F-100 with "modern" headstock from the 80's

[Miles Smiles]

Never saw an F-100 with that head stock:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dl ... 0982986204

Must be mid 80's or something like this. Or did someone reshape it?

[Elwood]

interesting...No skunk stripe...The decal looks like it's aged right along with the neck,
but there is no 'guitar' after 'F-100' and no series designation.

The bottom headstock bout sure says S-500 to me ,
<---like in my avatar.
The point looks a little stubby, but it could be the angle of the pic.

I've reshaped one invader headstock that someone cut off the point, it's not easy to make it look 'right'.
This one looks pretty good ( and no light spots on the edge that might happen if the wood was cut after leaving the G&L) so I'd hazard a guess it is factory.

My guess is that someone got a replacement neck from G&L and they used a S-500 neck
(I'm guessing 82-86) . The tuners say 85-86 to me...but I'm no expert, I'll have to bone up on the
G&L factory tuner timeline.

[Craig]

Here's an image with text which Gabe posted on the original G&LDP in 2009:



And here is what the current F-100 headstocks look like (2011 30th Anniversary F-100):



Also check out Greg's page on this 1984 F-100.

As you can see there were variations of the F-100 decal. I think the neck on the eBay auction F-100
is a 1984 - 1986 (or later) factory F-100 neck.

Hope this helps.

[Elwood]

Thanks Craig, (and Gabe and Greg!)

You don't see many of those post '83 headstocks ...makes economical sense that the S-500 necks
could be used for F-100's as the production decreased .

[KenC]

Doesn't the "by Leo Fender" decal indicate 1985-91 production? I believe they first appeared with the Broadcaster in '85. Basing the chronology on my G&Ls:

1980-84: No "by Leo Fender" decal.
1986: "by Leo Fender" below the main decal (with "by in lowercase).
1988: "BY Leo Fender" at the end of the headstock (with "BY" in capitals).

I'm not sure whether the truss rod nut has any significance. All of my Leo-era instruments have an exposed bullet nut, except for the Superhawk (neck dated December '86). The Superhawk's recessed truss rod nut looks like Gabe's 1990 example.

The string retainer on the mystery F-100 is the type used from '80 through '87.

I'd say we're looking at an '85-'87 model neck. Does anybody reading this have an '87 G&L for comparison?

Ken