I'm a big Strat Plus fan. Unfortnately I made the mistake of selling mine, but I'd like to hear about yours.

My story:
in 1993 I was looking for a new guitar. I must have played several before I picked up an old stripped down to the wood '87 Strat Plus with Rosewood fret board.

It was a guitar with character. The pick up logos were pretty warn away and the guitar had been stained a kind of redish brown. This guitar has been someone's main gigging guitar because it looked loved. The 1st three frets were pretty warn down and neck was really broken in.

I paid $600 for it. At the time I was very poor and had to trade one guitar and take out a small loan to buy it. As I was at the counter maknig my purchase I noticed about 5 people all wanting to check it out.

In 1999 I made the sorry mistake of selling it for reasons I can't explain. I have since bought more guitars, but if I had the chance to get that one back I would .

There's my story. Tell me yours. Tell me how you came bay it. What color, type of neck and what year.

Paris you need to got to Fender forum member "Xhefri"'s website. He is a strat plus fanatic...and a great guy to boot.
http://www.xhefriguitars.com/
I have been tempted to buy one more than once but they are becoming much more expensive to get. $600.00 was a great deal. They're about twice that now if you can find one in good shape.

Thanks!

I knew nothing about Strat Plus guitars in the mid 1990s. I was at a resort in the mountains of Montana and heard music coming from the small bar there. I peeked in and saw a guy playing solo with midi-tracks and he had this guitar with plastic covered pickups. The bar was basically empty, and I sat down and listened to his last set. Afterward I started talking with the guy and asked about the guitar. It was a Black Strat Plus. He said, "I figured if the pickups were good enough for Clapton, they are good enough for me." I was thinking, "plastic covered pickups??? Man, that ain't right.......

In 1998 I bought my first Plus. That might come as a surprise to some of you. I have been playing since I was 6 and have been around guitars all my life... but after burning out on the music scene in the late 1970s, I sold off almost all of my stuff, some of which were pretty nice guitars and amps. I had only a Mexican Strat and Tele left... I saved my money to get a US Strat and found one on ePay...and got it for $575...it was a dead mint 1996 Midnight Wine Strat Plus. I loved it, but then thought, I really can't afford to have 3 guitars, so I did some research on it, wrote up a description, took some nice picts and sold it on ePay for $750....then I started thinking, ummmmm......

I then bought another one.....and sold it, then I had enough money to buy two of them...and sold them and then I bought 3 and 4 and 5 and 6.....and often sold them.....Then it got up to bout 100 and and then 200.....and on and on..... And over the years I took pictures, research them, kept some of my favorites and sold others, cleaned them up, set them up, customized them....and then started a funky little amateur website www.xhefriguitars.com

It all started from that first 1996 Strat Plus and an investment of $575! These are great guitars and even though I have some nice other guitars, I still always go back to my Strat Plus! My player below:

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Xhefri's Guitars
www.xhefriguitars.com

It was 1987. I had left college one year shy of graduating to make a stab at playing music full-time. I was poor, and because of this I sold almost everything I owned including a 1983 strat that I had modified by putting on a Kahler trem system. I was borrowing an old Traynor amp and a Peavey strat copy to get by, but I was gigging fairly regularly and was finally able to scrape up enough money to get some real equipment. I wanted another strat, and went into the local shop to see what was available, and the sales guy pointed out the hottest new offering from Fender - the Strat Plus. The one he had was Vintage White, and it had a maple neck. I didn't like the way the pickups looked, but was very interested in the locking tuners and roller nut, both of which had a brushed metal finish. After plugging in, there was no going back. This was the best guitar I had ever played. So I bought it. Soon after I also picked up a little Boogie, and had found the combination of guitar and amp that would be what I would use from then on.

I played that guitar every single day over the next year and a half - many gigs, recording sessions and rehearsals. One day I was in NYC to do a session with a friend. It was evening, but not dark out yet, and we parked the van on the street in Greenwich Village leaving our gear inside while we went to get a beer and a bite to eat. When we came back, the side window of the van had been shattered and my guitar was gone.

It was a very bad day for me. I ended up being able to replace that guitar with another strat plus - a 1989 natural with maple neck, which I still have to this day:



Although this is also a great guitar, it just didn't have that special "something" that my original strat plus had. Over the years I have searched for that guitar, or one that would replace it. I've seen some vintage white/maple ones come up on Ebay over the years, but none of that vintage. I've looked through Xhefri's website, and it seems like that particular color is not listed as even being available in 1987. I do know that my guitar had a serial # that made it look like it was an '84, so it was definitely one of the earlier ones.

I picked up an American Deluxe along the way. Also a great guitar, but still a guitar that falls somehwat short of how I remember the vintage white strat plus.

