Anyone else feel like the American Vintage II line is coasting on “vintage-correct” marketing while quietly keeping a bunch of modern compromises? I’m not looking for vibes or brochure quotes-I want hard data from people who’ve bought, measured, and torn these apart.
Specific things I haven’t seen settled with evidence:
- Fretwire: Fender lists “vintage tall” on a lot of AV II models. That’s not period-correct. What exact wire is it (crown width/height, tang spec)? If you’ve mic’d it, post numbers.
- Radius and bending: With a true 7.25 radius and taller wire, do you actually run into fret-out on realistic stage action, or is this a setup myth? What action relief/saddle heights are you running to get clean whole-step bends above the 12th?
- Finish stack: Is there still a urethane sealer under the nitro? Anyone got cross-section pics, solvent rub tests, or chips from a cavity that show the undercoat layer? Finish thickness in mils would be gold.
- Body construction: Piece count on opaque finishes-has anyone stripped one or shone a bright light and mapped seams? Are “ash” AV IIs actually two or three pieces most of the time?
- Neck carves: Fender claims era-correct profiles, but the shoulder shapes feel standardized. Caliper measurements at 1st/7th/12th plus contour tracings would settle this. Also, E-to-edge distance at the 1st and 12th with the “vintage” bridge spacing-any string-fall issues in real use?
- Hardware correctness:
- Vintage trem spacing 2-7/32 or did they quietly tighten it? Block material and mass (steel vs zinc), arm fit, and spring claw placement.
- Saddles: Are the Tele threaded steel actually the right thread pitch and plating? Nickel vs chrome on appropriate years?
- ’70s models: 3-bolt neck and micro-tilt tolerances-any neck shift during real-world use?
- Pickups:
- Actual DCR, inductance, magnet grade, and gauss on the “Pure Vintage” sets. Formvar vs enamel when era-appropriate. Anyone measured Q or done plots?
- Wide Range humbuckers: Are the AV II WRHBs identical to the current CuNiFe reissues? Coil geometry and pot values (1M vs 250k) stock? Cap values and taper?
- Electronics and shielding: Is the cavity shielding paint actually grounded at multiple points? Aluminum or brass guard shielding on years where it matters? Any treble-bleed sneaking in on “vintage” circuits?
- QC reality: Neck-pocket finish cracks out of the box, nut slot height, fret ends, board dryness, bridge and pickup alignment. Are these PLEK’d? If not, what’s your average time/cost to get one stage-ready?
- Weight: Are these creeping up? Post actual weights by model/year. Any correlation with the “soft nitro” reports and finish chipping/checking behavior over 6-12 months?
And then the bigger question: is there a measurable, audible delta between AV II and Vintera II or the 2012 AVRI series that justifies the current price jump? I’d love to see blind, controlled comparisons:
- Same strings, pickup heights, and action
- Neck pickup clean and bridge pickup edge-of-breakup, same amp IR
- Position of the mic/IR fixed, level-matched within 0.2 dB
- Post the raw DI and reamped tracks plus pickup measurements
If you’ve got teardown photos, micrometer data, gauss readings, or finish cross-sections, drop them. If all we’ve got is “feels right,” then the word “vintage” has officially lost its meaning at this price tier. If someone can prove AV II nails the details (and where), I’ll happily eat crow-but show the numbers.