Fender "made in Japan" Stratocaster?

eschoendorff

eschoendorff

New member
I have a 60s reissue Fender Strat that I absolutely love. I want to eventually change the pickguard and tuners on it (the vintage tuners are really getting sloppy) and I noticed that there are parts available for MIM and USA strats. Whenever I am at a guitar shop and tell them that mine is MIJ, I always get a quizzical look...

So, when did Fender make Strats in Japan? Also... will USA or MIM-spec parts work on my guitar?

Thank you, oh wise-uns.

Ed

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Re: Fender "made in Japan" Stratocaster?

That's CIJ, different than MIJ. USA parts will fit with no problems. As for when did Fender make Japanese guitars, from the early 80's on up to present.
 
Re: Fender "made in Japan" Stratocaster?

Usa parts will work, and use a 62 fender pickgaurd. Mine looks killer in vintage white, with a mint 62 gaurd, and aged white covers.

Here is some jap. info:

Serials/Dates of Manufacture

Dating your Japanese made Fender by its serial is an inexact science but the following table will give you a reasonable idea of its date of manufacture. NOTE large scale official export to the UK/USA/Europe stopped around 98/99 with the 'B' serial.
*Note: From mid -1997 serials are prefaced by 'Crafted in Japan'. Prior to that exported guitars bore the phrase 'Made in Japan'. There is no intrinsic quality difference in the guitars themselves as far as I can tell from the many I have owned. Beware of Ebay vendors telling you the 'Made in...' is better then 'Crafted in....', or vice versa. It is the specification that counts, not the label.

Serial Number
Approx Date of Manufacture
"Made in Japan" followed by:

JV + 5 digits 1982 - 1984
SQ + " 1983 - 1984
E + 6 digits 1984 - 1989
A + " 1985 - 1986
B + " 1985 - 1986
C + " 1985 - 1986
F + " 1986 - 1987
G + " 1987 - 1988
H + " 1988 - 1989
I + " 1989 - 1990
J + " 1989 - 1990
K + " 1990 - 1991
L + " 1991 - 1992
M + " 1992 - 1993
N + " 1993 - 1994
O + " 1993 - 1994
P + " 1993 - 1994
Q + " 1993 - 1994
S + " 1994 - 1995
T + " 1994 - 1995
U + " 1995 - 1996
V + " 1996 - 1997
'Crafted in Japan' followed by:
A + " * 1997 - 1998
B + " * 1998 - 1999
O + 6 digits 1997 - 2000
P + " 1999 - 2002
Q + " 2002 - 2004
R + " 2005 -



Are you looking to buy a Fender Japan guitar? Click here

Not sure which model you have or how to tell one from another?

The table below might help. I've broken the model range down into 10 types and listed a few defining features of each type. It is far from foolproof or comprehensive but, if you've got a rosewood fretboard Strat with a 1 x ply pickguard you can see from the table below that it's almost certainly a Standard model. If your Strat has a maple neck and a 1 x ply pickguard it could be either a Standard or a 50's Reissue. Each model name links to a page covering that model in detail so you should be able to identify your Strat with some certainty and won't need to send me an email saying; 'I've got a Japanese Strat, it's red, what model is it?'

Model P/guard P/ups Fretboard Frets Tremolo Locknut
Standard 1 or 3 x ply 3 x s/c either 21 Classic No
50's Reissue 1 x ply " maple " " "
62 Reissue 3 x ply " rosewood " " "
68 Reissue " " maple " " "
72 Reissue " " either 21 " "
HM None hum'r & s/c either 22 Kahler Yes
Hot Rod RI " " 22 Floyd Rose "
Contemporary 3 x ply* " " 22 Kahler "
" " Standard 22 3 x ply 3 x s/c " 22 Classic "
Signature Different specifications depending upon model
 
Re: Fender "made in Japan" Stratocaster?

Actually, the pots are smaller in diameter. But that is an easy fix you can fix by drilling the hole with a 3/8 drill, so that a standard CTS pot will fit.

The pickguard is also slightly different (Holes) but again if you use a 1962 pickguard with an aluminum shield plate, you kill three problems with one install.
1) Noise caused by EMF
2) The pot hole sizes
3) The hole placement for the pickguard (Actually uses differently placed holes - no one will notice)

Fender started making MIJ around 1984 and those MIJ are generally considered to be better than MIA of similar vintage.

BTW - Be careful on Klunsen tuners, there are two different sizes available in the market. Tone Pro Klunsen are larger and will not fit into your Strat!
 
Re: Fender "made in Japan" Stratocaster?

Wow, thanks for all the info! Much appreciated!

Oh, and can I just use modern Sperzel or Fender locking tuners for a USA model?
 
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Re: Fender "made in Japan" Stratocaster?

eschoendorff said:
Wow, thanks for all the info! Much appreciated!

Oh, and can I just use modern Sperzel or Fender locking tuners for a USA model?
Click to expand...

