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Post subject: Fender Replica? Any help is very welcome.
Posted: Sun May 02, 2010 10:28 pm
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Hi, after reading many hours about "how to identify a genuine Fender vs Fake or Replicas... " I'm still confused. I think I've been reading almost every single post on the Internet (specially official or serious Posts about this topic), but couldn't find any certains.

I've taken some pics of my Fender Guitar.

http://s939.photobucket.com/albums/ad23 ... ter%20USA/

As additional information I bought this Guitar as a Genuine used Fender Stratocaster (Made in USA).

The finish looks pretty good (considering it's a used guitar), but it's supicious the lack of a Fender logo or even the Serial number in the metal heel at the end of the neck :?

Any help is very welcome (the question is preventing me from getting sleep :cry: ). Thank you!


Last edited by dogmeatjz on Mon May 03, 2010 7:11 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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Posted: Sun May 02, 2010 10:44 pm
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to me it looks like it is a fake only because the fender logo on the headstock looks like an after market decal. it could even be a partscaster because the bridge looks correct as do the tuning machines but if it is fake someone did a fine damn job on it


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Posted: Sun May 02, 2010 10:46 pm
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d3nyd94 wrote:
to me it looks like it is a fake only because the fender logo on the headstock looks like an after market decal. it could even be a partscaster because the bridge looks correct as do the tuning machines but if it is fake someone did a fine damn job on it

scratch that i ran the serial number
"Your guitar was made at the
Corona Plant (Fender), USA
in the Year(s): 1991 - 1992"


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Posted: Sun May 02, 2010 10:49 pm
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The bridge saddles do not appear to be USA in origin. The MIA parts are usually nickel-plated (occasionally gold), with the dual "FENDER" imprints reading upside down from one another.

The neck seems genuine but the body may be a Squier (or worse).

Have you looked "under the hood" yet? You should see a clean wiring job with an Oak/Grigsby switch, full-size CTS volume and tone pots, and a Switchcraft output jack.

As well, pull the trem cover off the back and examine the block. If it's one of those chintzy skeletonized zinc blocks then it's a sure bet the entire bridge is an import.

HTH

Arjay


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Posted: Mon May 03, 2010 3:59 am
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The truss rod insert is black so I was expecting the serial number to start with the letter "M" indicating a Mexican build. Also, the screws in the back plate are in a symmetrical pattern. One of the two middle screws should be offset. I'm calling fake on this one. IMHO

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Posted: Mon May 03, 2010 4:05 am
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Just a small detain,and I may be wrong about this.The string tree is of the vintage type,but my research says that they have been using cast ones since at least 84.


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Posted: Mon May 03, 2010 4:58 am
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This
Image

Says it's a Mexican made strat.
Sadly someone has been playing with decals and misrepresented the guitar to you. If you bought it at a shop take it back. It's most likely a Fender, just not a USA one. The horrible thing is that once people start playing around with decals you have to start looking at the insides of the body and the neck heel to be sure of its origin.

[/img]

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Post subject: Thank you very much!
Posted: Mon May 03, 2010 6:11 am
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Just wanted to say thank you very much!! I've posted just a few hours ago and I got several answers from you.
About the guitar, the certain thing is that it doesn't look like a real one to anyone so, now I have more than one clue about that .
I'll try to di-assemble the guitar and try to look for part numbers or any other information that could help.
Thanks a lot for your help! :wink:


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Posted: Mon May 03, 2010 6:13 am
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Im 90% confident that the neck is a legitimate MIM Fender. If you were going to copy a strat neck, you'd copy a USA one wouldnt you?

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Posted: Mon May 03, 2010 9:44 am
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Well, this is just my $.02 worth as always but I'm tempted to agree with the general consensus here in that something seems a bit fishy. That neck really looks like an MIM to me...practically identical to my '03 MIM. Clearly as someone else indicated, the trem cover is wrong as well.

