“The neck date reads December 1957. This Strat has been loved and played, but it’s very straight and correct, with the yellowed plastic knobs and pickup covers, and the alder body, which were all standard by then. The body has slim body contours like a ’56 or ’57, and it’s quite unlike the chunkier contours that started appearing in mid-to-late 1958.
“The neck starts off with a beautiful V that is on the harder side and that’s fairly typical for late 1957. By about the 5th fret the V shape softens out into a larger and wider profile, and by the 9th fret it has a very substantial heft. The frets are original and they show some wear, mostly in the cowboy chord position, but the playability is fantastic.
