Hi, Everybody this is my first posting, and I need some help with identifying this guitar that I just bought on craigslist in eugene oregon for $750, It is a 1988 strat plus in surf green, bahama green or sea foam green, and it has an E4 which means that it is from january 1988 the serial number is E 452135.
Any way
I live in northern idaho so I had my uncle pick it up for me and he will be bringihg it down to my sisters for Thanksgiving, so I can't take any pictures of it right now but I will post the pictures from the craigslist add, You see, the thing I need help with is identifying if it is a prototype to the jeff beck signature strat plus.
It is the same color surf green as the Jeff Beck signature model
it has a coil tap like the Jeff Beck which seems useless on a single coil guitar (the jeff beck has a set of two gold lace sensors in the back so it turns of one)
it has the spritzel locking tuners
it has the first generation wilkinson roller nut witch was used from 1987 (when they started) to early 1988
it has a set of un labled gold lace sensor pickups and a seymore duncan hot rail in the bridge.
it is exactly like the jeff beck signature model except it doesn't have the signiture on the headstock, and the stuff I have mentioned.

I bought this guitar from Ken Luker from luker amps here is the link to his web site http://kenluker.com/lukeramps/
he said it hes never been re soldered or modded and thinks it is all original he has owned it for 18 years, The reason i value his statement so much is because he has been soldering and modding amps for 40+ years and selling them for the past 2 years so he probably knows his stuff about wiring. Here are the links to the pics

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1284/518 ... 8d6b_m.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4084/518 ... 2c5c_m.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1043/518 ... b26f_m.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1029/518 ... 07cc_m.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1019/518 ... 34de_m.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4131/518 ... c355_m.jpg

thanks for looking

Looks like a strat plus to me, that someone switched out the bridge pickup on. I don't see a coil tap switch on it? Unless it's a push/pull kind? The early JB Strats had a button between the 2 tone knobs.

That bridge pickup definitely doesnt look stock.

I'll concurr with the others; it's not a JB Strat, it is a Strat Plus with a changed bridge pickup.

Here is the story as I understand it:

Fender sent a couple of prototypes of what became the Strat Plus to Jeff Beck in hopes of getting him to become an endorser with a signature model, but he wasn't interested in the business side of the deal at the time (1986/1987) - JB didn't think he wanted to have something with his name on it in the marketplace at that time.

Fender named the guitar the Strat Plus and released it along side the American Standards. Meanwhile, JB kept the Strat Pluses and used them. He kept working with Fender and eventually agreed to having a signature model (with the 4-Lace Sensor set-up) based on the Strat Plus which was released in late 1990/early 1991.

Hi I've been trying to date my Strat which has an E4 serial number as well. How did you find out it was from January of 88? Under their product dating under support at the top of the page, it could be 84,85 or 87-88. Just curious how you know the month specifically?
Thanks and regards, Phil

it does have a push/ pull knob, and To me it makes sence that they whould try a push pull knob first before drilling a hole for a button in the pick guard.

Hi I've been trying to date my Strat which has an E4 serial number as well. How did you find out it was from January of 88? Under their product dating under support at the top of the page, it could be 84,85 or 87-88. Just curious how you know the month specifically?
Thanks and regards, Phil[/qu

Sorry that was my mistake the date was from the neck heel.

I Figured that I could not say it better than him so i decided to post the craigslist poasting, so here it is

1988 Fender Strat Plus. This is a fabulous guitar. There is no structural damage or repairs at all. The date on the neck heel is January 1988. It has the E4 serial number which means it was the first of the Strat Plus line, USA. The neck is thicker near the body then regular USA strats and it has Sperzel locking tuners, two point floating vibrato, Wilkinson easy string change roller nut, TBX electronics with pull out coil split for the back Duncan hotrails pickup. It is all original except I am not sure if the back pickup was original or not. The wiring inside does not appear to be changed, however I can find no Fender history for this model. Jeff Beck was in the process of getting a signature model made when this was made. The Jeff Beck signature strats were not the same guitars he helped design. I believe this one is and it may be a pre signature Jeff Beck. In any case this is the real deal and it plays and sounds amazing. The jumbo frets have medium wear and there are a few knicks here and there. No case but comes with a gig bag.

Thanks!

I really think that is craigslist hype. The short version of the story I posted is from Tom Wheeler's book "The Stratocaster Chronicles" - a well-research book on the history of the Strat. It is still a nice early Strat Plus with a replaced pickup and the push-pull pot. I suspect that the person who had it before the current seller did the mods, but it isn't anything that Fender would have put out as a prototype. It wasn't unusual for the early lace models to have the logos wear off - they were just printed on the covers and the covers were smooth. After a couple of years they made a little indentation in the covers for the logo and also stamped the words "Fender-Lace Sensor" into the cover so the words would be there even if the printing wore off.

I Figured that I could not say it better than him so i decided to post the craigslist poasting, so here it is

1988 Fender Strat Plus. This is a fabulous guitar. There is no structural damage or repairs at all. The date on the neck heel is January 1988. It has the E4 serial number which means it was the first of the Strat Plus line, USA. The neck is thicker near the body then regular USA strats and it has Sperzel locking tuners, two point floating vibrato, Wilkinson easy string change roller nut, TBX electronics with pull out coil split for the back Duncan hotrails pickup. It is all original except I am not sure if the back pickup was original or not. The wiring inside does not appear to be changed, however I can find no Fender history for this model. Jeff Beck was in the process of getting a signature model made when this was made. The Jeff Beck signature strats were not the same guitars he helped design. I believe this one is and it may be a pre signature Jeff Beck. In any case this is the real deal and it plays and sounds amazing. The jumbo frets have medium wear and there are a few knicks here and there. No case but comes with a gig bag.[/quote]

I really think that is craigslist hype. The short version of the story I posted is from Tom Wheeler's book "The Stratocaster Chronicles" - a well-research book on the history of the Strat. It is still a nice early Strat Plus with a replaced pickup and the push-pull pot. I suspect that the person who had it before the current seller did the mods, but it isn't anything that Fender would have put out as a prototype. It wasn't unusual for the early lace models to have the logos wear off - they were just printed on the covers and the covers were smooth. After a couple of years they made a little indentation in the covers for the logo and also stamped the words "Fender-Lace Sensor" into the cover so the words would be there even if the printing wore off.[/quote]

Thank you for your reply and I respect your opinion ,but it's the tbx pot that has the push /pull knob on it (Both are in one pot)and i've never seen any after market pot like that even for sale, and i reserched that pickup in the bridge and it wasent even made untill after he bought the gutiar.
Here this the site where i read up on the strat pluss
http://www.xhefriguitars.com/page2.html

Thanks,
Matt..

The push-pull is on the TBX? Sorry, I missed that in your description. That does make things interesting. The other interesting piece is the pickup in the guitar wasn't made until after the guitar was released.

Xhifri's site is a great resource also.

Hi there, As pointed out on my website http://www.xhefriguitars.com/page2.html I talk about the Jeff Beck proto-type myth. Seems some people think that when they get an E4xxx Strat plus in Surf Green or Graffiti Yellow, they have a Jeff Beck proto-type.

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Xhefri's Guitars
www.xhefriguitars.com

Seems some people think that when they get an E4xxx Strat plus in Surf Green or Graffiti Yellow, they have a Jeff Beck proto-type.[/quote]

Hi,
In all fairness you never mentioned surf green in your site's statment you only mentoned the graffiti yellow

Thanks,
Matt.

LOL! Ya, the Yellow is the most common misnomer. I have seen a few times the mention of the Surf Green Beck proto-type, but that is so far off from the original story that it is not only rare, but really unplausible. What has happened is people have twisted the true story and come up with this idea that a E4xxxxx Strat Plus' in Graffiti Yellow are a JB proto-type simply due to the color. Since he had asked Fender to make him a `62 Vintage model painted in the same yellow color as the souped-up Ford truck featured in the movie American Graffiti around the same time Fender was getting ready to release the Plus. They offered to do one for him in that color as his signature Strat. He declined and then later took Fender up on the offer for a signature Strat in late 1989-1990. So one can see how the story gets twisted up? Like I mentioned on my website, when Beck did agree, they never produced a Graffiti Yellow Beck Strat!

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