Hi guys! I've just purchased this guitar on ebay for cheap and I would like to know what to expect when it arrives (hopefully by the end of the week) about the authenticity of the different parts.

Here is what the selller said about it :
"I purchased the guitar a couple of years ago on ebay. The guitar is a heaily distressed white fender strat. I am unsure what type of strat it is as can't seem to find a serial number. Im presuming this has been a custom build by a person and the parts bought separatly. This is however reflected in the price and is sold as seen. Plays great and a bit reluctant to sell but need the cash. Comes with a carry bag."

I've only three pictures:





I know there is no serial number, so my expectation are not very high but I'd assume that if you make a fake, you simply put a decal with a serial number while you're at it.

Thanks,
Jonat

I personally can't tell from those pics. The screw hole pattern on the pickguard is wrong but it could be a replacement pickguard. the screw hole pattern for the trem cover however is right - which is usually a dead giveaway on a fake.

Need more and better pix (of the whole neck for example - back of headstock too). The terrible cellphone quality makes it hard to see what we're looking at.

I've edited my post with the pictures from ebay instead of the mobile screenshots but I'm not sure it's any better...

I'll take better pics once I got it.

Hi everyone,

I'm pretty new to Fenders. Can anyone lend their expertise to this Strat's authenticity? The serial number (E973579) seems to check out.

Based on the hardware, decals, etc. it looks like a legit mid-80s Made in Japan (MIJ) Standard Strat to me. On the MIJs only the letter means anything; most MIJs with a serial number starting with an "E" were made circa 1984-1986. It looks like it's in good shape for its age.

That's great to hear! I'm feeling pretty inclined to grab it now. Thanks for your input.

I got a guitar from a trade. Was wondering what kind it is and if it was real. I know nothing about guitars. How do i post pics.

Hi there, first post. Very grateful to everyone for the info in this thread.

This guitar is being sold by a woman who inherited it. She knows nothing about guitars (she's genuine, it's not an act) and she's not asking very much for this machine at all. So, in the spirit of "if it's too good to be true..." I'd like to run it by you fellows. The serial checks out as 1988-89, Corona plant.

The truss inlay is not present and I'm not sure about the tuners. The screw hole pattern for the trem cover looks right (there's been a few more screws chucked in there at some point by the looks of things). The lacquer wear on the back of the headstock looks forced to me, but I don't claim to have an eye for such things.

Anyway, opinions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks guys!

You are correct, the truss rod plug is wrong plus a 21 fret neck - i'm not super familiar with '80s strats but it looks like they should be 22 fret "modern" strats or 21 fret re-issues and this is neither. That alone would keep me away. I also don't believe that text on the back of the headstock is correct. looks like the wrong string trees as well.

Bridge and saddles look wrong

Serial font and spacing is all wrong - anybody can fake a valid format serial#. Additionally, I think some people don't realize that those serial # websites only validate the FORMAT of the serial#, they do NOT validate that the serial# was actually used on a guitar (for example E899999 is "valid" but I guarantee it never sent on a Strat)

Edit -compare it to this 1988 American standard (I think they were American Standards then)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1988-Fender-Str ... 336f985279

with all due respect.. While this thread has a lot of great info...
but..

maybe it's just me, but why would we want to help the people that try to make and sell these with information like this that enables them to make "better" fakes?

I guess I'm on the fence with this.. I understand the intent was pure here, but on the other hand..

by the way,, the last post (blue strat)-- I'd be suspicious of this one.

I guess since it's already laid out well enough, did you actually read the first post?

It's been discussed in the past and there are definitely two schools of thought.

Personally I believe that spreading information does NOT contribute to better fakes - the details are out there for anyone who really wants to make a good one. Hell a smart counterfeiter would just buy a real American Strat and copy it. The problem is that is that is expensive and labor intensive.

It is very easy to take a cheap Squier (or any other Strat clone out there) and put a Fake Fender Stratocaster decal on it and fool enough people that it is cost effective. It is very difficult to do replicate a fake American Strat however. The spare parts simply aren't available to cobble one together to fool someone who knows what they are looking at.

Well it seems gentlemen that this is all rather academic now as the eBay item I listed above has been pulled from the site.

Suspicious much?

yep!!! totally suspicious.

about my last comment, please understand I'm just offering my opinion.

The OP went to great lengths to post a very comprehensive article on the matter.

the real shame is that we have to be on the look out for counterfeits...

Yep - the blue one there is a fake. Got to the bottom of the story; it's a Sunn Mustang with some knockoff Fender decals (more about them in a minute).

So; the giveaways apparently are; wrong typeface for 'Stratocaster', totally wrong tuners - but these are exactly the tuners which came on the Sunn Mustang, pickups are too close together on the scratchplate, the second set of screw holes for the trem cover were the originals, the faker put the Fender style offset screw holes in to throw us off the scent, and finally the neck plate is from a much later model Fender.

Now, back to that decal - this is funny - if you look at the serial on the photo you can clearly see it reads 'E844119'. A Google search for 'stratocaster decal e844119' turns up other threads on guitar forums of people questioning whether their 'Stratocaster' with the serial E844119 is genuine! Check it out;

http://www.fendertalk.com/forum/archive ... 16889.html

So, some time ago, someone churned out a whole load of counterfeit decals all with the serial E844119 and they've slowly been making their way onto Squires, Sunns and other knockoffs ever since. How's that for some internet forensics?

Hi Guys I want to buy this stratocaster, as you can see it's CIJ 2004-05 the neck is definitely vintage (reissue) I've done as much research as I could but did not find out which model it could be, body doesn't match neither '50 reissues nor '62 because on these models the top screw should be in the middle between the neck and middle pickups, 68 has different neck top, if it's standard then the machine heads should be different, I also was not able to find out how many vintage starats Japanese have reissued to compare them to this one, I'm really confused, please give me some advice, the only thing that comes to my mind is that this guitar is built from different parts, in addition I think that pickups are not the same color compared to each other, not talking about the knobs. Any thoughts? Thanks, Nick.