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Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2008 9:51 am
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I like both of mine - I have this one pictured and a '75 thats completely original, right down to the ashtray! They arent going anywhere!

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Fender Play Winter Sale 2020
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Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2008 10:04 am
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Great color,black w/maple rules.Nice lookin axe.Plenty mojo there. 8)

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Post subject: Re: New Toy
Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2008 10:55 am
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orvilleowner wrote:
HarleyHexxe wrote:
There was a period in the early to mid-70's, where the quality of Fender guitars hit an all time low.


I don't see it that way. I still stand by 1981 being the absolute low point where it finally got low enough that they virtually shut down the factory to "relearn how to make Fender guitars." Check out the Duchossoir book for the gory details.


Thank you OO, I have the books for the Stratocater history. But the reference I'm making was about how during the CBS years, while they were still attempting to bring up the production numbers, everyone at the factory in Fullerton was trying t meet the demands. This was not about the end of the CBS era, rather about the rise in the CBS chapter of Fender's production history. and I believe you can find this reference I'm making in a book entitled " THe Fender Story" I do not own this particular book, but I borrowed it from a ffriend who owned the local Fender shop years ago and read it.
CBS was putting Fender up for sale in 1981 and that is why production dropped. in fact, there was a period where the only Fender guitars that were available for sale in the USA were coming from Fender Japan! This is because when CBS sold the company, to the private investors who bought it, they only got the business, not the buildings, which were sold to Grumman Aircraft Corp. It's all there, the whole story. However, I did notice that there are a few minor contradictions between that book and the Stratocaster Story, some of the timelines don't match up.

-Harley 8)

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Post subject: Re: New Toy
Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2008 11:11 am
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HarleyHexxe wrote:
CBS was putting Fender up for sale in 1981 and that is why production dropped. in fact, there was a period where the only Fender guitars that were available for sale in the USA were coming from Fender Japan!


CBS didn't put Fender up for sale until 1984. 1985 was the year that there was no production in the US because there was no factory!

http://www.fender.com/community/forums/viewtopic.php?t=12859&start=11

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Post subject: Re: New Toy
Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2008 11:21 am
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orvilleowner wrote:
HarleyHexxe wrote:
CBS was putting Fender up for sale in 1981 and that is why production dropped. in fact, there was a period where the only Fender guitars that were available for sale in the USA were coming from Fender Japan!


CBS didn't put Fender up for sale until 1984. 1985 was the year that there was no production in the US because there was no factory!

http://www.fender.com/community/forums/viewtopic.php?t=12859&start=11


If this is correct, then please offer a theory about why the 1983 guitars are shown as "Made in Brea, California"
Just a footnote: The 1980 Strat guitar I on is one of the finest guitars I have ever heard or played. The quality of this guitar is very good.

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Post subject: Re: New Toy
Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2008 11:34 am
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HarleyHexxe wrote:
If this is correct, then please offer a theory about why the 1983 guitars are shown as "Made in Brea, California."


I haven't seen anything like that, but I could conjecture that the new owners did their best to assemble existing inventory of older parts during that transition year (which was 1985). Perhaps someone else could address that.

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Just a footnote: The 1980 Strat guitar I own is one of the finest guitars I have ever heard or played. The quality of this guitar is very good.


Sure, even when the quality was the worst, that didn't mean that EVERY guitar coming out of the factory was garbage. 10% garbage would be enough to destroy a company!

Check out the Duchossoir's Strat book or Wheeler's Strat Chronicles.

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Post subject: Re: New Toy
Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2008 11:46 am
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orvilleowner wrote:
HarleyHexxe wrote:
If this is correct, then please offer a theory about why the 1983 guitars are shown as "Made in Brea, California."


I haven't seen anything like that, but I could conjecture that the new owners did their best to assemble existing inventory of older parts during that transition year (which was 1985). Perhaps someone else could address that.

Quote:
Just a footnote: The 1980 Strat guitar I own is one of the finest guitars I have ever heard or played. The quality of this guitar is very good.


Sure, even when the quality was the worst, that didn't mean that EVERY guitar coming out of the factory was garbage. 10% garbage would be enough to destroy a company!

Check out the Duchossoir's Strat book or Wheeler's Strat Chronicles.


