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Post subject: American Fender Stratocaster 1989-1990 I series pickups
Posted: Tue Mar 26, 2019 4:34 am
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Does anyone know which type of pickups were installed on American Fender Stratocasters 1989-1990 I series (or H, or K..) that they were made for the export market ?
I had one of these guitars back then and I remember for sure that it had some kind of 'Fat' pickups.
I would appreciate any help on this.

My best regards
Nick K.


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Post subject: Re: American Fender Stratocaster 1989-1990 I series pickups
Posted: Tue Mar 26, 2019 4:51 am
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I see some with Lace sensor, there are some with "regular " pickups

Not a answer but it is interesting;

https://www.poshguitars.com/guitar-list ... aster-vsb/


Last edited by stratele52 on Tue Mar 26, 2019 1:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Post subject: Re: American Fender Stratocaster 1989-1990 I series pickups
Posted: Tue Mar 26, 2019 9:56 am
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Nick K. wrote:
Does anyone know which type of pickups were installed on American Fender Stratocasters 1989-1990 I series (or H, or K..) that they were made for the export market ?
I had one of these guitars back then and I remember for sure that it had some kind of 'Fat' pickups.
I would appreciate any help on this.

My best regards
Nick K.

I had a 1991 AmStd, bought new in England, and the pups were alnicos with flat poles. Exact models I don't know, but from previous threads I understand that our American friends had staggered poles on their 90's AmStds. I have also owned several other 90's AmStds (long gone) with the same flat-pole pups. Very odd!

Whatever, I've always been quite happy with the output of the standard SC pups. In fact, I prefer the bog standard 'noughties' pups (again flat-pole) to most alternatives. People seem to be a bit sniffy about them, but there's no reason to be, as I see it.

Sorry I can't be more helpful. Cheers - Peter.


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Post subject: Re: American Fender Stratocaster 1989-1990 I series pickups
Posted: Tue Mar 26, 2019 12:10 pm
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The question is not about American Standard/American Series guitars. It's about these oddballs:
Quote:
Fender Support pages:
A limited number of these "H", "I" and "K" series guitars were made in '89 and '90. They were made for the export market and have Made in USA stamped on the heel of the neck. Serial numbers are on the front of the headstock.

Never seen one myself, so I can't help with the pickups. I didn't even know that the "stamped" Made In USA didn't mean "with ink", but really stamped in the wood… :wink:
But the pickups are staggered, and definitely not Lace Sensors:
https://reverb.com/item/1626861-fender- ... e-i-series


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Post subject: Re: American Fender Stratocaster 1989-1990 I series pickups
Posted: Tue Mar 26, 2019 1:25 pm
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jmattis wrote:
The question is not about American Standard/American Series guitars. It's about these oddballs:
Quote:
Fender Support pages:
A limited number of these "H", "I" and "K" series guitars were made in '89 and '90. They were made for the export market and have Made in USA stamped on the heel of the neck. Serial numbers are on the front of the headstock.

Never seen one myself, so I can't help with the pickups. I didn't even know that the "stamped" Made In USA didn't mean "with ink", but really stamped in the wood… :wink:
But the pickups are staggered, and definitely not Lace Sensors:
https://reverb.com/item/1626861-fender- ... e-i-series


You are wright these are not Lace sensor , I changed my answer.
I see some with Lace Sensor


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Post subject: Re: American Fender Stratocaster 1989-1990 I series pickups
Posted: Tue Mar 26, 2019 4:14 pm
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Quote:
The question is not about American Standard/American Series guitars
Thanks for pointing that out, JM.

Being in "the export market" I (obviously wrongly) thought I might have something relevant to OP's query. I do try not to comment unless I have something useful to say!

Cheers - Peter.


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Post subject: Re: American Fender Stratocaster 1989-1990 I series pickups
Posted: Wed Mar 27, 2019 12:42 am
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Well, my own post didn't have the real/right/comprehensive answer for the OP's question either, so I absolutely didn't mean to restrict anyone from answering.

And, with your "flat poles" info and the pics on the reverb link (staggered polepieces), I think it's one step forward; as in "probably not the same pickups as in regular American Standard/Series models".
I think even Fender doesn't have a service diagram/parts list (or were there several models?) for these HIK-export guitars, so unless we get some autopsy pics from an owner, the pickups still remain a mystery. There have been a few 'what do I have here' type forum posts, so maybe someone sees this topic and steps up. (And where oh where is Mr. Schwartz when we need him…)

BTW, you might be considered being in the import end of Fender's export only definition... :wink:


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Post subject: Re: American Fender Stratocaster 1989-1990 I series pickups
Posted: Wed Mar 27, 2019 3:34 am
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I tried to contact Fender twice (now and in the past) to take some info about those guitars but I didn't get any answer.
I'm not sure if they have kept all (or any) manufacture records of that era.


