Two very different Champions

Mike Schway · From: Washington, USA

Newbie, here. Apologies in advance if this has been beaten to death.

I recently rehabilitated two early/mid 50s Fender Champion bodies from eBay. Pickups, controls and knobs (and in one case, the wretched jack cup) had been previously harvested by folks hoping resell them. I restored them with Seymour Duncan Antiquity P/Us, CTS/Emerson pots and Mallory 150 polyester film caps. There are some big differences between these guitars. I'd like to know more about the transition.

I don't have any dates because the pots had been removed and the tape QC labels had fallen out , but I'm guessing the earlier one is 49-51 (Kluson single line, no inner post hole) and the later one around 54 (maybe). Serial numbers are, of course, useless, especially in this case since the eBay sellers may have just gone to a box of bridges and grabbed any old one at random. (This isn't all that far removed from what I heard Fender did in the first place.)

Here are the differences I've found. In the photos below, the earlier one is on the left, and the later one on the right.

Early version: Lighter body, perhaps 8oz lighter. Probably pine. Finish is yellow translucent with a thick clear coat.. Upper "bout" (if you imagine it being a guitar) is shorter by maybe a full fret. Neck radius at peghead is tighter, increasing to full neck thicknsess at 1-1/2 fret. Bottom felt is blue. Big differences between the fingerboards: Dot and lozenge markers are fatter, taking up most of the fret space. Corners of the spaces between frets are sharp and square.

Later version: Heavier. I'm guessing it's ash based on what I could see at the bottom of the control cavity. Yellow MOTS with a slightly greenish tinge. Upper bout is longer. Peghead has a gentler radius, increasing to full neck thickness beyond the 2nd fret. Bottom felt is yellow. Position markers are a little thinner and the black spaces between the frets have rounded corners.

How do they sound? A lot like a tray of glassware dropped on top of a bagful of cats in heat. Oh wait, that's just my playing Very Happy

. Actually, they're very different. The older one is a bit sweeter, more acoustic sounding, but with less sustain, especially on the lower strings (this didn't change much with p/u tilt adjustment.)

Anybody have more info about the transition?

Thanks,

Glenn Wilde · From: California, USA

They keep on fighting, till the end. You know?

John Dahms · From: Perkasie, Pennsylvania, USA

My observations are that the color and pattern of the MOTS covering varied over time and batches and that some of the early yellow ones were pretty plain and very yellow like yours. The blue flocking on the back was used on several models until sometime in '52 when it was changed to yellow. The fret markers and on the early ones changed sometime before '51 as I have seen it. Champions were well designed and useful but have been ravaged for parts for Telecasters for years. Serial numbers were largely consistent when they were made but as you said parts are easily swapped.
_________________
Time flies like an eagle
Fruit flies like a banana.

Jack Hanson · From: San Luis Valley, USA

Nice rescue job on the pair of Champions. They both look like they'll be good to go well into the 22nd Century.

My two cents:

Mass market electric guitar manufacturing in the early postwar era was a far different animal than it is in the 21st Century. Today, CNC machines turn out bodies that are virtually identical, with tolerances simply unattainable seventy years ago. In those days, there was far more hand work involved. (Yes Virginia, guitars used to be made by humans!)

The Champion from its inception was marketed as Fender's student model, intended to sell at the lowest possible price point. Hence, the bodies were probably cut from whatever woodpile Fullerton had the most of at any given time.

Bodies were likely rough cut to shape with a variety of saws and planers, and further processed with a variety of different specialized sanders. Almost certainly, custom patterns, templates, and jigs were utilized throughout the process, but there was still lots of handwork involved. The bodies could take on different shapes depending on the worker who was tasked with the various operations on any given hour, day, week, month, year, etc.

Because the Champions were in production for nearly a decade, they were assembled from multiple different batches of components and raw materials sourced from various different vendors. Items such as pearloid sheeting, fretboards, electrical components, knobs, and machine heads all display slight differences over the years.

What it all boils down to is that Fender Champions through the years were more alike than they were different, but they were all different to a certain extent.

Mike Schway · From: Washington, USA

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