The photo (upper left) of the nut with the “E4” serial number is off the Strat Plus DX. Catalog List for 1989 Strat Plus guitars Click Here to download a complete January, 1989 Price List with color codes! 90 Blue Pearl Burst He also played a Bahama Green Strat Plus which can be seen in a music video entitled "Throwaway" with Mick Jagger filmed at the Country Club in L.A. in late 1987. It was here that Lace was exposed to the fascinating world of the music industry while working with Fender and people like Don Randall. Below is an original Fender advertisement from 1988 for the Strat Plus guitar. 06 Black The Lace Sensors represented a revolutionary new design for single coil pickups—having a unique radiant field barrier system that surrounds both the coil and magnets, eliminating the annoying 60-cycle hum. “I can tell you that the guitar’s shapes and weights were very inconsistent until Bill Schultz, Dan Smith, Bashar Darcazallie, and others, began their changes in 1982. (See Jeff playing that guitar below). Below are some picts from the magazine and the guitar in question. Click here for Fender's February 1992 Price List complete with color codes. I do not know if that is still true today. The the last of the three pictures shows a Midnight Wine, Candy Apple Red, and the rare Frost Red side by side. 06 Black This involved modifying the A&B shaper patterns, which took some time, and we had to work through the stock of bodies that we had just made. when the Strat Plus Series discontinued. 91 Black Pearl Burst. This is especially true of the 87-91 colors. Since in 1980 it was pretty easy to pass inconsistency through the inspectors, the contours varied greatly. So now we know where these “supposed” Fullerton bodies really originated! Then I got curious and asked John Page, one of the former employees at Fender, who was around back in those days. For more Strat Plus and similar model information, please visit www.xhefriguitars.com. 21 Natural Click here for the 1996 January Price List. 28 Crimson Burst In my opinion, the Bob contours are nicer and more sexy (if I can say that). All have the skunk-stripe down the back, with a nice C neck profile, as well as the Bi-flex truss rod, which was a good improvment over the older straight truss rods. In either case, this guitar was floating around the Fender offices. We have now renamed them “Bob” bodies, which I will explain in a moment. Finding a production neck made by him is a rare find amd always the best of quality. Here is a nice sample of an Aluminum Body Violet Metal Burst Strat Plus that is New Old Stock. With the TBX control fully clockwise the pickup has a 1meg resistance sitting on top of the tone control. 59 Ebony Frost Catalog List for the 1992 Strat Plus & Strat Plus DX Colors Click here for Fender's February 1992 Price List complete with color codes. Opening up one of these BEASTS is rather interesting. So this make about 120 total. The Strat Plus, from it's inception, was heralded with basic features from the get-go and a Wilkerson roller nut and Locking tuners were part of their features. (1st Picture below. 21 Natural 21 Natural He also gives us a clear time frame for these events: "Sometime in spring of 1986 we got a call from Jeff Beck asking about guitars for an upcoming tour in Japan. The edge radius did eventually grow back to the vintage round style in the late 90s but the ‘diamond’ style contours remain.” And he also added this tidbit, “The square edges just kind of evolved in manufacturing (easier to make) and it was embraced by Marketing as an identifier for the line. They will often have the E4, E8 or E9 serial numbers too. George explained where some of the features of that design came from: “There were two new lines introduced in 1982 (before I was hired), called ‘Standard’ and ‘Elite,’ which were newly designed from the ground up. CBS Buyout and the New American Standard Strat: In 1986, George Blanda was hired to try to get Fender’s Custom Shop up and running. There are all kinds of stories, or perhaps I should say fables, about these Firestorm finishes. In November/December 1986 all the way through to the first month of 1988 (i.e., 1987) there was, what later would become, a mysterious and controversial “Bob” body that appeared on the “new” American Standard and a few Stratocaster Plus guitars. We would like to show you a description here but the site won’t allow us. The American Standard Strats came in a few colors not offered in the Plus series and vice versa. So there you have itSO THIS IS A MISTAKE AT FENDER, one which has been told to several people who then later come back to me and say things like, "So you think you know more than Fender?" Well, before we answer that, let’s take a look at how Strat bodies were shaped in the early 1980s, while Fender was still under CBS control. These bodies were used on the first “new” American Standard Strats and a few very early Strat Plus guitars. 06 Black But then Fender went and did something totally confusing to most people — that was to introduce the FROST finishes in the late 1980s into the 1990s. Very clever design! You can see a nice Sonic Blue below on this page. 43 Pewter 37 Antique Burst The patented Lace Micro Matrix Combs replace traditional bobbins, yielding a wider tonal range and better string balance than traditional pickups. Please note the neck plate—all Plus' have the Fender logo written on it like the one above, except the Ultras will also have the word on there too. Their trip was probably around the time of the Frankfort Musik Messe (European NAMM type show in March). I have seen these initials inside many bodies, and never gave it much thought. 43 Pewter Now to the Jeff Beck signature models below! But note again that this Crimson Burst, when first introduced, was made from a solid red color—having a dark red around the edges with the middle area of the body having a transparent red usually over Ash. Right picture is the late Seth Lover, the inventor of the humbucking pickup. Knowing this info is good for determining if your guitar has been modified or to help date your guitar. If a string breaks while playing, the Tremsetter will compensate and the guitar will stay in tune. When I started questioning this entry in the data-base at Fender, one employee emailed me and admitted, "Yes, this was something that I added because that is what I was told by people here. Again the upper picture (right) shows the same two colors side-by-side. 19 Dusty Rose This means that when the paint gets into the neck socket it often makes the socket too tight for the neck to fit. These covers are hard to get off BTW. So just because Fender might tell you otherwise it does not make it true! This was the guitar used on the Jeff Beck / Jann Hammer tour in Japan in summer of 1986. Eric Clapton (born 1945), ... the guitars generally have gold Lace Sensor pickups and modified circuitry. When I got it it was unplayed and still had the plastic on the pickguard and trem plate cover. There is some interesting historical information to note about Strat Plus necks. 90 Blue Pearl Burst Some of these colors were also Some of these fakes will also have a dull finish if they were not buffed out or possible shot in lacquer. Example: one could have a part number like: 10-9502-737. The TBX works as a standard tone control. Over the years different people worked at Fender who shaped and finished, not only the guitars, but the necks as well. So while the Strat Plus body retained the all the features prior to late 1997, there were 2 noticeable "extra" holes used to hold the body while it was being produced. Middle pict is Don Sr at his desk. The screw is a 1/4 inch Allen Screw. Davon profitierst du immer dann, wenn du mit PayPal, Kreditkarte oder Lastschrift zahlst. See some of the examples above. 58 Torino Red Hier kannst Du Dich mit anderen Eltern und werdenden Müttern und Vätern über Vornamen und Elternthemen austauschen. Catalog List for the 1993 Strat Plus & Strat Plus DX ColorsClick here for Fender's January, 1993 Price List complete with color codes! There was also the Buddy Guy Signature Strat that likewise used Gold Laces. One other thing of interest is the bridge posts. (Really, since the Dually is just 2 Lace PUs side by side, the switch just turns off one PU). This guitar was shipped to Mr. Beck to evaluate. 80 Arctic White 91 Black Pearl Burst. The article was in the May 1987 issue, probably a couple months after the interview. On his tour with Stevie Ray Vaughan in 1989, he has what looked like a Midnight Blue Strat Plus - a color that was not offered by Fender till 1990. This newer design gives a person a lot more tone capabilities. 36 Blue Burst Leftover CBS Bodies? There were about 20 of these made in this color and with a maple neck. Then in late 1993 a new Crimson Burst was introduced having a whole new look with a red metallic around the edges, using a transparent red, usually over Ash, in the middle of the body. 90 Blue Pearl Burst Yes there were some odd variables of the Surf Green from dark to a milky green due to mix variations and yellowing clear coats, but Sea Foam Green was never listed for any of the Strat Plus colors, at least that I have found anywhere. Anyhow some of these guitars have been modded but are still shown to give you the actual color. 4/5), allowing the standard combinations via the 5-way switch, plus neck and bridge only, or all three pickups. Last, but not least, a plastic cover is glued on with what appears to be epoxy. ;-) These colors (1st pict) from left to right are: Bahama Green, Taos Turquoise, and Surf Green. We provide fast shipping and easy, secure checkout. Community Triff andere Eltern. (Some of these colors were listed as available from 1996 till 1998, It is a well know fact throughout Fender history that they painted a lot of "burst" finishes on their guitars. LOL!!!! Next is Razz Berry, then Lipstick Red (which I will talk more about in a second. After all, these cost considerably more money than your standard Fender finish! 36 Blue Burst Then to complicate things even more, when Fender came out with the Strat Plus Dexluxe in 1989, they again introduced the E4 serial numbers, long after the Standard Plus' were using E8 and E9!!! 37 Antique Burst John Page, explained, “The contours on the bodies were cut on a large shaper, called the A&B Shaper. On position #4 you can use both tone controls, one on the neck pickup and the TBX on the middle pickup while having both pickups on. Vollen Schutz genießt du außerdem bei allen Artikeln mit eBay-Garantie und Zahlungsabwicklung über eBay. Odd thing was, I have seen some of the newer Corona style bodies used in December of 1987, so there was a mix and match there for a while. Some of the parts, such as the bodies and the unfinished necks came off the "line" which means they came out of the same stock the production model of the new American Standard Strats came from. 73 Midnight Blue Most likely.... Then Fender did something to confuse people even more! As Fender started branching out with Signature model guitars, he ended up building three prototype models for Eric Clapton, using the new Lace Sensor pickups. Since it was going to Japan in summer, Dan convinced him to let us take it back and put a coat of sealer on it. 02 Lake Placid Blue, The “Micro-tilt adjuster” is a pretty fancy name! 32 Brown Sunburst LOL!!! Sag Deine Meinung. A mistake in Fender's data-base is just that — a mistake! 07 vintage Blond Many of the earlier Plus’ came with plain pickguards, like on these 2 mint Plus’: 1990 Midnight Wine Plus with rosewood, (left) and a 1993 Lipstick Red Plus with maple neck (right). 87 Electric Blue (into early 1996) Portail des communes de France : nos coups de coeur sur les routes de France. Above you will see the progression of pick-guard assemblies. Google these numbers and you can find these arms for sale. The goal was to unload the pickup from the tone control pot. A Lace Sensor “Dually” was also used in the Ultra and some Tele Plus’ using two Lace Sensors placed side-by-side, looking like a humbucker though they were actually two independent pickups. 32 Brown Sunburst 80 Arctic White I have several of his pickup sets. 02 Lake Placid Blue The first American Standard Strat prototype had been scrounged together (by me) from modified and completely hand-made parts and shipped immediately to Europe for a presentation (long story) and was promptly lost! 73 Midnight Blue Look under the hood of this Bahama Green (above-right) and you can see the true color underneath. As mechanisms were put into place, contours started being more consistent. Note that the route cavity is first painted with a black conductive paint to keep out unwanted hum and pickup noise. "The guitar in the article is the 2nd incarnation Beck prototype, which by the time of the article, was being called the 'Strat Plus'. These cracks are caused by different things. 80 Arctic White The steel cradle that houses these magnets strips have several layers on the bottom and one on each side of the windings. See the upper right picture. I believe the guitar still had the handmade bridge saddles. FRONT ROW: Stuart Adamson, Eric Clapton, Hank Marvin, Richard Thompson, and off camera Steve Hackett, Pete Townsend and Gary Moore! But George did not stop here. As you might remember, Bill Schultz and Dan Smith were trying to bring CBS’s quality control up to a higher standard, as things faltered under CBS’s ownership. Only the "good old" Strat Plus in Grafitti Yellow! 17 Bahama Green Like many of the later USA Strats, these necks have the micro-tilt adjustment, which is an Allen screw under the Fender neck plate that pressed against a truss-rod grommet on the backside of the neck. He want on to explain how the whole Signature Series came about and how it all tied together with the Strat Plus. The body on this guitar is definitely from that batch. Click Here to get USA Fender serial numbers from 1976 till today. 1) Look under the pickguard to see if theres a color variation between the exposed and unexposed finish. 37 Antique Burst If you get one that says Corona, CA on it, it has been changed! 07 Vintage Blond Zoomalia.pt é uma loja de animais online com preços baixos que propõe mais de 100 000 referências na alimentação, alimentos, produtos e acessórios para animais. They made various, I do not know how many times I have seen someone call an off-white Plus. I had left Fender for 11 months in 1986, and we left Fullerton the year before that.". Then if the guitar ended up in a humid climate, the body could swell as it takes on moisture, causing slight cracks in the finish. We will talk about the legendary Bahama Green Plus' later. 28 Crimson Burst eBay is another place to look as well! :-), So there you have it! I came up with the circuit while working on Fender’s Elite Strat project. 28 Crimson Burst The picture to the right is a more current picture of George. When the 5-way switch is in the 4th position, by turning the tone control you can get a bell like sound to a honking out-of-phase mid-range sound. These were a problem if you wanted to use heavier strings as feeding them through the two pins was a real hassle. I believe that was confused with the Deluxe American Standard model and not in reference to the Strat Plus at that time." 32 Brown Sunburst Bahama Green, and Taos Turquoise are harder to find and are quite collectible. inside the body route on 1987 - 1990 Strat Plus guitars. The other photo (above right) shows the Wilkinson nuts that had all the strings feed through a upper “roller” pin that the string rested on, while it went down under a 2nd pin. “We would receive the bodies out 300 at a time, I recall, on a rolling table about knee high and maybe 3 ft long. If you look at the pictures above, the 87 Plus body in Fiesta Red is a "BOB" contoured body. Stress Cracks! Below one can see the Fender Custom Shop log when two Strat Plus prototype guitars were made by John Page and Michael Steven, as George pointed out—one in Surf Green and the other in Grafitti Yellow, both headed to the 1987 NAMM show. Rob Schwarz, a 34+ year employee at Fender told me this story: “I started at CBS Fender Oct 17, 1980, in the woodshop — on the ‘body-line.’ I was on that line for about a year where, yep, we traced the contours on the bodies with a pressboard jig, and then cut the contours on a bandsaw. This is based on my years of ownership and watching guitars for sale on various venues on a weekly basis over the years: Bahama Green (very rare), Fiesta Red (very rare), Dusty Rose (extremely rare), Shell Pink (extremely rare), Torino Red (very rare), Ice Blue (very rare), Electric Blue (very rare), Graffiti Yellow (rare), Frost Red (very rare), Crimson Frost (rare), Razz Berry (very rare), Surf Green (rare & there are variations of this color), Root Beer Metallic (rare, not very popular), Shoreline Gold (rare), Lake Placid Blue (rare), and Taos Turquoise (extremely rare). NOW TO ACTUAL COLORS! The one to the left is off one of the very first 1987 Plus'. "Fender Deluxe Locking in solid chrome" (PART NUMBER 003-6534-049). 62 Blue Frost After CBS sold Fender in 1985, there was no production of Fender guitars in the U.S. from February, 1985 to October, 1985 (almost 8 months!). NOTE! 68 Gun Metal Blue 43 Pewter And there was the Eric Clapton Signature Strat with 3 Gold Lace pickups and a 25db mid-range boost. THE COLORS MENTIONED HERE ARE RARE TO VERY RARE, MAKING THE GUITAR MORE COLLECTABLE: There were a lot of other finishes offered by Fender, especially early on (1987 to 1994) that are more rare to find. In other words, the angle of the face of the guitar where your arm goes does not have such a sharp angle like on the Corona body. WOW! 77 Frost Red One was finished in Torino Red and the other two in Pewter Grey Metallic. Don't Be confused! Another feature found on the Plus Series is locking tuners. We have now renamed them “Bob” bodies, which I will explain in a moment. George also mentioned that James worked at Fender for several years after production for these finishes stopped, so that blows a hole in the "he left so the finishes stopped being made" theory! Behind him to the left is John Page of Fender Custom Shop fame and now owner of John Page guitars. In light of the model’s life span of over a decade, expect spec variations. Here is what happened! Note the BOB body (Fiesta Red) has a much thicker cut on the arm bevel. 