I recently brought a Fender Strat from someone online. It was sold to me as a genuine 62 reissue. I recently knocked the headstock on the guitar which encouraged me to get it checked out. The guy who did the setup for me noticed a few things wrong from the start. Firstly the neck and body were dated 10 years apart. The neck being 2009 and the body 1999. The neck has a USA stamp on it but we're not sure if the body is genuine fender. I have asked him to find out from one of his colleagues and should find out asap. The other strange thing he found was the wiring was not wrapped with material like on proper 60's reissue pickups. The main reason this all came to light was due to the strat not sounding right when played above the 10th fret on the top E string. The tuning sounded flat even when the string was perfectly in tune. The main issue at the moment is the sound problems. If the strat comes back as real I'm not too bothered about the years mismatch as it makes it a bit different but i can't live with the sound problems even after a full proper setup. any ideas here would be much appreciated!!!!!!!!!

Hi fantashtic,

We need to see some pictures to be able to tell anything about it. Pictures of the body with the pick guard removed, the underside of the pick guard, the neck heel stickers, and headstock would help.

Considering that it was setup by a professional (assuming that he knows what he is doing), the string sounding "flat" might just be a bad string. Even a new set of strings can have a dud.

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It sounds like your pickups are set too high -- the magnetic pull is drawing your high E string down which will usually upset the intonation at the upper register of the fretboard.

HTH

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

Here are some pictures that i took of the strat. It includes most of the ones you wanted to see. I looked at changing the strings and have had it done now and still the same problem occurs. I have also tried lowering the pickups slightly but due to being told the pickups aren't ones from a 62 reissue i am thinking that it possibly could be them causing the problems but its strange that ive only just noticed this. If you guys could take a look at the pics and see what you think.

I'll let someone who has seen more of these apart than I have be the final word on this - but I don't believe that Fender ever put stamps into the wood on the neck heels of the reissues like there is on your guitar. The photos I've seen have either hand-written dates (CBS and early FMIC) or ink stamps (after about 1989 or so) like on the body. Also the truss rod adjuster screw appears to be a bit too low; the screw is normally partially into the rosewood (and the rosewood on your's appears to be a bit thin). I don't believe it is a legit USA '62 Reissue neck. How about some photos of the headstock front and back?

The body might be legit with added foil shielding - the stamp looks like what Fender used but of course ink stamps can be faked.

Here's a good website on Fender Reissues - it's done by a shop that specializes in the early reissues:
http://www.fenderreissue.com/

Here is their neck page with photos:
http://www.fenderreissue.com/fender-stratocaster-reissue-strat-necks

And the body page:
http://www.fenderreissue.com/fender-stratocaster-reissue-strat-bodies

I think your problem is pretty obvious if you look at the bridge - all the saddles pretty much in a straight row. Very, very unlikely that's correct.

Worth giving that a check, bet the tuning problem higher up the neck goes away pretty quickly.

Good eye Vulpinity!

I assumed wrong, looks like the setup person doesn't know what he is doing after all.

If the intonation isn't correct, the result could be just as the OP described. Probably a lesser affect on the other strings, but still.

_________________
---> "The amp should be SWITCHED OFF AND UNPLUGGED before you do this!" <---

Por favor, disculpe mi español, no se llega a la práctica con mucha frecuencia.

so john c you believe that the neck might be a fake and that the body may be real? ill take some pictures of the headstock and update them on here.
how do i go about adjusting the bridge? i thought that the only way to adjust that properly was when fender officially does it at the plant using a machine otherwise the intonation would be out.

Adjust the six screws at the end of the bridge plate closest to the output jack. As you can see, turning each screw will adjust the saddle for that particular screw. Turning the screw clockwise will increase the string length. Adjust until the tuned open note is equal to the fretted note at the 12th fret. Loosen the string with the tuner quite a bit before adjusting each saddle to prevent scratching the plate, then re-tune and check intonation, repeat as necessary.

Check the setup guide for all necessary adjustments. Not all adjustments are hard-and-fast rules, but a good starting point, then tweak from there. Scroll down to "Intonation (Fine Tuning)" for more instruction of adjusting as mentioned above.
http://www.fender.com/support/articles/stratocaster-setup-guide

_________________
---> "The amp should be SWITCHED OFF AND UNPLUGGED before you do this!" <---

Por favor, disculpe mi español, no se llega a la práctica con mucha frecuencia.

Wow, those saddles are as straight as can be, as vulnipity
pointed. Your intonation will be way off.
The pickups don't look like any avri with cloth wiring, and
no beveled magnets.
The neck smells fishy, show us the headstock front and back, the
12th fret markings, back of the neck too.

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"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present."

oogway, kungfu panda 2008

Also looking at the date on the neck, reads as if
They're (who ever built the neck) is
using an international way of writing a date.
90-05-09 either
YY-mm-dd or YY-DD-MM

_________________
"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present."

oogway, kungfu panda 2008

I think that the pickups are cheaper ones and that they aren't the originals that doesn't massively concern me at the moment as i was looking at replacing them anyways. If the neck has been marked with the date like that does it mean that it possible isn't an america neck then ??
The sound problem did get slightly better after i lowered the pickups slightly so maybe the magnetic pull might have something to do with it as i have the action quite low. It seems to be choking as well is that down to the pickups or the guitar itself??
I took some photos of the back of the neck and headstock and also the bridge as after looking i think the original photo is prior to the setup being done. The saddles seem to not be as straight as before.

That is a stunning neck, it looks legit, the only thing questionable
Is the stamp of the date and USA , the serial no is on the neck plate
The 12 th markers look good , if it were a fake it would the best reprod
I've seen.
On a side note, tune ur guitar then with the tuner check the
12th fret to see if the notes go sharp or flat

_________________
"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present."

oogway, kungfu panda 2008

personally i do not think the neck is fender. the headstock looks a bit narrow and shaped funny in the photo and where the rosewood meets the maple should not be curved like that

http://www.notedguitars.com/shopimages/ ... stock1.jpg

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Damn good point, thanks for pointing that out to me.

_________________
"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present."

oogway, kungfu panda 2008