[Omegaman]

It's quite common to see old Fenders with the components up in the air. I'll admit I've even done it myself.
The fibre boards quite often suffer by soaking up damp and becoming conductive. The usual symptoms are random 'Frying egg' crackling or DC on the tone pots which causes them to crackle when turned.
Fender even tried to address the problem by coating the boards with wax from new. It didn't work....