I just purchased this guitar the other day and opened it up today. I could use some help ID-ing this one. It was billed as a CIJ '67 Reissue Strat. It has the large CBS headstock, vintage tuners, no S/N or markings on the back of the headstock. Very small nut width, much smaller than I'm comfortable with. Has vintage style frets and what appears to be a 7.5" radius fretboard.

I could use some help identifying these pups. They're labeled USA Custom shop and have the cloth wrapped leads. Any other info you folks would have would be greatly appreciated. I've done a lot of googling over the last few days, and while I was able to find the S/N identifying this as a '98, and the neck stamp verifying it was a '67 RI, I can't find anything on specs in regards to the neck profile or the pups.

The guitar itself sounds wonderful. Very, very nice pups. Can't say as they seem especially fat, or hot like I'd expect a Texas Special or Fat 50s to sound (supposedly a lot the CIJs came with them), but very nice nonetheless.




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Anyone have any good info on these?

Steve

This is an easy one. It is a 67 reissue, you know the date as it is stamped on the heel of the neck. The pickups are Texas Specials and the pots are USA 250k. The 5 way switch is Japanese. Fuji Gen has released a lot of reissues with Texas Special. I have seen them on quite a number of 62 Reissue Teles and 62 Strats. This is a nice guitar....with the Japanese quality and neck and body and USA pots and pickups...you can't go wrong. One just needs a good setup and play!

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Xhefri,

Thank you, thank you, thank you I have been scouring the net for the better part of the last day and a half looking for a definitive answer. I figured I had the model and year right, but I saw so much conflicting info on the pups and the CTS pots were throwing me off too. Your's was one of the sites I hit repeatedly

Couple of questions for you if I may - first, the neck stamp, STB-67EX2, I know that ST is strat, I suspect the "B" is nut width? 67 is the year, "EX" means for export to the US, is this correct? What is the "2" for if you know?

Second, do you think someone added the CTS pots, or were there some that shipped like that from Japan?

Thanks again!

Steve

thats what i thought xhefri, but then i noticed the middle pickup has no yellow rwrp wire that tex specs have.

Oh, and also no blue dot on the neck pup. I read where the TS were supposed to have that? The bridge pup has the red dot.

Steve

Yeah, but the blue dot isnt so important i dont think, many tex specs that come on oem on cij guitars dont have any distinguishing features, mine don't. Also, from the close up photo of the bridge, the pickup looks to have a bit of a bevel. Tex specs are unbevelled. Xhefri is right in saying it's a 67 reissue, just not sure what pups.

Neat, another '67 reissue.

Your neck and middle pickups may not be Texas Specials. The Fender Custom Shop produces Fat '50s Strat, '54 Strat, 'and 69 Strat pickups in addition to Texas Specials. I'm wanting to say you may have a mixed set there, with Fat '50s in the neck and middle and a Texas Special at the bridge. Unique pickup selection and it probably was not stock. I bought my '87 '67 Reissue with CS '69 pickups in it and I know it was not built with those pups.

Here are what the back bobbins of Fat '50s look like:


Treat 'er well. These guitars are highly uncommon.

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2006 Fender AVRI 70s Stratocaster: Natural Ash | Sovtek MIG 60 & A No Name Cabinet | Pedals & Junk

Here is what your serial number produced...

Your guitar was made at the
Fuji-gen Plant (for Fender Japan), Japan
in the Year(s): 1985 - 1986

MIJ serial numbers are different than CIJ numbers. The date on the neck makes Guitar Dater's information moot.

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2006 Fender AVRI 70s Stratocaster: Natural Ash | Sovtek MIG 60 & A No Name Cabinet | Pedals & Junk

Yeah I just realised that..I have 2 Mij Strats and 1 Cij Strat and have found them all to be difficult to date or find info on the net for specs.

Serial Numbers: http://xhefriguitars.com/page14.html

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Xhefri's Guitars
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I'm surprised no one else answered this one.

Here's a breakdown of what I'm fairly certain most the stampings on the neck mean:
-ST = Strat
-B = Burst Finish
-67 = Reissue Year
-EX = EXTRAD
-2 = ???

The CTS pots are probably stock. Most of these EXTRAD guitars, especially the ones from the later '90s, were built and shipped with American electronics; however, I'm not totally sure if they built them with Custom Shop pickups. American made pickups, like '57/'62s, most definitely ... but U.S. Custom Shop ... I'm not totally sure.

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2006 Fender AVRI 70s Stratocaster: Natural Ash | Sovtek MIG 60 & A No Name Cabinet | Pedals & Junk

Dear phoenix-caster, I have some of this info about EXTRAD on my website ( http://xhefriguitars.com/page9.html ) but I have been questioned many times about the EX = EXTRAD when stamped in the Body or on the Neck. I am about 90% sure on this but have not been able to confirm it 100%. One guy from Japan was trying to tell me that EXTRAD is always stamped on the back of the headstock and the EX stamped in the neck socket or or on the heel of a neck means EXPORT. The 52 Tele I have looks like Nitro (EXTRAD feature) and is very high quality. I am pretty sure it is an EXTRAD but only has the EX stamp inside and not outside on the headstock. So, how can you confirm what you are saying and put my mind to rest???

Also the B= Blue Burst? How do you know? I am wondering as how could they stamp a body color on a neck? And the body then appears to be Black. If you have some way to inform me I sure would appreciate it!

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Funny this ... I'm going from information I found from your page.

I guess I missed the part that it wasn't 100 percent certain somewhere.

Keep reading on, though.



... His '67 is black, isn't it?

STB is stamped inside of the neck pocket of mine as well. Maybe I'm wrong on "B = finish"/"B = burst (sunburst)"/"B =black" in this case but ...

I'm thinking of decoding those stampings like you can decode the Japan model names. I'll use the '66 Jaguar reissue, for example, which is JG66-93 3TS. Breaking those numbers down:

JG = Jaguar
66 = Reissue Year
93 = Cost in Yen
3TS = 3-Tone Sunburst

This page at FenderJaguar.net explains the code: http://www.fenderjaguar.net/reissue.htm

EDIT: So, I'm sure STB67-EX would mean something like:

ST = Stratocaster
B = ??? (Big head stock/finish/no clue)
67 = Reissue Year
EX = Export (EXTRAD?)

ST always denoted a Stratocaster guitar. The "B" has me puzzled and it seems that all '67 Reissues have the model name "STB-67" stamped on them no matter what the finish.

Also, I did some digging and apparently there were non EXTRAD guitars finished in Nitro and built "correct to vintage." 21frets.com has a lot of info on the early JV/SQ guitars that could help to shed light on this.

http://www.21frets.com/squier_jv/jvstratocaster.htm

The JV Stratocaster there has an EX stamped in the neck pocket meaning export.

Also: http://www.21frets.com/squier_jv/jv_quick_guide.htm

If you notice, a lot of the standard run, top-spec Japanese models had nitro finishes.

I didn't realize how confusing some of these stampings/model names can be. It isn't as straight forward as the Jaguar's ...

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2006 Fender AVRI 70s Stratocaster: Natural Ash | Sovtek MIG 60 & A No Name Cabinet | Pedals & Junk

Interesting! Ya, I know for sure that the number, like 62 = the type of reissue (1962) and the TL or ST stands for Tele or Strat. The last letter (like B) I am not sure or nor the concept of a price, as that would seem to be pretty subjective and weird to stamped inside the neck pocket or on the neck. I always thought some of these markings had to do with in-house stocking, manufacturing or something like that. The EX is either EXTRAD or EXPORT! LOL! Like I said, I am about 90% sure it is EXTRAD....but need to fill in the other 10%

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