I'm not going to buy it or anything - I just wondered what everyone made of it. The seller tells an interesting tale, and this is the third time I've seen this same guitar listed in the last six months or so (the first two times were by another seller, the same person both times).

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll ... _500wt_956

A simple partscaster....or something far more sinister?

In my amateur opinion I would say that's not a legitimate strat.

The body shape is incorrect (the horns are too square at the edges and the lower horn is too thin, and it doesn't look like there's a cutaway at all in the back or top. The Stratish logo is waaay to close to the edge and slightly off kilter.

Looks like a fine example of a 89 Heavy Metal strat. 24fret neck, one vol one tone, floydrose.
If that body has been refinished they have made a excellent job of it. The only thing that makes me think it could be a refinish is that it isnt marked.
Based on the sellers description 'Perhaps Fender' I'd be asking a few questions. Namely wanting to see the heel of the neck and neck pocket of the body.

I'm pretty much sold on it though. I'd probably buy it just for coolness, the price seems very reasonable. Perhaps too reasonable which further supports the idea of contacting the seller, just to sound him out if anything.

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My issue is more with the condition. It looks to me like it has had a bit of a hard life. Also, I am not at all a fan of the ever-popular all-black hardware, but that is just my opinion. HOWEVER ... I still think the guitar is pretty cool. I would love the opportunity to snag a guitar like this, and really go over it with a detailed cleaning and such, and change the pups (I am guessing here that they could stand an upgrade). This guitar could be a complete shredder. But based on its questionable past and unpopular configuration, this guitar seems not worth much over $400 US. How much is $900 AU?

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Laughing out loud with fear and hope, I have a desperate plan ...

What I dont like about it is it has been up for sale 3 times in 6 months. You say it was listed twice by the same seller which is fine but obviously the guy who bought it and is now selling it was not that impressed or he would not be selling it. I would pass on those issues alone.

I've never seen a 24 fret strat before.... Nor have I seen black tuners.... Might not be real...

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"Epitaph on a blues musician’s tombstone: “I didn’t wake up this morning”" Davy Knowles


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I guess I'm too much of a purist. I would not want a guitar that looked like that at all. JMHO!!

What do you mean, "you people"?!


sorry I couldn't resist...

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You people. Who said that Kong? I must have missed something!

I dont see any signs of a wear at all. I was suspecting the fret tops but just had a good zoom in on them and its shadow from the light or flash.

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My bad then ... I guess I was mis-reading the pics.

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Laughing out loud with fear and hope, I have a desperate plan ...

In truth mate I thought I'd missed something serious and went back and had a reall good look. When looking at the nut end of the fretboard I saw what could be seen as a lot of fretwear. I then went and dug out my jackson with a locking nut on it as a comparison. Those nuts must make the strings sit a little higher because that guitar has the same shadowing under the strings. A bit of a weird one that.
What I did do was go looking round google images at Budweiser Stratocasters, not much info there. The most I could find was a couple of Heartfield (Fender sudsidiary) superstrats and some info from this very forum
Previous Forum Thread

More reason to be suspicious? Probably. I think it's time to call the big guns in on this one and contact customer services.

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I tend to agree with Niki that this is a HM Strat. It may be an early one before they changed the headstock to the "Strat" modern logo. Trem on those guitars was a Kahler Spyder which this one looks like it has. HM's don't have the string bar behind the nut typically, so it could have been added or it's a Floyd neck from another guitar. The nut doesn't appear to be a Kahler because you could see flat area on the nut closest to the headstock that would say Kahler. But that doesn't mean that it couldn't have been swapped out because those string locks were always either missing or stripped and Kahler went out of business so parts were difficult to find. (Kahler is back in business now but those old Spyder parts are still hard to get)

Most of these guitars were made in Japan although this one says Made in USA on the headstock. But the typical HM's had a Fender neckplate that said USA on it, even though they were made in Japan. There was some early conflict on these guitars because some were made in California and some were partially assembled or parts used were USA. Also HM's had a contoured heel so the neck plate has the offset screw holes. If I had to guess I would say that this is not an HM neck.

Also most HM's came with three knobs, a 3 or 5 way switch depending on the configuration and a coil tap toggle for the bridge humbucker. It is possible though that there could have been different configurations since this guitar was made for a few years in the early 80's with different headstock treatments. I believe that the 3rd version had two controls. Keep in mind that Fender was sold in 84. That "E" serial number also has me confused since most of the Japan made HM's had that E serial prefix. It's also possible that if the neck were replaced that this could have been a Squier body. It would help to see the neck off the guitar and photos of the heel and pocket.

I thought these Fender super strats usually just had "Strat" or "The Strat." I have never seen one that actually had "Stratocaster" on it.

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Live guitars: 2009 LTD Truckster, 1989 Strat Plus, 2001 Am Standard Strat, 1996 MIJ Jaguar, 2007 Gibson Explorer 76 reissue, 1999 Ibanez RG7621, LTD MH-301, LTD FM400, 1999 Jackson Kelly, Mystery Les Paul, Hamer Chaparel, Fender FM 62SCE A/E Mandolin

In doing some more research it may appear that there was an HM with that type of logo. Here is a good web site that has lots of info on the HM

http://www.heavymetalstrat.com/

You can also link to their forum where there has been discussion on Budweiser Strat's. Apparently there may be an HM Ultra or at least a derivative to make the Budweiser guitars. There are more designs than the one mentioned here.