Check each type of tuner for it's hole size...
http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Tuners/Guitar,_solid_peghead_tuners.html

Sperzels
http://www.tkinstruments.com/id94.htm#6_in_line_sperzels__1

Gotoh
http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Tuners/...Vintage-style_Oval_Knob_Tuners_6-In-Line.html


Tuner hole dimensions can be checked in the popup page on of this page (Click here for Tuner Hole Dimensions)...
http://www.warmoth.com/Gotoh-Vintage-Tuners-Set-of-6-Left-Chrome-P966C728.aspx
 
Re: Fender "made in Japan" Stratocaster?

Nice looking guitar! That colour combination is on my gas list along with rosewood and candy apple red.
 
Re: Fender "made in Japan" Stratocaster?

I have a MIJ 52 RI Tele that is killer. I put new pots, switch and pickups in it and a new guard. It was worth it. I put a Duncan Vintage 54 & a Jerry Donahue bridge pickup in it. The tuners are stock & I see no reason to change them. They work fine.

IMHO the MIJ is the #2 as far as quality goes. USA, MIJ, MIM,SQUIRE, MII I would say is the sequence going from best to worst. I haven't played many of the Indonesia guitars or the Squires so I am basing some of this on info I have read here. All my Fenders are either American or Japanese. Mostly American. The MIJ are really good guitars.

I think that guitar would look really nice with a Tortoise guard. Check my gear. I have one!
 
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Re: Fender "made in Japan" Stratocaster?

Stratman said:
Actually, the pots are smaller in diameter. But that is an easy fix you can fix by drilling the hole with a 3/8 drill, so that a standard CTS pot will fit.

The pickguard is also slightly different (Holes) but again if you use a 1962 pickguard with an aluminum shield plate, you kill three problems with one install.
1) Noise caused by EMF
2) The pot hole sizes
3) The hole placement for the pickguard (Actually uses differently placed holes - no one will notice)


I drilled the pot holes on the stock p/g (3/8 for cts pots), and ran into the problem of the volume knob hitting the bridge mounting screw on the treble side.
The 62 p/g I got (fender) had to have the neck pocket massaged with a sanding drum just slightly to fit the neck properly, and had to drill 2 new screw holes in the body, because the 2 screw holes in the p/g by the bridge were off. Otherwise, the rest lined up perfectly.

Edit: Mine also had a usa kahler, and a stock am. standard bridge fits perfectly, exept for the block which had to have 1/4" cut off the bottom, to fit under the flush mount back plate.
Click to expand...
 
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Re: Fender "made in Japan" Stratocaster?

I've got a MIJ 62 reissue strat as well, purchased in the mid 90s though. Excellent axe, and I'm lamenting the tragic loss of the original pickups. I plan to do a pretty comprehensive mod in the near future, new pickguard, pups, electronics, bridge (want one of those Gotoh VSVGs), and tuners.

I still have the original knobs and pickup covers though. I love how they've aged to a nice cream
 
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Re: Fender "made in Japan" Stratocaster?

The pickup covers aged to cream, but the knobs didn't (replacements?) I have the origional pickups out of mine, if you are interested. They read right at 5.5k.
Mine before mods:

View attachment 16667


And after mint pickgaurd, am. stnd. bridge, aged knobs and switchtip, cts pots, orangedrop cap, and ssl-3, stock mid and aps-2, waiting on Duncan rw/rp mid pickup:

View attachment 16668

View attachment 16669
 
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Re: Fender "made in Japan" Stratocaster?

CIJs are great. They can kind of be placed in the middle between American and Mexican Fenders as far as quality goes. They can be had for cheaper than most US fenders. And I'm pretty sure all of the electronics, or at least the pickups are from the US factory.

here's a pic of my CIJ:
It's a 2003-4 RI Antigua Strat

guitarporn002.jpg
 
Re: Fender "made in Japan" Stratocaster?

Mark Cearlock said:
At first I wasn't sure on that color, But it has grown on me, nice axe!
Click to expand...

I haven't been on here in a while I just got one of these Antigua Strats. I owned one about 9 years ago and in my research found that the color was nicknamed "Pukeburst"
 
Re: Fender "made in Japan" Stratocaster?

Could be worse. The Seventies CBS/Fender era semi-transparent brown finish formerly known as "Walnut" goes by at least one other name.
 
Re: Fender "made in Japan" Stratocaster?

"CIJ," as opposed to "MIJ," places your guitar from the late '90's to the present. When CIJ started, the letter prefixes also started over at A. Therefore I'd say your guitar is probably from the first CIJ year, meaning late '90's.

Fender has had guitars made in Japan since the early '80's. In fact, for a time, during the transition from Fullerton to Corona, MIJ guitars were the only "standard" Strats (maybe other models too) that you could get brand new in the U.S.A. Fullerton's Strat production was limited to the early AVRIs at the time, and "standard" ones didn't re-enter the market until the Corona factory was up and running.
 
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