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Post subject: Japanese Basswood Question
Posted: Fri Nov 09, 2007 4:39 pm
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Ok, I was going to alter my 80's Japanese Strat with 1 humbucker to make it 3 single coil instead (I already have a Les Paul with humbuckers).

After much research, I figured that it would probably be easier to just buy a new body. I bought a Japanese body on eBay, and the seller said it is basswood.

I did some research (even the FAQ on this site states, "Basswood: the principal wood used on many Japanese made instruments.") and found that basswood is easier to get in Japan and is the primary wood for Japanese guitars.

When I go to Fender.jp, however, there is not a single Strat listed that is made out of basswood. They are all either ash or alder. I even went to other international Fender sites, and noticed that Australia has some poplar Strats, but no basswood.

So what's the deal? If most Japanese Strats are basswood, why do their website say alder or ash?


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Posted: Fri Nov 09, 2007 4:53 pm
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Ibanez uses basswood(American) on the Steve Vai ''Jem" guitars and
other models. For some reason it sounds good with high gain amps.
It's light weight and has an even sustain and flowing wide sound.
Other users are, G&L, Parker, Dean, Peavy and Suhr.
Basswood (Tilia americana) grows in southern Canada and around the
Great Lakes.

Peter


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Posted: Mon Nov 12, 2007 9:52 am
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I guess you can't believe everything you read on Ebay! My guess is that the body is either non-Fender and basswood, or Fender and something like ash. I think Japanese ash is called sen. Its a bit different that our ash, but similar.

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When I was a young man, we called it Vietnam.
Now that I'm an old man, still bleeding in a foreign land........."War Is Not The Answer", 2007.

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Posted: Mon Nov 12, 2007 10:32 am
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Guitargeezer1 wrote:
I guess you can't believe everything you read on Ebay!


Or on this forum.

Many, many Japanese Fender bodies are made of basswood: until recently, virtually all of them.

In terms of resonance, basswood is very similar to ash or alder, and there is no percepitable tonal difference in a solid-body guitar. Basswood got a bad rap because it's softer and more easily dinged than ash or alder, and of course because Fender players superstitiously believe that if Leo didn't do it, it's no good.

Basswood is easy to work and finish, and sounds great. My late 80s Strat and a similarly-dated MIJ Telecater are among the two most lively and resonant guitars I have ever heard or played, and both were basswood.

So, yes, it can be both basswood and a real MIJ Fender body.


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Posted: Mon Nov 12, 2007 10:45 am
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Ya, but Fender itself says on this very site under the FAQ (http://www.fender.com/support/faqs.php#q6) states that basswood is the principal wood used on Japanese guitars? Yet on the website at Fender.jp, none of the Strats are listed as being made with basswood? When I do a Google search, I find that people often say that basswood is just as good as alder, and in fact that Yngwie Malmsteen preferes his made in Japan basswood Strats. But if you go to Fender.jp, the Yngwie Malmsteen Strat is listed as being made with alder?


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Posted: Mon Nov 12, 2007 10:56 am
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"...UNTIL RECENTLY....."

Most Japanese Teles and Strats were made of basswood in the 80s and 90s. I don't know what year they changed over, but only recently did they start making them from ash and alder. Just as all the MIM guitars used to made of poplar, but now they're all ash and alder.

Get it? That body on Ebay is an older MIJ body. Made of basswood. Not a current one, made of someting else.


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Posted: Mon Nov 12, 2007 11:21 am
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This guitar was sold as, "Official Fully Loaded 2007 Fender Stratocaster Body- Fender Stratocaster- 6 lbs, 1 oz- includes all original vintage style hardware and pickups- Genuine Fender" and he confirmed it was made of basswood.

I am currently on Squier's site, and they have a Bullet Strat with the same specs and color, and it is basswood.

I have sent him an email asking him to confirm that it is in fact a Fender and not a Squier, and if so, to explain these discrepencies.

I could have bought an entire Bullet Strat on eBay for a third of the price of what I paid for this body. I will be ticked if it is in fact a Squier! I have never been burned on eBay before!

I will keep you posted!


