhaps even refinished the body. (“I don’t think the original three-color sunburst goes with my ’80s synthpop band, so I’ll just paint it neon pink.”) These “vintage hybrids” can be extraordinarily awesome, of course, but they won’t zoom anywhere near the price of an impeccable collector-grade guitar.

How Do Vintage Professionals Date Early Stratocasters?

“I look at a lot of vintage guitars,” says Hetherington, “and my process is to presume they're guilty until they prove they're innocent.”

Proving the innocence of a potential golden-era or CBS-period Strat typically requires the “vintage court” to use all the available tools at its disposal to ensure the guitar is dated accurately—or as accurately as possible.

“It’s really hard to get to 100-percent certainty,” says Hetherington. “We don’t say a particular guitar is 100-percent this or 100-percent that, but we do get as close to the pin as we can using a lot of experience and a lot of opinions. This is why I don’t make the final decision on my own. I bounce it off the people I work with, and we try to get to the point where we are confident that we know what it is, and that we can purchase the guitar and put it on the floor for someone to check out.

Pictured: 1963 Fender Stratocaster

“Happily, I have a great used and vintage team at Guitar Center—including a dedicated group of people whose job it is to authenticate all vintage gear that walks into our stores every day. In addition, we have David Maddox—a legendary guitar tech who worked at Fender for 43 years—and Eric Bradley, who is the artist relations manager at the Hollywood store. Eric has 22 years of experience selling high-end instruments, and he also worked for renowned vintage-guitar authorities Dave Belzer and Drew Berlin—the Burst Brothers—for 10 years. It was actually Drew who founded the Guitar Center vintage department.”

As the Guitar Center vintage team is always on the hunt for incredible instruments, we thought it would be fun and educational to be virtual flies on the wall as Hetherington, Maddox and Bradley evaluate what appears to be a late ’60s Strat. After all, an excellent way to determine for yourself how to go about buying a vintage Stratocaster is to watch professionals at work.

Guitar Center Vintage Puts CBS-Era Stratocaster on Trial

When the aforementioned ’60s Stratocaster made its way to Guitar Center Hollywood, Hetherington and crew went right to work trying to prove its innocence or guilt. Here’s a peek at the process …

Hetherington: At first glance, this guitar looks like a fairly complete and really nice example of a late '60s Stratocaster. The neck looks good. It has the correct logo and larger headstock they moved to in the late ’60s. It has a nice hunk of Brazilian rosewood on the neck and plastic dots on the fretboard. The sunburst finish looks great, as well. Occasionally, what we'll see on sunburst guitars from this era is a faded red stripe from the three-color sunburst on the front, and a brighter red stripe on the back. This can sometimes help us determine if a finish is correct, and it’s true for this Strat. In addition, we always look at vintage Strats under a black light to make sure nothing has been retouched or repainted.

Pictured: Jack Hetherington Holding Modified 1969 Fender Stratocaster

Bradley: The lacquer on the back of the neck is so thin you can tell there are a lot of miles on this puppy. It has also been re-fretted, and it feels great with the new frets. There’s likely a new nut, as well, because when a guitar gets a re-fret, they generally put a new nut on it.

Hetherington: Of course, when buying a vintage Stratocaster, the first thing you need to check is the sound. Make sure the electronics are working and the pickups sound good. After that, we physically need to take the Strat apart. I noticed the serial number on the neck plate is probably not right for the era in which we believe this guitar to be, so we're going to have to get inside the guitar, check out the neck date and look at some potentiometer codes.

Maddux: We can see a couple of inspection stamps inside the neck pocket, as well as a rubberstamped date at the end of the neck, which is February 22, 1969. Before then, they used a pencil, and the person responsible for documenting the date was whoever did the final sanding on the neck. This guitar also has an SB stamp, which means the body was determined to be a sunburst-quality body. You see, sunburst bodies have to be better, because you can see the grain through the finish. For a solid-color finish, the grain doesn’t matter as much. In fact, if someone messed up a sunburst-quality body, they used to paint them black. That's why you get vintage guitars that show different colors underneath if the original finish wears through.

Pictured: Vintage 1957 Fender Stratocaster Electronics with Replaced 5-way Switch

Bradley: A five-way switch has been added, so that was definitely not stock to the guitar in 1969. [Note: The five-way switch debuted on Fender Stratocasters in 1977.]

Maddux: This is an Oak Grigsby five-way switch. I can tell because it has a small disc. Central Lab switches have a little spring. Both switches are open types [ie., not enclosed in a housing], and both are quality parts.

Hetherington: One thing that's obviously changed on this guitar is the pickguard. It’s single-ply parchment, and it should be three-ply white, black, white for this era.

Maddux: Yeah. It’s wrong.

Hetherington: The pickups look good to me. The tape seems correct—it’s how the factory would keep the wiring together. The potentiometers should have an original equipment manufacturer code that can help us date them. Can you see the codes, David?

Maddux: 304723.

Hetherington: Okay. I think what we're looking at is an original 1957 pickguard, wiring harness and pickups. Everything about this now points to a 1969 body, 1969 neck, and a more valuable 1957 wiring harness and pickup setup.

Pictured: Vintage 1957 Fender  Stratocaster Wiring Harness and Pickups

Bradley: There's a magical charm when you put a ’60s body with ’50s electronics. I could hear and feel how they were reacting when I was playing the guitar. It doesn’t sound quite as bright as a late ’60s Stratocaster usually does.

Hetherington: So, in summation, I think we agree this Stratocaster has a 1969 body and neck, a complete 1957 wiring harness that includes the correct pickups and potentiometers, and a five-way switch that was added later.

Bradley: It’s an amazing hybrid Stratocaster.

Start Your Vintage Quest

At this point, adding a vintage Stratocaster to your collection should not seem like an overwhelming exercise, peppered with anxiety and fear. To recap some of Hetherington’s points at the beginning of this article—job one is to simply do your homework. We have some comprehensive histories on the Stratocaster, changes to the Strat from 1954 to 1965 and what happened to the Strat during the CBS years. Next, absorb the guitar’s evolution and determine which Strat era seems best suited to your style, music and aesthetic. Then, assemble a small, trusted team of knowledgeable guitar pros (or friends) who can help you ask the right questions and identify suspicious elements. Soon, you should be ready to hit the vintage marketplace with confidence.

Pictured: 1965 Fender Stratocaster in Sonic Blue

You’d still feel better with a bit of help? No problem. We can offer up the used and vintage team at Guitar Center to assist you. We can also point to our Vintage Stratocaster Guitar collection as a place to begin perusing Strats from all eras. If it turns out you’re not quite ready to acquire a vintage instrument, and want to consider a new Strat instead, please click to our guide to Fender Stratocasters.