Hi,, there's someone offering these stratocaster and sent me some pics. Could anyone tell me if its a genuine stratocaster or is there something weird in it? its a yngwie strat he says.. but the serial says MZ which means made in mexico right? also,, how much is that guitar worth? Thanks everyone!!

Scalloped fretboard 70's strat MIM made in 02. It could be a blackmore or a malmsteen maybe. I dont know enough about the catalogue to yay or nay it, but it looks promising as far as visuals are concerned.

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No no and no

thanks.. do you know how much are those guitars worth? I see the fender scallope ones in musiciansfriend.com but they all say something else in the headstock... is the "custom shop" label right for mexican made strats? Im just looking to get a good and genuine fender, I just need to be sure

From what I can deduce from the pictures, it is all genuine Fender MIM components. However, they are not all originally from the same guitar. The body and hardware appear to be that of a Standard and the neck and machine heads appear to be from a 70s RI. It positively is NOT a genuine Malmsteen although clearly, that was someone's aim in putting this particular guitar together. Ordinarily, the neck would have been a plus in terms of value but that was negated with the scallop job. The guitar is essentially worth the same as any other used MIM depending on condition or even a bit less because of the non-OEM scalloped fingerboard.

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You dig?

This sounds right to me. Not that I follow the model, but I don't recall a Malmsteen Sig from the Mexican plant?

I'm ready to be corrected on that - but also take a look at the tuners. Don't they look crookedly installed? A strong sign of a DIY job.

So I wonder who did the scalloping - the owner or some sort of professional? If you want a scalloped neck guitar this could be an affordable way of getting one - but I'd want to have a good hard look at how accurately the scalloping has been done, and those photos don't answer the question. There's some very amateurish scallop jobs out there...

Cheers - C

EDIT: for amateurish spelling...

It looks like a DIY scalloping job to me.

It would be an okay, cheap Malmsteen-like Strat.

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My other guitar is a Strat.

thanks for all the comments, posting a more detailed look at the scallop... so would you say its okay to put a price on it of about $ 400 or less..?

Hi Enriquekurt2006: I'm noticing two things in that photo.

The first is, between the fret and the curve of the scallop is a little sliver of the flat top of the fingerboard. The scallop doesn't go right up to the edge of the fret. That is the way I have seen several Fender factory scallops done, though I have an idea they leave slightly more of the flat part.

So it is a perfectly respectable approach, and from the photo it seems that the flat part is a similar size fret by fret, so that speaks of a fair degree of care being applied to the job. Which is all good.

What we can't judge is whether the depth of all the scallops is regular and whether all the curves are nice and smooth. I doubt that can be fully answered in photographs - and to me it would be important.

The second thing I see is the scallops reaching right down to some of the side markers. I have a strong suspicion that confirms it as a DIY job, because the factory would install those side markers a mil or so further towards the back of the neck so that they didn't conflict with the scallops.

We're all giving our surmises about this guitar - but have you asked the seller about it? He may have perfectly straightforward answers to all these points. Unless he's claiming this to be a Custom Shop YM Sig then probably there's nothing wrong.

Take a look at the price of a scalloped neck from Warmoth (.com). If this kind of neck is what you want then $400 for the whole guitar might be a nice price...

Cheers - C

I just want to toss a quick two cents worth in here...please consider these as -only- my own personal opinions and take them as such.


I'm not really going to address the authenticity issue other than to say be aware that there are a lot of "look-a-likes" out there...folks who build up instruments after their favorite artist (or signature series). For instance, there's a lot of guys out there right now selling "Gilmore Strats" where someone took a black Strat with a white pickguard and put black pickup covers on it. Often these are MIM Standards (or less) with nothing exceptional or "authentic" about them at all but said person will try and pass it off as some kind of signature series or "officially endorsed product"...and clearly they're not. I'm certainly no expert on the Malmstene Strats...but that's what this looks like to me.

More directly though I wanted to make a quick comment about scalloped fretboards. In one of your comments you said "I'm just looking to get a good and genuine fender, I just need to be sure" so I just want to ask the question; have you ever played a scalloped fretboard before? If you have, great...ignore the rest of this paragraph. However if you have never played one, go to your local Guitar Center or Sam Ash and play one -BEFORE- you buy this instrument! Scalloped fretboards are great for some folks BUT a lot of folks really do not like them and find them VERY difficult to play! If you've never played one before, do so before you buy...you don't want to end up blowing even $400 on an instrument that you may find very hard to play!

Also on the note of "good and genuine fender", please be aware that as others have suggested, this does appear to be a Partscaster...in other words an instrument assembled from various parts. There's nothing really wrong with that (in my always and ever so humble opinion) but in some people's minds there is a huge difference between a "genuine Fender" and an instrument assembled from "parts"...even if those parts are indeed "genuine Fender".

Lastly...since you didn't really state this anywhere I would ask; where exactly are you buying this guitar from? If by chance you are getting this from a Craigslist ad or similar, make sure you play the instrument and check it out completely and be sure you are going to be happy with it BEFORE you hand the person ANY money. Remember...the deal isn't complete until you hand the person the money and walk out the door with the item. If something seems "fishy", just apologize for taking up their time and walk away...there's always other fish in the sea. If on the other hand this is from an auction site such as Ebay...be aware that there does seem to be some legitimacy issues with this instrument...ask the seller MORE QUESTIONS, particularly in regards to who did the scallop and don't let your greed get the better of your common sense.

As I said...just my $.02 worth.
Jim

[quote="lomitus"]I just want to toss a quick two cents worth in here...please consider these as -only- my own personal opinions and take them as such.

Hi Jim: You might be interested in my post in the parallel thread at the top of the page. Hope this finds you and yours well. A pleasant holiday.

Doc

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"Another day in paradise!"

Hey Doc,
Not to sound totally obtuse but....huh? Parallel thread at the top of the page? Who? What? Where? You mean the one where you mentioned a magazine article on fakes or something?

Sorry...just don't understand what you're referring too...


Happy holiday to you and yours as well!

Jim

Well the Malmsteen's have a brass nut as well as DiMarzio pickups. The first MIA version had a 22 fret neck and the newer one 21 frets black dots..
Like others said a home made model there.

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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

Now that you mention it, I remember seeing that somewhere about the brass nuts. That would be a drop dead give away. I also remember something about "machine screw mounting inserts" as well.

I think the newer ones have white dots though...not black. I could be wrong.

Peace,
Jim

That's the one, Jim. Neither obtuse nor acute, but right down the line are you.

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"Another day in paradise!"

Jep, the Dimarzio on a genuine YJM say 'DiMarzio' on the the PU covers, you right about the brass nut; also there is no way colour is vintage white, which is custard coloured pale yellow! Also no 'signature' on the headstock.