Hi STLBlues: well what you have there is the very "Fullerton" Reissue Strat that was being fumbled for on this current thread:

http://www.fender.com/community/forums/ ... hp?t=27403

And if you study this page you will find out more about the routing issue they mention on that Ebay sale:

http://www.stratcollector.com/inventory.html

(See the section half way down titled "American Vintage Reissues: 1982 - 1984, Fullerton Facility".)

Whether any of that makes it worth the asking price, well...

Cheers - C

There is no doubt about it people are trying to get rich off of this vintage thing that's going around. They want to cash in. I wouldn't pay that for it. Does it sound better than a new Strat? No. Especially if it has not been played much in the last 27 years.

If you're in the market for a reissue type strat, and are not a collector, then that guitar is really not for you. It costs so much because it was made in the same plant as the early strats, and was one of the last to be made before the move to Corona. Look for some of the '80's Japanese reissues, or even some of the more modern American ones. Although, I think all of those have poly finishes ... if you were concerned about having nitro. I've owned 2 '80's Japanese era strats in my day, and both were fine instruments that played as well as anything, although neither were reissues. The pickups are a weak point on them, but you can pick them up on eBay pretty regularly for under a grand, spend a couple hundred on some good pups and you've got yourself a pretty sweet axe.

The same guy is selling 3 of them in various conditions. With the prices rangeing from 3 to 4 to 5 K. It is a hot collectible and really aimed at the collector then the player. That is it cut and dry. If you are looking for a giging ax this is not for you. If you have extra cash and want to put it in the closet for 5 to 10 years you will probably will make a nice profit as these are hot collectors guitars. Do I think you can find a guitar for a third the price that sounds better =YES. This is also one of those guitars that I dont find anything really unique about or that gets the blood pumping to say that if someone wanted to buy it for me I would choose something else like a Gilmour custom or something. But in the wacky world of collectors in 10 years when this guitar might be worth 15 to 20 grand we probably will both kick ourselves in the $@!. lol

Though in fact the American Vintage reissues have nitro finishes.

Anyhow. For what it's worth, I recently bought a new Fender Japan '57 RI. I can't fault it for build quality and the pickups are good. Priced between the Mexican and American RIs, it's another option...

Cheers - C

These guitars are 1982 guitars. They're not real collectables. They are for people who want to be collectors but can't really afford to get into it. Real collectors are looking for guitars made in the 1950s. But I'm just a player. I don't know anything about collecting.

_________________
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 belive the newer American reissues have nitro, whereas one's made before like 2007 or so don't. The pups on most of the '80's Japanese reissues were fairly bland, I'm not sure about the newer ones ... where did you pick yours up? Japanese Fenders are no longer imported to the States here ... but maybe you're not in the States ...

Hi kemmerycustomshop: no, I'm not in North America, though I hear from others on the Forum that there are individuals who still import Japanese Fenders into the US on a small scale basis. Which is also how I got mine.

The stock pickups on my '57 are listed as "US Vintage Pickups". I haven't been able to find out more about them than that, but they sound nice and chimey. Before purchase I wondered whether I'd change them, but it turns out they're good to keep.

Cheers - C

Soggycrow I know where your coming from but in the guitar collector community I really dont know how they choose what is going to shoot up in price or how they set the market but they do have a way. I read vintage guitar every now and then and a while back there is these two brothers who are very big collectors and there name I cant think of at the moment but one of the questions posed to them in the article was what guitars are hot right now and they both said the early 80s vintage reissues and 70s strats are showing a good increase. Now this was over a year ago and after reading I went on ebay and these guitars were all going for 3 grand and better. Now none of these guitars excite me but they are demanding a very high price. What does it all mean I could not say as I could never buy a guitar I would not really want to play out even though I do like a top of the line ax and would hope the value does increase. But for this group I would just pass even though someone is probably going to make a good dollar one day with them.

There is a great section in the book "The Stratocaster Chronicles" that talks about the rise of the Vintage market in response to the decline in Fender's quality in the CBS-era all the way until the early to mid 80's when the employees bought the company from CBS and Schultz took over. CBS should have stood for "Can't Build Stratocasters" . Here is a link to the book, very good read: http://www.amazon.com/Stratocaster-Chro ... 325&sr=1-1