I have a friend whos selling his Crafted in Japan 1997-2000 (serial # O + 5 digits)'57 reissue strat for $490. The backplate is missing. Comes with its original hardcase. Is this a good deal?

BTW he's the 2nd owner, bought it 3 yrs back from another guy for $??? i dont know how much. I doubt if he'd honestly tell me. How much do these guitars cost brand new back in 97-2000?

What other details should i look for? Is $490 worth it for this particular instrument?


Paul

From the ones I've seen it seems like a good price. Can you post pictures of it ? If so others could give you a better idea. Good luck.

_________________

If the body is alder then yes, it's a very good price.

Best of luck, HTH

Arjay

_________________
"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

I'm not sure if this is an alder body. I'm guessing its basswood as with the majority of japanese fenders go.

I haven't seen the guitar in person yet. Its posted at my local online classifieds. I'll check it out anytime this week. I don't know if the price is that alluring with all the specs given pressuming the basswood body.

I bought a 93/94 62ri mij strat 2 years ago for about $425 with a zoom707 multiefx unit included. Its probably basswood still i could barely tell from the thick poly sunburst finish. It plays great! tad close to my friend's usa 62. I dont know if vintage reissues could go any lower than that

The "Premium Vintage" re-issues are alder (in some cases, ash).

Ask if you can disassemble the instrument then take a look at the raw lumber inside the neck pocket. If the wood is monotone in color and relatively featureless with no visible stria in the grain, then it's probably basswood.

HTH

Arjay

_________________
"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

The wood and the pickups would be the price setters for me. If it is Alder and has US pickups buy it. If not you can get a new one for about the same price if your in the right place. the lowerpriced MIJ/CIJ's new around 500 but that's basswood and Japanese pickups.

_________________
the vacuum store is a lot like the guitar store. but they do not attract the same clientele as the guitar store, cause if they did, the vacuum store would be loaded with a bunch of broke guys who just wanted to run the new vacuums.

Would i be able to see that through the spring cavity at the back? It doesn't have a cover. BTW i'm from the philippines if this means anything to its value

hmmm i think strats sold here in the philippines are either from usa or mexico. i remember they used to sell strats from japan back in the 90s.

i read there are some cij strats sold in manila but they are rarely found here in cebu. I commonly find them for sale here used but i never found one brand new

Doubtful. Most Strat bodies are fully painted inside the control/pickup routs and the trem cavity.

Arjay

_________________
"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY