Mij/cij Telecasters

[6STRINGS 9LIVES]

I have to admit that I have become one of the converted when it comes to Japanese Fenders, there was a time when i would turn up my nose at the mere thought of playing a Fender made anywhere else but the USA. In the past year I have purchased several Japanese Fenders and have become totally hooked on the quality and attention to detail and tone of these guitars .Be aware however that not all Japanese Fenders are created equal the low end of the model lineup are good but not great guitars , but their premium non-export models are something else and are commonly thought to rival or surpass the best of the usa vintage series and come close to custom shop guitars . I recently added a 52 reissue to my collection , this one is a premium non export model with a 2piece center matched ash body with nitro finish , texas specials, cts pots crl switch and cloth wiring ..the only mod i made was the addition of a callaham bridge plate with vintage brass saddles ... what a tone monster , the callaham bridge is the best bang for the buck mod i have ever purchased , increased sustain , clarity, and harmonics that give the guitar a 3-d effect at times ..and the neck , the japanese have got the art of neck building down , incredable , meaty and fast finished in nitro absolute killer.. if you have not already tried one of these japanese fenders do yourself a favour and check one out .. the 62 reissue in alder with binding and bigsby is another amazing guitar , while not cheap per say they are less than half the price of the america vintage series and way cheaper than custom shop guitars which they come pretty close to ..6S9L

 

[Robert]

Yeah, the US made Fenders are getting awfully expensive. I'm going the even cheaper route myself, by getting Indonesian Squiers. They are really nice too! A bit uneven in quality control - sure, but look around for a while and it's not too hard to find an awesome guitar for a couple of hundred. Some small mods and they kick ***. Usually the pickups are quite good.

I hear a lot of good things about the Callaham bridges.

 

[Nelskie]

I know this is a MIJ Tele thread, but I thought I'd chime in since I have an early 80's Japanese-made Squier Strat. Man, that guitar is an absolute DREAM! Prior to buying it, I'd played at least a dozen USA Strat models at various shops, and was relatively unimpressed. They were all nice - but seemed to lack something, which for awhile, I couldn't really put my finger on. It wasn't until I plugged in my Squier for the first time at my buddy's shop, and started strumming SRV's "Cold Shot" - before I knew what it was. Harmony Central forums call this "fit & finish", but I call it "feel". There's a certain balance, or should I say a "tensile" factor that exists between the primary components of a guitar - i.e. neck, tuners, body, strings, pickups, and bridge. When properly assembled, set-up, and tuned - these factors all translate messages to the individual player. The Japanese-made Fenders I've played all have this kind of totally balanced "feel" to them, which I think is a direct result of how they're built / assembled. Lately, it seems to me that with the Fender USA-made products (even the high-end stuff) - it's sometimes hit and miss as far as quality and "feel" goes. Oh yeah - almost forgot about my story. I only needed to play that one song on that Squier to know it was "the one". I owned it 5 minutes later. So break out that rising sun bandana, 69SL, and dig that awesome MIJ Fender mojo!

 

[6STRINGS 9LIVES]

Nelskie those early to mid 80's Squires are awesome and a hot ticket for collectors these days .. absolutely killer guitars .. for a quick briefing on their history check out this site .http://freespace.virgin.net/john.blackman4/history.htm
I'd love to see a picture of your squire and a description if you have time , if you have one of the early jv series of squire reissues you are one lucky hombre... 6S9L

 

[Nelskie]

69SL - Thanx for the link. Some interesting info, indeed! I'll try and snap a few digi pix of my Squier Strat this weekend, and post them for you to check out. I don't think it's a JV, but it is sure one honey of an axe!!!

 

[Nelskie]

69SL - Your e-mail & link spurred me on to do some research on the 'web, and find out more info on the SN # of my guitar. I'd been wondering about what year my Strat was made, and found a link at the Fender website that outlined them: http://www.fender.com/support/dating/japanese_dating.php. The first digit after the alphabetic "E" designation is a "7", which I think means 1987, so mine is not an early 80's model, as I'd originally thought. Whatever the case, it is a fine Japanese-made Fender instrument that sounds amazing, and plays like a dream. Spec-wise, it still has its (3) stock single coils (which grind surprisingly well), as well as the rest of the standard Strat fare: 5-way switch, V/T/T controls, and tremelo (which I never use). It has the fine script Schaller-style tuners, and a superbly finished, nicely figured all-maple neck with the trademark skunk stripe on back. The body is a lovely aquamarine blue hue that contrasts nicely with the maple neck. The final touch is a white pearloid pick-guard, which I added to give it a bit of visual savoir fare. White knobs and p'up covers complete the package. Here are some snaps - -

