Help identify this Stratocaster

eldarvanyar

Hi all, 
my son has been given a Stratocaster. Can you help identify it for me? 

I be think it is in tropical turquoise. It has Fender Corona California on the neck plate. 4 screws and a hole between the two bottom screws. 

The serial number is on the reverse of the neck by the backplate with ‘crafted in Japan’ : 
Serial number R063017

It has a Seymore Duncan hot rail pickup in the bridge. 

It has an 11 hole scratch plate.
Two screw trem. With a 6 screw white trem plate on the back. 

Do you have any ideas on what year it is, where it was manufactured and how much it may be worth? 

I would like to get it set up for him. Maybe change the pickguard to make it look different. What colours work best? Pictures would be good. 

Would a dark blue tortoiseshell work, or a anodised goldy copper colour? 

I am doing this on my iPhone and don’t seem to be able to upload any pictures. 

Thanks 

eldarvanyar

Oh,
it is in need of a good clean as it has basically sat in a bedroom for about 8 years not being played. 

If I were to upgrade the pots and jackplate etc can you recommend what to go for?

Jonathangus

https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/54241/posting-pics-vids-soundclips-how-to

ICBM

It sounds like it might be a ‘partscaster’ - the description of the body sounds like a USA Standard, but the neck is clearly Japanese.

If so it will probably not have the pressure plate in the neck for the tilt mechanism (there’s a screw under that little hole in the plate), so don’t try to use that when setting it up.

Photos would definitely help - if you can’t get them to load on here, could you put them in a public folder we can access?

Funkfingers

Without pics, it is only possible to make guesses.

A neck with a decal reading either Made In Japan or Crafted In Japan under the clear coat is definitively Fender Japan.

The two-point vibrato and "Corona" neck anchor plate suggest Mexico more than USA - not least because a modern US neck pocket would probably be wider than the heel of a Japanese vintage style neck.

The Duncan Hot Rails is designed to work with A250k pots.

As for colour scheme suggestions, Tropical Turquoise looks like a halfway house between Daphne Blue and Sonic Blue. Pickguard should be three-ply Parchment, four-ply Aged White Pearlescent or mirror.

eldarvanyar

Thanks for the quick reply. Am I able to post a picture from my phone? 

eldarvanyar

Do all the pots have to be 250k? Is the SD able to be coil tapped? Would CTS pots be the ones to go for and a switch craft jack plate? Whilst I am doing for him I might as well upgrade some of the parts. 

eldarvanyar

Here are some pictures 

https://photos.app.goo.gl/1kWjZEFpA1uprqf57

 https://photos.app.goo.gl/6NMPKQ8VPEWibmtn8

https://photos.app.goo.gl/Vmep7YgGeNqFc26E8

https://photos.app.goo.gl/51URZAzv9xYPBZ5aA

https://photos.app.goo.gl/XRqctokDWL1VwH5H9

eldarvanyar

guitarjack66

Your pictures are not showing for me.

sweepy

Looks very nice tbh, good fettle and clean up and that’ll be a good serviceable Strat 

randella

I can see them. A quick look suggests it might be bits of different guitars (as suggested).

The Corona neckplate and Crafted in Japan neck probably wouldn't have appeared on the same guitar. I do have an old HM Strat from the '80s that had bits of both Japanese and US manufacture but there are not different country markings on the guitar (only Fender U.S.A. on the neckplate).

randella

sweepy said:

Looks very nice tbh, good fettle and clean up and that’ll be a good serviceable Strat 

Agreed, looks very nice.

ICBM

The Corona neckplate doesn’t belong with the body either - there’s no tilt mechanism under the hole. That makes the body more likely to be Mexican, as Funkfingers said - the 2-post bridge fits with that too.

I would see what the pots are before changing them - if they’re Fender Mexico there’s probably no need.

Funkfingers

eldarvanyar said:

Do all the pots have to be 250k? 

No but the stock single coils and the Hot Rails will work best with those values.

eldarvanyar said:

Is the SD able to be coil tapped? 

No but it can be coil split. Chances are that is already wired to permit that. Full output HR is going to massively overpower a vintage style middle pickup.

ICBM said:

The Corona neckplate doesn’t belong with the body either - there’s no tilt mechanism under the hole. That makes the body more likely to be Mexican, as Funkfingers said - the 2-post bridge fits with that too.

Two post fulcrum vibrato suggests Player, Classic Player or Vintera Modified series body. The finish colour suggests the latter.

I suspect that the pickguard came from the Japanese side of the family. Its 1962/63 screw layout could prove problematic with the HSH pickup cavities of some Player series bodies. 

eldarvanyar

Thanks for all the comments. 

What would be the best way forward do you think to upgrade the various hardware and electronics and which type or manufacturer?

Locking tuners - yes or no

upgrade the tremolo - yes or no

upgrade the nut - yes or no

upgrade the pots - yes or no

Upgrade the jack plate - yes or no 

Thanks 

BillDL

I wouldn't bother thinking about "upgrading" the guitar at all.  I would instead clean it up, especially the bridge, then set it up properly and see whether there are any aspects about it that you think could be improved.  If the volume and tone controls all work as intended, then I see no sense in messing around with them.  You could always just do a routine maintenance and make sure that the nuts for the pots and the output jack are tight to prevent any issues being caused later.  If the nut slots are cut to the right depths to give you a nice string action over the first fret then just leave the nut.  Add some lubricant to the slots if you are going to set the guitar up to use the tremolo, but there's no sense in messing around if it does the job properly.

The only thing I MIGHT be inclined to do would be swap the stamped metal saddles for block steel ones.  That's just my personal preference though, and mostly because I like to be able to get the tops of the saddle height screws down below the surface of the saddles so they don't scratch my hand.

Locking tuners would involve reaming the headstock holes out to a larger diameter.  They can help with tuning stability if using the tremolo, but people have used those Kluson split shaft tuners for decades along with tremolos that are properly set up and not had any tuning issues.  Locking tuners can also make string changes much faster, but restringing split-shaft tuners is pretty easy and fast anyway.  Personally I wouldn't bother swapping the tuners unless you find that they have stability problems.

strtdv

Nice strat, agree it looks like an MIM body with a MIJ neck.

Personally I like vintage tuners and wouldn't bother upgrading to locking ones. Vintage style strat necks are designed to have a few winds of string on the tuners to get sufficient break angle over the nut, particularly on the D and G strings, which if you do with locking tuners removes most of the benefit of them being locking in the first place.

I'd just give it a clean and leave it at that if it's all working.

PAL

It does look like it's made from parts. I would just clean it set it up and play it.

eldarvanyar

Thanks everyone, 
I will do as suggested.