Hey there, new guy first post here. I am a Canadian and I just bid and won a Fender Stratocaster off of the EBAY site. Doing research, find the more I do the more confused I get about these guitars and the authenticity of this specific model. The model number is c035787 I believe. Here is a link to a series of photos of the guitar:

http://imageevent.com/chingo123/november2011/fenderstratblack6433

I am curious about the authenticity here, as reading up here on this forum and other sites I am led to believe that there should be a Made In Japan stamp on the bottom of the neck at the plate, which there is not. Also, I am under the impression that the plate should have some sort of stamp on it as well, which isn't there. So I am kind of confused. Should this stuff be on the guitar? Is this an authentic Fender MIJ 1985-86 Stratocaster? Do the electronics and body look to be as well if so? Thanks a lot for your time here, I am pretty confused about this.

hi and welcome to the forum , it looks like a standard strat (no fender stamp on neck plate or the saddles ) check out this site http://homepage.ntlworld.com/john.blackman4/models.htm
cheers
Alan

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Wow that is a pretty great site. Yeah looking at their model chart it does look like a Standard. I didn't know they weren't to have the stamp on them. It's no big deal I was just curious if the system had been swapped out for after market stuff. This guitar is being shipped over from Japan, so it looks like it was a non export or was made for Japanese use and it was sold privately to me over EBAY. This may account for the lack of MIJ stamp at the bottom of the neck? That fantastic site details if I read correctly that the non export guitars are to include Texas pickups, but this guitar doesn't look like it does, because it looks like plastic under the pickups. Also the pickups are staggered, which is not normal for these Standards?

hi again , one of the reasons it's not stamped on the neck is because it's a budget model (i have an 89 standard ) it came with a small sticker on the back of the headstock which read "made in japan" . Now the pickups , as your strat is an older model it won't have the T/S pickups , looking at the pics they are the cheaper ceramic magnet type ( also fitted in my 89 std) although your's seem to have staggered poles , never seen those type on ceramics before , HTH , cheers
Alan

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