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Topic starter
01/02/2008 1:21 am
I know that I said I wasn't going to look for another guitar, so I guess I lied!! :oops: Anyway, I recently bought what was advertised as a used American 50th Anniversary Strat (anniversary of the Strat 1954-2004) from the local GC. After looking on the web for other pictures of 50th Anniversary Strats, I am starting to question if this is the real deal.
What I have is a black HSS model with a white pickguard and S1 switching. It has a 50th Strat Anniversary neck plate and the weird thing is that it looks to have the same tuning machines as my 2006 MIM Strat. They are the sealed tuners with the Fender name on them. The serial number on the new Strat is Z3xxxxxx (2003 or 2004 model per Fender's product dating), although I don't think that's enough to tell if it is a 50th Anniversary.
The pictures I have seen of other 50th Anniversary models have mostly been of the Sunburst SSS variety.
Any information is greatly appreciated.
Jim
01/02/2008 2:11 am
Don't know if you can tell from the tuners.
I have one without the S-1 switch.
One thing I can say is the bridge is not the same as MIM.
MIM is formed & MIA is machined.
I know I'm not much help, but I know it's not as poorly made as MIM. My son had one of those.
Don't get me wrong, the MIM is good for the price & I would buy one. When I bought mine,I just had the loot & wanted MIA.....I figured it would be the only Strat I would buy.
01/02/2008 2:55 am
Jim, Hi :D
Well, I dug out my 2004, 50th Anniversary, Fender Frontline catalog....
Here's the Info in it on the 50th Anniversary American Series Guitar:
The only color available is (03), which is 2 color burst/polyurethane
The body is Ash
A modern "C" shape neck in satin finish polyurethane
The tuners are Dlx. Stgrd.Cast/Sld. - The same as the American Standards.
Only available with a Maple fretboard
22 Med. Jumbo Frets
The only pup combo listed is: 3 custom shop vintage 1954 Strat Single Coils
The only pick guard listed is a single ply BPV
w/parchment knobs and pup covers
The contols are - MV, T, and DT (Master Volume, Tone, and Delta Tone)
An American 2 pt. sync trem
Regular 5 way switching - (NO S-1)
Hardware is chrome
It is listed as coming with a VTC - Vintage Tweed Case!
A 50th anniversary neck plate
And a 'Delta Tone System'
"Which includes a high output bridge pickup and special no-load tone control for the middle and bridge pickups."
I saw a pic in the catalog of the Am Dlx 50th Anniversary model, and the serial numbers on the back read the same as yours
except for a 'D' proceeding the 'Z'.... presumably for 'deluxe'????
DZ3111186 was the number.
Hope this helps.
Ken
ps - Personally, I don't think it's an anniversary model.
I have seen used guitars at GC (Strats) that were not what they were labeled as (ie. Listing one as an 'American' standard with a year that Strats were not made in America) (Yes, it's true.... Between CBS and the current owners for a few years until they had the Corona Cali. shop built)
I would take it back and cause a riot! LOL! Get free stuff :twisted:
"The man who has begun to live more seriously within
begins to live more simply without"
-Ernest Hemingway
"A genuine individual is an outright nuisance in a factory"
-Orson Welles
01/02/2008 3:58 am
american 50th anni models
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/document?doc_id=92579&src ="3SOSWXXA"
and a left handed version of the one i have
#4491....
01/02/2008 6:05 am
To add to what the other said. All Strats made that year have that 50th anniv neck plate.
I have one, its Chrome Silver, Maple Neck, black pickguard, its an HSS w/S1 switch. NOT an Anniv Strat, but made in the same year.
Hope that Helps.
Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing. - Wernher Von Braun (1912-1977)
Topic starter
01/02/2008 3:33 pm
Thanks for all the good information tinsmith, Ken, TL and Dagwood! I was hoping that what I was seeing was wrong. Don't get me wrong, it's a nice guitar but a little scratched up, etc. I thought if it was truly a 50th, I could live with it like that. I paid just under $700, so I don't know if it's a good deal for an '04 Standard.
