Sorry Raja, I got the page number wrong. It's page 8, the same little black booklet. It's part of the case candy of the very tidy black example, posted by Peterstrattele. At the time he was thinking US made.
Also on page 7 we have a post by pretto84, the owner of an E7 s/n example. This is a slightly earlier model with a different Kahler trem. The inspection tag gives two numbers. One for the US and one for export. Hmm. The E8/E9s? who knows?

Rob from Fender has provided all the info he has available. We're talking about different companies. There must be someone out there who knows more.
In the big picture, this model is very obscure and trivial but we have a lot of owners here (thanks to google) from around the world with the same questions.
Please add any new information to the thread.

Goodonya ...Mark.

Hello everyone.

After reading this post I have not yet entirely clear. I'm about to buy a Fender Stratocaster MIJ in good condition and I would like to know what a reasonable price might be knowing that you know is authentic, with serial number E8XXXX

thanks

Hi Nachobijou,
Last year I bought similar strat as this one, in absolute mint condition (see also this forum) for 500 euro (Netherlands), while pretty heavy used ones go here still for 300 euro. I believe in USA the prices are equal, or a bit lower (so eq 400 - 650 USD), but if somebody else has different view ... let us know.
Best regards and good luck with your buy!

_________________
Fender Stratocaster MIJ 1986
Fender Stratocaster MIA? 1988
Fender Acoustic CD-140SCE/BLK 2011
London City Comet I 2005
Gibson SG Classic Faded 2011
Fender Super 112 amp 1991
Peavey Classic 30 112 amp 2008
Vox 15VT & AD30VT XL amps
Boss ME50 + more ..

nacho,

Does it say Made In Japan, or is it missing an indicator of origin?

If it says Made In Japan, don't go over $500.00, unless it has a great case and you love it.

If it's one of the questionable origin / possible Japan-USA hybrids, don't go over $600.

It's still a buyer's market for these guitars, and they are awesome!

We need to strip down one with a decal and one without.
Nacho, if you do buy it, and it has MIJ, some detailed photos would be awesome.
They're a great guitar. There's plenty of recommendations in this thread.

Gecko and Pete, good to see guys still part of the thread

Goodonyaz ...Mark.

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I leave these pictures so we can all say. Owner asks € 450 for it. What you think?

First time I have seen one with the Made In Japan stamp. I think 450 is high. I'd say 400 max.

I just (today) bought one of these without the Made In Japan logo for $500 shipped, with its original case. The seller is overvaluing the guitar a fair bit.

I just bought the blue one on page 15 of this thread. $500.00 shipped. Apparently mint with missing bar and one locking clamp and Billy. It comes in the same molded USA case a lot of these were sold in. Photos soon.

@ Rob Schwarz,

In case you're still following this thread, I wanted to ask...

Is there any way that I could ask you, or another FMIC representative to email the contact at FujiGen who responded to my inquiry, to see if they could share any information back to their client (FMIC) that could then be released by Fender to this thread?

This mystery is driving me nuts, and since I just bought a THIRD Mystery-Strat specimen, I'm more curious than ever.

It would mean the world to me, and likely also mean quite a bit to the other participants of what is a wildly popular thread in this forum for what seems to be a somewhat obscure series.

Thanks in advance for your continued assistance!

New one - 1988 Spyder Strat - near mint, but some ass-clown ground down the frets to super low and flat. Still very playable, but I really may get a quality re-fret as this one sounds far better than my other two Spyder-Strats.

Nice. You could maybe swap necks with one of the other two as a temporary fix.
As I said before, the blue ones look great.

Finally I did not get to buy the guitar. The seller did not want to lower the price so look for other opportunities.

Hi Geckochameleon,
well yes, I have been somewhat following it, but forgive me, not REAL closely.
So bear with me, I'm no longer sure what the question or questions are that seem unanswered.
I will repeat what I've already posted and perhaps i can add a bit of perspective.

U.S. made guitars do not now and never have contained an "ST" designation on the guitars or on the hang tags.
**************
Typical processing on imported guitars in the U.S. in the 80's goes like this:
Generally received in 6-paks
Unpacked in (mostly) Brea and put in clothed racks.
Inspected by U.S. setup/inspection team in U.S (Brea)
Once passed---packed either with or without case and shipped
Without case would be designated (for instance) 506 (black without case)
or 706 (black with case)
*******
If you've wandered around the forum here, you can see clearly that the MIJ markings in the body neck pocket and on the necks are quite different than the US made markings.
***

So again, bear with me please.....after 16 pages....and I'm not being cavalier... what's the question?

Thanks and sorry that I may be bit slow on the uptake perhaps.

All the best,
rob

_________________
______________
rob Schwarz
Director,Fender Customer Service
Proudly serving Fender Customers
for over 30 years

G'day Rob, When I started the thread, I'd only ever seen one other guitar like mine. We now have 20-30 examples, many from owners who have come here to find out where the guitars were made. It's now broadly accepted that they are Japanese but since they don't have a MIJ decal, there are some questions and doubts about their autheticity.
For me personally, the questions are -
*Is it possible that they were US assembled from MIJ parts?
*If they are a complete MIJ product, was the decal deliberately omitted? If so, why?
I'm not suggesting conspiracies etc. It's just a grey area of Fenders history that I/we are interested in.
Unlike Geckochameleon, It's not driving me nuts these days Thanks for your assistance Rob and all those who have contributed.
Goodonyaz ...Mark.

This was taken from the Heartfield central site, who was quoted by a Fender Employee:

Two and a half years ago Fender was faced with two problems. With the weakening of the dollar the cost of imported product was escalating - the demand for American made was increasing beyond our capacity to produce and the desire for what was now mid to high priced Japanese product was rapidly decreasing - making it difficult to support Fujigen as supplier.

And then:

Consumers felt that since Fender was an American company and an American manufacturer that, above a certain price point, the product should be made in the U.S.. And it wasn’t just a question that only product made in the U.S. would sell in the mid to h high price ranges

I would say reading the above and in between the lines, it was because 'MIJ' was hard to sell at the prices they were, so they removed the 'Made In Japan' logos to try and sell them at a time when Japan pricing was escalating to a premium, considering they weren't far off the cost of USA non-fender made guitars.. People wanted a USA made guitar instead and the 'Made in Japan' cheapened the perceived value of the guitar.

That's my take on it anyway.

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