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Post subject: I Really Need Your Help On This!
Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2019 11:52 am
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Hello everyone.
I'm planning on buying a Strat soon. It was a long time wait because I'm a student and don't have much money.
I've found one and I'm going to see it in a day or two BUT i suspect it is a fake.

I will put some photos of the guitar.

Reasons i think it is a fake is;
It has 2 string trees.
It is clearly modified.
Fender site shows a different color and only 1 string tree.


Now, the guy told me the first owner changed the color as a Fender service for something like 150$. Said the pickups are original but there is another switch for pickups...

I just need someone to say "NO!" Because there is so much hinting somethings wrong.

https://ibb.co/NnpfDrB

https://ibb.co/WGws59z

https://ibb.co/f0zRt00

Fender Serial Number search: https://ibb.co/XpRKmCp

Help me out. Thanks!


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Post subject: Re: I Really Need Your Help On This!
Posted: Tue Apr 02, 2019 5:15 am
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By now I'm sure the OP has either purchased it, or passed.
If it was offered at a decent price (and the innards were not swapped out for Asian), I wouldn't care that the color of the body (which looks great by the way) was changed, and a string tree added....but the single ply pickgaurd has me worried that there could be Squire parts in a Mexican guitar.


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Post subject: Re: I Really Need Your Help On This!
Posted: Tue Apr 02, 2019 5:31 am
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Agreed.
And a refinish from black to burst is absolutely not a $150 Fender option.
The pickup covers are different, the pickups were likely changed.
Most solid-color bodies are not good enough to apply burst to, and many have body filler.
That body is absolutely not the original.
Whether it is "real" or not, we can't tell without internal pictures and pictures of the pickups without the covers.

I'd avoid this one. MiM are plentiful and cheap.

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Post subject: Re: I Really Need Your Help On This!
Posted: Wed Apr 03, 2019 11:09 am
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If it plays well and sounds good and there are no issues that can't be fixed with a setup then I would not care if it is a FrankenStrat so long as the price is right.

It's an MIM with obvious modifications and parts that don't match the serial number.
It's never going to have much for resale value except as a player.

If the price is right I would just go ahead and buy it if I liked it.
No point in fussing about what's OEM and what's not.

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Post subject: Re: I Really Need Your Help On This!
Posted: Wed Apr 03, 2019 6:11 pm
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BMW-KTM wrote:
If it plays well and sounds good and there are no issues that can't be fixed with a setup then I would not care if it is a FrankenStrat so long as the price is right.

It's an MIM with obvious modifications and parts that don't match the serial number.
It's never going to have much for resale value except as a player.

If the price is right I would just go ahead and buy it if I liked it.
No point in fussing about what's OEM and what's not.

Ordinarily, I would agree, but with the body having been changed, all we know for sure is it's an MiM neck.
The body could be anything from Squier to generic import.
"Priced right" for me on this one would be in the Squier Bullet range. I would absolutely not pay over $175 for it without some kind of verification that the body is an actual Fender product.

There are too many verifiable MiM on the market at good prices to deal with a questionable Partscaster.

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Post subject: Re: I Really Need Your Help On This!
Posted: Thu Apr 04, 2019 1:43 am
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CB91710 wrote:
...all we know for sure is it's an MiM neck.
The body could be anything from Squier to generic import.
"Priced right" for me on this one would be in the Squier Bullet range. I would absolutely not pay over $175 for it without some kind of verification that the body is an actual Fender product.

There are too many verifiable MiM on the market at good prices to deal with a questionable Partscaster.


I agree. The guitar looks very nice , and could equally play nicely, but which ever way you look at it, it is a Partscaster.

And as for the complete BS about Fender doing a different finish for $150 I think I would insert said instrument, pointy end first, "where the sun don't shine". If the vendor is going to come out with that sort of blatant lie (unless the guitar plays like a dream and is as cheap as indicated above) I would walk away.

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Post subject: Re: I Really Need Your Help On This!
Posted: Thu Apr 04, 2019 4:28 am
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I'll agree with CB, and even more with Mr. Sims.

Whatever a guitar is, if the story starts with "the guy told me" and just the basic checks show that the given info was bogus, that ends the conversation as far as I'm concerned. There are always options, with MIM's especially, even in Europe.


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Post subject: Re: I Really Need Your Help On This!
Posted: Thu Apr 04, 2019 5:18 am
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jmattis wrote:
with MIM's especially

And this is key.
If this were a custom shop model, or *maybe* a $1500-$2000 US model, I'd be looking more closely.
But for MiM, unless it is dirt cheap, it's not worth the drive to see in person.
Used MiM are simply too cheap... heck, Adorama, a licensed Fender dealer, frequently puts NEW (Standard, not Player) HSS models on blowout for $400 and American Standard/Pro for $999.
These are discontinued models, but they are brand new and include a full factory warranty.

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