So I have the opportunity to get my hand on a relatives USA made strat. The serial is E428889. I have emailed Fender and found out as much as I can (not a great deal) but nothing really helps pin down the year. I have been told it was bought in early 1986 (maybe late 1985) but can find no back up for that.

Is it worth taking the neck off? Any other suggestions?

I can email pictures to anyone if that helps.
Cheers drwoodsy

post a picture if you can it would help some of the pros in here help you..also I found tons of info about my E4 serial strat at this website Hope it helps you it did me!
http://www.xhefriguitars.com/page14.html

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Mona
"Music is What Feelings Sound like"

Thanks for the advise. Here's a few pictures.





What is a reasonaable price for this era model?

It's an early American Standard Strat that looks like it's in good condition. It would date to anywhere between the fall of 1986 to mid-1988. The prototypes of the American Standards were shown at the Summer 1986 NAMM show but the guitars weren't officially introduced until the January 1987 show. However, based on dates and other sources of information ("The Stratocaster Chronicles" and other books) production of these started up around October of 1986 (FMIC bought Fender from CBS in February 1985, but they didn't get their factory up and running until October 1985; for that first year of FMIC's factory they only built US Reissues - the predecessors to the American Vintage series).

Prices for these have been all over the place - for a few years now some dealers have been listing these on gBase at fairly premium prices for these ($1,300 or more); I don't know if any ever sold at that price. I don't think that is a super rare color (like Graffiti Yellow), and since this is a private sale it shouldn't go for $1,300+. However, since production was far lower than later years I also believe they would be worth a bit more than the typical $600-$800 that say a 1990s American Standard would bring.

Thanks for all the information, much appreciated. Guess I will give it a play and see how it feels.

All normal things considered, buy it in a heartbeat, ive got 4 strats and my 87 is as good as any of em.

@John C



FYI Strat Central erroneously stated that the very first American Standard prototypes came into fruition in 1984, which is confusing. This Nickel-Plated American Standard has serial #: E415584.

Due to the misleading serial numbers Fender used during the mid-to-late 1980s, I think this guitar was not made in 1984 but circa 1986/87. The nickel plating was a custom paintjob done by a company outside Fender.

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I've noticed that on Strat Central; they are wrong. The dates I'm using come from Tom Wheeler's "The Stratocaster Chronicles" augmented by old Guitar Player magazines with NAMM Show features from 1986 and 1987. Unfortuantely I ran out of space for the old magazines in our old house in Kentucky so I purged a bunch of them in the fall of 2010. Prior to that I had a complete set of issues from October 1981 through July 1988 and a second complete set of issues that started in April 1993. I had some random issues from prior to October 1981 (like the EVH issue from April 1980) and also random issues for the period in-between the two subscriptions (this coincided with the "sabbatical" I took from playing in the late 1980s/early 1990s). Unfortunately the two issues in question were part of the purge, but they had pretty complete details. The 1986 issue (I do remember it was a John McLaughlin cover story on his use of guitar synthesizers) was particularly interesting because it described a guitar they were calling the "Vintage Plus" that had noiseless pickups and a mid-boost that was shown alongside the American Standard prototypes. It kind of sounded like a "missing link" between the CBS-era Elite Strat and the final version Strat Plus that came out later (and perhaps also was a "missing link" to the Eric Clapton Signature).

That chromed guitar is cool, and I believe you are correct that the finish was done aftermarket - someone somewhere tracked that down.

The "Vintage Plus" is a '57RI with Elite pickups and circuitry.

Not to be confused with the ESP Vintage Plus, which is a Fender knock-off.

That chromed Strat reminds me the JS 10th Anniversary "Chrome Boy" from Ibanez

+abunch for John C (always!)

I was Quality Assurance in Corona when we started the American Standards and John C's statement of time is correct. If ya pop the neck you might even find a felt pen ROBS in the neck pocket (whoo hoo, cheap thrills!)

But....The color in the picture looks like Candy Apple Red. I don't believe that we started by offereing Candy Apple. I believe....and the March 87 Pricelist bears this out, that we began with Torino Red. Red in pictures doesnt always reproduce well so its hard to say, but Torino Red was lighter and flatter than the one pictured.
Here's my timeline as i remember it.
Feb 85 come back to work (as a temp) for the new Fender in the old CBS building.
June 85- move to Brea (Mfg to Corona) complete--hired back on officially.
Spring-Summer 86 I transfer to Corona --work on Vintage Reissues
Fall 86 -Begin Production on American Standards.

....and thats enough of my exciting life!!
At any rate, if the guitar pictured is Torino Red, chances are decent that its a late 86/87 guitar. If its Candy Apple Red, its likely an 88.

Hope that helps (and doesnt confuse) abit,
all the best,
rob
PS I have no recollection of the Vintage Plus series at all!! (sheesh!)

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

Rob - the only mention I've seen of the "Vintage Plus" were a very brief mention in a 1986 Guitar Player magazine wrap-up of the Summer 1986 NAMM show (I don't remember the month but John McLaughlin was the cover story - unfortunately I wound up cutting my "collection" down to just the issues I wanted to keep and that was not one of the "keepers") and also a brief description in Tom Wheeler's "The Stratocaster Chronicles" on pages 213-214 (if you have a copy hanging around your office). Evidently it was only shown as a prototype at that show - and the only description is that it had "active circuitry".

It was never produced and the Strat Plus went into production instead.

The Strat Plus doesn't sport the MDX mid boost. It does, however, had the TBX circuit for the middle/bridge pickups. The neck pickup uses a standard tone control.

The only Plus featuring the MDX circuit was the Custom Shop 35th Anniversary Stratocaster of 1989. Unlike the Clapton Strat this model sported three Silver Lace Sensors and the active/passive toggle switch which was deleted from Eric's namesake signature guitar the previous year.

I think you're misinterpreting my posts - the point I was trying to make was that this Vintage Plus prototype was shown as a potential "next model up" in the lineup from the American Standard; it was never produced and the Strat Plus was developed and put into production instead. By "missing link" I was just referring to the position in Fender's lineup, not necessarily the features as of course the MDX from the Elite was reworked an put into the Clapton Strat and those CS 35th Anniversary Strats. I've never seen a 35th in person, just photos in books and online.

Chromeface or JohnC; what/which circuits, wiring, MDXs, TBXs, boosts, in/out phasing, etc.
are available or were factory installed within my 1990 Fender Stratocaster Plus Ultra?
Thank you for your's or anybody's response. Toppscore

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