Hi all I'm new to this forum and I was wondering if any of you guys could help me. I recently aquired 3 fender guitars and I'm trying to find out as much abou them as I can I know the two red and black ones are MIJ serial on the red and black one with only one knob has an A with a 0 serial # and the other red one has and E with a 5 after it which i belive means 85 the other is silver MIM serial # MN then 4 which I believe means 94. I would kinda like to know the value etc. any help would be greatly appreciated Also the one with a black neck I can't find any like that so I don't know if thats something somebody did. http://s942.photobucket.com/albums/ad265/lfd02/

Welcome to the Forum.

I'm not seeing any pictures.

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I didn't Lose my mind, I traded it for this guitar.

Well, I'll toss my $.02 in here but please remember these are strictly my opinions.

The red one with the black neck appears to be something along the lines of an MIJ "Contemporary" Strat. Typically these are usually worth around $300 to $500 or so however this one really looks kind of beat. I'm seeing extra holes around the bridge where it looks like someone tried to mount a traditional vintage style trem to it, the locking nut looks like it's a mess, looks like a nasty little ding there on the headstock, etc.. Based on the pictures there, "as is" I would honestly have to say that guitar really isn't worth more than around $200 or so. And yes, I believe the painted neck and headstock would have been factory finish there.

The silver one just looks pretty much like a typical mid-90's MIM. I can't really see too much from the pics there but it looks like someone swapped pickup covers and the switch tip. If the pickups and bridge are original, then from what I'm seeing there, I think that $250 to $300 on that one would probably be fair...if the bridge and pickups have already been upgraded, perhaps a little bit more (depending on those upgrades). You are correct in that the serial number would denote that it's a '94 however it would be worth pulling the neck and looking at the actual date stamps...the serial numbers went on those headstocks before the necks were finished and don't always represent that actual date of "assembly" (in other words, those parts could have sat in a warehouse for a while before they were assembled in to "a guitar"). In the case of my '96 MIM for example, the stamps in the neck pocket and at the heal of the neck clearly show both were made in February of '96 and my wife bought her for me new in August of '96 so I -know- she's a '96 but the serial number says she's a '94. It's not really a big deal...Fender didn't really change anything at all in those years so for me it's just a matter of specifics. Also in regards to the MIM, while I could be wrong here, I believe that all of the MIM's from that era actually used poplar for the bodies and not alder...at least I know my '96 is poplar. For me it's not a problem...still a great sounding guitar...not really a big difference at all but some folks can get a bit anal about it.

I would note that the MIM's are wonderful guitars...real work horses and very worth upgrading but they don't typically retain a great deal of value money-wise. In other words, if you're a "musician" and you're looking for a great playing instrument, MIM's are truly wonderful however if you're a "collector" and you're looking to get some kind of return on your investment, then the MIM's aren't so great.

Now the second red one...if that is in fact an '85 MIJ E-series, usually those do tend to hold their value pretty well. Again I can't see too much from those pictures but other than a broken string, it looks to be in pretty good shape. The only thing I'm really seeing there is that it looks as though the trem block may not be original...typically the MIJ's of that era came with full size, zinc alloy blocks and that looks like one of the small blocks typically found on the earlier MIM's. Another thing that is bothering me here is that locking nut on the headstock of this guitar...this leads me to believe that either A) Someone added the nut to a guitar that shouldn't have had one or B) someone changed the trem or even the entire body there. With these pictures it's just impossible to tell for sure but my initial guess would be B...someone changed the trem or body. That said, I'm a little reluctant to suggest a value on this instrument at all...-if- the body is original, it could be worth anywhere between $250 and $500...there's just not enough detail in those pictures to know for sure. If on the other hand the body has in fact been changed, chances are the neck is probably worth more than the guitar as a whole...maybe somewhere in the $150 to $200 range depending on the over-all condition of the neck, the tuners, etc..

