Recent content by John C

I don't know if this will help but let me identify the 3 USA guitars you are looking at in a bit more detail #1 is a circa 1990/1991 American Standard Strat in gunmetal blue. Besides the stainless steel frets the plastic has been changed to black, so there is also the possibility that the...

Yes Fender will sub in equivalent cases from time to time. Not unheard of - so if they were out of the orange-lined case that normally would come with an AVRI '57 and they had the accessory red-lined case on hand they would use them. Sometimes it's a nice surprise - back during the 2 years or...

Just confirming that @Guitarmageddon is correct - this one is a circa 1990-91. Fender had a serial number goof when they were switching out of the E9xxxxx numbers. A "true" 1999 Fender will have the script logo on the front and the serial number on the back of the headstock. Fender serial...

You're correct; all of the USA production line '62 reissues had slab boards - I don't have photos of the two I owned but they were slab, quite different than my '79 Lead II which had the really thin late CBS-era round lam board. The AV '65 was the first USA production line model to have the...

That's compounded by Fender being inconsistent with the use of "American Vintage" vs. "American Vintage Reissue" across their marketing materials between 1998-2012 - sometimes even within the same document. Fender actually starts using the name "American Vintage" in the January 1998 price list...

When the AVRIs first started in 1982 Fender was more concerned with capturing a "vintage vibe" with them than accuracy to the specs of the years they chose. In the book "The Stratocaster Chronicles" Dan Smith and other Fender employees of the time discuss the AVRIs (or U.S. Vintage as they...

Agree with all the suggestions - start with a Player and try as many as you can find, and stick with the SSS versions as you have the humbucker tones covered with your SG. As I'm not sure about prices in Australia just keep working your way up through the models until you hit your max budget...

Wow; I didn't realize these were going for that much. I would have thought it was in the $1,500-$1,800 range line like @Guitarchaeologist posted.

That's pretty typical for this era; Fender Japan developed these models, and Fender Japan was a separate joint venture entity between Fender USA and Japanese businessmen, so Fender USA didn't really get detailed records on the models that they imported from Fender Japan.

Very nice; congrats!! Depending upon the specs it seems like the "Build to Order" guitars aren't that much more expensive than the "Fullerton Deluxe" models, plus that's the only way to get Indian rosewood fingerboards now - and that's a nice piece of rosewood. It looks like the person who...

Nice one; congrats!

Fender always has some level of hand sanding/shaping of the necks - they don't come off the router ready to be finished and assembled - and they always vary a bit. But it seems like there was a wider variance back in the 80s/early 90s than there is today, and I believe @Ebidis is correct that...

Sure; I would consider that a "SuperStrat", but then again I consider a "SuperStrat" anything that is strat-shaped with a humbucker pickup in the bridge position (the other pickups - if there are any - can be any type), and a locking trem system. But your guitar is specifically an HM Strat -...

Actually your early 90s Strat Plus guitars had the Schaller-made tuners; the current Fender Deluxe Locking Tuners are made by Ping in Taiwan. Fender made the switch in the mid/late 2000s (2006-2008 time frame) on most models with locking tuners, but I believe they still use Schallers on the...

Agreed; you can do that with orders from GC as well - I won't order from GC unless it's coming from the warehouse. Also they've never merged their warehouses and the GC warehouse is also in the KC area - but over in North Kansas City instead of Lenexa. I've had GC orders fulfilled from both...