Its a legit MIJ 1968 stratocaster reissue. maple cap and everything. however the "WITH SYNC TREM" bit looks out of place? or am i seeing things?

It should follow the line of the Fender Stratocaster bit.

Hi KPI,

It may be a combination of headstock shape and decal that look a little different than an original, but yours is very close. The serial numbers on the originals were added sometime around 68, and the logo was changed to the bigger all black lettering, so there are a couple of different looks. This picture isn't very detailed, but you can make out the headstock decal, and it looks very close to yours (sans cigarette burns). I can't tell for sure, but his looks like it might be the gold outlined lettering used right before the change, I believe this is a '68 Strat.

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Straight from the fender japan website. Looks like no problem to me.
http://www.fenderjapan.co.jp/st68-tx.html

Love that glossy head and the narrow nut. My kind of headstock.

Seems that the Japanese don't always get it right.

Here's how my guitar looks.
The "o" in "tremelo" is in line with the second "T" in "Stratocaster". A little different.
This seems the same from the guitar on Fender website.
Looks like there's a bolder font used in that decal from the pic posted above.

These are 4 decals in all, fender-stratocaster-synchronized tremolo-contoured body.
They are all over the place, there are no 2 guitars exactly the same (and it was more crazy on the original 70s).

Cheers,
Robin

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No, they don't.

I've lusted for a CIJ '66 Jazzmaster re-issue for years but theirs has the wrong control knobs and the wrong headstock decal.

Mebbe some day they'll figure it out......

Arjay

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"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

Decals are not easy to apply, in the case of the Fender type if they are applied too dry, then they will adhere instantly and adjustment is impossible without the risk of ripping the decal.

There has been too many false concerns over decals. Yeas there are counterfeit one's but more often than not the guitar itself also has odd details that do not quite match up it's intended delineation.

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"C'est parti mon Kiki "

I've seen many vintage guitars with logos slightly off too, in fact they seem to be all over the place back then.