I have come across another MIM Black Strat, looks good but a few things worry me, please offer your opinions. The owner tells me its a 1992 MIM. The number on headstock does not look right?

Also the tuners at the back have some slight damage.

Body

http://s834.photobucket.com/albums/zz26 ... ure003.jpg

Headstock

http://s834.photobucket.com/albums/zz26 ... ure001.jpg

Back tuners

http://s834.photobucket.com/albums/zz26 ... ure005.jpg

From the pics, it looks ok to me. I have one of those in that color and year. the MN2 part does have a different font than the rest of the serial number.

It's a bit hard to tell from all the angled photos. The serial no' is ok, it's not straight though. Looks ok to me.

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No no and no

We've seen that 288733 serial number before. Caution............... Mike

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The blues ain't nothin but a good man feelin bad.

I looked again. The neck/logo/machine heads all look alright. The pup screws are the older vintage style. Mine has more of a pan head screw. It is hard to tell from the picture if the bridge saddles have "Fender" stamped on them, but they should. It may be a case of a fender neck with like a squire body. Can you see the guitar physically? if so there is a distinct quality difference between fender bodies and squire bodies. I suppose someone could have done some modification to it, but that is all I can tell from the pics. Good luck.

>cherokee747: what do you mean by that, is the number related to a fake guitar?

>gromitt99: How and what do I look for to tell the difference between a Squier body and a Fender body? I can't see the body physically, so need to rely on photos.

It would be hard if you are not able to see the guitar physically. The Squire products are generally may with lower quality parts. For example, multiple wood strips glued together to make the body, cheaper bridge saddles, cheaper switches and pots, etc. It is hard to tell from the photo, but like in an earlier post, there is the pick guard screws, and If you can get a photograph of the bridge saddles, the genuine fender bridges will have the fender stamp. Squire bridge saddles do not.

From past experience, there is a slight difference in look of knobs and such between the MIM and Squire models. I would not be able to tell unless I saw both together.

I know I've seen that serial number before reguarding fake strats, If it was me , I'd pass on it. Sorry I'm sure thats not what you want to hear................. Mike

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The blues ain't nothin but a good man feelin bad.

cherokee747: thanks for that, I have passed on the guitar. My search will continue, thanks for all of the Fender forum posters input, much appreciated.

Well, obviously I'm a bit late getting in here on this but that one looks pretty legit to me as well...if that sucker is a fake as Cherokee suggests, it looks like a danged good one from the pics. Obviously we can't see anything with the body in these pics as far as markings in the neck pocket goes, but the tuners, headstock/logo, bridge...all that looks like it should look on an early 90's MIM. It doesn't surprise me that the serial number looks a little bit off since the MN9 and the last 5 digits are pretty much separate numbers.

Anyways, just my opinion and a late one at that but depending on what the asking price was on that one, it might be worth chancing...I'd actually run any doubts about the serial number past Fender instead of going by the forum for that.

Peace,
Jim