Hey there!

I'm currently having a problem knowing if my Fender is genuine. I bought a SRV strat second hand. I got a pretty good deal on it so I didn't really question it at the time of purchase. However, I noticed there are a few differences between my guitar and the one listed on Fender's website. Was there a SRV guitar made with Chrome hardware? All the ones I see are gold with the bridge tremolo reversed. However this could be replaced afterwords. The man who sold it to me told me that it was a Japanese guitar, not American. So were SRV guitars made in Japan at all? What are the things to look at to see if it really is a SRV guitar?

It would help a great deal if someone helped.

Thanks.

Welcome to the Forum.

To my knowledge all SRV Guitars are American made. But, I have been wrong.

More pics would help as well as the serial number.

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I didn't Lose my mind, I traded it for this guitar.

I don't think they ever made SRV guitars anywhere but America either.

Although there's nothing to stop anyone from putting a black pickguard that says SRV on it on any sunburst strat and calling it an SRV model.

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Fender USA Artist Series SRV's come with gold hardware on the tremolo, all the screws for the pickguard and the back plate, the Vintage Kluson Tuners, the neck plate, the input jack and the strap buttons. Most notably the tremolo is a left handed model. In your photo it shows an incorrect right handed one. To my knowledge there was not one made with Chrome hardware.





All SRV's are USA made. There are no Mexi versions or any Japanese versions.



You should look to see the serial number on the back of the headstock. You can match up serial numbers on the web to determine a correct serial number. The pickguard will be a three ply (black/white/black) that has the SRV routed out. Your photo appears to have a vinyl decal, which would be incorrect. Ironically SRV's real SRV One has a vinyl decal on it the day he died. The guitar was in development and a Fender Custom Shop guy used those letters to show how the SRV would look on the Artist guitar. He kept it on and you can see some photos where its starting to peel off. You can buy that decal on eBay for about 15.00 US.

As mentioned before the trem is a 6 screw left handed model in gold. If you want to get further proof, although even with the poor photo I can tell that it's not a real SRV, you could unscrew the neck and look to see what the markings are on the neck heel. There usually will be an SRV marking in there somewhere. Also if you pull the pickguard, you should find all cloth wiring, in black,white and yellow. The pickups should have a custom shop marking since SRV's have Texas Specials. Also the SRV came with a Fender G&G vintage tweed case.

I would say that by looking at the poor sunburst paint work, that you have yourself a cheap knockoff. Without seeing it further, it's hard to say whether there are fraudulent parts included. But I'd say if you paid more than 200 US on this, you probably got ripped. An authentic used USA SRV would run you at least 800-900 minimum, although you may find some deals on some that are fairly well used. I'm sorry to be so frank, and some other's here may disagree, but I have a USA SRV that I bought new, along with about 4 others that I have custom built from SRV parts and sold or am in the process of selling. Hope this helps.

Fender Japan ST62G-SPL SRV Artist Replica.

This guitar was made in 2007.

Just a small correction, the Texas Specials in the SRV model do not have the Custom Shop logo. That logo is only on the after market sets they sell.

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Tune Low, Play Hard & Floor it!

This guitar is missing the SRV initials in the pick guard. That alone would make me question it.

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chromeface was just proving that there was a Japanese SRV model. That's not the original poster's guitar.

We need more pics of the original poster's guitar to know if it was just a MIM with a SRV pickguard or a Chinese copy.

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

I bought a USA SRV STRAT just 2 days ago and I called Fender and had it authenticated. They told me the month and year it was made and told me that all SRV STRATS are USA made. You could call them.

The phone# is 480.596.9690

There was this model nwhich I guess it CIJ on interpretation on the SRV model. It has the same pickups etc... looks better without the initials

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I saw that one too.It has a right handed tremolo and a 11 hole pickgard rather than a 8 hole.I wonder what the radius is and if it has the 6105 frets.Those features make the SRV in my opinion.