what kinda strat does my friend have?

[stsk]

it has a really niced flamed top, it has a 22 fret ebony board, its got 2 red lace sensors at the bridge and a silver and gold one in the neck and middle, also a little toggle switch for coil splitting

my friend inherited it... so hes not so sure himself,
but its one of the sweetest strats i ever saw

[Firebird V]

Re: what kinda strat does my friend have?

Pics? Could be anything.... Custom Shop... Foto Flame.... Replaced pickups or no?

[stsk]

Re: what kinda strat does my friend have?

i'll take some pics next time im at his house


tho i do not know how to post pictures


ive been trying to buy this guitar for a while but he wont sell it

[stsk]

Re: what kinda strat does my friend have?

oh the guitar came out of the factory like that... probably custom shop

[YetAnotherOne]

Re: what kinda strat does my friend have?

I'm 99% certain that's a Strat Ultra, I've owned a few of them over the years. They're a mildly uncommon upgraded version of the Strat Plus. The Ultra added at least the flame top (or, in some rare cases, a hollow aluminum body) & 4th Lace Sensor (the toggle selects either of the reds alone or the pair as a humbucker). It should also have a roller nut, locking tuners, a Hipshot tremsetter & a TBX tone control - I don't recall if these features were present on the Strat Plus or if they were exclusive to the Ultra. But probably the easiest way to tell is to look at the neck plate. All of the Ultras I've seen say "Ultra" on the plate.

These come up on the 'bay once in a while and usually go for $650-950 or so but people have usually swiped the tremsetter and the nice faux-snakeskin or tweed cases they came with.

Nice guitars but the Lace Sensors aren't to everyone's taste. Personally I like 'em, particularly in the configuration the Ultra has because it's capable of a *huge* range of tones, but then again my Ultra isn't my only guitar - I might feel differently if it were.

[ February 17, 2004, 07:35 PM: Message edited by: YetAnotherOne ]

[guitarsjb]

Re: what kinda strat does my friend have?

My strat plus came with the locking tuners, roller nut, and Hipshot tremsetter. Great guitar

[RacerX]

Re: what kinda strat does my friend have?

Originally posted by stsk:

tho i do not know how to post pictures

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">There is already a thread that takes one through this step by step

Go to General forum, do a search under post pics

do NOT post a thread asking how...
[img]graemlins/evilimages/icons/tongue.gif[/img]

[stsk]

Re: what kinda strat does my friend have?

YetAnotherOne- yea i think your right

it did have sperzel locking tuners and a rolling nut, the rest im not sure of

RacerX- thanks, i just figured out how to do it

[MountainDog]

Re: what kinda strat does my friend have?

I agree it's a Strat Ultra. I have an '89 Custom Shop Set-neck strat, which is the same specs (ebony fingerboard (rare for Fender!), roller nut, locking tuners, lace sensors, toggle switch for the two reds, etc) plus a set neck.
The Lace Sensor reds sound very very good (I leave the toggle so they are both on).

The Ultras and Set-necks go for fairly high $. Blue book shows the Ultra as $975 in 95% cond, the Set Neck as $1475

Here's my Set-Neck:

[toejam]

Re: what kinda strat does my friend have?

Originally posted by stsk:
it did have sperzel locking tuners and a rolling nut, the rest im not sure of

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Did some Fenders come with Sperzel locking tuners? I thought the only locking tuners they used were Schaller.

[RacerX]

Re: what kinda strat does my friend have?

A set-neck ebony board Strat? Hmmm, learn something new...

[JACKSONFREAK]

Re: what kinda strat does my friend have?

Yup thats an Ultra. The Plus and the Ultra shared the features of Lace sensors,locking tuners (Schaller mostly but sperzals were offeredfor a year or two), roller nut, custom shop finishes, and the same profile neck. THe Ultra also had Ebony board, dbl red lace sensors in bridge with splitter switch, Ultra stamped on neck plate, Flame maple tops and backs and a few more finishes then the plus had, plus abalone inlays instead of clay dots. To determine what year it is look at the seriel number. The first letter of the seriel number is either an "E" or an "N" the E is 80's and the N is 90's. The folowing number is the year it was made. (ie. N8xxxxx would be a 98 where as a E8 would be a 88.
I believe they were made form 87 thru 95 or 96
Then they swtiched them to the Deluxe strat.
Gil

[skidd]

Re: what kinda strat does my friend have?

Originally posted by toejam:
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by stsk:
it did have sperzel locking tuners and a rolling nut, the rest im not sure of

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Did some Fenders come with Sperzel locking tuners? I thought the only locking tuners they used were Schaller. </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Yes, my 91 has Sperzel's.

[toejam]

Re: what kinda strat does my friend have?

Interesting.
I actually just dug out the owner's manual for my 2001 USA Double Fat Strat hardtail, and it's got info that some guitar models with locking tuners are Sperzels and others have Schallers. Mine doesn't have locking tuners, but it's got Fender-logoed tuners that are made by Schaller.

[Jim Shine]

Re: what kinda strat does my friend have?

They had Sperzels exclusively from the start of the plus series (1987) until the early 90's, then it changed to certain models and Schaller locking was the standard on the plus line. They also had Wilkinson roller nuts the first 5 or so years then changed to the smaller LSR roller nut.

The "E" serial codes are severely messed up, so it is best not to rely on them. Fender didn't make many guitars for almost all of 1985 (this is when CBS sold the company and they didn't have a factory to work in). The new owners were conserving money any way they could, so they used all of the leftover E4 (1984) serial number decals. You will find E4 serial numbers on American Standard and Strat Plus (the Plus started in '87) models from 1986-August 1988. The only way to get a true date of the guitar is to pull the neck and get the neckdate.