Greetings, Delaymaster. Love that sunburst! Rosewood looks good on it.

Delaymaster,

Is there a chance you could let us know if you are the original owner, and if so, if the guitar was sold to you as a USA model as it was to many of us?

If not the original owner, did the person you bought it from provide any details?

Hi,

Unfortunately I'm not the original owner. I bought it used at my local music store (where I also bought a charvel model 3) at a great price. The guy from the shop didn't know anything about it but as far as I'm a locking trem and a strat fan, I fell in love with this little girl even if I didn't knew anything about her. Now I can tell I'm not disappointed

I went back and re-read some of the earlier pages. It seems to me that the material Rob S presented confirms that those unmarked guitars were in fact Japanese.

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

...then it would appear that FMIC misrepresented their product to the music stores to which they sold stock in the Eighties.

I don't believe that's the case, as I am still in contact with the actual salesman from that time (Now a VP of the company...)

I strongly suspect American / Japanese parts were assembled in America.

The only other theory besides USA assembly of these using MIJ parts I've had over the years was that these were supposed to get a paper "Made in Japan" sticker (like the early MIJ Charvels got) and the sticker was never applied at the FujiGen factory. There are a few posts earlier in this thread where people saw these get unboxed at their dealer and there definitely was not a paper "Made in Japan" sticker on them so I don't think anyone would have removed the stickers somewhere down the line.

Yep, I'm still following the thread as much as possible. @Geckochameleon~ No slap intended....sorry if you take it that way. I would go with incapable rather than unwilling since i myself have put some time into looking into this subject. Documentation-especially "available" documentation of much of Fender's product is sparse and hard to find. It may exist in somebody's personal file collection, but is not readily available as a resource here. Much of the information available would be considered "tribal knowledge", and using myself as an example, it is not solidly reliable, though it depends upon who it is and what their position in the company was....is. There are very few people here that were around in the 80's and early 90's, and those that are....are working at what ever it is they do now. Again, there isn't a repository/bank of information that we have the ability to regularly draw upon....sorry.....just the truth.
I went back and looked at the pictures you posted, and what I CAN tell you going by the pictures, is that the neck has import markings on it (ST-557 or whatever) and the body's neck pocket also appears to be MIJ in origin. Although I'm a bit rusty, since I inspected thousands of MIJ guitars during the 80's, I can usually see the diffrence in finish as (at least then) it was polyester (as opposed to Poly-urethane)---so harder and usually shinier as well. Hopefully the VP you are still in contact with may have some info ( I would suspect tribal knowledge again) on details, but as i said previously.....the markings look MIJ in origin to me.
Still an interesting discussion.
All the best,
rob

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

Rob,

Thank you for the response. It is unfortunate that documentation does not exist. As a business owner for the past 20 years, I find it unusual that the records would not exist, as I have hard copy and computer files of each and every assignment I have ever performed for a client. Please understand that I in no way mean that as a "dig" against you. You've clearly assisted to the best of your ability to do so, and that is greatly appreciated.

I continue to suspect some level of US involvement due to the fact that the guitar was sold to me as a USA model, and for US prices, in a US case. This set of circumstances was parroted by other owners as well. Also, there's the conspicuous absence of any Made In Markings. Has that ever happened before? ...or since? ...and wasn't the CA production plant semi-operational at that time? I fully realize that the parts may be all, or part, import in origin (clearly the Kahler Isn't). At the end of the day, the lack of an origin sticker seems, at least to me, to be "by design". Correct me if I'm wrong, but the only other time that Fender did something out of the ordinary with their markings were on the 50's "No-Casters" (no, I'm not silly enough to think that these will ever achieve that status...).
Professionally, I am an insurance and fraud investigator. I am inquisitive by nature, and rarely settle for "I don't know" because my profession does not afford me that luxury.

It's not even that I really desire the guitar to turn out to have American "roots". It's just a challenge. I'll find the answer someday. I would hate to find out that I'd been ripped off all those years ago though.

I don't think there's any question of deception by the Fender company. Possibly in your case, Geckochameleon, the dealer was less than honest. In other cases mentioned in this thread, the dealers seemed confused. In my case however, I was told "Japanese Strat with US hardwear" It still had me wondering though, all these years later, hence the thread, which I consider a great success.

@Delaymaster, they look great in sunburst. Is that a 2-peice body?
@Geckochameleon, If anyone can get to the bottom of this, it's you.

Goodonyaz ...Mark.

Boxbang,

Thanks for your thoughts. I know I came off a little bit "conspiracy theory" but didn't want to sound malicious in any way...

I have a real "spidey sense" feeling that there's a story here though.

I'll find out... it's what I do. I'm going to see if I can reach a Fuji Gen representative.

In the meantime I'm on the hunt for another of these weirdo Strats. They're awesome.

Geckochameleon,
All good, no worries, and no offense at all taken. I often share your frustration, but the nature of creativity changes from person to person and so does the documentation of that creativity. I go back on my own songwriting and am fairly bummed that I have the lyrics written and the tune in my head.....but have no idea what the chords are..... analogies abound.
We're very lucky to have the current manager of Consumer Relations who on his own,in the mid-90's, started documenting , saving, storing, and collecting the info/specs you may have seen earlier in my posts, and continues to do so pretty much everyday---- while managing his department.
We have a decent database at this point......but as you are witness to, there are some gaps. If you have anything to help fill one or a few, by all means~ post away!
Hope you all have a good weekend!
best regards,
rob

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

OK, I bought another 1988 Spyder Strat this weekend. Black with white pickguard and maple fretboard. Photos coming. Used Gorgomyte on the fretboard, which did a fantastic job on the board and frets. Everything was 100% original, including the strap buttons. A few very small dings, but wow,...it's in great shape. Sadly missing the trem bar and lockdown bits for the nut (thank God for wammiworld).

Gotta get those parts, string it up, do the set up, and will then post some pics. Photographed inside the neck pocket, and all numbers match my other one. Again, no country of origin anywhere on it.

I guess I need a period-correct case too.

$400.00 plus tax. It had just been traded in at Sam Ash. They wanted $600.00. I had to educate them a little on it to get the price where it should be. Great guys there though.

Nice score, Gecko!

Well done Gecko.
You know as much about the guitar as anyone that ever bought one
Pics will be great.

Goodonya ...Mark.

Here are some photos, for people interested in such things. Parts came from wammiworld. Although they are out of stock for the next few months on the locking clamps, I lucked into them from another source.











This thing is like new. All completely bone stock except for replaced Kahler trem bar, lockdown clamps and bolts, and even the lockdown clamps and bolts came from a circa late-Eighties NOS kahler locking nut (just the bar came from wammiworld). I'm really happy with this purchase. I have all intentions of locating a period-correct molded case as well.