S500s: 1984 vs. 1994 vs. 2004???

[Craig]

[From a post on the G&LDP:All a matter of opinion by GPD on January 21, 2009 in response to this post:
S500s: 1984 vs. 1994 vs. 2004??? posted by WRXPlayr on January 21, 2009]

: Looking at the S500 guitars, I'm wondering if there's a "best year" or "best period" for used
guitars. Do the guitars from certain years sound better? Are some more valuable than others
(assuming condition of the guitars is the same)?

The 1984 is the most different looking, feeling and sounding of the three. This is actually the
only one of the three that Leo Fender really had a hand in designing. It is also the only of the
3 that is a pre-BBE guitar. These early S-500's are killer guitars but if you want a guitar that
looks, feels and sounds like a vintage Strat...look elsewhere. This same basic guitar was
made between 1980 all the way up to 1991. Depending on the body wood you get a pretty
wide variation on tones on tap. Most are ash but many are mahogany while a minority of them
are maple or poplar. The necks are always a shallow and skinny "C" shape and they tend to
have a #2 neck which kinda sucks but you'll get over it if you ever own one.

The 1994 S-500 is a much closer looks-wise to a Strat compared to the 84' but doesn't really
sound much like one. These are great guitars, extremely well built and dirt cheap. This version
of the S-500 was introduced in 1990 and co-existed with the earliest incarnation for a couple
of years...yep, you could buy two different versions of the S-500 during the pre-BBE era. The
1994 is really the same basic guitar built between 1990 and 1996. These could be had in ash
or alder. The necks are a skinny and shallow "C" like the earliest version but the necks are
generally #1's...way more bend friendly than the #2. Frets are way taller than the pre-BBE
frets...a good thing.

The 1997 to present S-500 is tweaked a bit from the 1990-1996 model. It sports a more
Fender-like 1.75" body thickness, along with a Fender style 4-bolt neck plate and some other
minor revisions. These incarnations sound much like the 90-96' model but feel different. The
option list has grown quite a bit since the mid 90's so there are a lot of different variations on
this theme to choose from. These aren't as cheap but aren't expensive used. New, they are a
bit pricey and their resale drops dramatically once they leave the dealer showroom. The
necks get chubbier on these guitars and most are #1's and they have tall frets...good stuff.

You cannot go wrong with any of them but none of them really sound much like a traditional
Stratocaster. From an investment perspective, you always do better with the pre-BBE models...
they hold their value or escalate in value which makes them ever so attractive.

Gabe