Not much to this particular piece, but it's good to know that I can stay true to the original Black Strat! Much like everything else, this one piece gives its place in Fender history. Every guitar comes with a neckplate, and for this neckplate comes a serial number. Without this important number, you will be left stranded with all the other unnumbered Fender guitars.
This here is a custom Nickel-Plated Strat neckplate made by Ron Kirn (www.ronkirn.com) using an original stamp machine, the same used by Fender for their neckplates.
Instead of having the original serial number stamped, I decided to get the serial number without the R in the front, the way the Black Strat has a 5 digit number on its neckplate (the neckplate that is on the Black Strat to this day came off a 1963 Rosewood Neck Strat. The original neckplate that David had on the Black Strat does has a big F, with a 6 digit serial number on the top).
 |
| Left: Original Fender Custom Shop F-Style Neckplate ; Right: Ron Kirn Nickel-Plated Custom Serial-Numbered Neckplate |
I still have the original neckplate that came with the guitar body, and you can see the difference in sheen from the different plating (the original neckplate being chrome and vintage style neckplates being nickel). Still has the same number, only missing the R in front.
With one custom part down for my Black Strat build, i'll have a few more parts that are important in staying true to the original Black Strat. You'll be surprised as what is out there to buy!
David Sarmiento
