NGD: My MIJ Fender Stratocaster...

[xenophobe]

So I wanted an ESP Strathead really badly. So I was told to go to Ishibashi Music in Japan. On their website they have 12,000+ used instruments in their U-BOX section. I found a couple of ESP stratheads, but nothing I wanted. They do have over 1200 MIJ Fenders. I searched their database 2 or 3 times until I came across this. I have never seen one like it so I had to have it.

It arrived yesterday with the most horrible setup I've ever seen on a newish guitar. Whomever owned this before screwed it up so badly it played like shit. The trem was slanted 3-4 degrees back into the cavity, the trem posts were pushed up to compensate. The truss rod screw had been buggered up like they tried to adjust it with the body still on without actually scratching the body, with full tension on the strings. So I disassembled the guitar, added a thin shim to the neck pocket and restrung the guitar. I took some time to set it up, then played it and made some fine adjustments for another 30 minutes. Now it plays like a dream.

I thought the fine tuners and trem arm were kinda stiff and not very nice until I realized they were still brand new. After playing and adjusting, a few of the fine tuners and the trem arm started to break in and feel much better. There is no fret wear. There are no chips, dings or nicks on the guitar or neck. A couple of tiny micro scratches on the body, no pick or polish swirl at all... the electronics cover still has the protective plastic on it.

The build quality? Wow. The neck is fat, nothing like my Jackson... but the thing resonates like crazy. It's heavy as fuck. I'm really surprised because it's almost as nice as my Jackson, build wise. It kinda makes a Pro-Mod feel like it was made in India. Absolutely no comparison. It does need a minor truss tweak, but it can wait till the next string change.

I must have some good karma from something, or something bad will happen to me in the near future... lol. I feel I really lucked out. It's definitely a keeper. I have no idea how many were produced, I'm waiting back from Fender Japan for more info.

Alder body, maple neck, Super Distortion, jumbo frets, all Gotoh hardware.

If someone can translate Japanese really well, here's the original announcement:

2010 Fender Japan (ST-57 1H) ST-80'S Type L.A. Special Order

My Holy Trinity:


I'd have to set up to take pictures as nice as Ishibashi, so I'll just repost them here:

[straycat]

Beautiful guitar.

[markD]

WOW!!!! that fender is sweet, i dare to say i prefer it over the jackson!!!

[toejam]

Very nice! How do you like the Gotoh trem?

[xenophobe]

I just set the guitar down. It's 11am. I've been playing it all night since I set it up at about 10pm. I really can't remember the last time I played in one sitting for so long that didn't involve some powdered substance in the 90's. Incredible.

The Gotoh trem is a thing of beauty. It's so finely crafted. It makes the Schaller that I loved so much feel like a cheap pot metal JT-6. All the edges are machined and it has a soft, smooth feel. No sharp edges anywhere your hand comes in contact. You can seriously rub the edge of your palm against it and it just feels slick. The trem arm screws in and there is an allen or screw on the base of the trem washer for tensioning. The tip of the trem arm also unscrews. I don't really get why, they don't make different tips for it, though it might fit some generic standard or something.

The alder/maple combo is something I've never liked until now. Almost 30 years of hating it, now it makes me wonder how many great guitars I passed up because it had a maple board. Feel so fucking stupid. Oh well, live and learn.

Crappy lighting... but this is a close up:

WOW!!!! that fender is sweet, i dare to say i prefer it over the jackson!!!

That's a crappy picture of the Jackson. It looks much better with better lighting:

[DonP]

Interesting. I wonder if this is a descendant of the HM Strat? Those necks are stamped similar, only it's ST-565 usually.

[toejam]

Cool. I've heard that Suhr use the Gotohs since they've found OFR quality to be not as good nowadays.

[warlok]

Apparently Gotoh heard all the praise too. The price has gone up about $50 in the last year for those trems.. Nice guitar though!

[xenophobe]

That trem really is really fucking nice, and it's worth the premium over and OFR, in my opinion. Every USA Jackson and custom should ship with the Gotoh instead of the OFR or Schaller. The trem posts also seem to be a much better and sturdier design. And the Gotoh nut seems to bind a little less than the Floyd nut as well, much easier and more precise tuning while unlocked. But I've only played that one, and I've had plenty of new guitars with Floyd nuts. So my sample size of 1 doesn't really matter much.

Even though it's recessed, there's a decent amount of string height over the body, enough to where it doesn't bother me at all. I know this is far from scientific, but if I put my fingertip on the body by the bridge pickup, the low e on the Gotoh is sitting at the top edge of my fingernail right at the cuticle. The non-recessed Floyd is sitting at the first wrinkle above my cuticle, so that's like less than 2mm closer to the body.

