I'm sorry if Manueltrem is a new member but I think he is playing a game with us. That guitar he posted is such a mess it's comical and some of you fell for it. Did no one notice the strings are twisted around each other and not tightened enough to tune? There are so many things wrong with this guitar including the saddles not being close to being intonated either. Come on man! Who in their right mind would put a green pick guard on a sunburst and who would buy or trade for such an ugly guitar? It isn't even close to April 1st.

_________________
...I for one, sure would appreciate the return of intelligent conversation, spirit of assistance and the simple yet effective ignoring of those who can't seem to hang with that...
Best regards,
rob

First time post on here and I have to say that I have learned more in the last hour just reading what was said in this forum than I thought I'd ever know.
Thank you to everyone who has put any time and effort into this because I know you're saving at least a few people a LOT of heartache over their new or potential purchases.

But on to my post...
I've found a strat that looks rather enticing.
Although it has a replaced neck and different pickups that normal.

http://calgary.kijiji.ca/c-buy-and-sell ... Z399666196

So I was a little concerned about it and asked the guy for some more detailed pictures.








I asked him what the deal was with the upgraded neck and he said he won the neck and case in an ebay auction.
I ran the neck serial number and found that it matches to an American 2004 production date. The decal and serial number look really clean and I'm fairly confident that the neck is exactly what he says it is (when considering it is coming with that limited edition case too which is a whole lot harder to counterfeit than the decal).

My concern is with the body. I assumed there would be a serial number or something in the heel pocket that I could run a search on but there's nothing clear there. I also was suspicious of how the heel pocket looks compared to other ones I found in a google search. Looks like cheap wood.

I notice in the ad picture that there is a 2 screw bridge but it looks like maybe there is a one ply white pickguard on there instead of the 3 ply. Could this guy have had a 2010 MIM body of some kind and throw on a 2 screw bridge to pass it off as a 2010 MIA?

He was really quick to send pictures so if there's any other specific pictures that would help to identify the body I am sure I can get them.

Thanks in advance for any help

I long for the days of Vinnie Pop; at least he was upfront about the fact that he was having people on.

I enjoyed your instruction. True, you would have thought it strange to sell a $250 for $1,500. (and I am not advocating doing so). The question I asked myself as I looked at your guitar. How does Fender take a guitar that is mass produced and command the prices they do for them? Same goes for Gibson, which in my opinion, is the greatest offender of guitar pricing. Somewhere somebody inside these companies was chuckling to themselves when they discovered how much people were willing to pay for their instruments. My point? If we were to know how much it truly costs Fender or Gibson to mass produce their instruments and compare that to the retail price, your selling your $250 for $1,500 would not seem so absurd given its context.

Cheers!
RickeG

I apologize if I offended any owners out there that have spent $1,000 plus on their instrument. It was not my intention. I am stating an observation based on what we, as consumers, deem worthy of our money. In reality, the profit margin for the retail instruments may be as much as the profit the thread poster would have made on his mockup.

Hi everyone- I am having trouble telling if this body that is for sale is authentic. Can anyone help? Again, this is just the body. The seller cannot provide the serial because it is "on the neck" which he doesn't seem to have. It is supposedly a 2011 American Deluxe (Tungsten) with Jeff beck Hot noiseless pickups $499. Any way to tell it's authenticity from just the body?

Thank you!

Good call Arc, I was going to call out that green moto pick guard, it's hideous.

That body looks legit.

hey everyone,

last few weeks I've been reading about stratocasters etc and was looking for one on ebay (something like ebay in my country), I found a 1999 USA stratocaster and I was wondering if it is real.
I hope some of you experts can help me since this is my first strat. The owner said he upgraded the guitar with Schaller locking tuners, straplock and Kinman AVn-62 set (two times AVn-62 and one AVn62b).

here are some pictures if I did it correctly, that is (when I clicked preview it didn't load up the image, but it works for me when I right-click open in new tab):










If you can't see the images I'll try to get it to work some other way.

By the way, if it is real, what would the value of the guitar be?
Thanks.

Robior - the photos aren't showing up but I was able to copy the links into another tab and view them.

Yep - it does look to me like a legit 1999 American Standard Strat with the upgrades the seller discussed (Schaller locking tuners, the Kinman pickups, etc.). I thought that in 1999 the Schaller straplock buttons were stock but the American Standards did not come with the clip portion that goes onto the strap so I'm assuming the seller bought those for it as well. The pickguard looks like it might have also been replaced as it looks like parchment instead of plain white.

Is it fake fender

Is what fake Fender? To ellaborate, if you are asking if something is a fake Fender you have to post pics or a link to pics of the Fender is question.

is it fake fender ?
http://imageshack.us/g/442/img0415uf.jpg/

I bought a 60th anniversary tele off a mate last night. U.S made, serial number on the neck is US11003728.

It seems legit but I just can't tell. The online pics seem to have a different bridge and slightly different finish on the body. The neck and the body have two different things written on them, on the neck is 72294, and it also says Placencia. While the body says Feb 18 2011 79376 then I think it says SOL-GOL, then there's a W and finally it says Zapien.

Is this potentially a fake? Or does it all seem legit? Do these numbers need to match up?

Without seeing photos it's hard to say for sure if you have a legit Fender or a fake; some of the fakes carry legit-styled serial numbers.

I can say that serial numbers starting with a "US11" are correct for 2011 USA production-line non-reissue Fenders and the other markings are probably inspection stickers and signatures. By the way all USA non-reissue Teles built during the calendar year 2011 had that "60th Anniversary of the Telecaster" logo on their neck plate - you might just have a regular 2011 Tele and not the "real" anniversary version. Again, we need photos to be able to tell anything here.

The other thing you can do is email the serial number to Fender's consumer relations team (consumerrelations@fender.com); they can look it up for you.

hi guys, im currently staying in the philippines, and im planning on picking up either of these 2 tele's.. mind helping me out? ive ran their serials and they seem to check out.

1992 mim: http://talk.philmusic.com/index.php?top ... msg3785255

2008 mim: http://talk.philmusic.com/index.php?topic=278248.0