I need some help identifying my Strat, if indeed it really is a Strat. If someone is willing to give it a shot, I will send some photos of the guitar and numbers I found on the neck plate. Thanks, Charlie

e-mail: ccross2@embarqmail.com

Also remember when you Email someone you have now given them yours

_________________
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

Gosh, I'm not sure that's a real Strat. Just not convinced by the markings on the backs of those pots.

No, I haven't emailed squeedunk. This is a psychic appraisal.

...Perhaps I need to take a break from the Forum and go get a nice hot cup of tea...?

Cheers - C

Funny stuff. Advice taken. I don't see an edit button with which to remove the e-mail address though. As far as features, I'm a rookie. Wouldn't know a feature if I saw one. I'm sure you can tell from the photos that I'm going to attach though.

Squeedunk

The photos of the guitar are located at: http://s524.photobucket.com/albums/cc321/4squeedunk/

Hi squeedunk: first, on the email address: you will find a button in the top right corner of each of your posts on a thread labelled "edit". Click that and it will reopen that post and allow you to remove that email if you wish. A good idea, I suspect...

Second: can't find it right now, but I have a feeling several months ago we saw either this exact same guitar, or one just like it, here on the Forum. Is it a recent purchase, and if so, from where, please?

What bothered us last time were several features. Particularly that trussrod hole at the top of the fingerboard. If it was a genuine Fender it should have a dark colored wood lining to that hole (walnut, I believe). Last time we looked at this guitar the only "nude" trussrod holes any of us had ever seen like that were on Squier guitars from the early '90s or perhaps '80s onwards. The only current guitar with a headstock and trussrod hole like that I can find in the present catalog is the Affinity Strat:



Could yours be an Affinity Strat with a fake decal?

The other issue which detained us last time round was that signature on the top of the headstock. Seth Williams, does it say? I've done a bit of Googling: be interested to hear what others make of that...

Previously I don't believe we saw inside the neck pocket. Those markings don't encourage me to feel better about the authenticity of the guitar - but again, let's see what others say.

Not looking too happy so far, I'm afraid...

Cheers - C

[A little later] FOUND IT! Hot damn I'm good!

Squeedunk, not only have we indeed seen this guitar before - it was you that posted a question about it when you were thinking of buying it back last August:

http://www.fender.com/community/forums/ ... t=affinity

So. None the wiser on it after all these months, huh? What's the story?

Cheers - C

The forum Master Sleuth strikes again!!! Good work Ceri!!
You can't slip something past Ceri man!

You guys are good !! It WAS the same guitar I posted about several months ago. However, at the time I was concerned about the signature on this "signature" model guitar. Now I'm concerned about the authenticity of the advertised Stratocaster pedigree. I took it to a Fender expert recently and he was concerned about the label on the headstock as well. Looks like I got screwed for $ 300.00. I took Latin for three years. I guess I should have remembered what "caveat emptor" meant. Thanks guys.

Haha - thanks, Lite'nin!

Perfectly seriously: I sometimes wonder whether I'm getting the first signs of early onset memory loss. Terrible trouble remembering simple little things.

On the other hand, if I can remember a faked up Strat headstock after nine months, maybe the old brainbox ain't completely shot yet after all, huh?

On the other hand: the roundabout way I went about finding that old thread - when all I needed to do was look back through Squeedunk's previous posts...

$300 down the drain for a bottom of the range beginners' Strat, I'm afraid, Squeedunk. As everyone was saying on that other thread - before you bought it...

- C

Alright already. I'm punishing myself enough. Lesson learned.

No no, it's all right, man. We've all been there.

But why did you buy it, when there was such doubt about it last year?

Anyway. Look on the bright side. One of my favorite Strats started life as a Squier. Couple of decades later all that's left of the original guitar is the wood of the body and the control pots. Lotta money spent - but now it's a little cutie-pie I wouldn't be parted from.

Guess it's time to roll up your sleeves and get workin' on that guit...

Good luck - C