 

[6STRINGS 9LIVES]

Yeah baby thats what i'm talkin about.. beautiful strat . i think the color is called LAKE PLACID BLUE..with the maple neck its a great combonation, i never use the trem bar either , but i do prefer the sound of a strat with a tremelo as opposed to a hardtail strat, that pearloid pickguard looks great.. there is lots of material on the web regarding japanese fenders, they have become desirable in that they are great players guitars , and collectors have taken notice of that fact , there are lots of sites out there dedicated to the MIJ (made in japan) and the CIJ (crafted in japan) fenders , let me know if you'd like some links.... 6S9L

 

[Nelskie]

69SL - Hey, thanks for the nice comments about my MIJ Squier Strat. It was my very first Fender guitar, so a permanent place in my collection is all but assured. You should post some pics of your '52 Tele RI - from your description, it sounds like a killer axe. I bet it sounds sweet with those Texas Specials. I flip-flopped between putting those and Vintage Noiseless in my Indonesian Squier Standard Tele. Ended up going with the VN's, and am very satisfied with their "twangly" bite. You are also spot-on in saying that the interest level in MIJ/CIJ Fender guitars is really starting to climb - and certainly for good reason. It might be a good idea to begin my quest for that MIJ Squier Telecaster very soon, before the market pushes the prices for these instruments out of reach! During my SN # info search, I came across a number of interesting links for MIJ Fender insutruments. It'd be interesting to check out the ones you have, and I'm sure other members would appreciate you posting them too!

 

[6STRINGS 9LIVES]

Heres some good links for Japanese Fenders...i'll post some 52 pics tonight ..6S9L
http://www.ishibashi-music.com/fenderjp/m/"]http://www.xhefriguitars.com/[/URL]

 

[Guitar-Chris]

Here are some snaps - -

Oh... great guitar!

By the way: When did they change the headstock design? Nowadays all Squier Stratocaster guitars have the big 70's headstock, an that is the thing I most dislike.

But yours is very fine... hm...

 

[6STRINGS 9LIVES]

Some pics of my 52 reissue...2002 crafted in japan , dont know if pics will be too big or too small ..oh well we'll see ..6S9L.. anyone know an easy way to post pics here without having a hosting site...

 

[Nelskie]

GC - Not exactly sure when Squier changed their headstock design to the over-sized 70's style. You might want to check out one of the links posted by 69SL above - maybe there's some info there. Like you, I prefer the smaller headstock design - - but there's probably a few of our web forum members that would think otherwise. A lot of Hendrix fans dig the big headstock look, and why not - Stratocasters are cool any way you look at it!!

 

[Nelskie]

69SL - Use the paperclip tool on the "post reply" screen - it's on top of the darker gray box, right next to the fonts / smiley face. I think the max # of pix you can post is (5). When you hit the paper clip, it will bring up a box that shows the max file size for the different types of images - .jpg, .bmp, etc. Using the browse feature, you specify the photos you want, and once you have the ones you're going to post, it will upload the pix into your message. Voila' - you have photos w/o a host!!

 

[6STRINGS 9LIVES]

Thankx Nelskie .. lets see if this works..a pic of 3 of my japanese fenders .. a 58 reissue , a 54 reissue, and a 52 reissue ... i'll post more from home tonight , now that i know how to do it.... 6S9L

 

[Robert]

Nice! Is that a Bandmaster head? Sweet looking Tele there!

 

[6STRINGS 9LIVES]

It's a 1964 bassman aaa864 , an amazing guitar amp,actually a better guitar amp than a bass amp,and a 66 vibro champ in the foreground .. 6S9L

 

[6STRINGS 9LIVES]

Heres some more links for mij /cij guitars ...
http://www.mijfenders.com/index.htm
http://www.bluzey.com/japanguitars.htm
http://www.guitaremporium.co.uk/
http://www.21frets.com/54strat.html
http://news.dmusic.com/article/15901

 

[6STRINGS 9LIVES]

a few mor pics of my tele...6S9L

 

[6STRINGS 9LIVES]

Thought I'd Try One More ..a Little Larger This Time .. 6s9l

 

[Nelskie]

69SL - That's a pretty impressive collection of Fender stuff. And yeah, that Tele is really, really nice, too! Beautifully grained body, maple neck . . . awesome. HOwever - what made me super envious was the original Bally KISS pinball machine in the background!!! Thanks for sharing the pix.

