Hi,

first off a little background. I bought this guitar new from a reputable shop in late 1993(possibly early '94).

I took off the neck today to find the word 'SQUIER' stamped on the body behind where the neck sits. It also has a couple of date stamps in here, Oct 92 and Nov 1992.

The headstock says Fender Stratocaster Made in Mexico, and it has a MN2..... serial number, putting it in the '92-'93 bracket. In the tremolo cavity there is a round blue sticker with DEC ? 3 (can't make out the q mark, looks like a 0 or maybe a 9) and a white sticker with some numbers and a 'c'.

Can anyone explain this? I'm kind of surprised to see that there.

Sounds like a parts o caster.

I have a similar instrument does your headstock look like this.
##

Note the fender logo mexican correct serial no' and squire series where original contour body should be. Mine is a 95 fender mexico squire series. Sold new as fender from what was a very reputable shop. From what i can gather its a intermediate guitar between squire and fender.
Theres no squire stamp on mine, not all of them had squire series on the headstock either though.
If i remember right Mexico didnt start producing guitars until 92. Your neck could of been squire plant made and shipped to mexico to help with production. There were necks and bodies shipped from corona to mexico at that time.

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Thanks for the informative reply Niki.

There is no Squier Series stamp on the headstock. The only squier mark is on the body, exposed only when the neck is taken off.

The tuners and saddles all have fender on them, and the tuners are a little different to the ones in the photo, with the screw adjuster on the top of the tuner. I'm going to try to upload a photo, but I'm not that forum savvy!

The Fender logo on the headstock is silver with a black outline, and below that infront of the serial number is in small writing 'serial number'.

It was certainly bought under the belief that it was a mexican made fender stratocaster, and the price was certainly at that level, and despite the fact that i've been playing and enjoying it for 16 or so years, I'll still be pissed if i find out its a knock off.

Ok, I've given up on posting the photos here, so I've stuck them up on flickr, http://www.flickr.com/photos/36057158@N06/

Let me know if the link doesn't work![/url]

The neck leads me to believe that its genuine. There was a lot of confusion in the early years of the mexico fender plant. It was switched from making squire to making fender guitars, its wholly possible that pieces left over by squire were used. If they were shipping necks and bodies from corona at the time i'd say its highly likely that they used the squire parts for mexican guitars. It would certainly be cheaper than shipping tham to asia. When i bought my guitar it had squire hardware (tuners, electrics and trem) that was 95.

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Cool, a friend just dropped over his copy of the fender bible, and the 'headstock logo in silver' is a feature of the MIM standard strat from 1991 onwards. the only Squier series guitars from this period seem to be from Japan and Korea as far as I can see.

A little odd about the body though. While I'm really not in a position to say with any certainty, the exposed wood doesn't really look the right shade to be poplar. Like i said though, I'm no expert on this and I could well be wrong.

There seems to be quite a few confused models when factory changes happen. I'd take it as par for the course mate.

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I've been trying to figure out that headstock for a while now. Our bassist has a 94? p-bass with the same style headstock as yours Niki. You think they were an interemediate model?

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-Classic 50's Strat.
-Std. Telecaster.
-Mike Dirnt P-bass.
-Custody of SE Strat.
-Peavey Predator/Dean Evo/Epiphone DR150/Gibson Slide (much older than me).

Rellik Productions Inc.

They only lasted 3 years DD. Trust me their a mighty axe. I'd sell my vintage hotrod and customshop before i parted with mine. I've never played a guitar as comfortable.

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That's true. It's one durable bass. Sounds and plays amazing. Thanks!

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-Classic 50's Strat.
-Std. Telecaster.
-Mike Dirnt P-bass.
-Custody of SE Strat.
-Peavey Predator/Dean Evo/Epiphone DR150/Gibson Slide (much older than me).

Rellik Productions Inc.