Fender has always produced a few guitars with "cap" necks... i.e., there's no skunk stripe or truss adjustment by the nut, it just has a screw at the butt of the neck where it sits against the neck cavity. They seem to have been more common in the mid '60s. Does your neck have that screw where it joins the body? Half of it should be visible, the other half being hidden by the pickguard.

I must confess that I haven't looked at your pictures, but if you paid $6500 and ended up with anything from the '60s you did pretty well.

vinny, check out this site: http://www.provide.net/~cfh/fender.html

for information on vintage Fenders (lots of pictures). Experts would have a hard time figuring out what you have from the few pictures you've posted, so bringing it in to some experts is a real good idea.

Unfortunately, A lot of things don't add up. An early '50's no truss rod neck would not have a large headstock and a mid-60's logo and wrong kind of tuners.

As for the body, the shape of the routing under the pickguard would tell an expert a lot.

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My other guitar is a Strat.

well, if you had explained your situation in a clear and orderly manner, then I'm sure Mike Eldred would have been able to tell you.

I can verify that that neck CLEARLY is fake. no truss rod = not a fender. especially a rosewood-board neck. even the cheap squiers have truss rods these days

Things pointing to it being fake:



1. they did not produce Gold lettered Decals with patent numbers with the black "Stratocaster" writing

2. "Custom Contour Body" decal is crooked and slightly smaller than a normal decal

3. String Tree is not even a legit Stratocaster String Tree. it is way too big.



now, about the Tele neck.

also, the reason Leo didn't have a truss rod in the first teles is because he did not realize that over time changing environments will cause the wood to expand and contract, causing the neck to bow.

after a year of production and seeing what was happening, he dropped them into necks.


I would like to see what is under the "Failed Bridge". if it isn't marked with things like "PATENT PENDING", like on the bridge of 53Strat's, than you have yet another indicator of a fake.



I really wish it was what my theory showed.

as one of the more knowledgeable folks on this forum, I take offense to being labeled as an amateur. Fender won't comment or check on stuff on their community forum. Mike Eldred will if it is in his section, but not here.

I suggest you get the money back, give the damn thing back, and just move on.

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i must say that neck looks painted maple color.. maple doesnt go dark from scratches or dings.... look at the big scratch from the contour body decal all the way past the F....

i bet that neck is horrible to play..

sorry i tried ignoring this post but it keeps coming back

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look at the scrape by the contour decal... looks very "Toy-Like"

with you all the way on this one, dude.

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I was waiting til I could verify my theory, but I am very certain I am right. Especially, as I surmise you bought it in Australia, I think you mentioned Melbourne in your posts. There are actually several known in OZ, so I am even more convinced.

Frantic, and others, you need to cut Vinnypop some slack. I don't think he intentionally tried to hose anyone. i think he got horribly horribly taken.
What he has , I believe, is what is known as the Vietnam Serviceman's Copy.

These were super super cheaply made fakes. They were manufactured in a couple places, notably the Philipines. But they were sold on the cheap to servicemen during the Vietnam war.They had the same engraved Jazzmaster style trems, They used the same bridge assembly as the one from the jaguar , shown below on lefty strat, on their Jag copies, and their Strat copies. There was a certain amount of variation, as these copies spanned a few years. But I real;ly think this is what he has.

I think someone just slapped a decent (though not great considering what they are representing tit to be,) decal on the headstock. Notice on my example, its a righty log, on the lefty neck.These were made in the sixties, so I don't think he doctored his picks, though they are just the ones from ebay.

I have an internet acquaintance (not a real life friend,)with one. He got it as a curiosity, I will try contact him to get some good pictures.

I have a shot of one of the lefty bridges from a Philipine model, from the net, I will scour for better pics, hopefully I can contact my friend, he's from a game I played online 10 years ago, i haven't been in contact for a number of years.






Someone read the Stratocaster Chronicles, saw the chance to bait the hook, and reeled in their sucker.

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

Smoking great detective work there 12B!!!! That looks like it for sure, it is missing the same screws as the OP's. We have same Bloodhounds on this board for sure. I do feel bad for the OP though for getting %^$&.

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Thx CV. But it was more memory, and coincidence.
When I used to play an old game online, one of the guys i played with (he's American,) was also a guitar player. He had recent;y bought his copy from a friend of his father. (They became friends when they served in Vietnam.)

My friend thought I would get a kick out of the bad fake. So he sent me pictures. Sadly that computer is long since gone in a puff of smoke, so I don't have the shots anymore. But the bridge really stood out in my mind. This just jarred the old memory.

