Cheers Mark!

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

hey there!

Just caught up with the new posts.... great information Rob, thanks! Funny thing is, I was just at a guys house playing and he had an old red Squire Contemporary Strat (black headstock and knobs, no pickguard) with a locking tremolo, and I was thinking how similar it was to mine. If it was ca. early 1990s, that makes sense based on this new info

Hello guys,
I jump into your discussion with some info which could help both you and me.
I own what I believe to be a Fender Stratocaster Contemporary Standard 22, MIJ decal on the headstock, E73 serial sumber.
I cannot figure out the production year, even if everything point to 1987.
Bridge: Kahler fulcrum traditional 2520
562 stamp on the neck pocket, 557 stamp on the neck (22 frets).
Sunburst 3 colours.
The original shipping/inspection tag declares: model 284302(for Export), 284352(for USA).

Apart from the trem, I can see features really similar to yours, I wonder if this can be helpful for you!
Some pictures:

Inspection Tag

http://i1069.photobucket.com/albums/u46 ... 012701.jpg

Neck marking

http://i1069.photobucket.com/albums/u46 ... 012554.jpg

Body marking

http://i1069.photobucket.com/albums/u46 ... 012558.jpg

Bridge

http://i1069.photobucket.com/albums/u46 ... rato_3.jpg

Pick-ups Alnico

http://i1069.photobucket.com/albums/u46 ... 040352.jpg

Headstock


Here is the beast


Cheers!
Alberto

I have one of these no country fenders with the kahler spyders, gotch tuning pegs. Serial #E819xxx. It's bright blue with a rosewood neck. I bought it at a guitar center in Chicago in '89. I was a freshman in high school. i liked the color. Gigged with it all through high school, college snd beyond. I always thought it was an American strat that some hair metal dude geeked up with a floating trem. When I looked up the serial, it says american made in corona, CA. Now i know its a weird mystery MIJ/American strat? Glad I found this thread. Interesting.

Well Fender did use serial numbers that started with "E" on MIJ guitars in the 1980s. Most of those were circa 1984-1986 (the earlier Contemporary models), but these umarked oddball models have the "E" numbers way later than than the other MIJs. To me the key is the color of the headstock serial number decal - and based on your description I suspect that your serial number on the headstock is printed in gray text. USA Fenders have never used anything but black text for serial numbers located on the headstock. Post some photos but it sounds like you've definitely got one of these oddball models.

G'day Pskat, Yes, please post a picture. The more detail the better.
It sure sounds like one of our mystery models, but bright blue?, that's new. If you bought it in '89, that's a fairly new guitar for a refinish. I would be fascinated to see the neck pocket if you really want to delve further.

Goodonya ...Mark.

I know this is a thread of long standing, but as it seems to be the only place on the net where people know about and seem interested in this cool looking and seemingly quite rare guitar and I've just acquired one, I thought I'd sign up and share!

Mine is an E8 (1988?) model, sunburst with a dark, presumably rosewood, fingerboard. I've not seen another sunburst with this neck but am sure there must be others and they seem to match. It has a small 'Fender' stamp, a larger 'ST-562 stamp, a 'C' stamp and an 'S' (in a circle) in the neck pocket, as well as a hand-written character, which looks like an 'F'. 'ST-562 E' and a 'C' are stamped on the neck heel. It has a Kahler Spyder fitted as standard. The pick guard is I think also original, in white-black-white 3-ply with the funny little cut away to accomodate the Spyder.

It's had a tough life, with plenty of chips and dings. At some point in the past the back of the headstock has cracked and been repaired, probably with cyanoacrylate - aside from a couple of small lever marks in the crack, it doesn't move at all. The neck feels really good but is twisted (about 6mm lower on the high e side at the nut) so it's currently in a jig to straighten it.

It came missing a bunch of parts for the vibrato and locking nut, others were badly worn. Whammyworld in Las Vegas have been able to supply all of them to me in London - fine tuners, trem arm, locking nut screws and wedge plates, plus replacement blades and posts. Not cheap though.

The worst part is someone has at some point stripped its intestines - it came fitted with a mixed bag of cheap, low output single coils, a nasty plastic 5 way switch, cheap skinny wiring and the smallest, crappiest pots I have ever seen in my life. I took a bit of a gamble buying it unseen though and didn't know this until after I'd bought it. So, my next task is to fit replacements electronics. I've not decided on whether I should try to get originals (they seem hard to find), to fit something close to originals, or to 'upgrade' what would have been there with something better, CTS pots and US standard or some vintage style PUPS maybe. Anyone have any thoughts?

I'll add some pictures later, of course!

G'day Nobby, Yep, this is the place. Congratulations on your new guitar.
The inner workings? hmm well that's all part of the mystery. I assume that these Strats have the standard pickup, pots etc that were fitted to the US Strats of the time (circa 1988). Technically, I can't be of much use, but there's a wealth of knowledge on this forum so someone may be able to help. Just bump the thread occasionally and add some photos of your progress.
I was interested to hear that Whammyworld has parts for the Spyder. I've been meaning to replace these bolts.



