What kind of Strat do I have.. is a genuine usa or a fake?
- Thread starter Andy1970
- Start date
pictures from wich pov?
th
e other guitars are not sointeresting One is a entrylevel ibanez from the ninetie and one is a squier strat bullet and very damaged..especially the fretsLooking good! Welcome to the forum, @Andy1970! What about them other guitars? We need pics of them too
Neilshane
Strat-Talk Member
Herbie Gastellum is the real deal!
Will Lefeurve
Most Honored Senior Member
Yeah.. its a Standard.. I'm pretty sure on that.. nice guitar..
This guy makes a rather good job of playing a yellow, early AM Standard.. Ron Artis..
This guy makes a rather good job of playing a yellow, early AM Standard.. Ron Artis..
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I didn;t play it... It was unplayable because of rhe wrong screws. Even a coin was put in Why????? Tomorow I go to a guitar repairman
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ehiggins3xlt
New Member!
I have an E dated strat that I purchased a few years ago. I believe the name is actually (Herbie) Gastelum who was a neck builder for them for years before moving into the custom shop. Herbie was referred to as the king of feel and you can find some articles about him on the internet and the Fender website. Not sure on name Pallares.
There is a three book series by Hal Leonard. The Stratocaster Chronicles, The Soul of Tone, and The Dream Factory: Fender Custom Shop. Herbie is mentioned in the last book about the custom shop, but not in the other two books. Again, I couldn’t find Pallares in any of the books. But, that doesn’t mean anything. I’ve done quite a bit of reading on thunder history, and there are a lot of names that have gone through the factory as well as the custom shop and fender has never been very good about keeping good records.
Just sayin. But it sounds like you may have an American made, and if the neck was made by Herbie Gastelum, you’ve probably got a good one!
ehiggins3xlt
New Member!
Lol…thunder, Fender… some might say they’re the same thing.
steve sellars
Strat-Talk Member
That is genuine Fender stuff I'm pretty sure...
newbiestrat51
Strat-Talk Member
According to Reverb the N serial number stands for the 90's. So it should be a 1999. I have a 1989 Strat plus and the Serial number starts with an E. My 1993 strat plus starts with N3#####. For 1993.
albala
Dr. Stratster
N9 in this case is '89/'90/'91
The neckplate is wrong and the coin is a bit concerning
The neckplate is wrong and the coin is a bit concerning
SoK66
Strat-Talk Member
I'd say that's an '89 American Standard with buggered electronics.
jape
New Member!
There was a limited run of grafitti yellow Stratocasters done for the South Dakota lottery, but that was 2001. I can't remember for sure, but I think they did some maple neck & some rosewood fingerboard versions. Here is a link to a Reverb listing for one:
reverb.com
I did a little more searching & found this listing for a 1990 Stratocaster Plus. This one has an N9xxxxxx serial number & I remember the Stratocaster Plus had the swimming pool routing like yours. Yours may not be all original, but I'm guessing it began its life as a Stratocaster Plus.
reverb.com
Fender Stratocaster 2001 Graffiti Yellow | Reverb
Reduced! Fender Stratocaster in the very rare color Graffiti Yellow # 97 of 115 special ordered by the South Dakota State Lottery as part of a 2001 giveaway promotion by the South Dakota Lottery called "Guitar Town" in excellent condition. This color was not available on American Series Strats in...
reverb.com
I did a little more searching & found this listing for a 1990 Stratocaster Plus. This one has an N9xxxxxx serial number & I remember the Stratocaster Plus had the swimming pool routing like yours. Yours may not be all original, but I'm guessing it began its life as a Stratocaster Plus.
1990 Fender Strat Plus Graffiti Yellow Original Lace Gold EC+ with Case & Candy | Reverb
Awesome 1990 Fender Stratocaster Plus. Original DuPont #5248A "Graffiti Yellow" over Black (refinished). Original "Actodyne General Pat Pending" #027666 Lace Sensor Gold pickups. Front covers have no indentation where name is stamped; rear covers sport the stickers as seen in the pho...
reverb.com
albala
Dr. Stratster
Here is an old thread on S-T with GY American Standards
www.strat-talk.com
1989 American Standard in Graffiti Yellow - Any Info?
Hi all, Posted over on TGP but figured I’d share here as well. I have this nice 1989 American Standard in my care, with the option to buy it. As you can see it’s in Graffiti Yellow and in pretty nice shape for it’s age. It sounds great so far in an A/B with my 89 Extrad (seen in the pics); it...
www.strat-talk.com
Joolstacho
Strat-Talk Member
To ME -and of course it's just my (humble) opinion, I don't actually care if my white Strat is genuine or not. The serial number checks out okay, but the tuners are wrong and a couple of other things could be suss. But it just plays like ... absolutely beautiful. I wouldn't swap it for Buddy Holly's guitar ( Well maybe I might!) These things are such basic things. Just a slab of basic wood screwed to another bit of basic wood.
