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1983 USA Stratocaster - 'Dan Smith' (a proper one)

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danny_777danny_777 Frets: 660
edited June 2020 in Guitars £

Selling my 1983 Fender Stratocaster.

This is one of the early models made by Fender after Dan Smith retooled the original Fullerton factory in ’81-’82 (which subsequently closed in ’85 with the acquisition from CBS and move to Corona). Note: this isn’t one of the crappy two-knob models that eBay sellers like to sell as “Dan Smith” Strats (despite him having nothing to do with the design and all of its corner-cutting) – it’s a proper one. Plays and sounds lovely, to be honest I’m sad to part with it. However I need to cut down my collection significantly so this is part of the cull.

For further reading on Dan Smith and this very interesting era of Fender, check out these articles:

 https://reverb.com/uk/news/interview-fender-visionary-dan-smith-on-how-to-turn-around-a-faltering-guitar-brand

https://www.stratcollector.com/news/dan-smith-stratocaster/

Anyway, on to the guitar!

Neck/Frets

The neck is a lovely single piece of maple with nice amounts of subtle flame and figuring throughout. It has a fairly ‘modern’ C-shape carve, nice and slim and easy to play. Taking the neck off reveals that it was carved by ‘J. Torres’, who I understand had been at Fender for a while and was quite prolific at neck carving. The heel is stamped 2 August 1983.

Frets are in wonderful condition, and the neck plays great all over – a wonderful piece of work, and you can really see the vast quality improvements that took place in this era of Fender.

Body

Great condition, with lovely proper 50s contours – leaps and bounds ahead of the flat, slabbed rubbish Fender was making in the 70s.

As is typical for Strats of this era, the body is heavy. I don’t have scales to weight it, but I’d put about the same as a light Les Paul. This is due to the dense ash that the factory was using at the time, which appears to have been a preference of Dan and co (look at the Yamahas he was making before Fender and you’ll see similar weights).

Great condition, save for a crack in the bass-side neck pocket (finish ONLY - it looks worse than it is due to the thick finish they used at the time! The wood is perfect, and there is no crack in the neck pocket itself) and a chip inside the trem cavity (not visible if you use the back cover, as I do).

Pickups/electronics

Pickups are original, and sound fantastic – very loud and very clear. These include the hot “X-1” bridge pickup (indicated by the yellow/black wire pairing) that was introduced to 80s Stratocasters as part of the redesign. Very ‘stratty’ sounding – these pickups sound so good I’m struggling to part with the guitar, to be honest.

Pots look to be original, with the exception of the lower tone pot, which has been replaced with a “Sonic Ranger” preamp. These were made by MoPro, a Dutch company, in the 80s/90s, and gives a Varitone-style selection of tones which can be selected by the five-position tone pot. Sounds fantastic, to be honest, and gives a lovely selection of very nice tones – I understand that Andy Summers used these for a while.

Postage/shipping

The guitar is with me in NW London but I am happy to post.

80s Strats appear to be priced at £700-1100 for the POS two-knob models, £1300-2200 for the proper USA ones, and £2k+ for the Reissues.

I’m asking £1,650. Now £1500 Now £1100. Now £1000.

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Comments

  • toneclonetoneclone Frets: 11
    Hello there, this era strat is called a Dan Smith, just to let you know, regards Pat .
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  • toneclonetoneclone Frets: 11
    Should have read the blurb first, only saw the headline...what do I know!
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  • danny_777danny_777 Frets: 660
    toneclone said:
    Hello there, this era strat is called a Dan Smith, just to let you know, regards Pat .
    As you noted, the listing goes into a fair bit of detail on this - updated the title just in case though, thanks!
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  • KoaKoa Frets: 120
    Looks to be in great condition. I think I read somewhere recently that these have become really sought after in the USA vintage market, looks like you’ve done your homework too, really informative listing. GLWTS 
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  • FunkfingersFunkfingers Frets: 14320
    danny_777 said:
    This is one of the early models made by Fender after Dan Smith retooled the original Fullerton factory in ’81-’82 (which subsequently closed in ’85 with the acquisition from CBS and move to Corona).
    This statement is correct.

    danny_777 said:
    Note: this isn’t one of the crappy two-knob models that eBay sellers like to sell as “Dan Smith” Strats (despite him having nothing to do with the design and all of its corner-cutting)
    This statement is partially correct. Some vendors do indeed misdescribe their 1983/84 American Standard Stratocasters as "Dan Smith" era.

    I would argue that the revised guitars are not so much "crappy" as flawed and misguided. They can be improved - if you happen to like Kahler flatmount vibrato systems.
    Be seeing you.
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  • danny_777danny_777 Frets: 660
    Bump!
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • danny_777danny_777 Frets: 660
    Bump and price drop
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • danny_777danny_777 Frets: 660
    Bump and further drop for an awesome strat.
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • danny_777danny_777 Frets: 660
    Bump and price drop
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • step_hentstep_hent Frets: 34
    Have free bump. That's a lovely guitar (I used to have one with a natural finish) at a cracking price.
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  • danny_777danny_777 Frets: 660
    Bump :)
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • danny_777danny_777 Frets: 660
    Bump!
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • danny_777danny_777 Frets: 660
    Bump, will add cash for a Kemper
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • danny_777danny_777 Frets: 660
    Bump with further price reduction
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • danny_777danny_777 Frets: 660
    Bump

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  • guitars4youguitars4you Frets: 14026
    tFB Trader
    Can't believe at 1K no one has purchased this - I've seen sales of such guitars far in excess of 1K
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  • soooooo wish this was just a year older. Then it would be a birth year guitar for me, and would be a legitimate excuse spunking £1000 of money I can ill afford to spend!

    Are you 100% sure it's 1983 on the neck, and it isn't 1982 that's been smudged?  ;)
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  • KoaKoa Frets: 120
    I bought one recently for way more and thought I’d done well. It was the neck that sold it to me but the pickups are great....this is incredibly undervalued, it must sell soon at this price. 
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  • danny_777danny_777 Frets: 660
    edited August 2019
    Thanks guys - I have no idea why this isn't selling. I've priced this at less than the awful two-knob budget models, which seem to be going for £800+.

    Is there something wrong with my ad or pictures?
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  • danny_777danny_777 Frets: 660
    edited August 2019
    Just to be clear, the crack is finish ONLY - the body and structural integrity is not compromised. This can be seen at the neck joint itself - the wood is completely intact and can be seen as such.

    It looks worse than it is due to the thick finish used in the 80s.
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