1982 Fernandes Revival '64 left handed strat

The lesser spotted left handed Fernandes Revival 

Back in the early 1980's Fernandes had what was then a very novel idea:- recreate the vintage characteristics of the early strats, and boy,  did they go out of their way  to accomplish that ----

I could go on with such images but in short - they were very thorough !

So the guys and girls at Fernandes meant business, and I am so happy they did because their efforts back at a time when I was only 3 and not yet old enough to appreciate the merits of a fine vintage speck strat, produced such gems and the one pictured below - one of my first ever Fernandes the revival strats and a left handed version at that, which trilled me no end !

This '64 version just oozes class !

This happens to be a very early version of a Fernandes revival. And how do we know that?? -- The early versions of this guitar had no lacquer sprayed over the top of the decal on the headstock. The result of this that many of these early versions are missing their decals, and sadly I have seen many, many examples of this. Thankfully though, this revival has managed to survive for the last 34 years with its unprotected decals intact. 

Notice the wear around "original custom body" and other parts of the decal

Compare the above unprotected headstock above with the protected one below (lacquered version came in around '84) which is taken from one of my right handed revivals:

Later version of the revival series strats had lacquered decals

There are some other ways to get an approximate date on your revival. The first is to examine the neck plate of the guitar. Now, this is not a hard and fast rule, but a 'stone logo' neck plate generally indicates an earlier Revival. These 'stone logo' neck plates were left over from Fernandes strats of the 70's, and unused ones found their way onto the new Revival line of guitars. The first picture below shows the stone logo on my lefty and an 'L series' neck plate from the mid 80's, again from one of my right handed revivals:

Fernandes 'Stone Logo' neck plate

Fernandes Revival 'L' series neck plate

Another way to gauge the age of your guitar is to look at the number that's stamped on the heel of the neck- the first digit of which indicates the year of manufacture. However, while not everyone may agree with this method, I use it until more weightier evidence is put forward. The picture below shows the neck heel stamp from this left handed version. Although somewhat blurry, the first digit is a 2, signaling that this guitar is from 1982. 

A 2 at the beginning of this neck code indicates a 1982 year of manufacture

 As mentioned in a previous revival review on this blog, I have compared these guitars to an original '64 strat and Fernandes does a highly commendable job, and realistically, there is little between the two at least as far as this blogger is concerned !

Below are two videos demonstrating the sound of this guitar. It's worth noting that the amp in question has a valve preamp and a solid state output section, and an all valve unit improves sound by multiple factors. I will update these videos when I acquire a low wattage all valve amp, but for now these examples provide a hit of whats to come.