And I did play it for another hour before going to bed. My fingertips were getting really raw though. lol

[MetalHeadMat]

That's very nice, all of your guitars are!

[Sharkfin]

That guitar looks really nice, congrats! I feel it needs black hardware but since you like that trem so much I don't see it happening. Maybe just change them to black tuners and string retainer

Google Chrome browser has a built in translator for foreign language websites. It works pretty well.

Hello, is upstream of Shibuya.
Today I will introduce (ST57 1H) Fender Japan ST-80'S Type LA.
Models KEY SPECIAL ORDER, this guitar humbucker is the specification of the LA metal gracious with one based on locking arm! ! We manufacture an image of a Strat 80s heyday handset if they can just imagine the sound image. ! Equipped with Gotoh Double Lock Tremolo Unit GE1996T to Fender50's small head to pick up the select strain of Tao I was angry, and a DiMarzio Super Distortion Double Cream! I will produce a strong sound distortion. Adoption satin finish maple neck, 22 Specifications fret out saliva, jumbo frets, adopt a body shape special only edge slightly as you can see, not a specification No pickguard simple, body shape concerns over the detail further I have to show. Specification so far and is able to fully demonstrate guitar sound straight people should not hide anything in do not see. In order to effectively use the double locking tremolo, deep counterbore to increase the expressive power of arming, setting spring (spring pre-prepare a separate one) was covered in two of the figure-eight. Alder body combination, with the super distortion DP100FCR is a combination that can cope with crying phrases. I tried to play crazy gracefully. Try to check it all means shop! ! Learn more!

[xenophobe]

Thanks Mat! I like having odd and rare stuff. I don't like being the girl at prom who sees the girl she hates the most wearing the same dress type of thing

Someone on the Fender forum commented on that top picture. They said it looked like an alter of worship.

I told them it was. lol

That guitar looks really nice, congrats! I feel it needs black hardware but since you like that trem so much I don't see it happening. Maybe just change them to black tuners and string retainer

Google Chrome browser has a built in translator for foreign language websites. It works pretty well.

Yeah, I agree. I would change over all the hardware to black. It would probably cost close to $400. I'm not that superficial.

And I meant a real translation, not a Google translation. Already done that.

[Hellbat]

I like that guitar a lot. Probably because it basically is a Charvel in design, but with a Fender logo. And if you get bored with it, the white base would make an excellent canvas for some custom paint.

[QuantumRider]

I saw that model guitar at a shop in Yokohama a couple of years ago, but didn't try it out because I already had a single hum strathead (http://www.jcfonline.com/threads/878...9-and-baby-pic) at the time and didn't want succumb to GAS, having just become a father and feeling like I needed to be "more fiscally responsible" :p

[xenophobe]

I like that guitar a lot. Probably because it basically is a Charvel in design, but with a Fender logo. And if you get bored with it, the white base would make an excellent canvas for some custom paint.

Yeah, it really does look like a Charvel. So far I've played easily over 20 hours, the build quality is amazing. The neck sanding and finish is to die for, and it has a much smoother and rounded volute and all the headstock edges are rounded. It is a satin finished neck... it's very close in feel to my Jackson's oiled neck, just a touch smoother. The jumbo frets are great.

There are two issues though, there's some weird vibration coming from somewhere, probably the springs. Seems to be more related to having the trem arm installed than anything else though, which is leading me to believe it just needs a third spring, it only has two. The second, is that the edges of the frets aren't completely smooth. Playing it, you can't feel it, but if you run your finger across it, it's a little sharp. That's mostly a non-issue for me since you don't really notice it while playing. Otherwise, fuck... it's seriously competing with my Jackson for #1. And that's what I've been looking for, guitars that will match or beat it. I've really only come across one other, and that was my Custom KV with jumbo frets I sold back to the guy who I bought it from cause his mother helped him get it and she had passed away so it had sentimental value.

I saw that model guitar at a shop in Yokohama a couple of years ago, but didn't try it out because I already had a single hum strathead (http://www.jcfonline.com/threads/878...9-and-baby-pic) at the time and didn't want succumb to GAS, having just become a father and feeling like I needed to be "more fiscally responsible" :p

Yeah, that's sweet. I like the different input jack, looks like a good angle to have the plug come out. You should have picked it up... I paid 90,000 yen shipped for my Fender, which worked out to be about $1150 and it's basically brand new. It probably wasn't played because the setup was horrible. All it needed was a good setup. As I said before, it makes a Pro-Mod feel really cheap, and I love that it's all-Gotoh hardware... It's a bit different and it's far nicer than any OFR. The difference is like night and day.

And it is a recessed trem, but the string height over the body is less than 2mm difference from my Jackson, so it feels more like a non-recessed than a recessed trem, at least the way Jackson recess typically feels.