Posted it on 'Ask Mike Eldred'. If Mike says yay or nay it will lend some weight to HarveyM's ebay action. Its pretty clear the guitar is not customshop or fender.

just click the link to goto that thread.

http://www.fender.com/community/forums/viewtopic.php?t=29696

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No no and no

I saw it. It was very good of you to help him out Niki!
We were trying to but..... he took it the wrong way. Hope all works out for him!

There's nothing about the bridge or the pickups which says "Fender", and the crest doesn't look like anything I've seen out of there and is in the wrong place.

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"Another day in paradise!"

I wanted to give you guy's an update on my purchase of the fake Strat. First of all I would like to thank all of you for input, especially Niki. He went above and beyond anything I expected from the forum.
The guy is willing to refund my money! I beleave this was due to the feedback I received from the pros here on the forum. I shared this with him over the weekend in a very polite but straight forward manner. The guys on this forum know Sratocaster and the one you sold me isn't even a good fake. I think he got the message!
I'm still going to buy a Strat to add to my collection more than likely from a Fender Dealer I think I have had enough of making a fool out of myself buying on line.
Again Guy's
Thanks So Much!
Regards,
Mark

Well sir you have a great selection of very fine instruments to choose from at this time. From the Mexican right the way up to the customshop guitars they offer great quality for their pricepoints.
When your ready ask for opinions on whats available in your price range. You'll undoubtedly get 300 pages of replies .
All the best with it mate, it was a pleasure to help you and I'm glad you've got a refund. 1-0 to the good guys eh?

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No no and no

I hope all works out with your refund and remember if you are not sure walk away.
And those labels were really bad

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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

[quote="harveym"]I wanted to give you guy's an update on my purchase ......

Don't go sour on the idea of buying online as long as you are informed. We are constantly on the alert here regarding fraud and misrepresentation, and have handled our fair share of threads, such as yours, since the inception of this Forum. If you hang out here long enough you'll begin to get a sense of what is genuine, what is not, and what a damn good imitation might not be , as well as some of the fantastic guitars our project builders have put together which, to the uninitiated, might be taken for production line gear, but would never be represented as such by these extremely talented individuals.

Keep us up to date on your progress.

Doc

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"Another day in paradise!"

This is one of the reasons I love this forum and read on here daily. I had the advantage of buying new Strats at a genuine dealer, but am having a bad GAS attack and am looking at other instruments. There is no end of info on here that is making me careful. I tried another make of guitar in a music store a week ago, and asked about it on a dedicated forum, and while 80+ people read the thread, not a single reply. Nada. Lots of smart and friendly people here. Thanks to you all!