Anyway, my quest to replace the guitar has been ongoing. As fate would have it, I play in a band with a guy who used to work at Fender back in the early 80s when the custom shop was just getting off the ground. He has maintained his ties with some of these folks. A couple of years ago, we played a gig on his birthday and some of these guys came out to NJ from California. One of them was Steve Grom - he was Fender's VP of quality control at the time. I told him the story and he suggested I contact the custom shop to have them create a guitar that would complete the circle - my dream guitar. I took him up on it, and this is what we came up with:



It's not s strat plus, but it's everything I've ever wanted in a guitar, and quite possibly what my old strat plus might look like today had it not been stolen.

The Strat Plus, in my humble opinion, is the best production line guitar Fender has ever made. I have played many over the years, and not one was a dud. I still play my '89 on a regular basis, and it never lets me down. I baby this guitar, and will never let it go. However, now that I have a custom shop creation to compare the strat plus to, I can say that the early strat plus guitars were incredibly well made. The custom shop is an awesome instrument in every way, but unless my memory is completely wrong (and quite possibly I have built it up in my mind over the years), that 1987 Strat Plus was every bit as good.

That's my Strat Plus story.

My wife decided that for my 27th birthday, to take me to our local guitar store and let me buy a new guitar... any guitar. I was like... I'M FINALLY GETTING A LES PAUL!!! I'M GETTING A REAL GIBSON LES PAUL!!! Well, after playing everyone they had, none spoke to me. I was about to leave when the salesman suggested I try a Fender. I didn't want too. My wife said go ahead. So I did.

This is what followed me home:

1991 Fender Strat Plus
Happy Birthday to me... Happy Birthday to me...

After 19 years, it still looks brand new and plays like no-ones business... and I still don't own a Gibson Les Paul.

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-- Joe --
77 Bradley Les Paul Custom
06 Ovation Elite-T 1868T-5
12 Martin Custom GPCPA4 RW
07 PRS CE22 MT
11 PRS MC58 Artist
04 Ltd EC-1000FM ASB
95/02 Fender Stratocaster MiM
03 Epiphone '56 Gold Top LP P90
04 Fender Telecaster MiM

Great story....and really nice guitar! Now aren't you happy you were a good boy and obeyed your wife! Love that color with Maple!

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Xhefri's Guitars
www.xhefriguitars.com

My story isn't quite so interesting. In 1988 I went down to my local Guitar Center in San Jose California to buy a new guitar. I picked out a Ibanez 540 Radius, the model Joe Satriani was playing at the time. I paid for it, but they didn't have the color I wanted so they said they would order it from the factory and should take a couple of weeks.
Well, 2 weeks went by,then 3, then 4,and finally I went down there planning on getting my money back. While I was waiting for the store manager to get my info I looked around, saw a Pewter Strat Plus and thought it looked cool. It reminded me of Clapton's Strat. So I told the manager I would take the Plus instead and that was it, had it ever since.

My story revolves around my awesome wife and our wedding.

Prior to us getting married I had just purchased a 1991 MIA standard strat and went to my friend's music shop to get some new strings and some other accessories. I walked in and saw this '97 Stratocaster Plus in 3 tone sunburst and absolutely fell in love with it. My wife saw how much I really liked it and after our wedding she surprised me with it after I got off work Pretty simple short and sweet.



My only issue with it is I'm not a huge fan of the Gold Lace Sensors....sacrilege I know, I know. I'm thinking about swapping in some Fralins, I won't ever get rid of this guitar though

Yeah I remember you posting that story before and I told my wife she should of got me a 97' strat plus too, cause we got married in 1997, it would of been brand new. She just rolled her eyes at me.

I got her some diamond earrings when we got married that cost about the same. So seems fair to me, so I figure she owes me a strat plus.

Or you could use the threat of a pawn shop for those ear rings for a nice Plus guitar???

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Xhefri's Guitars
www.xhefriguitars.com

Well she lost 1 of them down the shower drain like 5 years ago. I did just buy her a new set for this last christmas, about the same time I bought myself that Strat Plus Deluxe.

Yea baby!

I am the quintessential strat $@!&#. It was actually Xhefris' site that got me started.. what a fascinating site! The more I researched, the more I was convinced that I had "missed out" on a really amazing high-performance line (actually three lines) of Strats!

I currently own three: a 1988 Pewter/Maple Plus built by (now) masterbuilder John Cruz I call the "Silver Cruzer"; a 1993 Blue Pearl Dust/Maple Plus; and a 1998 Inca Silver/Rosewood Plus in mint condition. They are all soooooo sweet. I have an amazing Strat Plus Deluxe on order that I should have in about 10 days!!!!!!!!!! I'll keep you posted!

As promised, here is a teaser. I still have more work to do before I'll post a completed pic.





I AM the worlds worst photo dude - I hate my camera!

When you get it, picts Please!!!!!!!

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Xhefri's Guitars
www.xhefriguitars.com