Hi everyone, I'm new to the site and was hoping someone will be able to help me. I have just bought my first strat, a used mexican, sunburst with maple neck, (MZ2164724), I love the action, although there is some string buzz. My problem is since getting it home a few things are worrying me, the hardware is all chrome, but the neck plate and screws are gold with no markings, the scratchplate is single ply and very thin, and the colour seems a little too red. I'm hoping this is just me being over cautious but is there any way of checking the body and pickups are genuine, any stamps or numbers I can check. I am waiting for a reply before I take it apart, as i have no idea what to look for. Thanks,

Mike

pics would be terrific.

there are plenty of indications that a body and neck are real (or fake) but it's easier to see a couple pictures than to make a list and explain what to look for.

Give us a pic. String buzz is usually a guitar in need of a setup. But there are some other causes as well...

FLAT SADDLE TOP
NO BREAK ANGLE ON NUT
UNEVEN FRETS
FRETS TOO LOW
LOOSE FRET
LOOSE GEAR
WINDING FUZZ TOUCHING SADDLE
BACKBOW
LOW NUT
LOW SADDLE
LOOSE STRING BALL
LOOSE TRUSS ROD
POOR RELIEF
DAMAGED OR DEFECTIVE STRING
STRINGS TOO LIGHT
FLAT FRET
ACTION TOO LOW
NUT SLOT CUT IMPROPERLY
DEEP SADDLE NOTCHES
STRING INSTALLED INCORRECTLY

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sorry, i can't figure out how to attach my pics, being trying for ages

You need to upload them somewhere. imageshack.us and photobucket.com are popular. then copy and paste an album link or insert image links with the [ img] [ /img] tags

hope these help


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Can't comment on the "a little too red" but I don't see any of the standard giveaways that would indicate a fake. 12th fret dots look right, bridge and saddles look right, rear trem cover looks right, headstock looks right. If it is a fake it's a really good one - the counterfeiter is wasting his talents on making excellent MIM fakes

The neck plate and screws are likely just replacements. Previous owner must have liked gold. The pick guard also might be a replacement - looks single ply but has "modern" mounting screw locations. I don't think you can tell for sure on the pickups unless you take the pickguard off. If it were me and they sound good now I wouldn't waste my time checking.

Hello Mike, welcome to the Forum.

The neck and body look right. But I'm wondering why someone would switch out the neck plate and nothing else? That's not about a taste for gold, it suggests it might be a guitar cobbled together from a whole lot of different parts. I'd want to take the neck off and have a look at markings on the heel and in the neck pocket and see if there's anything there that suggests the neck and body do or do not belong together. I'd also want to have a look under the pickguard and see how much soldering might have taken place.

I'm also wondering about the string tree, but someone who knows 2003 MIMs better than me would need to comment on that.

In short, I suspect this might be a partsocaster rather than a guitar that came more or less as one piece, but I can't prove it on available evidence. And anyhow, it might or might not matter to you. No rights or wrongs to it, so long as the seller is telling you the truth about what you're buying.

Cheers - C

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Thanks guys, i did ask the seller if it was all original and he said it was, what aroused my suspicions was that after the sale he went on to tell me that he had built two other strats from parts, when i questioned him concerning the neck plate, he said, cant remember, must have been like that when i bought it. I'm just worried he may have used parts from it on his other projects. I don't really care about the scratchplate, hardware or neck plate, they can all be replaced relatively cheaply, my real concern is the pickups, that is why i was wondering if there should be anything on them that i could look out for, and also if the serial number on the headstock should be anywhere on the body, anyway, thanks again for your replies,

Miker

The serial will be nowhere else on the guitar. I'm not aware of any way to confirm that the body a neck is currently attached to, is the one it left the fender factory with.

Best you can do is e-mail the serial to Fender customer service and they can tell you the specific guitar specs - for example if they say it was white when it left the factory then you know something is up.

Pickups can usually be identified based on their appearance. But you need to take the pick guard off to photograph the underside of them.

Maybe a crazy question but how does it actually feel and sound?

Edit - what do the pick up pole pieces look like> are the staggered or even? are the edges of the pole pieces square or beveled? I know these are things that can help indicate whether they are the right pickups - but i don't know what a 2002 MIM's should actually be.

The neck definitely looks correct, with the exception of the round disc style string tree, should be a butterfly type.
The body looks like it could be MIM, hard to tell without seeing the routes.
The bridge looks like a MIM bridge.

he could of swapped out the pickguard, but I'm a little concerned maybe the whole loaded pickguard was changed out. The squiers come with single-ply pickguards like that. You should take the pickguard off and see what the pickups, switch and pots look like.

And of course, the neckplate and screws aren't original.

Hi Sean: there's no way to confirm it for sure, but there can be clues.

As you say, if the body is the colour that matches the serial number in Fender's records that helps. Also, as I was hinting at, there will be a date stamped on the neck heel. Sometimes (sometimes) a date is also to be found in the neck pocket. If those two dates are close, say, within two or three months of each other, then it suggests the neck and body may have come off the production line around the same time and been paired up at the factory. Though of course it doesn't prove it for certain. However, if the dates are far apart then it very much suggests they've come from different guitars and been put together later.

In this particular science you usually can't prove a positive, but you can sometimes more or less prove a negative.

Cheers - C

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I have added some new photos of the pickups, wiring, neck pocket etc. hopefully someone will be able to shed some light as to the origin of the guitar,
thanks, Mikehttp://www.flickr.com/photos/90866618@N06/8255198254/in/photostream
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The pickups, switch, and pots are all right for a MIM Standard Strat, so you're good there. Body looks good, so looks like it's just the string tree, pickguard, and neck plate that are wrong.