Hi everyone, I found what might be a pretty good deal on a craigslist strat, but I could use some help from the real experts. Here are the largest pictures I have:



The seller seems to have no clue other than he bought it at a pawn shop. The serial number is Z8065132, which suggests American made, but the color and the stickers are throwing me.

Could it be an American neck on one of the MIM "Classic Series" 50s strats? Did Fender offer Surf Green on American Standards in 08-09? I can't just go look at the guitar because it's about 70 miles away, but if I knew ahead of time that it was a genuine American Standard, it would be worth the trip.

Thanks in advance, you guys are the true experts!

Welcome.

The bridge is the same one as used on MIM Standards and not the ones used on American Strats so right there, you have a mutt.

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AHA! I knew this forum would be my answer. Thanks Martian! Somewhere there's a headless Am Std wishing she could be reunited with her upper half.

Still, do you think it could be the MIM 50s strat? ...it would still be a good deal haha, but probably not for me.

I'm just unaware of any other line of strats that came in surf green recently that would have those specs (ie the bridge you mentioned) and those stickers..

You're welcome.

It could literally be anything. He's got a set of Vintage Noiseless pickups in there which means that the pickups are also not OEM to any of the models you've cited.

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Wow I did not even notice the pickups! That's why I came to the experts. He's asking $450, and I bet I could get it down to $400. In your opinion, is that worth biting on?

I just gave it a quick glance earlier. Now that you are considering buying it, I really focused in on it:

The pickguard is white vs. parchment. OEM, the MIMs are white, the MIAs are parchment. The stickers on the pickguard and backplate are the ones found on MIM Strats, not MIAs. This and my aforementioned is enough to tell me something's amiss with the entire body and everything readily connected with it.

I gave the neck the once over: The "Fender" decal is crooked and the "offset body" one is wrong. There should only be one string tree yet there are two and either way, they are not the correct one for MIAs; nor are the tuners. Further, the walnut trim for the truss rod hole is not there and the 12th fret marker dots are too far apart where all the dot markers in general are all too small. The machine heads aren't OEM to either MIMs or MIAs. Rather, they look like Pings (OEM on Squiers and many other Asian imports).

I went no further in my observations as IMO, I'm convinced the body is at best, a MIM yet the neck is not a Fender at all.

No, I'd avoid this one like the plague. You could get a brand new MIM for this kind of money and not have to worry.

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Wow thanks so much for your information. You have some precise knowledge and an eagle eye. I'll be sticking with my tele, then. I didn't need this one anyway.

Again, many thanks!

Any time!

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Check the frets- Fastest way to tell!

Since the mid '80's, the American strats have 22 frets, Mexican 21.

Look at the last fret marker, if there are two fret wires past it, its American. 21 frets Mexican...

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