MIJ lefty Strat - seller says 2001 - I reckon 1993-4? Genuine?

@Thrup'ny Bit I've touched base with the seller and asked him if he's willing to take the scratchplate off and photograph the pickups and electronics Hopefully that'll help get an ID on this! I cannot find any lefty ST54 anywhere online, so it's an interesting mystery to try and unpick I've also said I'd love to see the neck pocket, but I understand if he's not willing to go to the trouble.

 

Thanks for your insights, very useful, particularly regarding the staggered pickups and the ST54 not being available as a lefty ever, which I suspected as I have not managed to find another like it online anywhere! The seller has agreed to take the scratchplate off and photograph the guts, so that will give some extra insight I hope

 

I think he made the right choice going with the black scratchplate, it gives it more character than the white original

 

Conversely, when I was a kid in the 90s, every run of the mill Squier Affinity was sunburst with a white scratchplate - indeed, that was how my very first guitar looked!

 

Meet my twin gals, Dawn and Eve Dawn is very upset by your blanket statement about Telecasters, and wants you to admit that she is just as pretty

(They're my trusty pair of American Standard Teles, '98 and '99, both with Rio Grande pickups; Muy Grandes in the white one, Muy Grande/Tallboy in the black one.)

 

I used to gig these guitars HARD and they were played at about 300-400 high energy rock shows, so wear and tear means a lot has been changed on them... Graphtech nuts, totally rewired with CTS reverse audio pots, CRL 3-ways (been through multiple switches on each guitar), Schaller straplocs, Graphtech String Saver saddles on the black one, totally lined their cavities with copper... oh, and the white one is technically a partscaster as the body is from an early 2000s American Standard! I have its original body, but it's in a real state... the original owner hammered a bunch of nails into it and covered it in stickers! If these were nitro the finish would be half off after the life they've had, but this thick poly is impervious to regular wear (both have a few small chips, mostly along the bottom edge - you can see the most prominent on the white one)

 

It's really hard to compare instruments as I barely get a chance to play any lefties where I live before buying. I have a local friend with almost 40 lefties in his collection, including several MIJ Fenders, but those are all post-2016 modern FSR ones - the quality is really lovely on those guitars. I've never held an older MIJ Fender, and the only MIM Fender I've ever held is my current Jazz Bass.

People always say if you 'pick a good one', you can find amazing MIMs - and of course dud MIAs - but as you are probably aware, us lefties rarely have the luxury of walking into a store and trying 10 different guitars of the same model!

If the deal with this ST54(?) above doesn't come to anything, I'll hold out for a used MIA or maybe even have a go with a MIM Player if one comes up for the right price.

 

Oh yes, that looks tons better! For me I think black guard is the best for black or burst bodies, and white/parchment is best for anything else. I've tried a black guard on my white Tele and didn't like it at all, and I'm not keen on pearloid or tortie guards at all.

 

@crawdaddy @Thrup'ny Bit @Guitarmageddon hope I'm not bothering you guys, but I got a chance to look at the guts of that 2004 MIJ I posted about and I'd love to hear your well-informed opinions!

It's not great news, unfortunately...





...neck is stamped ST57 but has 54-style string tree.... body is stamped ST362, so low-end... and pickups are definitely non-original, a set from GFS, so probably OK but definitely at the budget end of the spectrum.

At this stage I'm thinking this guitar is not worth the £550 he's asking. He seemed open to an offer, but I'm not sure I am sold on this any more - with the original pickups missing and the odd partscaster-esque assortment of parts, I'm thinking I may be better to look elsewhere. What do you guys reckon?

 

Thanks for your quick response! So you're saying a genuine ST57 sometimes came with an ST362-stamped body, and it's the neck marking that is important? That's more reassuring to know. And the round ST54-style string tree? Maybe just all they had in the parts bucket at the factory that day? Or maybe a previous owner swapped it for the look? I will see if he'll go to 450