It kind of drives me nuts when someone posts a Fender guitar on Ebay with the words, "50th Anniversary Stratocaster."

It turns out that it’s a Strat with a little gold foil emblem on the back of the headstock stating,"Fender 50 years of excellence." THIS IS NOT AN ANNIVERSARY STRATOCASTER! These are normal run of the mill Fender Strat built during Fender's 50th Birthday.

I own an actual 50th Anniversary Stratocaster (American Series). It comes 1 color, 2-color sunburst.
There is in fact a gold one, but I think it is a MIM, the Custom Shop made one also in 2-color SB and there is the 50th Aniv. Strat Deluxe w/noiseless pickups.

I just saw on e-bay two “50th Anniversary” addition Strat Fakes. They have the correct neck plate, but everything else is wrong (like the color).

I hate to sound petty, but someone who doesn't know about guitars is going to get taken by false advertisement. There are a lot people saving their pennies to get something nice and they get taken instead.

When advertising your guitar for sale, know what the heck you are talking about.

ebay is full of sh*t IMO. Lots and lots of fake stuff there

This is only my opinion-

It is so easy to put a different neck on a Strat, as well as a different body on an existing neck. Putting a '58 Strat neck on a 2008 Strat doesn't make it a '58 Strat, or vise versa. Putting a 50th anniversary neck plate on a Strat doesn't make it a 50th anniversary Strat.Sometimes the guy selling it on ebay or any other source is the 3rd or 4th owner, and he only knows what the previous owner told him, especially if the new owner is a newbie. Theres no way to tell if the neck and body on a used Strat came that way from the factory.

Case in point- I bought a "new" Strat from a local music store once. It was CAR, MIA, with a maple neck. I assumed it had never been tampered with, being sold as new and all. I found out later from a guy who worked at that store, who told me in confidence, that they had switched out the neck with another Strat for a customer who wanted the rosewood neck that had originally came with the Strat that I bought!

Right now I have a '04 Strat with noiseless pickups, and the 50th Anniversary stamp on the neck plate. There is no sticker or any other decal on the back of the headstock to show its a 50th Anniversary model. I bought it used from Music Go Round, and they never indicated to me it was a 50th Anniversary model.
Who knows if it is? I really don't care on way or another, because its a great guitar I haven't put down yet, choosing to use it over the Les Paul that just sits in a case now. If and when I sell it, it'll be advertised as a "04 Strat.

Yeah, folks should do thier homework when they sell an item as a special piece or have the documents to prove it. But a used guitar thats been passed from owner to owner-theres no way to be sure that what you're getting is the real deal.

_________________
Life is like a sh*t sandwich. The more bread you have, the less sh*t you have to eat.

Masterhacker,

I liked your views on used instruments. That's the funny thing about Fenders. You can mix and match all you like.

I'm glad that the guy at the store was honest with you. It's a shame that you paid for a new guitar.

By the way CAR is a cool color. I have a Muddy Waters Tele. It's a sweet guitar. Bad news is that I'm selling it when I get back Iraq. I own too many guitars and need to sell a few.

Paris