I saw what was supposed to be a 50th anniversary strat at my local music store< and wanted to buyit right then and there. But with its high price tag i thought id do some research first. It is solid in color but irread on another site the 50th anniversary is only made in sunburst is this true ?

All American made guitars produced in 2004 came with a 50th Anniversary neck plate. Some people try to use that plate as a way to trick buyers into thinking the guitar is something that it's not.

Perhaps this is the case here.

Post some pics and there will be lots of folks come forward to steer you in the right direction.

Welcome to the Forum.

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Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.

It has the neck plate and comes with a tweed case. has fender usa on the head stock and is solid black in color didnt check the pickguard. i dont have any pictures of it as i didnt buy it .

Fender made some 50th Ann. MIA Strats in 94-95 in custom colours with matching headstocks and they are worth $700-800 .If it doesn't have a matching headstock it's unlikely it's a 50th Ann. model.The 04 50th Ann. Strats were either sunburst or MIMs in Aztec Gold and the MIMs didn't have 50th Ann. printed on them.MIA is Made In America,MIM is Made In Mexico.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

Not to be a nit picker but those were 40th not 50th.

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Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.

A lot of 2004 American Fenders came with nice cases and 50th neck plates. I had an '04 HSS quilt top AD Strat with a brown C&G case and a 50th Anniversary neck plate.

The CS Official 50th Strat had a flame maple neck so that would be the first thing to look for if it's a CS guitar.

The regular production Official 50th Strat had a single ply white pickguard with a 50th logo above the bridge pup.

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Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.

i have a 2004 HSS stratocaster american standard . its all black and has the backplated that say 50th . but its not the anniversary edition .

but yeah the anniversary edition is only in 2 tone sunburst and came with a special case .

http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=h ... N%26um%3D1

this is the one .. its a limited run .

dont get fooled by the palte , the guitar didnt cost more in 2004 rthan 2005 .

Hi BMW-KTM,I'm going by info printed in the Vintage guitar price guide and they say that there was a 50th Ann. Strat made in 94-95 also according to them there was also a 50th Ann. C.S. model made in 95-96 with gold hardware,they probably both made to commerate the 50th Ann. of Fender not the Strat.This seems to be the case as I've seen this info in other publications.Maybe one of our resident Stratologists could confirm this as Vintage Guitar rarely makes such glaring mistakes.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

I forgot to put this in the previous post ,Fender made 2 40th Ann. Strat models in 94,an American Standard based on the 54 and a C.S. Diamond Edition.Obviously to commerate the 40th Ann. of the Strat and not Fender which we all know was founded in 46.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

2004 50th anniversary deluxe stratocaster.



Rear and neckplate

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No no and no

That's a beauty Nik,I wanted to get one like that when I ordered mine but they were a bit out of my reach so I ordered the one a step below,that's a sweet guitar too.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

Good advise.

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Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.

That's the American Deluxe version of the 50th Anny limited. It's just one of the 4 "limited edition" 50th Anny Strats models for 2004. There was an all gold MIM, an American Series, an American Deluxe, and a Custom Shop. The easy to spot visual difference between the Am Series and Am Deluxe is that the Deluxe has gold hardware and the little 50th logo on the pickguard.

But yeah like everyone else said, if it's not 2-tone sunburst or gold, than it's not one of the limited edition 2004 50th Anny Strats.
Rant: I think Fender made a dumb choice to put the 50th Anny neck plate an ALL MIA Strats during 2004 whether limited edition or not. Everyone thinks they have a special Strat and try to charge extra for it. Sheesh!

p.s. Here's my 50th Anny American Series for example:

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Obligatory gear list: Fender, Rickenbacker, Gibson, Gretsch, Vox, Martin, and more Fender.

If anyone finds a 1944 Strat, please let me know I'd like to sell that person the Brooklyn Bridge

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Obligatory gear list: Fender, Rickenbacker, Gibson, Gretsch, Vox, Martin, and more Fender.