AdrianDavid

Its highly unlikely your guitars body is basswood and heavy, unless its had some lead implants or something. Basswood is notoriously light. Alder is pretty evenly weighted from body to body, maybe your body is ash?

I've an ash tele thats easily on a par with most LP's at 10 lb 8 oz. Also maybe look to your neck/body join for resonance issues. I've had it occur in the past where the neck wasnt exactly loose. Just not as tight as it could have been.

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No no and no

Hey all,

Thanks for the replies.

Personally I would never be interested in a Jackson, I play blues based stuff and rock. For that I'm looking to stick to a strat or my les paul for now.

CAfeathers,

Thanks so much for that link it was very helpful! I could not find that info searching google last night. The japan strat I looked at it had the single butterfly tree, furthering my suspicions that it could be a '57 reissue. A '57 reissue gets me excited, as david gilmour has used a maple '57 reissue on his black strat more than once.

A few things though: There was no 'original contour body' logo on the headstock. There was nothing there. I look pretty closely, and it didn't look to me like anything (re: Squier Series) had been removed.
Also I don't remember exactly what the tuning pegs looked like. I thought they were kind of rounder, with some sort of cover for the gears that could come off, as I think two were exposed. If the 57 kluson style tuners do have some sort of cover like that, if anyone could find or take a pic of that it would be helpful. I thought they kind of looked like these: http://cgi.ebay.com/Fender-Squier-MIJ-S ... 5182bfe4a0
Another thing, I don't remember whether the bridges were fender stamped. I should have remember to make of a note of it, but looking at two guitars at once is a bit distracting. I'm nearly positive they were the same style though, as I noted how they looked, and that's how I came about noticing it was the same as an actual '57. The link says that it is an 'economy' model if it has unstamped saddles
I also noticed that the strat posted http://homepage.ntlworld.com/john.blackman4/50s.htm had very similar pick guard discoloring. The pick guard was still pretty white, when compared to the pickups which were noticeably more yellowed. As stated before, I think the pickups in them Alnico, not ceramic. For some reason I'm under the impression that the alnico magnets do not oxidize or oxidize much slower than ceramic magnets, which I recall rusting on my brothers squier affinity. The pickups on the japan strat were pretty clean and not rusted. I know they had not been cleaned as the owner had not cleaned the bridge either, which was quite vintage looking also. I don't know whether I will clean it or leave it original if I buy it. I'm not sure, but these could be the same pickups that were used in the American guitars. The knobs were also pretty discolored when compared to the pick guard.
I'm not exactly sure what the neck profile was. It felt like a soft V or nice C. But the neck adjustment was at the body, like with the '57 reissue.
Again, the tremolo block looked like a nicer one, not the crappy ones that come squiers, but a full block.

If there's anyway to tell by the serial number, it starts in E84 I believe. The guitar dating project spiel says 1984-1987 at the Fuji-gen plant for serial number E840000. I've read that is where the squier japan started in the early 80's, who produced the japanese-vintage models.

All in all this is starting to shape up into possibly being a nice strat for $325. The only thing I'm worried about is it not having the correct tuners or stamped bridge, but I think I can get over that.

Oh I haven't looked inside the body cavity yet. I swear to god I will drop this guitar cold if there's a swimming pool route. It's just a testament to human laziness imo. I don't think it should be an issue, and it will have the proper routing I expect.

Then it will be to decide on the PUPs, which I'm strangely leaning towards fender noiseless mid and neck with a humbucker (SD?) in the bridge. Who knows, if the japan pups turn out to be good quality, I may just keep them.

The body felt pretty light, but I don't have strat around my house to compare it to currently, so everything feels light compared to my les paul. I'm thinking it's basswood. Were there any Fender Japan guitars made in that era that had alder or ash bodies? I'm not really a fan of basswood, but the tremolo cover was removed, and I placed my head behind the guitar and played it a bit unplugged to hear the sound through the body. Sounded pretty nice.

That's a very good point Nicky. It's a 3 bolt neck, and there has been some 'play' in the past; I've now tightened it as much as I dare - I intend to replace it with 4 screw and a new neck-plate at some stage.

I also take your point about the body wood. The only reason I thought it might be basswood, is because I'd heard that was common in MIJ guitars. Basswood is said by some to have a darkish tone, almost 'mahogany-esque'; ash, by contrast, is deemed to be bright-sounding. My MIJ strat is very dark-sounding... I'm purplexed!! Admittedly I've do not have much first hand experience to draw on, regarding body wood; just what I've read.