Since these Strats don't seem to be worth a great deal, I suggest you don't worry too much about originality and fit it out with the high quality components of your choice. It's never going to be a collectors item, especially with your neck issues. They are a well built guitar though. Enjoy, and again PLEASE post pictures.



Goodonya... Mark.

Hey Mark, thanks for the reply. She's almost back up and running - wammiworld sent the wrong micro adjusters for the trem, it seems they made two sizes and my trem has the smaller ones, so I have had to send them back to Vegas for exchange. Other than that, all sorted.

The bits you are after replacing on your trem are here -http://www.wammiworld.com/p8452.php - $8 a go though I'm not sure I'd bother.

The neck issues on mine are sorted I think: the guitar had a set of skinny top, heavy bottom strings and had obviously been near a radiator or in the sun for a bit, but with a bit of heat and a few days clamped up it is now pretty much perfect and seems to be holding with a set of 10s.

The trem is really nice - much better than any floyd rose I've ever tried. I have set it up with four springs and pretty low to the body, with brand new posts and blades, lubed with a tiny bit of copper grease. It returns to pitch pretty much perfectly every time and has a really nice feel to it. Seems to sustain pretty well too.

I took your advice on the internals and didn't go original: instead I fitted CTS pots, vintage wiring and cap, a treble bleed mod on the volume, switchcraft jack, 5 way oak grigsby and a set of tex-mex pickups. It's got some quack and some really rich grunt too. It plays great and my wife, who normally only plays a classical guitar, seems to agree as I can't get it back from her.

Pictures tonight (I hope!)

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Right, I've finally sorted some pictures! None of the inside but there's nothing other than three standard pickup routes in there, CTS pots, an oak grigsby switch and mexi pups - in others words, nothing original as it had all been stripped out before I got it.
Am still waiting on replacement microtuners for the trem. One of the string locking blocks is not original, but I kind of like it so it stays!

To recap, guitar dater project says it was made at the Fuji-gen Plant (for Fender Japan), Japan in the Year(s): 1984 - 1987. Kahler Spyder puts is at 87 (earlier ones had different trems)



























For anyone trying to work out what they've got, I hope these pictures help!

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Hey guys, I'm new to the forum. From what I gather on this thread I Have a 1987 MIJ Strat in lake placid blue, Kahler Spyder tremolo, Gotoh tuners, maple neck and Evans pickups serial E. Unlike alot of the others in this thread it does have the Made in Japan decal, it sat in a case since the 90's and looks pretty good my dad bought it a couple years ago off his best friend and he left it with me while while he's getting some things straitened up in his life. I sent it to a local shop to be cleaned, fret job, strings, intonation and neck job. Soon as it gets back ill post some pics for all to see

p.s Also If it matters my dads best friend used to play with Jeff Healey(or so im told) when he did shows in atlantic Canada, and my dad said it may be linked to him but I dont think Jeff Healey ever played this kind of strat back then .

Hey Mark - Lots of replies so I have not read through the entire thread, but have you called Fender for information ? I had a MIK FMT Telecaster that was made for some kind of promotion with one of the major retailers, so other than some general details (body type, neck shape, number of frets, etc) I couldn't find anything specific about my guitar. Even the SN format didn't match the convention on the Product Dater website - but I was happy to find out that Fender was able to provide every detail about it when I called their product support line.

Your situation might be a little different as it seems that production records are a little iffy during that period so they may not have them - worth a call if you haven't though. Good luck mate.

Thanks for all the replies.
Nobby, well done on the restoration mate. It should be good now for another 25 years. You said it'd had a hard life, but it looks really straight and clean. The photographs are stunning
MIJSTRAT, Thanks for your contribution. I'm wondering, does yours have this kind of nut?



They seem to be more common on the ones with the MIJ decal, a year or so earlier than our no decal model.

....and tpereira, I haven't contacted Fender directly but we had Rob's input on the last few pages. He was an employee back then and remembers nothing unusual about these guitars. As we all know, records are sketchy for this era.

Goodonyaz ...Mark.

Hi Mark, I'm hoping to get my guitar back from the shop tomorrow so I can post some pics, but regarding the nut it is actually a floyd rose styled locking system by kahler. Three locking nuts at the very end of the fret board similar to later models 87-88 maybe. From what I understand my guitar is identical in every way to Nobby's and the others but in lake placid blue and has evan pups. It also has the made in japan decal. When I do finally have it in hand again I will remove the neck to check for manufacturer marks and hopefully find out some more info on these strange batch of strats.

On another note, in the mean time my 61' reissue gibson sg and peavey wolfgang are seeing alot more "amp" time filling the void. haha

Thanks MIJSTRAT, OK so your nut's one of these huh?



Your guitar is an important piece of the puzzle. I will be very interested to see the pictures, especially the the neck heel and pocket. I guess I'd be looking for evidence of a respray, but maybe it's an original color option. I'd previously only heard of Black, White, Sunburst and Candy Apple Red.
Thanks again for your contribution. The investigation continues.

(my 1000th post )

Goodonyaz all. ....Mark.