Good luck my friend! I hope you get your money back. If this guy is doing this knowingly he needs to be stopped!

Right. This is a get rich slow scheme at best.

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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 don't know but it looks like he made a couple hundred off the deal. Shame!

Good News!!

I've had confirmation from Fender that the guitar isn't genuine (although we had already come to that conclusion) and forwarded this to the dealer I purchased the guitar from. Thankfully, he has responded and offered a full refund including postage or have a 80% refund and I keep the guitar and fix it myself. Well, you may find it strange, I have accepted the latter offer. The guitar may not be genuine but the neck is really nice and very playable and will be a good base for a project guitar. I've already sourced some genuine replacement parts and may well opt for those tex mex pups that were recommended earlier.

I am going to be more careful in the future and have decided to buy a american made strat ( Flowers and chocolate for the wife should seal the deal for that one!). I'm sure she wont mind a sixth guitar around the house.

Thankyou all again for your keen eyes and advice!

Ha - cool! And I think a lot of us would also have taken that offer. Modding fun starts here!

So, all's well that ends well, as a famous gentleman once said.

Please remember to show us what you end up doing with the guitar...

Cheers - C

That's great news my friend! I would have taken the same option. Like Ceri said, keep us updated on your progress.

will do

I love a happy ending. Yeah!

Hi,

Just a quick update! I've bought a MIM strat tremolo (for ease of a direct fit)
a USA Trem spring cover in black and i've ordered a fully loaded pick guard opting for the alnico 5 pups with delta tone circuit. A friend of mine is going to remove the headstock logos and re-laquer it. Should look ok when its done. A bonified partsocaster rather than a fake. I'll post some pics when its done.

Looking forward to the pictures!!

I now have all the goodies I need. It'll still be a fake but at least it'll have quality parts! Not sure about changing the tuners yet. The tuners already on the guitar have an external screw fixing and i dont want to be left with six exposed holes on the back of the headstock. Anybody have any ideas?
[img][img]http://i841.photobucket.com/albums/zz336/paulwhil/Photo299.jpg[/img][/img]

Hi Paul: am I right in thinking you are in the UK? If so, check out this page:

http://www.wdmusic.co.uk/category/Hardw ... ?limit=200

You will see that six-on-a-side Gotoh 381s, 503s and 510s all appear to
have the screw hole in the same place as yours. In fact, those 381s look
mighty similar to what you have on there already - which makes you
wonder if your guitar is simply fitted with an unbranded version of that
very tuner from the self same production line.

Gotohs are good quality tuners so I wouldn't bother to replace what's on
there unless really necessary. I have used both 503s and 510s. They are
both excellent tuners, and the 510 model is as fine as anything on the
market.

If you prefer locking tuners then there is a locking version of the 381:

http://www.wdmusic.co.uk/category/Hardw ... ?limit=200

There's a locking version of the top-of-the-line 510 as well - can't find a
local seller at this second, but they're out there...

If I misunderstood and you are somewhere else in the world then other
suppliers of those models are easy to find.

BTW: I much approve of your plan of removing the fake decal. That's the
stylish way to go!

Cheers - C

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