Here’s a rare bird – from 1983, a Fender Stratocaster Elite in sunburst. This model was built only in 1983 and 1984, and introduced a number of new features and hardware pieces. Most visible of these are the short-lived FreeFlyte knife-edge trem, and the pushbutton pickup selectors. New pickups were installed, and the output jack went on the side – in this case, a Neutrix locking jack. With the three pickup switches, all pickup combinations are available. Not so immediately apparent is the routing. From the top, this guitar looks very much like a Stratocaster. But if you turn it over, you see that there is no cover, or route, for the trem springs, just a small plate covering access to the output jack wiring.
Corona
Here we’re looking at a Fender American Deluxe Telecaster from the 2005 model year, featuring a lovely slightly metallic Tangerine finish on an Alder body, maple neck with Rosewood fingerboard sporting Abalone position markers. A pearlescent pickguard sets off the finish very nicely. As a bonus, the back has a Strat-style comfort contour.
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MORE →The Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster was built between 1998 and 2016, and offered improved hardware – notably a two point trem and locking tuners – and aesthetic upgrades like Abalone position markers.
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MORE →The Fender Bass VI first appeared in 1961 and managed to stay in the catalog till 1975. In 1994 and 1995, Fender Japan built a number of reissue models, including this very nice sunburst example.
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MORE →The Fender Eric Johnson signature models are built to Johnson’s detailed specifications, including woods and contours, pickup voicing, and hardware choices. It has been available in both Maple and Rosewood fingerboard versions, in a variety of finishes, all a very light nitrocellulose lacquer.
Here we have a 2014 example of the Fender Eric Johnson Stratocaster Maple, in a translucent white finish. Eric Johnson Strat serial numbers aren’t necessarily consecutive, and so short of contacting Fender for shipping information the only way to be sure of the age is to pop the neck off the body and check the dates. On this example, the neck date is May 2 2014, and the body date is June 3, 2014.
This instrument has sold
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