I was checking out eBay for Fender Strat bodies, and found a few that I like.
I'm interested in putting together a Strat for learning purposes, and enjoyment.

I'd like to know how one can be sure that you are actually getting a Fender made product? What are some things to look for on the bodies to identify it?

Also, I was looking at Highway One Strat bodies. Will a MIM Strat Neck fit this guitar, or not? I like the Highway One bodies, because it uses the nitro finish.

reputable seller is the first thing i'd look for. Stratosphere seems to be good for genuine parts.
http://cgi3.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=reliablefender
Im considering some of their stuff that is stripped from new fender guitars and sold as parts at a decent profit. It does allow you to get the spec you want without going customshop. Other than that i'd compare any parts you see elsewhere to stratospheres pics. I.e if someone is selling a highway1 body check it against stratospheres highway1 body pictures. Look for jig holes being in the same place, neck pocket codes being similar.

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No no and no

Thanks for your reply. That was actually the exact seller on eBay that I was looking at.

I'll have to figure it out on paper, and see if this is something that I really want to put together piece by piece.

Tonight, I discovered the Robert Cray Strat with the hardtail bridge.
I usually don't go for signature guitars, but that one looks really nice to me.

I have a MIM Fender HSS Strat that I'm working on putting back together now.

Buy from someone like Warmoth and you will have no problem with the body. Plus you will get what you pay for from a nice budget one to a high quality one.
http://www.warmoth.com/

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

If you buy all your parts from"Stratosphere"/reliable fender you will end up paying significantly more than a new strat.

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I'm not an expert, but I play one on the internet.

Granted, but he wants to do it as a learning/fun experience. Besides, if you think about it, he can have his very own, "Signature Strat" this way which would in reality be cheaper than if he went through, "official channels", especially if he favored sticking with MIM stuff.

Good luck and enjoy, StratCat6! And for best compatibility, etc, try to use genuine Fender parts whenever and wherever possible.

Don't forget to post some pictures when you've completed your project!

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You dig?

Wasn't telling him not to, just pointing it out. There's always places like warmoth and allparts. you could always get 'licensed parts' too.

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I'm not an expert, but I play one on the internet.

At Warmoth you can spend a 1000. or as little as 150. for a body. It all depends you what you want.

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

Guys i was just pointing out a option to him and trying to get him to use it as a reference for stuff bought elsewhere. You know stratospheres stuff is legit so check any prospective purchase from other sellers against his stock.
I also think stratospheres doing the world a favour. If in 20 years someone buys a fender logo'd guitar they will be far more happy to learn its a stratosphere partsocaster than a warmouth one. Fender wont sell necks or bodies, this guy does as does ed roman apparently. How many strats do you think had replacement necks or bodies over the years with fake decals. Fender could easily sell replacement necks and bodies with a different decal or a replacement stamp on the back of the headstock/ in the pickup cavity and save us from a lot of copies in years to come. You could bet their prices would dwarf warmoth, where you do get good quality stuff. Its a shame some people ruin it by putting fake dcals on it

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No no and no

+1....Amen niki!

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My Guitars :: My Rig

ive been checking out ebay cause i want to build my own 59ri and relic it to look like mike mccreadys (of pearl jam) 59 strat and ive found that im going to spend 800 to 1200 us$ and thats looking at nitro bodies, 62 ri fat necks, cts pots, oil in paper cap, and lindy farlin hot vintage pups. from watching stratoshpere ive seen us nitro bodies go for the 200$ range and us necks in the nid 200s to low 300s so thats more than likely who ill buy my neck, body, and pots from cause his parts seem to be legit

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Stratohawk Guitar Works Custom Handwound Pickups-
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Stratoha ... page_panel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCc72Re ... qfXXXkVTqA

I'm with you. This sounds like practicing throwing money away.

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James Burton Upgrade Telecaster
Hot Rodded Am Fat Strat Texas Special (now featuring Kinman Traditional II pickups)
Fender Blues Jr.
SWR California Blonde
Pedals Pedals Pedals

I have to toss my $.02 worth in here. These are just my own personal opinions and should only be taken as such.

