That I have to agree with. Actually I really like the "mystery Strat" threads myself...I rather enjoy the detective work .



Unfortunately that's probably the case...that whole "supply and demand" thing. If people weren't buying them, then there wouldn't be people selling them. It almost makes me wonder how many people have guitars like that who really don't know they have a fake (let alone a bad fake). If you think about how many people buy a guitar because they've "always wanted one"...or buy one for someone else and then discover that learning how to play takes effort and time and then the guitar goes in to the closet...almost makes ya wonder how many of those fakes are sitting in closets where people will never really know. Hhhmmmm....

Caveat Emptor! say Mr. Jim

_________________
Caveat Venditor

After thinking about this a bit, there's one other thing that I would like to add to my earlier comments...

Just because a guitar is a "fake" doesn't always means it's a bad guitar. Now honestly in the case of those guitars listed on the OP's original link, I really have no idea at all if they are decent or not let alone worth the $300 they are asking for most of them...I seriously doubt it. That said, I have seen fakes (both Fender and Gibsons and a few others) that were in fact VERY decent instruments and well worth the asking price. I was at a guitar show here in Northern Ohio this last fall and I saw a fake Strat...the headstock logo was rather poorly done and the guitar was most certainly a "fake". However, for the $400 that the seller as asking, it was actually a really decent instrument to say the least...very high quality parts went in to it's making, it played -really- well and had a very good (dare I say a "real") Strat sound.

I wanted to bring this up because this calls in to question the issue of whether you are buying a guitar or simply a name. Here I would use the analogy of motorcycles...some people really do believe that "things are different on a Harley-Davidson". Personally, I'll take a nice Honda Shadow Classic myself any day...then I'd spend the extra that I saved by NOT buying a Harley on upgrades, accessories and probably a guitar or two! LOL!!! A lot of folks really seem to get bent on the issue of a name...sometimes to the point that all logic seems to escape them. Yes, there is the issue of "fraud" and people who purposely try to deceive others and I -do- understand the principles of that particular issue. That said, I am a guitar player and my primary concern is the quality of a given instrument and whether or not it suits (or can be made to suit) my own personal needs. After all...since when do "morality" and "principles" really have anything to do with "rock & roll"? LOL!!!

I also have to say that in regards to Strats specifically, this begs the question, "What is a Strat?". We are after all talking about what is perhaps the single most copied (electric) instrument of all time. Ok...I'm going to get a bit philosophical here... Let's say I buy a brand new MIM Standard Strat off the rack at my local Guitar Center...obviously that -is- a Fender Strat. But wait...what if I go on Ebay and buy an MIM neck and an MIM body, bridge, tuning keys and all of the other parts? Once assembled/reassembled, isn't that also a "genuine Fender Standard Strat"? If the parts are assembled by someone who knows what they are doing, isn't the quality of this instrument going to be the same...if not better...than the off the shelf Strat? Now what if I buy even higher quality parts that are licensed by Fender...say from Warmoth or one of the other makers out there...wouldn't at least have the potential to be an even higher quality Strat still? After all, if it looks like a Strat and it sounds and plays like a Strat...how can that really mean that it's anything other than a Strat?

In that same regard, what about those of us who modify the living crap out of our instruments? My '96 MIM for example...I've replaced the pickups with something other than Fender pickups (a couple of times in fact), replaced the trem block with a Callaham (because those old MIM blocks were really cheap comparatively speaking), new nut, new roller T's, new pickguard, knobs and trem bar, etc.. Does that really mean my Strat is no longer a Strat? Exactly what parts of a guitar have to be included to actually constitute "a Strat"...the neck? The neck and body? ???

With that, I think this is as much about people getting upset about some folks treading on the almighty Fender name and not the actual quality of the instruments themselves. I think there is something of a stigma here...some people seem to think that if they're playing a "real" Fender compared with a copy (even a Squier) that some how they are more "cool" than other people or something. As I mentioned earlier however, the whole issue of fake Strats has been around for a very long time...it's nothing new at all. As far back as the early seventies, there have been "imports"...brands such as Tokai and Yamaha certainly come to mind with lower quality brands such as Memphis, Lotus and others. Some of these instruments were as good, if not better than genuine Strats of the day (hence why it is known as the "law suit era"). Now personally here...again I'm just a guitar player. Honestly if I can get an instrument that's as good, if not better than a "real" Strat and get that instrument for less money, exactly what is my motivation to get a genuine Fender product instead...because of a name? Really?? Maybe some folks here on the forums are too young to remember and maybe others simply have short memories but the truth of the matter is that Fender has sold a lot of crap with their name on it over the years. I remember the days when Fender amps for example (particularly their early solid states) had a reputation for catching fire on the sales floor! I got my old silver faced Bandmaster for only $75 back in the mid-eighties because back then NOBODY wanted anything from the CBS era...tube or otherwise! Everyone wanted the "pre-BS" Fender stuff...if it wasn't a "black face" it simply wasn't worth playing, let alone owning. Of course now that all of that stuff is considered "vintage" people seem to have a different view .


Again though this comes down to my original comments in that a person looking to buy a guitar or anything else really...even someone who is inexperienced...should take the time to learn a bit about what it is they are buying. Any purchase is only going to be as good as the person making that purchase. Sure...a $100 knock of being sold for $300 is going to be a rip off (and anyone stupid enough to do that deserves what they get). Again in general though, if we are talking about a decent quality instrument going for a reasonable, fair price, does the name on the headstock really make that much of a difference? If you pay $300 for a $300 or even a $400 guitar, does it really matter whether "Fender" is stuck on the headstock as apposed to "Yau Ching" or even "Joe's Guitars"? Think about it.....

I'm sure I'm probably going to get flamed for that one by people toting the Fender banner as they march off to war! LOL!!! Still, it is something to consider.....

Peace,
Jim

This phenomenon is much older than you would think. In the sixties there were one or more shops building fake Fenders in Thailand or Vietnam for sale to GIs and perhaps to Japanese players too. There are pictures of these guitars floating around and they are very interesting, they had mixes of features no real Fenders actually ever had.

There is no way really to stop this, because the Asians in general (perhaps excepting the Japanese and to an extent Taiwan, which has a very conservative government tradition) simply have a different concept of intellectual property, than the West does. It won't change any time soon, and the sheer volume of stuff moving across borders makes it an unsolvable problem.

The quality on these guitars IS getting better, albeit slowly.