Whats this Strato worth?

[simoncroft]

I think you're being hard on yourself but if I felt that way, I'd probably take a break. However, if your genuine intent is to help, you don't have to answer to anyone.
(Just keep doing what you do)

Yeah, it's a shame things seem to have got a bit heated here on S-T, and I don't know why. Between us, I think we've flagged up to the OP that this guitar isn't quite what it seems, so potentially saved him/her from buying an instrument that is probably best avoided. We should be proud of that.

Maybe it would help if we could all be a little more respectful of others insights and opinions? None of us can ever know everything, so rather than posting: "You're wrong because", we should perhaps be saying: "My personal opinion is...".

The written word is one of the foundations of civilisation. It's also a terrible medium for conveying expression in terms of whether you are joking, just being a bit disrespectful for fun, outright angry etc etc. So, no need for any of us to get in a fight and no need for anyone to leave over a disagreement regarding a guitar we'll probably never see again.

 

[jvin248]

.

Just go buy Player Series...
No worries if fake or not.

.

 

[supertruper1988]

You guys are funny when you squabble over who is more the expert, and then add in, I’m no expert but this is what it is without a doubt.

I will say I’m curious, have any of the “experts” actually worked in a Fender manufacturing plant for decades seeing all that goes into each different model and nuance to gain that knowledge of the intricate little details, or is this just internet gained knowledge?

I have probably less than 10 posts here (Edit - I see this is my first post after lurking for 8 years ) but I did work at fender for close to a decade and I can tell you that this guitar is wonky.

Here is a small list of particulars that standout to me:
- The pickguard is a modern 11 hole. You can tell by the placement of the mounting screw over the middle pickup. on a 60's AVRI it would be closer to the neck pickup.
- The logo looks pretty good but something in my gut says it isnt right.
- The Master Built signature on the back is also wonky. I don't recognize the signature (that isnt an authority just that most signatures were at least legible)
- The tuners dont match and have been messed with. A quick way to tell would be to have one taken off and see what it looks like under the mounting and what is stamped on the baseplate. It should be a Gotoh for an AVRI.
- The markings in the neck pocket look odd. There would have been a part number stamped there and it would have started 01xxxx maybe 02xxxx for older AVRI this one looks like it starts with a 3 which isnt out of the question but its just odd. Especially because the date looks like it starts with a 2 which is all kinds of wrong for an 03xxxx part number. American standards after 1998 or 1999 were and 05xxxx part number.

Additionally, CS 69 "Abby" pickups are a crap shoot. The original marketing said she was making them (she wasnt except maybe the initial couple runs), then changed to she "inspected" them and initialed AY but I know I have personally seen sets that were sold that had been clearly marked "AY" in 3 different hand writing styles. Draw your own conclusions there.

Adding to all of this. There was a period in the 90s that Fender Japan would sell guitars to the European distributors in parts and they would get assembled by the distributor in whatever combinations they wanted. These had weird serial numbers that wont come up if you email Fender. They were always serial numbers on the neck in the traditional Fender Japan serial location (just above the neck heel) but a refninished neck from that time would have some of wonky-ness to it but still legit Fender at some point in its life.

Hope this is helpful.

 

[libertarian]

Whatever it is please let’s not call it “Strato”, mkay?

 

[ashtone]

Laugh all you want but over the years you learn to know what you’re actually looking at or you could be the one buying this. Then it’s not so funny

when you have seen hundreds of fender guitars go across your bench you do get a feel for what is or isn’t legit. This guitar isn’t, based on the details previously mentioned. The main booger in my eyes is the fingerboard thickness above the nut. I’ve never seen a legitimate custom shop (let alone master built) fender with a fingerboard this thick, or having the fingerboard/neck blank seam in that position. But there are aftermarket necks that look like that.
The tremolo block has string sockets that are too deep…can’t see the ball ends. Fender did that on the early 57-62 reissues, but corrected it later.
A ‘65 style decal on a slab board neck is another thing I have not seen from fender.
Anyway, I hope you find a guitar that works for you.

 

[kjatexas]

Case is suspect. Why no CS logo on the case? Here is my CS Tele case.

 

[kjatexas]

Here is the CS logo on the neck plate.

 

[kjatexas]

Here is the CS decal on the headstock.

