http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... TQ:US:1123

But at that price I don't think anyone will be buying it anyway. Looks like a standard with FLS pickups.

I sent him a message about it and this is what he wrote back

"dear friend,thank you for your question,i am not
the origenal owner,and i do not know the history f
the guitar,but my expert friend said that with the
fender LACE SENSOR pickups and with string trees
with 2 tiny halls on head stock,which is a
plus,this guitar is considered a strat plus,if you
wont you could call it modded plus,or an upgrade!"

I would call it an upgraded American Standard. People who don't like FLS, probably would say it was a downgrade. lol

Lol this guy has no clue huh? Well the tell tail signs is the lack of the roller nut and the sperzel locking tuners. So yeah its a very nice guitar but its not strat plus by anymeans like you said its just a standard with lace sensors

I told him it's probably worth $700. Which still might be a little high, since I sometimes see real strat pluses for that much.

I love when they get busted and then throw out the famous-I am selling it for a friend.lol

You guys know what this is? Here is what I have on my website and have checked into these carefully. Fender introduced an Deluxe American Standard Strat in 1989 and discontinued them in 1990—so they had a short production life of about one year. It is estimated that only 400 instruments were produced. They came with all the features of a Strat Plus, such as Gold Lace Sensors but no locking tuners or roller nut. They are some-what collectable and are sometimes sold, mistakenly, as a Strat Plus. (They will often have the E4 or E9 serial number too and many of the parts will be leftovers from the pre-CBS buyout). Over time, these may very well be quite collectable. This one is fairly rare in the Pewter color. I have seen several of these over the years, and have owned 2......

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Well, if the only real difference is the FLS, seems it could be easily faked. I'm sure this one isn't or the guy would be selling it as that instead of a Plus.
If I was Fender and made the american standard deluxe I would of went the other way and had the rollernut, the locking tuners, and no string trees and left out the Lace Sensors.

Maybe if the guy knew what he had and rewrote the ad to reflect it's rareness, he might get that $1500, but I doubt it. lol. I wouldn't buy it for that, I would only buy it cause of the color, and my Strat Plus is already that color.

Exactly....I'd rather use that $1500 towards a Strat Ultra in Firestorm finish.

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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

I emailed him last night and he got back and said "thank you" but never posted my question/answer. Now the poor guy is saying it might be American Standard that someone added Lace pickups too! Oh well, you can only help some people. This guitar, in reality, is worth around $700 to $800 tops.....

Also JasonSD, to make things even more confusing, Fender released another Strat almost like this in 1995-1996 and a anniversary model. Same thing, American Standard with Gold Lace...... See a few of those on eBay as well, marketed as a Plus. The give away on this one on eBay right now is the serial number and the type of the two string trees.

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I would buy that guitar for $700, maybe $750, but not more than that. And if I bought it, I would put the brushed schaller locking tuners on it, and maybe even add a wilkinson rollernut if I could find one. The rosewood looks cracked right at the truss rod opening, so if I added the rollernut, that would all be cut away. And I would have to live with the string trees, or the string tree holes at least.

Jason: that one would be a perfect candidate for the LSR nut! They came out with retro kits to replace the Wilkinson dealie and I think you can still buy them to change out just to improve the guitar. I would replace the nut as long as I could restore it to complete stock in the event I'd ever want to sell it, although if another player bought it, they'd probably just as soon leave the LSR in place. Those roller nuts were cool-looking, but got sticky over time, taking some work to get them working right again. Jeff Beck is the only major player I know of still using them since the replacement kit came out and they just happened to come on his siggy model with the ballbat neck.

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60th Anniversary AD Strat, Deluxe Nashville Tele, Player's P Bass. Mesa/Boogie Mk IV combo, Marshall JCM800, 1960A cab, Genz Benz El Diablo 60, Genz 2x12" cab, too many neat little practice amps and kit projects!

3 of my guitars have the wilkinson rollernut, the oldest being an 88 and haven't had any problems with it. I like the look of it over the LSR. I don't use the tremolo, so don't really need either though. lol
But if I couldn't find a Wilkinson I would put an LSR on.

Same... I like the look of the wilkinson over LSR any day

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I really have not had any problems with the Wilkinson nut unless it was needing lubrication or was not shimmed properly. They are a pain to use heavier strings through. I tried feeding a set of .12s through one and gave up. I have seen a few that someone used, what looked like, a hack saw blade and crudely opened up the slots to be able to feed the bigger strings.

On the other hand the LSR is much easier to string and will accommodate heavier strings. If the rubber bushings get worn, the ball bearings will fall out. When that happens....time for a whole replacement which is a bit spendy. As far as looks, I like both but favor the LSR a little more, as it has a more tidy look rather than a big chunk of steel on the end of the fret board. I do like both though.....

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Not to get off track, although you have established that the guitar is not an upgraded plus.

I had my Wilkinson roller changed to the LSR, to accomodate EB beefy slinky strings, I like that you can change string gauges if you get a whim and not be concerned with modifying a synthetic nut.

The FLS combo of silver silver and blue was weak also, changed to a
Dimarzio Area set after reading about them around here, could not be happier with the sound.

Tremsetter gone. Mine is more of a Strat minus now.

You must have had one of the first Strat Plus Deluxes to have the Silver/Silver/Blue combo.... not my favorite either, while entertaining a variation if you have several Strat Plus'. I think that might have been why Fender only had that combo for 1.5 - 2 years before going to the Blue/Silver/Red combo. I personally like the tremsetter, but one has to know how to set them up correctly. Think a lot of people get frustrated with them because of poor setups. I have some with and without.

If you look at the below at an advertisement that Fender put out in 1990 for the new Strat Plus Deluxe, check out the column just right of the neck, under the bi-flex truss rod picts and see what it says about Gold Lace Sensors being used on both the Plus and the Deluxe American Standard Strat. (Deluxe and Standard in the same title? Ummmm. Odd!).

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