It is currently Tue Mar 17, 2020 1:38 am

All times are UTC - 7 hours



Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 51 posts ]  Go to page Previous  1, 2, 3, 4
Go to page Previous  1, 2, 3, 4
Author Message
Post subject: Re: My guitar is false or true?
Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2014 11:32 pm
Offline
Hobbyist
Hobbyist

Joined: Fri Jan 04, 2013 1:02 pm
Posts: 23
Yes, certainly that makes good sense and is very easy to do these days with the accessibility of the internet.

But in 1989, when my guitar was made, I think 99.9% of buyers expected a MIA Strat to be an American Standard or higher level model, and also knew that some Strats were Japanese, and that Squier was a lower end import product. I don't know what resource available then or even in 1996 when I bought my guitar, would have allowed the average new guitar buyer to know that some MIA Fender-built and Fender-marked Strats were actually lower spec guitars destined to be sold in foreign markets such as South America.

Clearly, many posters on this thread don't seem to be aware even now that Fender did in fact make MIA Strats in 1989-90 that were not American Standards and that is with the benefit of 25 years of cumulative and well-documented history, so it doesn't seem to me like it would have been reasonable to determine that on my first trip to buy a Strat in 1996.

I bought my guitar from a very large Fender dealer and it was invoiced as an American Standard, by the way. Most first-time buyers in this situation would not be doing major detective work to tell if the guitar one is looking at has a plastic truss rod insert versus a walnut plug, if the saddles look to be cast versus the stamped or sintered ones, etc. I doubt even many experienced MIA Strat owners would have pulled the pick guard to ensure the pickups were alnico and not ceramic when shopping at a Fender dealer.


Top
Profile
Fender Play Winter Sale 2020
Post subject: Re: My guitar is false or true?
Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2014 7:24 am
Offline
Hobbyist
Hobbyist

Joined: Fri Jan 04, 2013 1:02 pm
Posts: 23
Orvilleowner,
It seems like you have taken a different view from your first response to the original poster's guitar to your later position just below. Thanks for being willing to take in the facts and rethink your position.
Michael

Recent post at top, original post below.


orvilleowner wrote:
Retroverbial wrote:
This entire sordid ordeal would make for a great segment of the Jerry Springer Show.


Yeah! Usually when we see a neck with the black plastic truss rod insert and a Fender logo, it is a fake, made from import parts. But for some time, the "Mexican" necks with black plastic truss rod inserts were actually made in the USA. So even if the OP's guitar was originally an early '90s MIM Squier and someone rebranded it, put on a Fender logo, that wouldn't change where the body and neck were made.

The confirmation I found was on the FDP forum, where Keith Brawley (I believe he was a Fender executive in charge of Squier) posted in 2000:

Keith Brawley - VP Fender Feb 9th, 2000 wrote:
MIM means great quality to me, as does MIJ. The difference is in value. When the exchange rate was 150 yen to the dollar, it made sense to build those guitars in Japan. At 110 yen, you'd pay 40% more for the exact same guitar if we kept making it in Japan just because of currency exchange rates.

Beyond that, the MIM product utilizes necks and bodies made in our Corona, CA factory, which keeps the machinery humming and the factory efficient...keeping prices for USA-made product down. Not to mention the great synergy in working with a world-class, Fender-owned and operated factory that's a
truck ride away instead of a contracted factory (also great but an ocean away).

Also, many of our senior managers and experienced craftsmen in Corona speak Spanish. (A proud Fender company culture since the Pre-CBS days) Few speak Japanese. This is one more advantage of building in Mexico. No language barrier for us.

I have to tell you, I'm so proud of the Fender people in Mexico and the absolutely fantastic job they do, that I don't miss the MIJ models at all.


I don't know how long MIM models used bodies and necks made in the US factory.




orvilleowner wrote:
The previous posters were not explicit enough.

That guitar is not an American made Fender Strat.

It is most likely a rebranded Squier.

The screw pattern on the back indicates this for the body.
The black plastic truss rod insert indicates this for the neck.

Not a single piece was made in the USA.


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: My guitar is false or true?
Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2014 7:44 am
Offline
Rock Star
Rock Star

Joined: Tue Jul 17, 2007 1:53 am
Posts: 4242
Again I say might be time Mr. Schwartz dug out the available factory info on this (N1034012) and the other (E938389) serial numbers - seems to me both cases are still very unclear.
And apologies for use of those (although forum posted) serials.


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: My guitar is false or true?
Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2014 7:53 am
Offline
Hobbyist
Hobbyist

Joined: Fri Jan 04, 2013 1:02 pm
Posts: 23
I have communicated with Customer Service and my serial number is earlier than the period for which they have computerized serial number access, and apparently any print records are inaccessible or according to some sources lost in a fire. Fender CS would only tell me that my guitar "is not an American Standard", but that is a given.


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: My guitar is false or true?
Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2014 8:48 am
Offline
Rock Star
Rock Star
User avatar

Joined: Tue Jul 17, 2007 9:44 am
Posts: 7282
Location: Washington
Michael7 wrote:
Orvilleowner,
It seems like you have taken a different view from your first response to the original poster's guitar to your later position just below. Thanks for being willing to take in the facts and rethink your position.
Michael


Usually we see modern Asian made Squiers that have been faked to look like American made Fenders. But that period of "Mexican made" Squiers is different. Especially when considering the fact that the Mexican factory didn't make their own bodies and necks. They just painted and assembled them. Then it seems Fender labeled some of them as MIA Fender for export out of North America ; to confuse matters in the present!

The bodies and necks were not surplus American Standard parts. They were made to the Mexican/Squier specs (and probably out of lower grade materials to keep to the price point ).

_________________
Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

Image


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: My guitar is false or true?
Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2014 8:59 am
Offline
Professional Musician
Professional Musician

Joined: Wed May 25, 2011 12:45 pm
Posts: 1169
I say all Fenders not made by Fender Electric Instrument Manufacturing Company are fakes. :lol:

_________________
In my opinion Leo Fender had essentially perfected the guitar amplifier by 1964.


Top
Profile
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 51 posts ]  Go to page Previous  1, 2, 3, 4
Go to page Previous  1, 2, 3, 4

All times are UTC - 7 hours

Fender Play Winter Sale 2020

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum

Search for:
Jump to: