My Fender 400 Has Arrived!

[Dennis Montgomery]

Took a whole week to cross the country from Vermont to Washington but it made it undamaged - which is quite an accomplishment since the case is barely held together with duct tape

40+ years as a musician and I've never bought a used instrument sight-unseen before, so when the seller said it was in "ok shape" I had horrible visions of a scratched, chipped, hardware missing or broken disaster waiting for me inside that case. But No! Hardware all present, intact and undamaged. The black aluminum frame paint is chipped and messed up as are the pedal surfaces but that's easy to repaint. Also I had no idea which finish I would be getting: the early model blonde, more common burst, or some custom disaster I'd have to sand and refinish myself...but since orange is my favorite color and Halloween my favorite holiday, I couldn't be happier with the orange-blackburst! And the body looks much better than I ever hoped for with only a couple rough spots but no chipped, gouged or missing paint.

The hardware underneath looks heavily tarnished but doesn't feel brittle or rusted and the pedal rod mechanism's feel smooth which is good.

Here are some shots...

[Russ Tkac]

Have fun with it. They sound real nice.

[J R Rose]

You are a lucky man, you must be living right. J.R.

[Dennis Montgomery]

You are a lucky man, you must be living right. J.R.

You said it! Not sure about living right but I got so lucky...when the seller said the condition was "ok" I expected a beaten-up-missing-hardware disaster...it's good to be wrong

[Donny Hinson]

You did good! That guitar hasn't been gigged or played out a lot, and the only thing I see wrong with it is that the bridge cover is missing (but some wouldn't care about that, anyway). There's screw-hole evidence of a couple of knee levers having been installed sometime in the past, but at least they didn't screw up the factory cable setup doing it...which some players were wont to do.

[Dennis Montgomery]

You did good! That guitar hasn't been gigged or played out a lot, and the only thing I see wrong with it is that the bridge cover is missing (but some wouldn't care about that, anyway). There's screw-hole evidence of a couple of knee levers having been installed sometime in the past, but at least they didn't screw up the factory cable setup doing it...which some players were wont to do.

Thanks! I've now been able to estimate it's age from the date stamps on the volume & tone pots, the "F" style tuning pegs and the black pedals. Appears to have been built between '66 and '68. I just look at it's overall condition and think, where have you been hiding all these years? As you mention it sure wasn't gigged or played out much. Maybe this was one of those, "bought it...couldn't play it...put it up in the attic...40 years later someone found it and sold it" pieces. Then again, the case is completely destroyed and held together by duct tape and wood screws so my scenario could be all wrong

[Dennis Montgomery]

So just finished reassembly after beginning my refurbishing project yesterday. I stripped off all the hardware from the aluminum frame and cleaned/lubricated it with WD40 Silicone...which also did an amazing job on the underneath bridge spring assembly. Then I repainted the frame and pedals in semi-gloss black to match the original finish. Looks almost as good as when it left the factory about 50 years ago

[Dale Rottacker]

First steel I had was a Fender 400... seeing your pictures, put that same feeling in my belly I had when I first took it out of the case... Congratulation Dennis.

[Eugene Kindle]

WOW! The only 'real' PSG I've ever owned is my early '60's 400, very similar to this, but mine must be older 'cause it has a solid round bar style bridge. I was NOT even aware the 400 ever had a roller style (much better!) I'm in process of a rebuild on mine. Hope yours does as good as it looks. Have fun with your 'new' friend!

[Christopher Adams]

Very nice pictures of a very nice looking guitar, Dennis. Congratulations! I am envious.

I've been contemplating taking apart a Fender 400 to convert it to left-hand play for my next project. Do you have any close up pictures of the pedal cranks and how they were attached to the frame skirt? (I assume they were attached with machine screws instead of rivets.)


Chris

[Dennis Montgomery]

Very nice pictures of a very nice looking guitar, Dennis. Congratulations! I am envious.

I've been contemplating taking apart a Fender 400 to convert it to left-hand play for my next project. Do you have any close up pictures of the pedal cranks and how they were attached to the frame skirt? (I assume they were attached with machine screws instead of rivets.)


Chris

Hi Chris,

happy to take and post any pix that could help you. If I understand your request correctly (I'm not very experienced in what the proper descriptions of the parts actually are) these shots might help. If you mean what I think you mean by pedal cranks, each of mine are held on by 2 threaded screws going through the frame to the round tubelike pieces of metal. If these aren't what you're looking for just let me know and I can take some other pix.

Dennis


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[Larry Lenhart]

Dennis, very nice looking ! Congratulations ! My very first pedal steel I bought new in 1969 was a Fender 400. It was in a store in Tulsa. Just this year, I bought one for old times sake...they are fun to play and I like that sound. Good for you ! Enjoy !