I agree not every guitar would have to be garbage to destroy a company's rep. but the reference I was making earlier was in respect to the quality of the guitars in the mid 70's when the production numbers were at their highest.

Incidently, 1983 was the year the '57 and '62 Re-issues were first introduced. it was also the year the Elite Strats were introduced. I owned two of the Elites which I sold (bad mistake on my part), and one of the '57 Re-issues which was stolen from my house in 1998. both of these models were made at the Brea plant. I have the Catalogs from this era and complete catalogs all the way back to 1970.
But please, check out the book I referred to, "The Fender Story" for the timeline references that I brought up. this is where I found the information about the guitars and the amps production history.
The timeline you are referring to if I am not mistaken, is about the amplifier production, this was the time period where Mike Rivera was making amps for Fender at the Sunn factory in Oregon, since there was still no amplifier facility at Fender at that time
Anyone remember the Fender 75?

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Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2008 1:59 pm
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I'd like to learn more about "Made in Brea" guitars. The "bought out" company opened its office in Brea in Feb/Mar 1985, so I would guess that the "Made in Brea" marking would have begun then.

As for the Vintage Reissues, they were unveiled at the January 1982 NAMM show. As for actual production, Dan Smith said this
Quote:
The facility was in such poor shape that we actually could not get into the manufacturing of the vintage guitars. We didn't deliver the Stratocaster reissues until near the end of 1982.


The Corona factory was set up in October 1985.

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Post subject:
Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2008 4:40 pm
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orvilleowner wrote:
I'd like to learn more about "Made in Brea" guitars. The "bought out" company opened its office in Brea in Feb/Mar 1985, so I would guess that the "Made in Brea" marking would have begun then.

As for the Vintage Reissues, they were unveiled at the January 1982 NAMM show. As for actual production, Dan Smith said this
Quote:
The facility was in such poor shape that we actually could not get into the manufacturing of the vintage guitars. We didn't deliver the Stratocaster reissues until near the end of 1982.


The Corona factory was set up in October 1985.


Yes Sir OO! That is absolutely correct the end of 1982. 1983 was the first year of actual USA production at the Brea facility. However, only four models of Stratocasters were available at that time, the '62 & '57 re-issues, the Elite Stratocaster, and the Standard which was the model that featured the Knife-edge tremolo, and this particular model had only one volume pot and one tone pot with the guitar jack on the pickguard assembly in the spot where the second tone pot would have normally been located. There was no jack plate on the Standard or the Elite Stratocaster from that period of manufacturing..
The only other guitars that were made at this facility were the re-issue Jazz Bass and the re-issue Presicion Bass. No other guitars were available from Fender USA at that time, and there were no amplifiers made under the Fender name at that facility. The amplifiers did'nt come back into production until 1985 when the Corona plant opened up.
The guitars were being produced but not in any huge quantities at the Brea plant since 1983. 1982 was the year that there was no USA production of Fender guitars or amplifiers.
Your information is correct, just the timelines between the guitars and amplifiers is what is confusing me.
Oh yes, the "made in Brea, California" was what was printed with all the Fender documents and tags that came with the guitars in 1983.

-Harley 8)

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Post subject:
Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2008 5:07 pm
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Nice looking strat congrats!


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Post subject:
Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2008 5:19 pm
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Big headstock+Black+Maple= Beautiful! One of my favorite combinations.


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Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2008 5:27 pm
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cwpainter wrote:
Big headstock+Black+Maple= Beautiful! One of my favorite combinations.


Definitely my favorite color scheme for a Strat, and this one is a beaut!

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Post subject:
Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2008 10:01 am
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That is just plain sexy...

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Post subject:
Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2008 7:42 am
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HarleyHexxe wrote:
The guitars were being produced but not in any huge quantities at the Brea plant since 1983. 1982 was the year that there was no USA production of Fender guitars or amplifiers.
Your information is correct, just the timelines between the guitars and amplifiers is what is confusing me.


No, 1982 was not the year of the turnover with no guitar production. It was 1985. Check out

http://www.stratcollector.com/scn/base.html

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Post subject:
Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2008 8:30 am
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Very nice for a guitar that's nearly 30 years old. Doesn't look like there is much play wear especially on the maple fretboard. Usually they get discolored and begin to delaminate. Yours looks great!! Enjoy!


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