i registered just to ask you guys for help. i recently bought a avri 57 strat on ebay from a guy with really good ratings. i want to make sure that this is a real avri 57 strat. i've been a gibson man most of my life and the last time i had a strat was when they released those tom delonge ones, so it's safe to say i have no idea what to look for when spotting a fake. the serial number seems legit but i just want to make sure. sorry if this thread is dumb but here are some pics.




this is the one that concerns me. are the decals sometimes crooked and spaced like this?






i'll take more if you guys need them.

sorry if i posted this in the wrong section.

You're in the right section.

It looks like a legit AV'57 Strat to me with a damaged headstock decal. That's easy enough to do since the decals are just waterlsides applied over the finish (just like Fender did it back in the day).

However, the best way to verify the guitar is email Fender's Consumer Relations about the serial number. They can verify the number, tell you when it was shipped and probably also tell you the original dealer. You can reach them at consumerrelations@fender.com

Were there not pics of the headstock/decal in the auction? Also, the tuners look crooked to me in the pic you posted, could just be the way the pic was taken but.. are they actually crooked?

there were pics of it, i just didn't notice it at the time for some reason. and the tuners aren't crooked.

Yeah i thought it might just be the pics. It does look genuine to me too. Nice guitar. If it plays as nice as it looks it sounds like you got a great Strat.

it plays like a dream, probably because i'm used to playing a heavier than hell les paul with really high action. this is also a really cool forum and i plan on posting on it more!

Yeah those AVRI 57s are one of the nicest Strat models for sure, enjoy it.

I had a '57 AVRI a few years ago, and the one you show there looks authentic to me. To be sure you could always take the neck off to check the date stamp, and then cross-check that date against the neck plate serial number.