OK, so I bought this guitar on ebay mainly because I needed a beater to travel with and it has a nice relic look. I paid less than $150, so I'm not too worried about getting ripped off. Here's the thing. It was listed as an 80's Fender Strat body, very possible it's not the original neck. How can I tell if the body is a true Fender? The guy said that the neck could possibly be a Fender but he didn't want to make a false statement and he felt if it was, it still was not the original neck, but said the body was a Fender. Help me if you can with ID or suggestions as to what to look for. I'm not sure if pickguard is original or pickups although the pickups seem to have aged with the rest of the guitar. It looks like maybe a 62 reissue????? Also, the truss is in the neck heel rather than the headstock...although as stated earlier, it may not even originally go to this guitar. Thanks in advance.











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The neck is not a Fender neck. To tell if it's a Fender body, remove the pickguard and look in the pickup cavities for identification.

On the neck....I believe you, just hoping for more of an explanation. What should be in the pickup cavities? I've never seen anything in a Fender body cavity? If the cavities are all actual single cavities rather than bored out to to a swimming pool is one possible sign to be a Fender.....? Would you elaborate? Thnaks.

The french curve coming out of the headstock's "ball" is totally wrong.

That's no Fender neck.

Arjay

For what you paid... PMWL


Play More... Worry Less

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Concur -- There is no question about the neck being non-Fender. It's really not even close.

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You wanted a beater for $150 and looks wise I think you got a nice ax. If it sounds good you hit a home run.

Mate you got a $150 strat copy, what did you expect for the money. There are no bargains anymore, everyone knows what everything is worth thanks to the world wide web. That body is not fender either. Look at the cutout for the truss adjuster nut. Look at the curvature of the lower horn, that lower horn looks more mosrite than fender. I'm sure it's not a mosrite either.

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No no and no

I expected a beater guitar which is what I got. I was just trying to find out if the beater had a Fender body. Just asked for folks' perspectives and possibly info to help me track down the identity of the body. I felt like the guy I bougt it from was pretty up front that the neck was not the original nor did he really think it was a Fender so I could not use it to make my decision about what it is. If he was truthful about the neck, I was hoping he was truthful about the body and the fact that all of the pup cavities were singles which most copies don't do, got me guessing. And I agree it's not a mosrite or really even close.

Hi jackdragbean, welcome to the Forum.

It's often very hard to ID a body, for obvious reasons. Your only chance is to show us nice clear photos of the front of the guitar with the pickguard off so's we can see all the cavities. And a nice clear focused picture of the inside of the neck pocket.

While you're at it, a view of the back of the pickguard showing the pups and pots would help too.

Very difficult to prove a negative - but contrawise there just could be something in there that says Fender to someone here...

Cheers - C

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Jack does it really matter for a beater mate. It looks nice, I hope it plays and sounds good too.

I love the aged body and neck tint.

Worst comes to the worst you could always use it as a testbed for mods and suchlike. In all truthfulness though, I just wouldnt be negative about it. The guitar that got me into strats was a cheapo copy. It played horribly but sounded divine.

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No no and no

Sorry man- I should have elaborated. As for the neck, other dudes have already nailed it further down in the thread; the curve off the ball on the headstock is obviously not Fender's. As for the body, the Custom Shop bodies have stamps inside the pup cavities that designate them as Relics or not... I had that in mind when I posted and should have clarified. At the price you paid, it's obviously not from the CS, so I shouldn't have posted that. My apologies. Sometimes there are stickers in the neck pockets, but not on all models. That said, the body shape does look a bit "off" to me, as Nikininja noted. The shape isn't quite "right". Looks like a cool axe though; play it and dig it!!

I know that body. I have one. It's the body Carvin sells. It has a smaller neck plate too.

The plot thickens! Let's have a look under the hood like Ceri suggested.

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