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Post subject: Strat mystery; E3xxxxx serial but with 22 frets 2 point trem
Posted: Sun Oct 07, 2012 7:15 am
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Joined: Fri Nov 12, 2010 1:10 am
Posts: 47
Got a strat here i cannot seem to identify.

the serial implies it being made in 1981 to 1985 (E3xxxxx, http://www.fender.com/en-NL/support/art ... ct-dating/). Yet it has some interesting features:

22 frets
2 point through body tremolo
regular output (not those strange ones who go into the pickguard)
4 bolt with microtilt (theres a hole in the neckplate
flat pole pickups

it's not an elite as far as i can see as it has "regular" style pickups and i think an elite has also a push pull thingy which this one doesn't have.

Anyone got an idea?


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Post subject: Re: Strat mystery; E3xxxxx serial but with 22 frets 2 point
Posted: Sun Oct 07, 2012 7:27 am
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Aspiring Musician
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Joined: Thu Aug 02, 2012 6:15 am
Posts: 522
Tell you what mate, you post a picture and we will play along. Otherwise why guess?


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Post subject: Re: Strat mystery; E3xxxxx serial but with 22 frets 2 point
Posted: Sun Oct 07, 2012 7:47 am
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Professional Musician
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Joined: Fri Oct 10, 2008 6:45 pm
Posts: 2770
Location: Kansas
22 frets and a 2 post trem would most likely make it an American Standard Strat that was probably made pretty early in their production run - sometime between October 1986 and the end of 1987.

It's pretty well known that Fender wound up using serial number decals that would "translate" to earlier years for the first of the American Standards. Most of these were unused E4xxxxx serial numbers that would "translate" to "1984". However, they also wound up using some remaining "E3xxxxx" serial number decals (that would "translate" to "1983") as well. It's pretty well documented. I should also note that there were evidently more "E3xxxxx" Telecaster decals left than Strat decals; you will find more American Standard Teles from this era with the "E3" decals than you will find American Standard Strats.

Long story short - the CBS-era Standard and Elite models that used these headstock decals weren't strong sellers. CBS/Fender never really moved to using the "E4xxxxx" decals in 1984 as they were still using up the "E3xxxxx" decals they had printed up (that being said there are a few CBS-era models out there with "E4xxxxx" serial number decals, but there aren't that many of them). CBS sold the company to FMIC in early 1985, but FMIC didn't buy the old CBS factory, they just bought the intellectual property and parts inventory. The parts inventory included the left over decals that contained the "E3xxxxx" and "E4xxxxx" serial numbers. When FMIC developed the American Standards in 1986, they decided to use up those left over headstock decals. I don't think I've seen one with an "E3" decal with a date later than 1987 but I have seen American Standards with "E4" serial numbers and neck/body dates as late as mid-1988.


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