If it were me, in addition to taking the neck and pickguard off (make sure you get some nice, clear pictures!), I'd take that trem cover off and look for an extra screw hole or two...if the body is by chance real Fender (even if it's MIM) there should be an extra screw hole or two under the trem cover from the original trem cover (hey, maybe someone broke or lost the original and replaced it with a cheapy aftermarket they had laying around...it happens). If there are no extra screw holes the body is likely a fake. I would also take a really close look at the bridge...get some measurements and see if the spacing is "vintage" or "metric"...I have a sneaking suspicion that it's going to be something like the 52mm that's found on MIM's (which would also verify the body isn't American).

Now...from what I can tell from these pictures at least...if it weren't for the trem cover, I'd suspect this was an MIM where someone changed the logo (it does look like they did a nice job on the logo)...other than the trem cover and the logo, it's looks pretty much like an MIM standard to me. I'd want to take a really close look at that body...there's just no way to tell what the body is from the pics here.

That all said, depending on how much you payed and what the body turns out to be, it could still be a very decent guitar...it could still be a decent little Partscaster there. As long as the body is "real wood" and not some cheap laminate, I'd be willing to bet it's probably a pretty decent guitar. How does it sound? How does if feel? I know some folks would argue this but personally I don't think there's anything wrong with a good partscaster...there are some really great Strats out there that were built from "parts".

Okies...just my $.02 worth as always,
Jim


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Post subject: Thanks to everyone: More pics added
Posted: Mon May 03, 2010 7:02 pm
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Hi,

Again, thanks to everyone for your time!

I decided to dig a bit more on this, and finally I got the whole guitar disassembled.

Given that everyone suspected that something is wrong here (even myself), I've taken more pictures of the parts: When I bought it (used), I took the guitar to a guitarshop for putting some good original single coils (Oh my... at least those seems to be genuine :shock: ).

http://s939.photobucket.com/albums/ad23 ... assembled/

Again, any help/tips/thoughts are very appreciated.

Thanks!
Javier


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Post subject: One more detail...
Posted: Mon May 03, 2010 7:06 pm
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One last detail I found here by chance (and it cannot be appreciated in the crappy picture), into the body (right next to the big "1") the date marked is "Jul 09 1991", amazingly matches with the year of the serial number ( :shock: ), but of course, the whole guitar could be built at that year (fake or not)... Just one more detail.


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Posted: Mon May 03, 2010 7:24 pm
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nikininja wrote:
Im 90% confident that the neck is a legitimate MIM Fender. If you were going to copy a strat neck, you'd copy a USA one wouldnt you?


Niki, I believe Mighty Mite replacement necks have been using that black insert since before the Mexican factory opened, so i wouldn't rule that out either. The body looks rather 'Mighty Mite' to me too(right kind of tooling marks for one,especially in the neck pocket.) though I am not prepared to stand by that. That was the era of the swimming pool route at fender.

That neck logo looks damn good. Period correct for sure, but doesn't jibe with some of the other 'features' of the neck.

dogmeatjz wrote:
One last detail I found here by chance (and it cannot be appreciated in the crappy picture), into the body (right next to the big "1") the date marked is "Jul 09 1991", amazingly matches with the year of the serial number ( :shock: ), but of course, the whole guitar could be built at that year (fake or not)... Just one more detail.
I think this is meaningless. given the quality of the logo, which is not kosher to that neck, it is a small matter to date/stamp the body to match. The logo looks really well done, but it appears that part of the numeral section shifted, i don't know how much differential there was at fender, but comparing mine from that era, that stands out to me.

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Posted: Tue May 04, 2010 7:30 am
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regardless, you have some damn fine pickups under the hood. looks to be Custom Shop Texas Specials (early ones, too)

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Post subject:
Posted: Tue May 04, 2010 12:30 pm
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The body is wrong, too. The middle screws in the back plate are not mis-aligned like they would be on a real Fender. No offense, but unless you know for sure ...
I think it would be safe to assume everything is non-Fender. It looks to be a decent quality counterfeit, top to bottom.

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