I was just given a Made in Japan Strat crafted in 2004. This Strat was purchased in Japan, so it is a non-export. The model number is ST-37S. It appears to have three single coil pickups, a four way switch, and 1 volume, 1 tone knob.

I cannot find much information on this model strat. Does anyone have info on this guitar?

It looks like a 3/4 scale. I read somewhere that this model has HS-3 bridge pickup (stacked humbucker). Is that true?

Are non-export Japanese strats of higher quality than exported? Any ideas what this might be worth?

Thanks.

I found this online. Is this your strat?
http://www.frequence.jp/equipment_fende ... icture.jpg

Ha! Good detective work.

But am I reading it right? It seems to say the scale length is 305mm. That's 12 inches. Huh?

Cheers - C

Ha! You're right. Must be a typo. 22 frets in 12". Could play some crazy chords on that one.

The Japanese are known for being slightly smaller people, but even 12" is too small for them.

Thanks for the link. That is definitely the guitar. I have since found out that the "-S" in the ST37-S means it is a "short strat."

22 Frets
24" instead of 25.5
Neck radius is flatter
Slanted corner to the neck plate to allow higher neck access

Anyone know any more about the "short strat" . . . I've never heard of them until now?

Nice looking guitar...

That's a great little guitar. Stumbled on one a while back and couldn't pass it up. Glad I didn't.
My friends love to grab it and say, "I'm gonna play a little guitar!"

I'm no expert, but here's a little on what I've found for short scale Fenders.

If there's anybody out there that has any further information, love to hear it.

The ST-37S was in the Twang - Fender Japan Catalog from 2002 - 2004.
There was also a ST-38S offered, don't know what the difference was between the two.
They were both listed as 305 scale. 305mm from nut to 12th fret, 24" scale as we would know it.

There was also a ST-43M with a 314 scale, about 24 1/2" scale.

According the the Fender site, MIJ serial numbers from 2002 - 2004 were Q+6, and 2004 - 2005 R+6.

They also say that from 1997 - 2007, Fender Japan transitioned from "Made in Japan" above the serial number to "Crafted in Japan".

http://www.fender.com/support/articles/ ... uct-dating

My ST-37S has a "R" serial number, which would indicate it was made in 2004, they were not offered in the 2005 catalog. There is no "Crafted in Japan" above the serial number. There is a "Made in Japan" marking underneath the Stratocaster marking on the head stock.

That initially caused me some concern, but I found the old catalogs online, and although it's hard to see for sure, it looks like they were made with the "Made in Japan" under the Startocaster logo.

Online catalogs available here,

http://stratomaniac.com/en/twang-fender ... -1998-2012

What does your have?

Beyond that, Fender Japan made the ST-Champ for many years. It was a 21" scale and had a little Champ amplifier and speaker built in.

In the early 90's they made the MST-32, a 18-1/2" scale Statocaster, MTL-32, a 18-1/2" scale Telecaster and the MPB-33, a little Precision Bass model.

I don't know if any of these were ever available in the US market.

There were Strat Jr's made in Mexico from 2003 - 2005. They were 22-1/2" scale and as far as I know the only shorty scale Fender Stratocasters available in the US market.

If anyone knows if there were ever any other short scale Statocasters made, I'd love to add that to the information I've come up with so far.