But my one is just such a fabulous guitar I don't give a F what it really is. I got it online - a gamble... from the US. When I got it here to Oz, as soon as I plugged it in I knew I didn't care if it was genuine or not, because the pups were just to die for. I immediately did a neck/fret setup on it and now it plays and sounds as slick as any custom shop git. Yes I'm lucky, as a builder I can do it. Just saying that REALLY it's not about whether it's a 'genuine' F git. They are all just factory built off a production line, ok some might then go into the 'custom shop' with the price then doubled but all they really do it do a setup like Ibanez do routinely for all their basic cheapo guitars anyway.
I've just made a git that is way better anyway. A guitar that I had 'finished' 8 years ago, I finally got around to doing the refinement it deserves. I took a good amount of lovely flame Maple off the neck, to slim it, then refinished it to give a satin/matte finish,
so even my fat sticky sweaty mitts don't stick!!!
Love it and very proud of it. Got a Floyd Rose type trem bridge and locking nut, setup perfectly which takes a bit of effort on this setup.
Just sayin' -its not about whether it's a 'genuine' F or not... they're all just off a basic factory production line. It's what happens to it AFTER that that makes the difference.
(I'm not allowed to show my stuff it because I'm somehow rated as some sort of a 'commercial' outfit. Jeez I haven't sold a guitar in YEARS!!! - Just because I have a website I suppose!)
But my one is just such a fabulous guitar I don't give a F what it really is. I got it online - a gamble... from the US. When I got it here to Oz, as soon as I plugged it in I knew I didn't care if it was genuine or not, because the pups were just to die for. I immediately did a neck/fret setup on it and now it plays and sounds as slick as any custom shop git. Yes I'm lucky, as a builder I can do it. Just saying that REALLY it's not about whether it's a 'genuine' F git. They are all just factory built off a production line, ok some might then go into the 'custom shop' with the price then doubled but all they really do it do a setup like Ibanez do routinely for all their basic cheapo guitars anyway.
I've just made a git that is way better anyway. A guitar that I had 'finished' 8 years ago, I finally got around to doing the refinement it deserves. I took a good amount of lovely flame Maple off the neck, to slim it, then refinished it to give a satin/matte finish,
so even my fat sticky sweaty mitts don't stick!!!
Love it and very proud of it. Got a Floyd Rose type trem bridge and locking nut, setup perfectly which takes a bit of effort on this setup.
Just sayin' -its not about whether it's a 'genuine' F or not... they're all just off a basic factory production line. It's what happens to it AFTER that that makes the difference.
(I'm not allowed to show my stuff it because I'm somehow rated as some sort of a 'commercial' outfit. Jeez I haven't sold a guitar in YEARS!!! - Just because I have a website I suppose!)
Skinny Nitro
Senior Stratmaster
The January 1989 Fender price list shows 570 Graffiti Yellow was also available on the Standard.
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All looks good, the guitar is a 1990 American Standard, N9 = 90, the serials wwere purchased in bulk & often used before the date on the decal, so the decal could have been applied to the neck in 89 as well. S9 (79) is a classic example, its found on Fenders from 78 to 81. The string trees have been changed at some point, not unusual to find 89 parts, especially on the turn of the year. The pickup bobbin numbers are correct for the period, swimming pool route body is correct.
Ah - I missed it when I was looking at the price lists yesterday. The January 1989 isn't on the site I have been using to look them up; it jumps from October 1988 to July 1989.
It's also on the October 1988 price list as being an American Standard color. I did look at that one last night but I missed it as an American Standard color; I only saw it on the Strat Plus color list.
Graffiti yellow was not on the April 1988 price list (for any model) and it has been removed (for all models) by the July 1989 price list. So it was a very short-lived color.
And my apologies to @Andy1970 - the body and neck certainly could have come out of the factory together as an American Standard. So I now would call it an American Standard with at least replaced string trees. Have you checked to see if it has the TBX tone control in T2? If not then that is also a mod to the guitar.
mrmarbles048
Strat-Talk Member
- Oct 15, 2008
- 32
Congrats on the guitar. I've owned many in that era. Even had a Graffitti yellow at one point, but it was an E serial #. As most have already said, not the original string tree, not the original electronics, and not the original plate. The rest looks legit....right down to those two extra holes in the body. Those 89/90 guitars were some of the best playing guitars. Great find!