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Post subject:
Posted: Mon Nov 12, 2007 11:34 am
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Is there any way I can tell once I get it? Is there any kind of stamp or distiguising characteristics that would set a Fender apart from a Squier? This companies website has bodies and has necks. There is not a single neck that is a Squier, so I guess that is promising, and he has Fender Japan necks. If you search Squier on his site, nothing comes up at all. He has an FAQ, and no listing of Squier there. It is a huge company on eBay that has 32,000 sales. None of the negative feedback (of which percentage wise is very low) that complains about being sold Squier instead of Fender.

It looks as though he buys complete guitars, dismantles them, then resells them as parts. The only thing I can tell by looking at is the necks, and they all say Fender on them (even Crafted in Japan or Made in the USA).

Hopefully, he will explain and be able to confirm.


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Post subject:
Posted: Mon Nov 12, 2007 11:38 am
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Sometimes, Ebay sellers represent a Squire body or neck as a Fender. Technically it is a Fender, I suppose. But, saying so is hardly ethical in my mind. The experts on this forum can certainly identify it for you. Good Luck.

P.S. After my comments regarding Basswood, I no longer consider myself knowledgeable. For that, I apologize.

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When I was a young man, we called it Vietnam.
Now that I'm an old man, still bleeding in a foreign land........."War Is Not The Answer", 2007.

www.guitargeezer.com


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Post subject:
Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2007 8:31 am
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Ok, I think I have figured it out. If you go to Fender.jp, all of the guitars listed there are made of ash or alder.
There is another Fender Japan site, however, at: http://www.fenderjapan.co.jp/fender/200 ... caster.htm

Click on any of the Vintage line down the left, and they are all made of basswood! I believe one site is for the export market, and the other is for domestic market. I believe the export ones are basswood (according to some sites I have seen). I have yet to hear from the guy I bought it from, but we will see what he says.

According to this guy:
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/john.blackman4/tips.htm
Most of the guitars on eBay from Japan are in fact basswood, and not alder, as alder is used for their domestic market - and they export the basswood.


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Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2007 2:36 pm
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I'm surprised no one mentioned that basswood is heavy, much more so than alder. I have an '86 MIJ Contemporary Series Strat and it is easily the heaviest Strat I own.


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Post subject:
Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2007 4:04 pm
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Really? I had that one too I think (one humbucker, system 1 bridge, black headstock). I had a black one like

Image
but it was stolen. I replaced it with the same guitar but a kind of silvery green that I didn't like too much. So I stripped all the paint off, and repainted it (just this year actually) with nitrocellulose lacquer (white) and added a black pickguard. It turned out quite nice actually. That is the one I was planning to add the three single coils but thought it would be too much of a mess.

That's how this all began, and when I discovered that it was basswood (I thought it was alder).

Anyway, the reason I am saying all this is I thought it was quite light![/url]


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Post subject:
Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2007 4:24 pm
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Mine is an '86 Contemporary with the System I bridge, black with maple fretboard. Pulled the locking tuner off as it gave me problems, and added string trees like the American Strats of the day. It was still very hard to find a new American Strat at that time.

I have six Strats and this is much heavier than the others. I don't have specs on my Cyclone, but it too is very heavy. It was MIM, but I suspect it is basswood, also.


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Post subject:
Posted: Wed Nov 14, 2007 8:46 am
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From the research that I have done here, I know that MIMs used to be made from poplar, but are now made from either ash or alder. I am not sure the exact date that they switched, but think it was in the 90's.


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Post subject:
Posted: Wed Nov 14, 2007 2:26 pm
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nikilas wrote:
Really? I had that one too I think (one humbucker, system 1 bridge, black headstock). I had a black one like

Image
but it was stolen. I replaced it with the same guitar but a kind of silvery green that I didn't like too much. So I stripped all the paint off, and repainted it (just this year actually) with nitrocellulose lacquer (white) and added a black pickguard. It turned out quite nice actually. That is the one I was planning to add the three single coils but thought it would be too much of a mess.

That's how this all began, and when I discovered that it was basswood (I thought it was alder).

Anyway, the reason I am saying all this is I thought it was quite light![/url]
nice. makes me want to think that was fender's first stab at evh


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