I have a 78 Strat with the 3 bolt neck and it plays OK. I bought a Tele new in 1971 and it was a 'so so' guitar from new, plus the neck holes were not drilled straight from the factory. I laugh to see what they go for now ($3200). A lot of the old stuff was not very good, and a lot of the folks buying it did not grow up with it. Quality was hit or miss. That's what I like about PRS, despite all the griping about computerized CNC machines, etc. They build them right.
However, I once swapped out my 78 Strat pickups with various new and used ones to see what they would sound like, and was very surprised to see that except for the new noiseless ones, the original ones did sound best. I think perfect computer designed and wound pickups might lose some MoJo somehow.
Another example, I also think that Fender's amp goal in the 60's and 70's was to make them sound as clean and powerful as possible, and they saw the Fender amps of the 60's and 70's as an improvement over, say, the 59 Fender bassman. I played a real '59 last month, and it had one really great sound. Sound enginers often have goals that players don't.
Dave