Thoughts?
Jim
01/02/2008 4:57 pm
Hi Jim - the MIM and MIA strats all use the same tuners, so I wouldn't view that as a major issue.
However, given what Ken wrote and the other stuff it sounds like a Fender Deluxe which may or may not be a 50th anniversary. Most the Deluxe models come with locking tuners, so it very well could be that you have an American strat that someone threw the 50th anniversay plate on...
Can you send the serial number to Fender to get a better idea from them directly?
-=- Steve
"If the moon were made of ribs, would you eat it?"
01/02/2008 4:58 pm
By the way, paying $700 for a US strat with S-1 switching is about right, so I don't think you got ripped off.
-=- Steve
"If the moon were made of ribs, would you eat it?"
Topic starter
01/02/2008 6:58 pm
Can you send the serial number to Fender to get a better idea from them directly?
Hi Steve,
Yes, yesterday afternoon I sent the serial number to the "customerrelations" e-mail address on their website. I asked them if they could verify exactly what I do have. I have not heard anything back yet, but hope that I will sometime soon.
By the way, paying $700 for a US strat with S-1 switching is about right, so I don't think you got ripped off.
Thanks for the reassurance. It is a nice guitar and I will wait to see what Fender says before I talk to GC. I am fairly certain that they will be indifferent, but maybe they'll surprise me.
Jim
02/02/2008 1:56 am
My serial number begins with a Z & has no D in it.
Topic starter
02/02/2008 4:57 pm
My serial number begins with a Z & has no D in it.
Yep, mine does too; Z3xxxxxx.
I still haven't heard it directly from Fender, but I think you all have given me enough information to convince me that what I have a "just" a plain old 2004 American Standard. I'm still happy with the guitar, just not pleased with GC for misrepresenting it as a 50th. I feel I am also partly to blame for not doing my homework and verifying what it was before I bought it. Oh, well.....
Jim
02/02/2008 6:23 pm
Hi again
Hope that my listing that serial # didn't cause any confusion....
It was taken from an American Deluxe 50th Anniversary Strat.... Hence my saying Am. Dlx. in the first post.
I was trying to say that what you had was probably an American Standard, as the numbers were the same as the
Deluxe, minus the 'D' prefix (which I took to denote a Deluxe model)
It would seem with all the info gathered here that it is indeed 'just' a plain ol' American Standard Strat from '04.
I looked up the specs in the same catalog for the AmStd Strat in HSS - It seems to fit your profile....
The pics all show those with black plastic - though the specs say that (06) Black, comes with a 3 ply parchment pickguard and
plastic. (Like yours)
The pups listed are: One Diamondback Humbucker/Two custom staggered Tex-Mex Single Coils
As far as paying just under $700.00 for it - I agree. That's a fair price for that guitar.
Recently I've seen 88 Strat Americans going for around $700.00 - so that seems about right.
I paid $500.00 for my 88 brand new, and the 04 you have probably was about $900.00 + new (for a regular Am. Standard)
Ken
"The man who has begun to live more seriously within
begins to live more simply without"
-Ernest Hemingway
"A genuine individual is an outright nuisance in a factory"
-Orson Welles
Topic starter
03/02/2008 12:33 am
Hope that my listing that serial # didn't cause any confusion....
The pups listed are: One Diamondback Humbucker/Two custom staggered Tex-Mex Single Coils
As far as paying just under $700.00 for it - I agree. That's a fair price for that guitar.
Recently I've seen 88 Strat Americans going for around $700.00 - so that seems about right.
I paid $500.00 for my 88 brand new, and the 04 you have probably was about $900.00 + new (for a regular Am. Standard)
Ken
Hey Ken,
No confusion here on the serial number you posted. I knew what you were getting at. And thanks for the specs on the pickups. I wondered what was "under the hood." I appreicate you confirming the fair price. I paid just under $700 and that was out the door with a Fender hard shell case.
Jim