One thing I am cerrtain about is the build-quality. The body finish is much thicker than my MIAs (maybe THAT has something to do with the tone??), it's a lovely minty green off white too. The neck/body join is vertually seemless, the machine heads - lovely etc etc.

Any ideas of anyone who could do a really good job of shaving the upper part of the back of the neck down to a 'modern' 'C' shape, then it would be a joy! it need a refret; 4 neck bolts; new bridge & saddles as well.....

Between a Vintage Japanese vs a recent " standard" Mexican, of course that the Japanese.....BUT, A vintage Japanese vs a top notch Ensenada Factory like the Deluxe Player, a zillion times the Mexican......

Recently, took a friend to get his new Strat, for his money, the decision narrowed down to MIA Highway One, and the MIM Deluxe Player, still the Deluxe won the showdown. He got a honeyblone with gold hardware, tortoise pickguard and maple neck. And the noisless pickups. To me it´s the best bang 4 the buck in Fender Strats.

Adrian

Are you south east UK? Or am I getting confused?

If so theres a builder my bassist uses around london that he thinks is the cats pyjamas. Seeing his work I agree with him. I'll find that guys details out. Other than that it depends where you are. There are numerous quality builders all over the country. Word of mouth is your best friend in that instance. You want someone who others rate.

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So I'm pretty sure the tuners are http://cgi.ebay.ph/FENDER-JAPAN-MIJ-STR ... 2ea8f44a20

EDIT oh oh actually it looks like: http://houston.craigslist.org/msg/1472237248.html
I'm pretty sure those circles pop off to reveal the gear. What type of tuners are these?

I don't know what implications that has for its origins. The tuners could be non original, or the economy model. I'll have to see if the bridge is also japan.

Does anyone know what kind of finish the 80's strats used?

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one of my guitars is a brilliantly crafted 2001 japanese
crafted Jackson guitar with a reverse head stock.
the only problem i had with it in the past that when i
had fender run the serial# they could not find it because
up until fender bought jackson guitars in 2002 Jackson
Japan was very sloppy with the serial# and model #. now
the quality of craftmanship was fantastic from the Japanese
they just didnt put the serial# or model# in a national data base.
they put the serial# on the neck plate but never in the data system.
and on most jacksons back then the never put the model # on the
guitar or in a data system. luckly i found two pro jackson lovers
of both the Japanese made Jacksons and USA Jacksons and they
both decode the number on the back plate of my Jackson guitar
and it was crafted in Japan in August 2001 with 2 jackson humbuckers 1 volume
and 1 tone nobe the volume and tone pots are 500k and has a 3 way switch reverse headestock rock maple neck with a 22 jumbo fret dark
rose wood finger board with alder body. and this thing will kick major guitar $@!!

Yep, Surrey a 1/2 train ride from the 'big smoke' - I'd be very grateful for that builders details Nicky! Ta!

The materials and build quality of the Japanese Fenders is superior to the Mexican made instruments. The MIM's are good, but the MIJ's are better.

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"Life is like eating jalapenos. What you do today may burn your arse tomorrow"

On what do u base that affirmation?? depends on the model. Some signature and deluxe models are made in mexico and are top notch.

It's my opinion based on personal experience playing American, Japanese, and Mexican made Fenders. The Japanese instruments are much more consistent in their quality. You don't have to search through a whole pile of them to find a really nice guitar. That to me signifies that the craftsmanship overall is better.

As I said in my initial post, the MIM's are good but the MIJ's are better.

I would also expect that the Flagship models of the MIM factory that you mentioned would be examples of thier finest work. That just makes sense.

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"Life is like eating jalapenos. What you do today may burn your arse tomorrow"

Well, based on looking through the internetz, I've come to my conclusion on the make of the guitar:

It's heavily based off of a 1957 strat. The only difference is that this was the economy model, meaning that the bridge is not stamped, and that the tuners are not correct. It's also looking like pretty much every japanese strat is basswood and poly finish.

So pretty good news I believe. Could be better, but it's also something I can change if it really bugs me. I read that no japanese guitars used american pups, but some japanese ones had alnico magnets, which im assuming mine will have.

I found nearly exactly what I'm looking at, minus the color and string trees here: http://cgi.ebay.com/1988-89-FENDER-STRA ... 2ea9549804

Also the guitar i looked at was missing the original contoured body logo like this one.

Anyway, if everything goes according to plan, I should have it tomorrow night.

Why not just buy direct

http://www.ishibashi.co.jp/u_box/e/

Delivery time can be a couple of weeks but atleast you'll find exactly what you want.

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agree with both this post and your second one.

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I got a black cat bone, I got a mojo too.