I have a Tobacco Burst Squier Bullet 1 Stratocaster with NO serial number other than a gold sticker on neck plate which reads "TS-3CR". Guitar has a heel truss rod adjustment and a Strat shaped headstock though heel of neck is Tele shaped/straight. Also pickguard and rear cover are one-ply black plastic. Any assistance identfying exact model and place of manufacture will be appreciated. I've added pics of guitar for reference.

Are the made in Japan necks identifiable by heel truss rod adjustment?

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Forgot to add it has a SOLID body.

Some have suggested it may be Japan production can anyone verify that?

I see nothing in those photo's that tells me its of Japanese origin. The logo is correct to the Japanese bullet's, but I thought they all had small headstocks. The neck pocket isnt like traditional squire models either though. Curiouser and curiouser

Is their any chance of a close up of the neck pocket and one of the neck heel?

If it is a early 80's bullet you've a serious ammount of guitar on your hands.

a 83 Bullet

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You might have something there nik It may be an S-3 Bullet but the body don't look right. Maybe just a Bullet neck.

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I think figuring out what type of wood the body is would be start.

Is that neck pocket tele style also?

I know the pictures are a little blurry but it doesnt look like alder to me, its a little too pale. Not that I'm anywhere near knowledgable about such things.

Its pretty impossible to determine the shape of the neckpocket with the scratchplate on. I would like to look under that plate though. The squire neckpockets usually have a hole right the way through them. This body looks like a vintage reissue or something top end of fender. Squire usually have a hole right the way through the floor of the pocket. Dunno about 80's ones though.

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Neck heel IS Tele shaped. Though neck has Stratocaster headstock the neck heel IS definitely TELECASTER ! !

I'm adding a pic of the neck pocket.

Looking at that neck pocket, and its lack of mouse ears. The high quality of the paint edges where the paint laps over into the pocket, I can only surmise that its a high class replacement body.
Heres a shot of my customshop look at the similarities between this and your body compared to American standard/deluxe/MIM/Squire guitars. Vintage reissue to my knowledge are similar to your body except for the cellulose paint.



Neat paint edges, minimal markings (I blocked over the serial codes with windows paint), no tooling holes, no mouse ears.

What we really need to do now is find a picture of a early 80's squire body thats confirmed legit and compare the 3. I've a feeling its a very good replacement body. That clearer shot looks like poplar too me, its very pale. Note also that your neck pocket shows no sign of a wood join. Whereas mine does. Thats also intresting as I cant see a join on the body of the guitar. Any chance of a rear of body shot, It could be a one piece body.

[EDIT] Whilst you have your tools out can you measure the center of the high E bridge saddle to the low E and tell me what you get. Metric or imperial.

[EDIT 2]
Heres a listing for a 83JV Squier body looks very similar to me.
http://tinyurl.com/yj9m34w

Hers another to some guys flickr page. Another striking similarity to your body.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/34994278@N04/

The body is legit. I'd be more concerned with the neck. I cant find a 83 bullet with a strat headstock. I certainly dont remember ever physicaly seeing one back then either. Neck heel and underside photos are needed to assess that.

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Just spoke to FenderUSA in Arizona and they seem to think it's an early Bullet. The serial number doesn't come up they say "pre-'93" likely '81-'83.

I must correct something it is a FULL SIZE BODY and NOT laminated either. It has stock Dimarzio pots.

I'm adding additional pics to help w/identification.

More pics including neck.

I can't bear to alter or bugger this guitar having bought it from the original owner JUST for the neck. My plans have now changed as I'm sure it shouldn't be "parted out" so if someone wants it "message" me. I'll include a set of pre-wired pickups & pots I already bought to install.

The dent is the ONLY mar on this otherwise pristine body. There are two miniscule "dots" the size of a pen tip below the bridge which do NOT penetrate the finish or show up when photographed.

My '85 Japan Tele shaped Bullet "1" HSS has the same Strat headstock w/Telecaster heel. So does another I bought for a friends son. This is what's confusing me. I don't want to destroy the "collectibility" or "originality" of this guitar. Having bought it for the Tele heeled neck which I now don't need I toyed with the idea of installing Fender Lead III humbuckers. Doing that would necessitate routing the body and there's where I'm stuck. I won't ruin something like this. As far as I can tell the body IS a one-piece. I added "clickable" thumbnails so others may enlarge the pics to determmine authenticity.

Personaly given the recent desirability of JV squiers (fender have just released a whole JV Squier inspired/reissue range because of these guitars) , I wouldnt touch those guitars. You have confirmation from the horses mouth as it were from fender. Thats far more valuable than some bloke on the internets opinion. It all looks bang on legit to me. I'd go as far as to say that you'd be hard pressed to find a better example. A lot of these didnt make it through the years, they were budget guitars when released and suffered a lot of mods.

What you have there is a piece of history. Buy a cheapo MIM body and neck to put the lead humbuckers in. Dont touch the bullets. Their a prime example of how Japanese build quality was directly responsible for the quality of the American fenders built today. Your guitar is a prime example of what Dan Smith would have taken to fender to show them what they had to compete against. They closed the factory down whilst they re-educated the builders, afterwards. I strongly suspect its also why we now buy from FMIC rather than CBS.


Nice guitar mate, really nice.

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