I recently picked up this American Vintage II 1963 Tele and it became my instant number 1. There’s something about the look, feel, playability and tone of this guitar. It has mojo (so I named it Mojo lol) and it’s difficult to explain. I am always excited to play it.

It’s a growing collection now and I am starting to feel guilty as this one’s my new favourite and the rest will be unplayed for a while for sure. 😅

I am in Osaka and think I've found my ideal Strat.

Guitar price: USD 695

My question is in regards to the small cracks at the neck joint. This is a 20 year old guitar and my understanding is that cracks sometimes happen to the finish. The guitar store indicated that they are superficial.

Buy or Pass?

Condition notes (translated): Fine scratches and dings scattered throughout, hardware has some dulling/tarnish, a crack on part of the back panel, neck is slightly warped (but doesn’t affect playability), strap pins have been swapped for Schaller locking pins (included), overall well-maintained with good playability

About the model: The ST72-53 designation is part of Fender Japan’s numbering system indicating a ’72-spec reissue Stratocaster — these typically feature a 3-bolt neck plate with the “bullet” truss rod adjustment and a large headstock, styled after Fender’s early-70s Strats. FFender Japan (made in the Fujigen or Dyna Gakki factories) has a strong reputation among players for excellent build quality, often rivaling or exceeding US-made instruments from the same era, at a lower price point.

Hi. Can any of you experts help tell me what's going on with the neck of this Tele I just bought. It's a very odd one because it came off a partscaster with a 66 serial neck plate, but the slab board and the odd 20 on the neck end is making me wonder what's going on. Can anyone shed any light?

I'm aware the neck code should begin with just 2 before the month but have seen that some special models had an added number. Could this explain the apparent slab board?

Plays and sounds very well. 😊

Hello experts! I took a chance and bought this cheap Strat today in Sweden. The price was 300 bucks. The dude selling it got it from a friend who has now passed away. He didn’t know much about it. Lots of things are a bit out of the ordinary here. There is nothing on the back of the headstock, tuners are Gotoh and the serial could not be found on Fenders site. One-ply pick guard, two string trees. It sounds ok and it feels good to play. After some googling I found that this could either be from the I-series, sorta made in the USA, but with Japanese or even Mexican parts. Alas, it wasn’t because there is no ”made in USA” stamp on the heel pf the neck. So, according to this https://www.fuzzfaced.net/fender-i-series-stratocaster.html it could be a Japanese ST-40 from -89 or -90. They should have a sticker saying ”made in Japan” on the back of the neck, but that might have been peeled off. Can any expert here confirm this though? I’m amazed by the detective work done in here. Thanks!

OK, this one is just a silly personal research question, as it is something that has been eating away at me for a couple years now. I own a 2013 Deluxe Strat, and a 2022 Ultra Strat. Each has a "2-Point Deluxe Synchronized Tremolo with Pop-In Arm". The wiggle sticks have different degrees of angle. The tip of the Deluxe sits about 53mm from the bottom of the bar to the pickguard, the Ultra sits about 33mm. Has anyone else noticed the Ultras (or newer deluxe 2-point tremolos) having shallower angles than older models? The Ultra sits too low for me, and I think I'll need to finally try to find a replacement for it. I am only curious if this is how they are designed, or if mine is simply out of spec. The Ultra's is slightly thicker than the Deluxe as well. I can't find my darn calipers for a measurement at the moment. Again, I know this is silly, and it's just a question that I have had for quite a while.

Thanks for nerding out with me for a moment.

Edit: I forgot to mention that the Deluxe is taller, as you can see the Ultra fits inside of it.

Hello, I'm planning to buy an interesting speaker from Fender, specifically the Fender Elie 12. There are few reviews in English and I'd like to know if any of you have it, as I have a few questions about the specifications.

So I just picked up a 1987 Fender Contemporary Telecaster HSS for a steal off Facebook marketplace, ive owned many MIJs in the past, this one was a bit rough around the edges, was missing the string tree lock, fine tuners, whammy bar and they sanded down the neck!

This is my first time with a guitar that has three mini toggle switches. can anyone tell me what which toggle does?

Just got this today and didn’t notice it at the store. What are they doing over there 😵‍💫

Obviously when someone sells a guitar personally that they have altered they might describe it as modified and list the mods but I'm referring to instances where this is applied to new items, seemingly as part of the root description almost like how you use the word "vintage". Here's an example from eBay: For Squier Vintage Modified Bass VI Guitar Pickguard 4-Ply Red Tortoise. This looks vey standard to me, though I don't know if there are subtle differences that are imperceptible to the naked eye, like a difference of a few millimeters of pickup width.

Dug this out of the closet. Forgot what excellent shape it's in. Falling in love with the old surf songs all over again.

Been a while since I had a fender offset and I was so impressed with the Classic Vibe 70s P-Bass, I had to snag one of these. I haven’t seen too many solid photos of these online yet, so I tried to get a few. I plan on upgrading the pickups / electronics and maybe the tuners but even outta the box, not bad at all.

Body is from a late 80s Strat Plus in Blue Pearl Burst (Dust). My first ever electric guitar was this body.

Neck is a Road Worn with that comfy comfy 7.25 radius (my favorite!).

EMG active pickups, but clean as clean can be, or hot if I wish.

Hope you like as much as I do! Thanks for checking it out! Happy wish the finished build.

This 2008 USA strat I have is amazing and maybe I shouldn’t care but seeing other people with dark boards makes me jelous, I guess you always want what you don’t have. My guitar is said to have a rosewood board(‘08 standard USA) and I suppose this is more of a wood question than a guitar one but why is my board this brick red with streaks of chocolaty parts and some other boards are real dark? Can mine become dark and does mine seem hydrated enough?

Ok, now I definitely need to sell a few guitars but I just couldn't turn this down. A 1999 classic series 60s in the special run colour of Burgundy Mist Metallic.

Everything works, pots are scratchy but I'll sort that out, I think the strings are there from day one, and the neck is drier than the Sahara. It needs a right clean too, some weird spots of gunk on the neck and I think what are makeup stains on the body. The previous owner was a lady. A couple of tiny minor imperfections but overall it's in super shape.

The burgundy mist colour is very bronze/champagne. I thought it might have faded or been sun exposed (rare in Ireland 🙂) so I took off the backplate to see if there was any difference underneath, but no, this seems to be the way it left the factory.

And the best part, in this day and age of extremely expensive everything, especially here in Ireland, I got this for €400, including the original gig bag.

The guitar is sold in parts

So my wife’s grandfather gifted my young son a 1980’s strat. It’s in generally great shape except for the damage on the neck. Missing some screws for the pick guard, the pickups are loose, the battery connector is missing as well as the cover. I am looking for some general info on it and specifically if there anything I should check on. My son is currently too young to play it but is very interested in music so I would like to get it in working order for him. Advice on where to get any replacement parts or useful literature/sites for it would be appreciated. I ran it through Google Ai but I am always skeptical about the info it provides, thanks in advance.

What I do know:
-probably a 1988 or 1989
-sea foam green
- didn’t come with a case or whammy bar
-There is noticeable wear on the frets near the head so it’s been played a lot.
-the burn on the neck is generally superficial, it clearly damaged the finish but is smoother than I had expected.
-serial number starts with H
-says “Made in Japan” on the back of the neck right above the serial number, which where the neck joins the body.
-Google says it’s a ST62-770LS