 

[6STRINGS 9LIVES]

Thanks Nelskie, the tele is sweet , the only mod to it is a callaham bridge and saddles , the callaham bridge is amazing , the sustain is crazy and overall tone is much improved , highly recomended , it has 2 extra screws towards the front of the bridge plate which secures it to the body more firmly adding all the resonance .. and the kiss pinball machine is one i bought about 10 years ago when an amusement company in my area was going out of business, i paid 200 for it , they sell on ebay for about 2000-3000 , it will soon be time to turn it into a blackface deluxe reverb, but its a great conversation piece just the same... 6S9L

 

[Robert]

Yeah, I noticed that pinball machine right away too, very cool!

 

[Nelskie]

Hey 69SL - Looking for some input regarding the Callaham bridge you speak so favorably about. I was thinking of putting one on my Squier Tele, and was wondering if you could fill me in on the differences between a vintage-type set-up with compensating saddles vs. the standard style bridge that's on there now.

 

[6STRINGS 9LIVES]

the callaham bridge will give you a dramatic improvement in sustain and overall clarity, vintage brass saddles make it a little trickier to achieve perfect intonation but its done all the time , a good tech would have no problem at all, 2 strings on one saddle with different side to side tension is where the difficulty lies but the overall tonal qualities of the brass set up on a tele is truly classic.. best 100 bucks you could spend on your squire.. the callaham site has all the specs and clips too i think , i'm gassin for one of their black fibre pickguards for my 52 reissue..6S9L

 

[Nelskie]

Thanks for the input 69SL. I am fortunate to know an ace tech, so getting it set up right shouldn't be a problem. My buddies think I'm a loon for dumping money into that Squier Tele, but I really like how that guitar (which I've affectionately dubbed "Sadie") sounds and plays. Sure, I could take the easy way out and fork over a grand for a brand new Tele. Sheesh - what fun would that be?!!!

 

[tremoloman]

MIA, MIM, MIJ/CIJ... it's all the same to me. If a guitar feels right, I don't care where it was assembled.

The only CIJ I've owned was a Jazzmaster. Other than the pickups and tremolo bar being a little different, I didn't see or hear any difference between my AV 62' JM and the CIJ model once I added US pickups.

Fender Japan makes some great custom guitars that aren't for sale in the US. I drool over their website on a regular basis.

 

[x-180]

Hi there,
coming in a bit late in the thread but wanted to add my .02 on the Japanese Fenders. Until very recently, I had no clue how much Fender Japan supplemented the American market during the 80's as the 'post-CBS' Fender got underway. Based on the one Japanese Fender I own, I'd have to concur with the general assessment of these being fine instruments. I stumbled across a sunburst Strat at a Guitar Ctr in the Detroit area for $400... it was pretty gunked up but it had a beautiful sunburst showing under the grime, and a nice vintage-y looking neck with the larger headstock. A good wipedown later and I had a guitar to behold! I did some checking on various serial number sites and the best I can tell is that it was probably manufactured somewhere between '85-'87... it might actually be a '68 Reissue from some information I've read, but I'm not certain... whatever it is, it's definitely got 'the feel'... as soon as I can get some contact cleaner on the guts of it, the 'sound' should be there too... good sounds overall, but very fuzzy, scratchy in the pots and switch... considering that my instrument was likely 'for export', I'd love to get my hands on one made for the 'locals'... there are a few purveyors of CIJ Fenders on e-bay and the pictures always incite GAS when I go window shopping there...

 

[6STRINGS 9LIVES]

Welcome aboard x-180 , post a couple of pics and i may be able to help you id that japanese strat.. also heres a link to a great site regarding japanese fenders , john blackman's site is one of the best for model info , I have several non export mij and cij fenders and there is no doubt that they are as good if not better than the fender usa vintage series and as far as fit and finish goes right up there with custom shop offerings . When you pull your strat apart check for cloth wiring , individual pick-up routes and a neck date , the model number should be stamped on the neck and the body , the 68 reissues are awesome guitars , you may have lucked out and snagged one , also check your bridge saddles if they are stamped with fender/fender then you have one of the better quality ones .. http://freespace.virgin.net/john.blackman4/
check out this site .. i'd be glad to help if i can ... 6S9L