Hi there!

Here's a pic of my 1986 MIJ Contemporary strat with a HSS, 5-way, 2-knob configuration and what I believe is a System 1 tremolo based on this info: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/john.blackman4/trem.htm. What has me curious is that there is no configuration/model in the manual (http://support.fender.com/manuals/instr ... (Japan1985)_manual.pdf) that has this setup. Was it common for features to be fudged between the models, or was this some type of custom option that could have been requested? I'm currently trying to find out exactly what this guitar is and what it's worth, but I'm having trouble pinning it down. Only thing wrong with this guitar is the missing lock nut on the headstock, but that was missing when I bought it in the 90's.

Anyone have any insight into this? Thanks in advance!

Well I for one remember playing ones like that back in 1985 at my local Fender dealer. As to why it's not in the manual - I would say it's a typo on the manual that was never corrected. That model is either the 27-5000 or the 27-5500 - note that the specs in the manual are identical for those two models. I believe the pickup decsription on of of them should read "2 Single, 1 Humbucking" under pickups.

These came out in the time period when there was no USA production; I suppose Fender was trying to get them out the door to have product on the shelves. Since these only ran for about a year I suspect Fender never went back and corrected the manual as most of these models were discontinued pretty quickly - only the "Contemporary Standard" with 3 single coils and the top-mounted jack stuck around for any length of time.

I'm thinkin that its Probably a 027-8100 (far right) as the 027-4100 has the Sys 2



Model Name: Contemporary Stratocaster®
Model Number: 027-8100-(Color #)
Series: Contemporary Series
Body: Basswood
Neck: Maple
Fingerboard: Rosewood 12" Radius (305mm)
No. of Frets: 22
Scale Length: 25.5” (648 mm)
Width @ Nut: 1.625” (41 mm)
Hardware: Chrome
Machine Heads: Standard
Bridge: System I Tremolo
Pickguard: 3-Ply Black
Pickups: 2 Single Coils, 1 Humbucking Pickup
Pickup Switching: 5 position Switch
Controls: Master Volume, Master Tone
Colors: (506) Black,
(509) Candy Apple Red,
(543) Pewter,
(555) Frost White
Strings:
Unique Features: Black Painted Headcap
Source: Japan
Accessories:
U.S. MSRP: $489.99 to $559.99
INTRODUCED: 1/1986
DISCONTINUED: 10/1987
DISCONTINUED COLORS:
COMMENTS:
WRENCH SIZES:
NOTICE: Product Prices, Features, Specifications and Availability Are Subject To Change Without Notice

****************
cheers,
rob

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

Holy cow, thanks for the info! Talk about getting an answer straight from the source!

I guess the "typo in the manual" theory wins the day... thanks so much for all the help!

(You wouldn't happen to know if Fender has any 'new old stock' cache of headstock locking nuts for that model around, would you? )

Hi tomsanderson,
By the way, as usual i think JohnC got it right on the actual subject of this thread.
Things were going pretty fast and furious back then, though we were still a fairly small new company. Alot of folks were filling several roles at one time and still managing to get the vast majority of things right, but certainly there were occasional misses and oopses.
On the trems and parts for them, I believe that we ran out of the last System 1's in the early 90's. I would just google and see what there may be out there if you're into it.
The System 1's were fairly popular...especially after we stopped using them (of course!), but though I'm just spitballing my own opinion here, the System 2 was a very slightly different use of the Freeflyte trems used in and around the time of our CBS Elite Strats, and the System 3's.....well ...uhhh...they were REALLY heavy...they adjusted with an allen wrench under the butt end strap button....and had a rod that ran though the length of the body (inside). ))))))shudder((((( nuff said.

cheers,rob

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