Japanese Strat

[dannopelli]

Hey I could use some help from the folks here

I have in my crusty hands a mid 80's MIJ Strat, one of the '57 models. I have an opportunity to acquire it. I buy and sell things like this from time to time.

However with this one, I am thinking about keeping it as a kind of "knock around" guitar. It is kind of like of 57, with the colors and one ply pickguard. But it has some Gotoh tuners and a funky set of double string trees. Some of the Fender books indicate that it is all stock. The serial number is E845445. Puts it between 84 -87, but I am not sure exactly what year.

Bottom line is it is a nice weight, and sounds good too. And it is routhed SSS, not like HSH like the new ones, so it is kind of beefy sounding. I am getting at a pretty good price too. I might be a good guitar for those times when you don't trust the room with your Andy in it.

My concern is it might be worth more than I think and I might be better off selling it. So any thoughts will help.

Any one know the actual value or anything else about this particular instrument?

You can view pics here:

http://www.ofoto.com/I.jsp?c=5mg31eu.18c4rfx6&x=0&y=-3eh460

Danno

[LWilliams]

I don't have my books with me right now, but it looks to be a 1988 Fender Statocaster -- Japanese standard version. The logo, tuners, string trees, flat pole pups, all show that it is not the Japanese version of the 57 Reissue.

My educated guess, without first doing any research, would be that it would sell for around $300. The ones that I have played have all compared favorably to the American made counterparts. The American Standard debuted in 1986. If I remember correctly, the Japanese guitars such as that one were only available outside the US after the American Standard debuted. The build quality was such that Fender was afraid that the lower priced imports would hurt the sales of the new American guitar.

I don't know what you are paying for it, but if I got it for less than $300, I would keep it for a while. The value of those particular guitars is bound to go up.

[dannopelli]

I thought the same thing at first. But the neck pocket is stamped 57. From what I was able to find out they made this guitar to be somewhat reminiscent of a 57, in terms of colors, neck tint, radius, etc. But it was built with modern updates to things like tuners, pik ups, etc.

Anyway, thanks for the help and if you find out anything else trhat would be great! I SURE DO APPRECIATE IT!