91 Black Pearl Burst. I have taken apart a Strat Plus only to find AMSTAD stamped in the neck socket. The Strat Plus electronics has been basically the same from their inception, with a few minor variations. “I can tell you that the guitar’s shapes and weights were very inconsistent until. Fender's Don Randall met with the Beatles to try and … The BOB then quickly tapers to a thinner cut as you turn the body toward the top edge. The Mysterious “BOB” Stratocaster Bodies of 1987 and the STRAT PLUS. Fender lists the colors that were available for the Standard Plus models as: Arctic White, Black, Black Pearl Dust, Blue Pearl Dust, Brown Sunburst, Caribbean Mist, Grafitti Yellow, Lipstick Red, Midnight Blue, and Midnight Wine from 1987 till 1997. Also Fender sometimes did odd-ball stuff, like adding metal flake in some clear coats on some guitars and not doing it on others of the same base color. I saw your comment about the Echoes pickups. Put the switch in position #2 and, you get a quack, or a hollow twang! Above: you will see an example of my nearly unplayed 1991 Firestorm Ultra. Both were shot in lacquer rather than urethane. 21 Natural My memory is that during a meeting Bruce Bolen held up the guitar and said, 'Here is our Strat Plus right here, it has everything it needs.' Obviously this is not correct! Paul Gagon was the mastermind who designed Fender’s TBX potentiometer, as he worked there from 1978 through 1984. Some burst Plus' such as the Brown Sunburst above are solid Alder, while other bursts, such as the transparent Blue Burst above, the will have Ash caps laminated front and back on Alder, thus the dark burst edging is used to cover up the lamination seams. 09 Candy Apple Red NOTE: On FaceBook you can follow build threads, interact, ask questions, see current guitars and projects. This way you know this is no hearsay, but the story told by the man who actually made the Strat Plus design!!!! This was just a few months after Bill Schultz and Dan Smith attended the Hank Marvin presentation (seen in the black and white pictures) and just a few months after I started at Fender. All these colors had dark edges, black in most cases, with nice colors inward toward the center of the body. For example: the Blue Pearl Dust above had Arctic White under one of the quality control stickers! Behind John to the left in the red shirt is Dan Smith, another Fender icon, the man who helped turn Fender's failing reputation around by bringing higher standards to the company. All Strat Plus’ have the “swimming pool” ro. In doing so they also remove all the rubbing compound residue. Here is an interesting little tidbit about extra holes found in some bodies (see picts below): Somehow, someone surmised that these short-lived bodies had to be leftovers from the old Fender Fullerton plant. Production was stopped in July of 1998. 19 Mystic Black And is it true the Jeff Beck had something to do with it's creation? Then those parts were taken to the Custom Shop, where they were hand finished and assembled. These used 4 Gold Lace Sensors pickups with a split-button that turned off the rear Gold Lace Sensor pickup in the Gold Dually in the bridge. 32 Brown Sunburst These guitars were not developed until after we were gone from there for over a year. (And sometime they just will not fit through the space.). I picked this up from a dealer who bought it new and then tucked it away. When I began at Fender, the bodies were being roughly cut out, 3 at a time, in the NC router room. 43 Pewter But to find a Strat Plus with a “Bob” body is pretty rare, making it more collectable. One thing is for sure—even though these guitars vary, all Plus guitars had: locking tuners; a roller nut (which means the headstock will not have string trees); and Lace Sensor pickups. The FROSTS are similar to the BURSTS as they have dark edges, which most of the time is the same color as the the rest of the guitar, but a much lighter transparent color is used toward the center of the guitar's body. 57 Surf Green The Strat Plus was produced from 1987 to 1999 and was equipped with Lace Sensor pickups, a roller nut, locking tuners, a TBX tone control and a Hipshot tremsetter. This color was called: Crimson Frost. Most of the time Fender placed a piece of tape over one small spot in the lower edge of the route to expose this conductive paint while the finish was being applied. This would become historically known as the Jeff Beck/Strat Plus prototype. These had a very round and even profile when viewed from the side. There are a lot of inconstancies in the materials one can read, so