I held off posting, because I wasn't sure. (I made a factual error, on another thread about Tokai's, and I don't wanna put my foot in my mouth again, before being reasonably sure.)But as I am not sure my friend stil uses his old email account, I waited a while, and when i never got a reply(yet,) I looked online for some shots.


This is another case, where you need to do some due diligence before forking over some cash.v As much as I feel bad for Vinnypop, if he got suckered in(which I believe,) I sincerely hope he wasn't really a scammer, on a fishing trip.

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

The "Servicemen's Strat" is also shown here: http://www.strat-central.com/cbs70s.htm (second one down)

Since it was brought up, I did recall hearing about them. Not in near as fascinating of a story as we have here though.

I saw that too, but I didn't think the picture was clear enough.

I have heard of them from time to time, but this is the first and only time i have heard of anyone thinking they were legitimate. All accounts, including my friend, are that they are terrible quality, and terrible fakes.

I was astounded when Vinnypop said it sounds great!

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

I think you can make yourself hear what you want to hear. Especially if you paid for it yourself. Even more so if you paid as much as it seems like was paid for this one.

Big part of the reason for the Brand X vs. Brand Y threads. Or more common here... MI(X) vs MI(Y).

There is a similar stiory going on the Strat-Talk forum involving someone a Damian in Australia heres acopy of his post. and two follow up post!!!!
See bellow.



July 11th, 2009, 11:11 PM #1
damiang
New Member!


Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Australia
Posts: 9 1960 Strat on eBay - Look Suss??

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Hi all,

I'm a newb here, but a proud strat owner and I've had a couple over the years. This one caught my eye down here in Australia and it looks pretty suspicious to me.

Vintage 1960 Fender Stratocaster Body Electric Guitar - eBay (item 380137104667 end time Jul-17-09 03:16:00 PDT)

It's not a 1960 headstock or logo and actually looks like a cheap Japanese neck to me. The whole tailpiece looks non-original and not like I've seen on a strat of any vintage.

Interested in other people's thoughts.

Cheers, Damian

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There's no way in h*** that's a 1960 Strat. It's got a 70's style neck with a large headstock and narrow dot spacing at the 12th fret. The tuners are cheap 6-on-a-plate open-gear machines, and one's broken. The pickguard is white and not mint green, and the screw holes are in the wrong place for 1960. The pickups have flat polepieces, and the covers have rounded edges like the original bakelite covers used in 1954-55. The bridge isn't even a Strat bridge. It's the type used on Jaguars and Jazzmasters. Judging by the logo, it isn't even a genuine Fender part, but is instead a cheap fake. I wouldn't give you 50 cents for that guitar!

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It's probably one of those Korean "servicemens" guitars they sold to vets in vietnam in the 60s. I agree with the general concensus that it's relatively worthless. Kind of exciting to see though, knowing that some poor dummie has already bid $3900 for it. Poor guy.....

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im off to the police tommorrow he said he would give back 3500 i paid 6500 and then when he gets guitar will give the rest I dont trust him he wants to get rid of evidence and scam me for 3000 to stop going to police ive given him till 11am tommorrow morning to refund full amount I cannot let the guitar go he cannot be trusted he claims he is a solicitor and doesnt want trouble and says I will lose in court yawnssssssssssssss we live and we learn I cannot lose this possible court case I have the real fender neck pics and routing holes pic up holes and then his fake vietnam guitar no truss rod and his routing holes are all horizontal as fenders are slanted at the bottom of each picup ive cursed every hour of his life until he pays up he will also pay court costs hes a bad man and an antique dealer. All i have to trace him is email account which is $@!& ebay account probably more crap but I have his bank account name so in aussie all accounts must be verified with id and address so I may have a chance thanks guys and gals

cvilleria im the dummy thats the guitar I bought and the pics I put up on my vinnypop youtube channel thats it and thanks guys for giving me the ebay number of the sale as I deleted the ebay sale ad now I have the ad number and all the lies he wrote about the guitar smiles a bit.

he emailed me and sya he will deposit 6006 in my account tommorrow morning and when I return guitar he will give me the rest 464 I told him to take 30.00 off because of the scratch plate which i damaged when opening it so I will accept that and pray I see the money tommorrow he wouldnt keep communicating with me if he was a total fake so im happy and will forgive him when the money comes in tommorrow i pray could fender mods please close this thread now leave it here as a warning but please close it off thanks vinnypop