 

[bsman]

 

[SpeedKing]

Can't be bothered to read all the rest here as it appears to be descending into a muck flinging contest but if it's from the CS and with that specific era logo shouldn't it have narrow dot spacing at the 12th fret?

Shouldn't it have a veneer fingerboard not slab?

Shouldn't it have matching tuners... and with that logo shouldn't they be double line Klusons?

It doesn't look like a nitro body.

It looks like an overly nitro neck!

It doesn't look like the correct string tree

In short it doesn't look like a CS instrument to me.

 

[Doc538]

A scan of the label shows just a text code saying "warranty" without any other info. RUN

 

[Wrighty]

It actually looks horrible and it’s definitely no fender of any kind.

I agree with the ‘looks horrible’. Whatever it is I’d not spend any of my money on it.

 

[Wrighty]

@Cerb is an expert - he would know, and usually I am too. I'm growing really REALLY sick of having to defend every post I make on this board.

Excuse my intervention but the OP is asking whether he should spend £1,200 on the guitar in the photograph. Whilst a’yes’ or ‘no’ would be a reasonable reply, it’s also reasonable to give the thought behind your answer. I respect the opinions of Messers Guitarmageddon and Cerb a great deal but I’m not sure either can know much about this guitar, only use their accumulated knowledge to reach a conclusion.

surely there’s no need for the thread to become heated?

 

[Intune]

Excuse my intervention but the OP is asking whether he should spend £1,200 on the guitar in the photograph. Whilst a’yes’ or ‘no’ would be a reasonable reply, it’s also reasonable to give the thought behind your answer. I respect the opinions of Messers Guitarmageddon and Cerb a great deal but I’m not sure either can know much about this guitar, only use their accumulated knowledge to reach a conclusion.

surely there’s no need for the thread to become heated?

Agreed. This turned heated real quick for no real reason other then to help out the potential buyer. Didn’t need to investigate any deeper from the pics provided. It turned into a who knows more battle but in the end we got to somewhat of a conclusion.

 

[Wrighty]

Those of you in the UK will no what I mean when I say ‘this is probably an Eric Morecombe guitar’ It has ‘all the right parts, but, not necessarily in the right order’.

 

[Intune]

Can't be bothered to read all the rest here as it appears to be descending into a muck flinging contest but if it's from the CS and with that specific era logo shouldn't it have narrow dot spacing at the 12th fret?

Shouldn't it have a veneer fingerboard not slab?

Shouldn't it have matching tuners... and with that logo shouldn't they be double line Klusons?

It doesn't look like a nitro body.

It looks like an overly nitro neck!

It doesn't look like the correct string tree

In short it doesn't look like a CS instrument to me.

I know fender does the newer pro series custom shops with mass up specs. However if they put a mid 60’s decal they have a mid 60’s spec neck. No matter what year CS. This neck is totally wrong as anyone could see. That would be enough to walk away.

Yes a 65 should have double line deluxe tuners but I don’t think very even does that anyway. To be actual vintage correct it should be double line.

I’ve only seen single line “fender” branded tuners or no line at all.

 

[whammy_bar]

Shouldn't the Jason Davis signature have an accompanying serial number, as below?

 

[Intune]

Shouldn't the Jason Davis signature have an accompanying serial number, as below?

View attachment 505074

Hilarious how I just read a tread on a UK based forum warning people of fake master built Jason Davis necks on eBay. Someone had all the right stamps and all but confirmed by Mike Eldred(custom shop director at the time) to be fakes.

 

[NGS LONDON]

Hi all , i was thinking of buying this price is £1200 , sound reasonable? .

Neck looks real average and the body is in poly. Need to check the internals but if they are as average as everything else here it’s honestly worth nothing more than a Squier. 275 Max.

 

[NGS LONDON]

No you’re right if it’s pre 1998. You’re going off a neck plate I could have bought off eBay. I’m looking at the bigger picture and there’s nothing to me that screams fender master built anything. There’s way to many “looks odd” things going on here. Also who takes a master built and replaces everything?

Tuners, tuners screws, some aged some not, string tree placement, string tree itself, transition logo, plastic/clay dots on a mid 60’s Strat? Thickness of the fretboard, pickup screws, neck colour, roasted maybe? The tremolo spring claw ground goes over and around? None original case, any case candy or COA, maybe but not pictured.

All these things I can see right away from these pics. Let’s see the pickup cavity and neck pocket. So rock bottom price because of these changes. Screams home built to me.

Def agree.