Hey guys, I'm new to the forum. I Have a 1980's MIJ Strat in lake placid blue, Kahler tremolo, maple neck and Evans pickups serial E. I need help knowing if its worth anything and are the pickups factory, it sat in a case since the 90's and looks pretty good my dad bought it a couple years ago off his best friend and he left it with me while while he's getting some things straitened up in his life. I sent it to a local shop to be cleaned, fret job, strings, intonation and neck job and the owner was drooling over it and offered to buy it, says it may be rare. Is this true?

p.s Also If it matters my dads best friend used to play with Jeff Healey(or so im told) when he did shows in atlantic Canada, and my dad said it may be linked to him but I dont know if Jeff Healey ever played this kind of strat back then.

It sounds like one of these.
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=50058
I've never seen a blue one though.
Please add to the thread.

Goodonya ...Mark.

Hi Mark, yes it looks alot like that strat but it is lake placid blue. I wish I had wrote down the serial # and taken pictures before i sent it to the shop. Has the kahler spyder tremolo. Im just wondering if these ever came with the evans pickups stock or was it something added later. Especially supposedly being linked to Jeff Healey knowing he was a user of evans.

Jeff Healey was known for playing Japanese 80s Japanese strats with Evans pickups. When i picture him in my minds eye he was always playing a black one with a funny shaped trem arm.

Mark is far more knowledgable than me when it comes to these odd spyder equipped strats though - I've only just got one and haven't finished getting it straight yet. I have been doing a fair bit of research on them though (it's how I ended up on this forum) and as far as I know from that, Evans pups were never standard. Could be someone was a JH fan and fitted them for that reason.

Could it have been played by him? Your guess is as good as anyone's, but, given what you've said about possible links to him, I'd be googling my arse off trying to find a picture of him with a lake placid blue one, and keeping my fingers crossed that you can read the serial number

Thanks Nobby, any info is good info. I know Jeff Healey always played a black/tobacco strat with red evans pickups or similar thats why im sceptical about this being his , but at any rate this thing plays and sounds miles better than any standard I've ever played and better than my new highway 1. Fender really hit it out of the park in the 80's and 90's letting these master japanese luthiers make these guitars, to me they are better quality than most strats. Anybody that owns one is lucky to have it.

Would anybody know what this would be worth in todays market, its a keeper and not a seller so im just wondering out of curiosity?

Any information on these 80's MIJ Strat's would be great, any other players of them on the forums?

G'day MIJStrat, I started my thread nearly 2 years ago and we've found about a dozen owners, or at least, they've found the thread through Google. I think I may be the only regular member with one. The market value seems to be about $600.
I think your pickups would be aftermarket. I am very keen to see pictures, as the color is unusual for this model (a re-spray maybe?) .Neck pocket photos would be especially helpful.
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=50058
This thread has become a substantial record of these Strats. I would appreciate any new examples and pictures added to it.




Goodonya ...Mark.