i posted this on the thread "Fans of Strat Plus and Strat Ultra" but it was soon buried in the thread. thought maybe some of the other veiwers of the Forum might like to take a peek!

This is a fairly rare find. It is a Aluminum Body Violet Metal Burst Strat Plus that is New Old Stock. There were about 120 of these made. They came in three colors, some with Rosewood fretboards and some with Maple. Sorry the pictures are not very good. Will be taking more on a better day! Of all these they made, this one is one of the rarest of the batch. These were released in 1995 and discontinued in 1996. This one is a 1994 Anniversary model (sporting a 1993 serial number!). I checked the serial number and it matches with what Fender had on record so it is the real deal from 1994 and must have come out late in 94 right on the release of these in 1995.

(751) Blue Metal Burst: Rosewood @ 20 made, Maple @ 20 made

(752) Violet Metal Burst: Rosewood @ 20 made, Maple @20 made

(753) Stars and Stripes: Rosewood @ 20 made, Maple @ 20 made

Total Made around 120.

No need to hijack this thread about tone wood, but with all the debate on tone woods, I was of course very interested to see what this would sound like. Unplugged it is very acoustic. Plugged in it sounded like any of my other Strat Plus'!!! Ummmm.... I could not tell any difference anyhow, from any other Plus with Gold Laces!

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Xhefri's Guitars
www.xhefriguitars.com

Absolutely beautiful and didnt even know there was aluminum bodies

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Mona
"Music is What Feelings Sound like"

that thing looks so sweet!

Is it light?

I wonder what kind of paint they used.

Beautiful guitar! Is all metal or just covered in metal? A buddy of mine had his black Joe Statriani guitar dipped in nickel. It weighs a ton now, but looks amazing.

Very cool guitar. Not what i was expecting from an aluminum body.

Hollow aluminum.

Fender never did the Plus Deluxe and the Ultra with aluminum bodies. But I'm pretty certain that you can build some!

FYI a few "Stars and Stripes" strats featured aluminum bodies covered with 7.000 Swarovski crystals (such as this 1990 USA Standard pictured below). This custom job was performed in 2001 by a company outside of Fender. The crystals weigh about a quarter of a pound.

These guitars were colloquially called "Swarovski Strats".

I saw a '94 40th Anniv American Std that was aluminum stars & stripes body on Ishibashi U-box store. I think that went for about JPY95000- which I thought was fairly reasonable considering its rarity

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Very Nice Sir Very Nice indeed,,,
How do you come across these.....

BTW I have to PM you about a find....

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"C'est parti mon Kiki "

Thanks for posting I completely missed this in the other thread....

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"C'est parti mon Kiki "

Holy f**k.

That looks superbly cool. Reminds me of the typical Tyler paintjobs, without the crass headstock design.

Sweet-as-a-nut score. Love the headstock (and decal!) in particular.

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'01 American Deluxe HSS Strat.
'87 Japan HSS Strat.
'11 Custom Shop FMT HSS Strat.

"Without music, time is just a bunch of boring production deadlines and dates by which bills must be paid."

From what I am told these have an anodized paint finish with a clear coat of some sort. It weighs about the same as a Standard Plus. When I get back from this next trip I will post some better Picts.

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Xhefri's Guitars
www.xhefriguitars.com

Hi Jeff: that's interesting. Thanks for the thread.

So, same weight, similar sound - any idea how the original cost compared? I've a feeling we're getting a handle on why these bodies are thin on the ground...

By the way, do you know anything about the production process? They're hollow, right? So were they cast in front and back pieces and joined together, or was it a one-piece hollow casting? If so, how'd that work?

Cheers - C

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Well, it has my attention.
Beautiful.
Definitely the nicest shades of Purple, ever.
Congratulations! Toppscore

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I just realized that I never commented on this guitar in either thread.

What a nice score; these are so rare that while I had seen photos back in the day I had forgotten all about them. Very nice; love the purple metal burst finish and I would love to find one myself in the blue metal burst finish.