Now before I start here, please know that I'm specifically condoning "fraud" here. To me it is wrong for a person to do something like build a cheap Strat from parts, slap a Fender (or other) decal on it and try and sell if for a profit. I also realize that there are many folks out there who do buy a guitar as much as "a financial investment" as they do a musical instrument...how well a given instrument may sound and play is secondary to how much you think it may be worth in 5 or 10 years, etc.. I don't get it personally, but I know there are folks here who are like that. That said, I don't think this is really a clear cut, black and white, right and wrong issue.

First and foremost, if a person puts a Fender logo on a Fender licensed neck for example, if it's Fender licensed, and it's a neck of the same quality and workmanship (or better) compared with one from the manufacturer, I don't see anything really wrong with that. If someone were to take a cheap neck off a Johnson Strat copy and put a Fender logo on it, yea, to me that's wrong but to fork out the cash for a Fender licensed product...I'm sorry but I can't see why anyone would get bent out of shape over that. On that same note, I also don't think it's all that terribly wrong to do something like this for -personal- use.

To give you a couple of specific examples here, I own an old Tele copy. The body on this thing was just pure crap...not even good plywood, but I've always loved the neck on this thing. Now in this case, I could easily buy an aftermarket body (Fender or otherwise) but in fact I've simply cut my own. This guitar will -never- be owned by anyone outside of my family...I do NOT buy or build guitars with the intentions of selling them (the main reason I now have 21 guitars down in the studio!). So in this case, yes, I put a Fender Tele logo on the headstock of the neck to give it a proper vintage look for the type of instrument that it is. This doesn't hurt anyone at all....I'm certainly never going to sell this thing and to me, "it looks cool". I have a friend who has done the same thing with a couple of Strats...he's build them from parts off Ebay (no idea if they are actually "real" Fender or not). He has no intentions of ever selling these instruments and when asked, he'll tell ya straight up that he faked the logos simply as part of the aesthetics of the instrument. Again I see nothing wrong with this at all. It looks nice (very authentic), he's not trying to "cheat" anyone and he's certainly isn't busting anyone's balls by doing it....so what's the big deal? If a person wants to modify their own personal instrument for their own personal use...I say let 'em.

Now I'm sure I'm going to get flamed out the wazoo over this so I do feel the need to add that again these are again just -my- opinions. I don't buy a guitar because I think "gee...this things going to be worth $4000 in a few years", I buy a guitar because of the way it feels, plays and sounds, Fender logo, replacement parts or otherwise. I do think it's funny though that folks won't complain about other aspects of "fakery"...change out the pick guard, pickups, tuners or the bridge, etc., and as long as it looks correct and plays well (or better), most folks don't think twice about it (oh no...someone put Graph Tech saddles on my Am Std! ARRGGG!" Sinner!!! LOL!), but do the same to the headstock logo for your own satisfaction and suddenly people get a serious bug up their butts about it.

Anyways, that's just my $.02 worth,
Jim

[quote lomitus]Now I'm sure I'm going to get flamed out the wazoo over this so I do feel the need to add that again these are again just -my- opinions. I don't buy a guitar because I think "gee...this things going to be worth $4000 in a few years", I buy a guitar because of the way it feels, plays and sounds, Fender logo, replacement parts or otherwise. I do think it's funny though that folks won't complain about other aspects of "fakery"...change out the pick guard, pickups, tuners or the bridge, etc., and as long as it looks correct and plays well (or better), most folks don't think twice about it (oh no...someone put Graph Tech saddles on my Am Std! ARRGGG!" Sinner!!! LOL!), but do the same to the headstock logo for your own satisfaction and suddenly people get a serious bug up their butts about it.

i agree i only buy or build guitars for my own enjoyment and have no intentions of selling any of my guitars but i will let people pay me to build or relic or customize guitars for them here in my hone town but i will not gut out any true vintage guitar cause i hate it when people buy up good playing pre cbs strats and part them out it makes me sick cause a working class musician like my self may never be able to afford a pre cbs strat

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Stratohawk Guitar Works Custom Handwound Pickups-
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Stratoha ... page_panel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCc72Re ... qfXXXkVTqA

Yes people who build them and try to pass off as a Fender is not cool but that is not the case for most people when they do builds. I also think if you spend the money you can build a guitar out of parts from a place like Warmoth that would rival most Fender bodies and necks made but its not cheap.

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson