I am looking at a used american deluxe, it says made in 2004.
However, there is no roller nut or S1 switch, features i know as deluxe model features.

Were these features introduced post 2003/4??

If so, what do people think of the pre 2004 deluxe???

Thanks

If it is a 2004 it should have the S1 switch, but it would only have the roller nut if it was an HSS model. I guess it is possible that it could be a 2003-spec American Deluxe with a "DZ4XXXXXX" serial number but I kind of doubt that would exist. For example, I had an American Deluxe V-neck (which was introduced in January 2004) with a "DZ3XXXXXX" serial number since it was assembled at the end of 2003 (and was ready to ship right after the NAMM show in January). That one didn't have a "50th Anniversary of the Stratocaster" logo on the neck plate either; it just had a "Fender Corona CA" neck plate.

It is also possible that the S1 switch failed and was replaced by a standard volume pot - it was kind of rare but a small number of owners reported the switchs failed (these were typically the HH or HSS American Series from 2003 and the first of the 2004-spec American Deluxes). At that time Fender didn't have a stockpile of spare S1 pots so some of these owners replaced the broken S1 pots with normal pots.

Does the guitar have SCN pickups? They would have raised letters "SCN" on the pickup covers. A pre-2004 spec American Deluxe would have Vintage Noiseless pickups, which had silver script reading "Vintage Noiseless" on the covers (but often that script would wear off). Also, if it was made before the last half of 2002 it would have a regular square neck heel instead of the contoured heel.

Hope that helps.

Thanks for the info, the guitar is here-
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... K:MEWAX:IT

seems a good deal.

I deleted my original post because I was able to check out the photos in the auction from my phone (unfortunately many photo sites, including ebay's photos, are blocked by our IT dept).

This is a total parts guitar. I can confirm that the neck appears to be an American Deluxe neck - it has the chrome logo and abalone dots like were found on American Deluxes from 1998-2009 (the new 2010 versions don't have abalone dots any more). The serial number appears to be legit. However, an American Deluxe should have locking tuners; these are simply "F" logo sealed tuners like those found on American Series, Highway 1 or MIM Standard guitars. You can see that in the close-up photo where they show the serial number - which appears to be legitimate. If they are from an American Series, then they would likely be Schallers; if they are from a Highway 1 or MIM Standard they would likely be Pings. The "F" logo locking tuners currently found on American Deluxes have a slightly different shape. Besides, you can clearly see there is no thumbwheel on the back of the tuners.

There was never an American Deluxe in burgandy mist that I can recall. I am positive this is a replacement body; it certainly isn't a Fender American Standard/Strat Plus-Plus Deluxe/American Series/American Deluxe (or any other variant) body. If you look at the photo where they take a close up of the Fender neck plate, you can see that there is no hole in the body for the micro-tilt mechanism - the hole is there in the neck plate but you see the body itself (pretty easy to see the burgandy mist paint through the hole in the plate for the micro-tilt adjustment). The neck plate appears to be legitimate - it could be from an American Series or an earlier American Deluxe (prior to late 2002/early 2003). All 2004-spec and later American Deluxe Strats have the beveled neck heel and matching beveled neck plate. As I mentioned in my first post that beveled neck heel was in place by 2003; there wouldn't be an American Deluxe with a 2004 serial number with the regular neck plate.

The back plate appears to be one from a vintage reissue - American Deluxes have the "modern" back plate with a rectangular opening instead of the 6 holes found on reissues.

I can't see enough of the pickups to figure out what they are; also I can't get a large enough photo of the front on my phone to verify that it has a 2-post trem.

Many problems with this one; I'm not sure about the current exchange rate to make a comment on the price (I'm in the USA) but I would stay away from this one. It's pretty, but you have no idea what you're getting. The only Fender parts I could verify would be the neck, the tuners, the neck plate, and the back plate. But none of them are from the same guitar. If the bridge is a 2-post with chrome saddles then it probably came from the same "doner" guitar as the neck.

Thankyou very much, that was an excellent response!

I have been looking at strats for a couple of weeks now, so by no means an expert, however i did think something was wrong here.

The hunt continues

Good luck with your Strat hunt.

By the way I just took another look at the photos her on my home computer; the guitar has a vintage-type 6-screw bridge, not a 2-post American Deluxe bridge. Yet another indication this is a parts guitar not a factory Fender.