I've just bought a strat 2nd hand but I don't know what type it is .It's a USA from the year 2000 ,has noiseless PU's and a very strange wood in the body.I have a picture but I don't now how to put it here.....
serial nr Z0161288
can anyone help me out?

upload your picture to photobucket and then give us the link, this is the easiest way.

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Its a lifestyle.....

Thanks for the quick reply !!! If everything is well, this should be the URL
http://s643.photobucket.com/albums/uu15 ... to0108.jpg

i hate to be the bearer of bad news.. but it doesnt look authentic. i might jumping the gun but the neck is a dead giveaway. the 12th fret dots are really far apart and the truss adjuster is not usa, either are the two string trees . the bridge is suspect (6 point). but the body looks fenderish, maybe the korean made koa stratocaster. sorry dude. i hope it sounds nice. if it says "Made in U.S.A" i don't think any of it is real.

Yeah, I agree. That is a fake. I'd need a close up picture of the head stock but it does not look like it has the spaghetti logo which is on the MIA Fenders. It might be the picture, but the headstock looks like a poorly cut copy of a Fender. I hope you didn't pay too much money for it.

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Live guitars: 2009 LTD Truckster, 1989 Strat Plus, 2001 Am Standard Strat, 1996 MIJ Jaguar, 2007 Gibson Explorer 76 reissue, 1999 Ibanez RG7621, LTD MH-301, LTD FM400, 1999 Jackson Kelly, Mystery Les Paul, Hamer Chaparel, Fender FM 62SCE A/E Mandolin

Hmmm. Gents, I wouldn't be so fast.

I certainly don't know what to make of that decal, and though it's hard to see it looks like a black plastic MIM or Korean trussrod entry rather than a walnut American or Japanese one.

But if I'm seeing that small photo right it looks like a burr timber under the sunburst on that body - and that ain't the sort of thing people put on cheapo fakes. Even if it is only veneer that type of wood can be surprisingly expensive, and if it is a full drop-top cap then that is a very glamorous body indeed.

I'd seriously like to see some better photos of it, if you are up for it, bert'72? Closeups of the headstock would be handy, and some shots of that body timber would be great.

There's more to be found out on this one...

Cheers - C

EDIT: I've looked some more and I'm just not sure about the trussrod entry. Is it walnut after all? And are the dots black or abalone? More pix, please!

I don't like that bridge,headstock shape,decal or position markers on neck. Strange! I could be wrong though. Post some closeup pics please.

Sorry mate we need to see more accurate photo's than that. I'm thinking 96' 50th anniversary. But cant be sure. As Ceri says that bodywood isnt a everyday affair, but the comment about the 12th fret dots is valid too.
The bridge or rather saddles doesnt/dont look original. Then again people change them all the time.

Btw 72 was a notouriosly good year for blokes, Bert.

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I'm going to take a little convincing that it isn't a real Fender.

But regardless of that, if that body is indeed how I'm seeing it then I'd grab it in a trice, whoever made it.

It can't be a cap, surely. But even as veneer it's very nice. Not bookmatched: that's a single sheet of burr all the way across. I've just been on a happy trek around some timber suppliers' websites and even if that burr is "mere" maple then it's still most tasty.

How much did you buy it for, bert'72? Want to sell?

Cheers - C

I'm sorry bert'72 but I am certain that this has to be a fake. I hope you didn't pay a lot for it.

I'd say that it is possibly something that someone has built up from spare parts etc.

The body could possibly be Fender and you say that it has noisless pickups, so they are possibly genuine too, but as for everything else, it is not looking good I am afraid!

That neck most certainly is not genuine. As someone else pointed out, the 12th fret dots are too far apart, but also, the Fender logo is not correct, the string trees are also incorrect, and the shape of that headstock is totally off. The end part of a genuine stratocaster headstock is much more of a circular shape than on this guitar.

The truss rod adjuster looks odd, that bridge is certainly not Fender (looks like an ABM to me?) and even the jack plug socket looks poorly shaped, unless that is just a trick of the camera?

Sorry it is not looking good news, I'll be interested to see what some of the others make of it. There are a lot of knowlegable people on here that know far more than me and so I hope that they can tell me I'm wrong!

Russ

I cant help thinking that isnt a maple cap. Something says 'not maple' to me.
Dunno what though, leave the wood up to them that know about it.

Could it be a unusual bit of basswood, or doesnt that get dense enough for the spalting effect?

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Well, it ain't spalting. I couldn't dream of ID'ing the timber for sure under the sunburst and from that less than ideal photo. Even with familiar timbers they can be amazingly hard to tell one from another when the burring takes place. Could be elm, could be birch - heck it could be oak. I expect it's maple - but only because there's a lot more of that to be had where this guitar likely comes from.

Here's four pages of burr veneers to pass the time till Bert comes back with some more information...

http://www.originalmarquetry.co.uk/cate ... eers_1.htm

And here's my idea of one of the most beautiful guitars ever built:



That's a Roger Giffin, and it's in fact a birdseye maple rather than a burr. It's also a genuine carved cap, not a veneer... Oh mammy!!!

Cheers - C

Thanks a lot guy's.I will take some more pictures .By the way : I traded it in for a genuine '96 usa telecaster

Oh dear!

TS i dont see a lot of 'Oh Dear' about that guitar mate. It looks pretty nifty to me. If its a 60th/50th anni Bert has made a killer deal.

Bert if it turns out to be what I think it is, put it under the bed and get rich off it in a few years.

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