the proof is in the ownership, using the serial numbers and neck/body date stamps to confirm the date. Click Here to download a complete January, 1989 Price List with color codes! They were probably bodies that someone questioned regarding QA standards, probably a fit of finish question. Anyhow some of these guitars have been modded but are still shown to give you the actual color. As the Custom Shop started to become a reality, he was given the title, “Senior Design Engineer.” He was responsible for the design of the “new” American Standard Strats and also built three prototype signature models, using Gold Lace Sensors, for Eric Clapton. Examples can be seen on JW Black’s website and is confirmed by John Page, both Master builders who worked in the Custom Shop department at the very start. Hey, it took a while till they got the bugs worked out of the entry system! Three come to mind right off - Hector Montes (who later went to work at Fender's Custom Shop), John Cruz (who came to Fender in 1987 and was quickly recruited by Fender's Custom Shop and became a Master builder and is a guitar building legend of himself! Here is a bit of his story: Many of the Plus Series, but not all, came with a Hipshot Trimsetter, which compensated for string tension. So now we know where these “supposed” Fullerton bodies really originated! Truth is, these are in most hardware stores and have been used for years by cabinet makers. This first version of nut was only used a short time and is rare to find. Yes, that's right, those soft, bendy type of magnets like you see moms use to paste things, like school papers and kid pictures, on the fridge. Note: there are two types of covers used on Lace Sensors: One type says Fender Lace Sensor, which is marketed by Fender exclusively and the other just say Lace Sensor, which is markets directly from Lace Music Company. The above Aqua Blue is a stock 1988 Plus in mint condition which had the pickguard changed to the periold style. All this is fun, eh??? (Side note: all were used in the "Prince Trust Live Aid,” "Live in Montreux" and "Eric Clapton and friends Live 1986" DVDs from 1986.). The company was started in the family garage and quickly grew to become one of the most respected companies in the music industry. keep the pickups "in-house" with their own pickups and stopped promoting Lace pickups anymore (a secondary vendor) on Fender's top line guitars (AKA: Custom Shop, Strat Plus Series, Ultra, and Signature series). offered in earlier years even though not listed, such as 3-Color Sunburst), 00 3-Color Sunburst Willkommen in unserer Community! It is like a vintage Strat with the Lace pickups and, of course, Buddy's signature on the headstock! Wann gilt der eBay-Käuferschutz?. (We will talk about the color confusion a little later. And some "choice" bodies and colors were used on the Plus' as they were higher-end guitars, especially when the Strat Plus Deluxe was introduced. tremolo parts were now tooled up. There have been a few bodies floating around too, so there are some home-brewed Strats out there as well. The square-edged Jackson-style body radius was super hot at this time and it made the Am Std ‘hipper’.”. Nevertheless, if you have one on a Strat Plus, it is a rare bird! 32 Brown Sunburst The mock-up pickups were actually Schaller humbucker bobbins stacked up inside Mustang pickup covers. See the Fender "part number" chart below: Colors not listed or mixed up: Dusty Rose was color code #19 in 1987-1990, but then in 1991 was changed to Mystic Black. !” I even suggested, “Pre-Malmsteen-contoured-deluxe-resissue-hybrid.” John wasn’t impressed and answered, “As far as what to call them, I would just say they're ‘original run,’ or ‘early run.’ Or you could just call them Bob!” So BOB it is! This is especially true of the 87-91 colors. The Strat Plus and the Jeff Beck models NEVER came in Sea Foam Green. 72 Sonic Blue (Disc. These were later replaced (late 87, early 88) by the method of drilling a bigger hole and then pressing in a brass ferrule in which a flat topped bridge post was threaded into. He applied the new concept to an old beat up Sears guitar that he bought at a garage sale! The 87 Surf Green Strat Plus body is the newer Corona contour (or what I call Corona Curves, love how that sounds!) Ummm... With some of these colors there is a lot of variation due to paint mix and more overly, yellowing of the clear coat. 73 Midnight Blue What I find interesting is, even though Jeff Beck at first turned down having a signature guitar in his name with his specs, he went on to own and play Strat Plus guitars!