The Japanese Fender Strat featured here came in for fret leveling and recrowning. According to the Guitar Dater Project, it was "made at the Fuji-gen Plant (for Fender Japan), Japan in the Year(s): 1985 - 1986." This guitar was originally Vintage White, as can clearly be seen with the pickguard removed. Hmmm ... it does look good au naturel @ nekkid like this, don't you think? The neck is a solid hunk of maple (that feels like a baseball bat) with a 7.25" fingerboard radius, skunk stripe, 21 frets, a truss rod adjustment screw at the heel end (the pickguard features a corresponding scoop), and "ST-357V" stamped on the heel. The bridge looks a bit too shiny and rust-free to be stock, while the pickups bear a remarkable resemblance to the stock pups on Blackie, my Squier California Series Strat. The pickup covers look the part, though. Last but not least, the pots and 5-way switch appear to be stock, while the headstock sports Gotoh tuning machines. In conclusion, based on observable characteristics and research, I dare say that this guitar could have started out as a Japanese 50s vintage reissue Strat. In any case, feel free to check out the references cited, and draw your own conclusions.
Reference List
The Guitar Dater Project - Fender Serial Number Decoder
FENDER JAPAN STRATOCASTER '87, MODEL ST357V PRO SET
Pics Section
found your blog while trying to identify my strat body wood type. mine is exactly the same as this - what type of wood is it? many thanks, Mark (UK)
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments. The body wood is definitely ash, judging from the grain pattern. Alder does not exhibit such bold figuring. Plus, I remember it being really heavy. So, yes, IMHO, it is ash.
Deletethanks for the reply, i've looked at a lot of Ash bodies but couldn't find one with figuring like this so thought it must be Basswood. Either way i love the look of it. I've finished mine in Tru-Oil to a shiny satin finish and i'm really happy with it. Thanks again and best wishes, Mark
ReplyDeleteYou're most welcome, Mark. It's always a pleasure to hear from readers. Basswood is basically plain, with some mineral streaking here and there. The Wood Database is a good source of information. I go there regularly to check out "mystery woods" I come across on the web. I'm glad you chose Tru-Oil. It's hard work but worth the effort. Would love to see how yours turned out. Do send me a few pics. The body wood of this Strat is most probably Japanese Ash (Sen). I worked on an Ibanez AR30 once, and you can see what Sen looks like here:
ReplyDeletehttps://cikguazizgearblog.blogspot.com/2020/03/1983-ibanez-ar30-restoration-part-one.html
I've uploaded some of the pics i took here - it's my first time refinishing a guitar and i'm very pleased with the results. It's not up to a factory finish but it's very acceptable and a LOT better than the red finish that was on there!!
ReplyDeletehttp://squier.guitarpickshop.com/index.html
Beautiful. Good job. That tortoiseshell pickguard is also a great idea. And yes, it is way better than the red finish.
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