Stage 1 on Stage CS-327 Done …Finally!

[Lanaka]

Well, finally got around to getting the first stage of my mods on my 1980s Stage CS-327 Stratocaster Copy done!

While it's not much (for now), it LOOKS infinitely better than before.

Before Picture

As ye can see here, the pup covers are mismatched and the guitar is missing its rear cover.

While I LOVED this guitar, it's my #1 Strat after all, that mismatched pup covers REALLY irked me. So I pulled the pickguard to see what I could do about it.



This picture really made it obvious the guitar started as a solid white guitar, but the decades in the Hawaiian climate has aged the finish to a nice cream and the neck is a lovely rich amber clear. I left the strings on for now just to keep the neck under some tension because I didnt loosen the truss. I had expected to just take a quick peek under the guard and put it back together.

This is a nice and solid guitar that weighs in at a nice 8 pounds 8 oz (8.5 pounds or 3.856 kg). The sustain is long and strong at about 12-16 seconds (fretted/open). What's surprising is that this guitar is a plywood bodied guitar!



Guess this goes to show ye that tone wood is not everything, LOL! That's ok, the guitar Sounds good, so that's all that matters at the end of the day …well and that it Feels good too! Which it does!



The neck is maple/maple with a clear gloss that's aged to a nice amber colour. The fretboard's edges has been well broken in and are nicely rounded. There's some wear-thru on some parts of the fretboard edges, but that's expected of a guitar that's pushing 40 years. What's really cool is that the neck back obviously started off as a clear gloss, but it has seen enough use wear that it now feels mostly satin, but it STILL looks mostly glossy! Perfect combination!

 

[Lanaka]

When I unscrewed the pickguard and took a look behind it, I was a bit surprised at the messy wiring. It was obvious that the guitar had been modified in the past. And I now see why the switching was backwards. Position 1 (all the way down) had the neck active and Position 5 (all the way up) had the bridge pup running. The 52mm bridge pup had been swapped for an obviously different aftermarket pickup AND has been mounted in the neck position whilst the neck pup had been relocated to the bridge position but the wiring itself has NOT been swapped.



When I measured the pickups, it turns out the 52mm bridge pup is 6.0κΩ whilst the other two 50mm pups are both 5.0κΩ.



The two 50mm pickups are obviously the original dual magnet pups that has a Mexican-style stagger and I liked their sound. The 52mm pickup is a single magnet flat-stagger pickup that sounded harsh, which I did not like. Also I noticed the tone² pot had a different style marking. The word TONE is larger than the other two knobs and the numerals did not have that dot under each numbers like the other two. Evidently this is also a replacement item.



So with the generosity of @stratmanshow who kindly donated a replacement tone knob of same design as the other two, I swapped that knob in and lined up all three knobs so their zeros points in the same direction. At same time I relocated the aftermarket 52mm pup back to the bridge position and moved the neck pickup back home. And I swapped in some of the weathered pickup covers from a 1988 Epiphone S400 Stratocaster Copy which are white that has the tops aged to a cream colour. So now the pickups and knobs looks more or less looks the same and appears similarly as worn.



Later on, tis my plan to replace the bridge pup with a newer Squier Strat pickup that looks identical to the original twain but are obviously new looking. I have two, so will try to age the pickup to at least sort of look as old as the other two. This pickup is even hotter than the other bridge at 7.0κΩ, but since it's of the similar type as the other two, I'm hoping the Sound of the new pickup is more complimentary than clashing. We'll see. Before I age them, I'll test install both pickup to see which one Sounds better, then practice aging on the other pickup until I'm happy and then repeat the process with the better sounding pickup and install it into the guitar's bridge position.

 

[Lanaka]

Here's the final mockup of the guitar with the current redone pickguard.



I'll change the old strings to a new set and bolt down the pickguard after I solder on the ground and output jack wires. But it's looking a LOT better. Oh while I was at it, I stole the 1988 Epi's rear cover and bolted it onto the Stage, the bolt holes matches and it looks like it belonged there because like the Epi pup covers, it's white plastic that has turned to a darker cream colour. TBH, tis a bit too dark, oh well, LOL!

 

[Lanaka]

Oh, the name!

I've nicknamed this guitar Keone, which means Sandy, an obvious nod to its its beach sand coloration. The normal names are:

Kahua (Stage)
Kekahuaokalani
>> Ke Kahua O Ka Lani.
>> The Stage of Heavens.

 

[Michael7]

Cool looking guitar! Super nice and even flame on the back of that neck! I had never heard of the Stage brand before. What is the country of origin?

 

[Lanaka]

Cool looking guitar! Super nice and even flame on the back of that neck! I had never heard of the Stage brand before. What is the country of origin?

USA assembled of Korean sourced hardwares. In the late-80s and 90s, they were popular with gigging musicians which temporarily drove up prices for them. They were made supposedly in Texas, but I'm not sure of the details. There's not much info out there on the Stage guitars. Supposedly Stage was started by a former Fender factory worker who thought he could make a better guitar than Fender for cheaper. Dunno whether that's true or not, so I consider that to be a rumor.

What I DO know, is that it is a mighty fine guitar, even though the body is plywood or laminate. It is definitely my favorite traditional styled Strat (pickguard mounted electronics, 21-22 frets).

 

[Robb]

I love that neck !