Can anyone help me identify a counterfeit guitar?

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Yeah but the reissues did not look like that!
They did not have the Gotoh tuners.
They have the old Gotoh vintage tuners.
And on the neckheel it should say Made or crafted in Japan.
The spaghetti logo fits...and all that!
The body looks like Baswood....which could fit as well....
But still looks like a partsocaster to me.

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Here is a mapleneck RI.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Fender-Stratocas...item4aa83bc3d6
And one mid nineties maple one as well...
http://cgi.ebay.com/1995-6-FENDER-ST...item45f4f498ad

[Powdered Toast Man]

That body is definitely not original. The route for the truss access has no paint - which means it was done later by someone. Every true modern Fender body that I've seen is completely routed prior to painting so the only spot that is not painted is the neck pocket itself. Plus, that's not a route - that looks like it was done with a chisel.

And what in tar-nation is going on with that pickup wiring?!? It looks like there's a chunk of heat shrink tubing in there, with some scotch or packing tape... Those look like small Alpha pots and that is definitely a cheap Asian 5-way switch. And there's even different coloured wires used to connect the pots? No sir, you would not see that hodgepodge on a production Fender.

Not to mention that every - EVERY - production Fender has a serial #.

[Andrew Lamprecht]

That guitar looks fishy.

The body looks cheap and you can see where the truss rod is on yours and on the ones we have seen, it doesn't show the wood.

[Gearjoneser]

I'll admit this is a fun one. The one I posted is close to the same year, and the only difference is the V neck instead of C. I think the owner of the one I posted put modern type tuners on it??

Maybe not all of them were marked MIJ or Crafted in Japan??

[Gearjoneser]

That body is definitely not original. The route for the truss access has no paint - which means it was done later by someone. Every true modern Fender body that I've seen is completely routed prior to painting so the only spot that is not painted is the neck pocket itself. Plus, that's not a route - that looks like it was done with a chisel.

And what in tar-nation is going on with that pickup wiring?!? It looks like there's a chunk of heat shrink tubing in there, with some scotch or packing tape... Those look like small Alpha pots and that is definitely a cheap Asian 5-way switch. And there's even different coloured wires used to connect the pots? No sir, you would not see that hodgepodge on a production Fender.

Chiseling the truss area doesn't mean anything....that was later. But I agree that the bridge pickup was changed, if not the whole pickguard. The more I think about it, the more I think the neck/body/hardware is original, and the only sketchy part is the bridge pickup.

I remember those MIJ reissues being pretty light too.

Here's the exact guitar. 96 MIJ.

[Rich_T]

Massive thanks for the info so far guys, looking closer at the internal wiring, the bridge pickup is a dimarzio, and there is a feint date stamp that says may 2002 on the bottom of the pickguard. I need a better screwdriver to get the neck off, it's been tightened so hard that the finish under the neck plate is cracked. Can't believe I didn't notice that in store. This body is looking more like a cheap knock off. The neck seems reasonably legit aside from the lack of s/n and no country of origin markings.

It's a weird one, that's for sure.

Again, big thanks for the help!

[Stratman]

It's a fake!

[uOpt]

Any word on whether the tremolo block is magnetic?

[Rich_T]

...and now the neck pickup has packed in. This sucker is going straight back where it came from.

[Lucid_Lunatic]

Just out of curiosity, how much did the store charge you for it?

[Rich_T]

OK, so I took the neck off, there is a number stamped on the underside of the neck which reads: ST-62DEX2. Part of this number is also visible stamped inside he neck pocket.

There is no record of this type of serial number anywhere on Fender's site.So not only is it broken, it's counterfeit.

Rad.

[Rich_T]

Just out of curiosity, how much did the store charge you for it?

£250, thought it was too good to be true.

[uOpt]

OK, so I took the neck off, there is a number stamped on the underside of the neck which reads: ST-62DEX2. Part of this number is also visible stamped inside he neck pocket.

There is no record of this type of serial number anywhere on Fender's site.So not only is it broken, it's counterfeit.

Rad.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&i...=Google+Search

[Lucid_Lunatic]

£250, thought it was too good to be true.

I'm just guessing that's around the same as $250. That's what a MIM would cost you in a shop around here used. Bout the same for decent parts-o-casters. Sucks the dealer tried to pass it off as something better.

[Rich_T]

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&i...=Google+Search

You are better at google than me!

So, looks like the neck and body are legit. It's a '62 reissue. Still, it's a broken '62 reissue with some weird things going on.

[andrizzle]

looks like you got a deal and an upgraded bridge pup... congrats!

[Gearjoneser]

I win!

How does it play? There really isn't anything terrible about the guitar for that price.....as a matter of fact, the DiMarzio bridge pickup is better than the stock one. If it were mine, I'd just buy a vintage spec DiMarzio neck pickup and be done with it.

[Rich_T]

It plays like a great Strat, that's why I bought it. I've got an SSL-3 knocking around spare that I could put in the bridge, move that DiMarzio to the neck and have a really great Strat for not much money. But I'm still going to take it back to the store and get them to fix the issues. Plus it needs a new pickguard, that certainly isn't original, and it looks naff.