Did you get a good deal on it because of the missing "S"?



I'm curious to how you know if came from the factory that way. Were you there when the good folks at Mars Music in Nashville opened the box?

It seems they gave you the wrong hang tag for the guitar, so I'm guessing that you were not there when the box was opened.

Those kind of logos are known to lose letters. If a letter is not well attached, for whatever reason, it can come off quite easily. It is a quality issue, but I doubt the inspectors would have let it left the factory like that.

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

it's possible they didn't notice the flaw since it's quite minor.

I have a hard time believing that a QC rep would let something flawed slip past on a top dollar guitar. Of course, being strictly a cosmetic flaw that won't affect playability or sound, I guess it could be possible that they could have let it slide.

Of course, they could have replaced the neck then sanded the headstock, refinished and reapplied the decals and used it on another guitar too.

Strats were intended to be modular so I suspect if there was a problem with a neck, even if it's this minor they could have simply swapped the neck for another. More than likely I suspect the missing letter got overlooked by accident.

As to whether it makes your guitar more valuable - that depends on how many people out there are looking for misprints

I remember recalling a story about another company that used to use a specific color on their B stock isntruments. These were guitars with some sort of cosmetic flaw in the wood and they used this particular color to conceal it. As B stock instruments, they were sold to employees and such at a deep discount. Perfectly playable but not up to standards they expected to sell at full price to the general public.

Some time down the road someone decided that these guitars were more valuable because of the uncommon color... the travesty being that these are substandard examples of this brand and they received a refinish in this color to help identify them as such.

Thanks for the replies guys. Who is this Rob guy and how do I get a hold of him?

That would make sense. It is FOR SURE under the clear. I have inspected this thing to try to figure it out every way possible.

It can't just fall off....It has clearcoat over it. I can understand the cases getting switched, but there is no way this letter simply fell or even rubbed off without damaging the clear...and as you can see the clear is perfect.

I put it on layaway for $1,189.00 plus tax. I worked at Burger King and my dad matched every dollar I had to help me get it. I was 15.

Not all deluxes have clearcoat over the decal. It's a whether they do or don't affair from what I can gather.

One sure fire way of telling if it's a mistake rather than damage is if it reads Tratocaster rather then tratocaster.


Wurgh Tractorcaster better give it to these blokes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zwwqEm5YhQ

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No no and no

I'm not an idiot and am not a kid. This guitar has clearcoat over the decal. No questions asked...the decal did not simply fall or peel off. I'm not on here hoping it is worth more. I was merely wondering why my guitar shipped without the S. The letters are also the same case. The deluxe has no upper or lower case...just the same.

What? The decal has no upper or lower case "T". What does it have in place? Hyroglyphics?

It's an incorrectly cut decal, get over it

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No no and no

I don't have to get over it because I am not upset about it. I was stating all of the letters are uppercase....it doesn't include lower and upper. $@!& off...this place is full of a bunch of $@! hats...$@!& you.

Not sure if you're still around, but just in case Rob Schwarz works for Fender; I believe he is currently the head of their Consumer Relations team/group. He has also been with Fender for quite a while - starting out in assembly/QC back in 1979/80 or so (when they were still owned by CBS) - so he has quite a knowledge base. He may remember how they began handling clear coating the headstock decals on the 1998 American Deluxes.

You could try reaching him by a PM through the forum.