Now it is worth noting here that being as these instruments are apparently of an unknown origin with an unknown history, it is -very- possible...if not probable...that someone somewhere swapped parts around on them. In the case of that second MIJ for example, we're talking about a guitar...or neck at least, that's well over 20 years old...based on these pictures alone there is just no way to tell if the neck/body is original...someone could have very well taken a nice MIJ neck and slapped it on whatever body they had laying around (which means the body may not even be genuine Fender). Of course folks do swap out things such as pickups and other hardware -all the time- (myself certainly included). When it comes to older used guitars, particularly when they start to be considered "vintage" (as a mid 80's E-series would be), most potential buyers typically want everything as original as possible...or at the very least have the original parts available. In the case of my '85 E-series Squier for example, I have already changed the pickups out (slapped in a set of Fender VN's) and I'm about to upgrade the bridge as well. In this case the original parts are getting stored in nice, sealed baggies and put on a shelf in the (highly unlikely) event that I should ever decide to sell this guitar...I can either put the originals back in myself or simply offer to include them in the sale.

It's also worth nothing that if any of these guitars are actually "partscasters" (i.e. made from various parts from different guitars), that is going to hurt the value significantly. I have -nothing- against a good partscaster...I have one that I built myself and it's a very lovely instrument to say the least but they simply aren't worth a lot of money...in this case often the "parts" are worth more than the instrument as a whole.

I would also have to add that in regards to the MIJ's, unfortunately Fender didn't keep very good records and there's just not a lot of info on them out there. With the E-series serial number for example, technically that just denotes that the guitar was made anywhere between 1984 and 1987...the only real way to know for sure what year it was made in is to pull the neck and look for date stamps. Typically the E-series instruments were in fact -very- good instruments...during that time period they came out of the FujiGen plant and those guys really got things right when it came to workmanship and such. I have an '85 E-series Squier and the body routing on that sucker is cleaner than -any- Strat I've ever seen. Unfortunately in the 6 months or so that I've had her, that's about all I've been able to find out about her...she was made at the FujiGen plant, she's an '85 (based on body stamps), she appears to have a reissue neck and the body is basswood. In fact with this specific guitar, there are a few conflicting things...at first glance is appears to be some kind of 50's reissue...has an 8 hole pickguard (original, no extra holes), and the neck has the truss rod adjustment at the heal, however the neck itself doesn't have the typical "U" shaped "baseball bat" neck as a real 50's reissue would...it's more like a soft "D" (and quite comfortable I might add! LOL!). So all I'm really left with is that it's an "'85 E-series MIJ"...and of course that it's really a wonderful guitar!

If it were me, the first thing I would do is pull the necks on all three guitars and look for any stamps or anything else to verify authenticity of the various parts. This will also give you a more accurate date of manufacture as I stated earlier. I would also pull the pickguards and look at the pickups and wiring...this should give you some clue as to whether those parts are original or not. Also in regards to the MIJ's, I would look very closely at the tooling in the body cavities...as I said, the workman ship on those mid-80's MIJ's was -very- clean...if it looks "sloppy" or even if the bodies turn out to be (gasp) plywood, then you -know- the necks/bodies have been changed. Also in regards to the MIJ's, most of them used basswood for the bodies...there were a few that actually used alder but most were basswood. While it's not definitive by any means, basswood is typically a much lighter wood than either alder or poplar so getting a weight on the body may give you some indication of what kind of wood it is. If the body comes in around 3 lbs, it's a pretty fair chance it's basswood and as such, it's a good chance it may be original (of course, it may not). On the MIM you can also look at the tooling to try and verify authenticity...the MIM's of that era typically had a rather large-ish, round hole right in the middle of the neck pocket.

Alrighty, I don't know if any of that is really going to help you or just confuse you even more! LOL! Seriously...I would strip all three guitars down and take -several- more pictures, particularly of the neck pockets, neck heals, the bridges (front and back), the headstocks (front and back), the body cavities, etc., etc.. With more and better pictures, hopefully folks here can give you a little better indication of what you actually have there.

Peace,
Jim