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Post subject: Re: American Fender Stratocaster 1989-1990 I series pickups
Posted: Wed Mar 27, 2019 3:36 am
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The American Deluxe models had Lace, as did the Plus, Plus Deluxe and Ultra models.
I believe the American Standards and other MIA guitars (less expensive than the above mentioned models) had American Standard pickups.
I'm not 100% on that but if memory serves I think they were commonly called AS because there was no name given to them by Fender.
Shortly after that period (in the mid 2000s) I believe the same pickups were used with a new control system and then they got the name Delta-Tone.

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Post subject: Re: American Fender Stratocaster 1989-1990 I series pickups
Posted: Wed Mar 27, 2019 6:03 am
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Quote:
BTW, you might be considered being in the import end of Fender's export only definition...
Yes JM, I see your point. I suppose it depends which end of the chain you are...!

Cheers - Peter.


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Post subject: Re: American Fender Stratocaster 1989-1990 I series pickups
Posted: Wed Mar 27, 2019 11:01 am
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BMW-KTM wrote:
The American Deluxe models had Lace, as did the Plus, Plus Deluxe and Ultra models.
I believe the American Standards and other MIA guitars (less expensive than the above mentioned models) had American Standard pickups.
I'm not 100% on that but if memory serves I think they were commonly called AS because there was no name given to them by Fender.
Shortly after that period (in the mid 2000s) I believe the same pickups were used with a new control system and then they got the name Delta-Tone.
+1 and the Fender Lead II, had hotter plastic bobbin flat pole pieces also.
I believe from '86 on the standard pickups/AS went through a couple or three different iterations(either to the tone circuit, pole heights or the hotter bridge PU) , then was replaced as Fender fully embraced their own pickup market re-branding initiatives. I'd add that by 2010 or so the former AS pickup set was no longer the standard as Fender offered many more options by then, while Fender still carried them in their stock until depletion around 2012-2013. At least that's how I remember it. My 2012 FSR Am.Special came w/ AS PU's w/ the hot bridge pup.

As for the OP's question, this article is a pretty good read, although not conclusively answering the question.
https://planetbotch.blogspot.com/2011/11/know-your-strat-pickups.html

Also a good read on the PU markets beginnings:
https://planetbotch.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-rise-of-retrofit-pickup.html


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Post subject: Re: American Fender Stratocaster 1989-1990 I series pickups
Posted: Wed Mar 27, 2019 1:14 pm
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@Nick K; a couple of questions. Where & when did you buy the guitar? New or used? If new, do you remember the price level? Any pics remaining?

In general, I have some very vague theories on these export Strats - use proper caution, and don't take anything below as facts...
Since they are almost unknown i Europe (like I said, I've never even seen one), I think (and some posts on various forums support this) that the "export" meant export to Japan and that area. I think that would also offer an explanation why these seem to pop up in the USA more than would be expected for an "export only" model: US citizens working in Asia (military or other) bringing back souvenirs. And BTW; no model in the US-Fender archived price lists seems to fit these.

The series was sort of a downgrade from the AmStandards - otherwise there would have been no idea behind the special "export" series. The saddles, the tuning machines are different from the AmStandard ones, so my guess is, the pickups (& other electronics) were different, too.

The "some kind of 'Fat' pickups" might suggest some early form of Texas Specials or something like that.
But this end-of-eighties-to-early-nineties was a strange period with FMIC. Fullerton factory gone, Japan, Mexico and Corona in the startup phase. If Fender has no records (the usually mentioned start point is 1993 for US mades), these may remain a mystery.


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Post subject: Re: American Fender Stratocaster 1989-1990 I series pickups
Posted: Wed Mar 27, 2019 11:54 pm
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BMW-KTM wrote:
The American Deluxe models had Lace, as did the Plus, Plus Deluxe and Ultra models.
I believe the American Standards and other MIA guitars (less expensive than the above mentioned models) had American Standard pickups.
I'm not 100% on that but if memory serves I think they were commonly called AS because there was no name given to them by Fender.
Shortly after that period (in the mid 2000s) I believe the same pickups were used with a new control system and then they got the name Delta-Tone.


The American Deluxes were shipped with Vintage Noiseless pickups until 2004.


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Post subject: Re: American Fender Stratocaster 1989-1990 I series pickups
Posted: Wed Mar 27, 2019 11:57 pm
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I thought the Am. Deluxes w/ noiseless came along about mid/late1998.
While the Plus guitars changed to noiseless around 93/94.


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Post subject: Re: American Fender Stratocaster 1989-1990 I series pickups
Posted: Thu Mar 28, 2019 12:49 am
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"Deluxe American Standard" Stratocaster, model 10-9400/9402(-XXX) first appears on the 1989 January price list; with three gold Lace Sensors.
Edit: and that's different from the Plus Deluxe model; 10-9500/9502(-XXX), blue/silver Laces.


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