# Need help to identify this fender strat - neck-thru, 24 fret, rev. headstock...



## M3CHK1LLA (Jun 2, 2010)

need help trying to figure out what model fender this is. i know little about fenders. since maxofmetal is not here, i thought i would ask you guy that are still awake. here are big differences i see.

1, it is neck thru - most strats are bolt-on, even the usa. its high quality very well made and you can see different pieces wood used and it runs the full length of the guitar. neck is straight and it has low action. you can tell this is not some cheap guitar.

2. 24 frets - all i have ever seen are 22

3. no screw holes or body route where a pick guard was mounted. it probably had an s-s-s or s-s-h pick up conf. moded and now has h-s-h - emg 85 (neck) empty single coil slot in the middle then emg 81 (bridge).

4. input jack is on the end of the guitar below the strap lock like most guitars are now - not on the face at an angle under the trem like normal strats.

5. had a flyod rose but the previous owner rerouted it and put the kahler 2600 series in. still has the bolt holes and could put a floyd back in. i personally like the kahler better.

6. weight - this thing is quality made and weighs more then a normal strat - not sure what the wood is. to me it feels heavy but solid.

7. two knobs (pots) instead of three - no hole plugged either.

8. reverse headstock ive never seen another fender with a rev. h.s. , have you? 

i think because of the quality neck-thru, 24 frets, orig. floyd pocket that it is a usa made, maybe custom shop. like i said before i know little about fenders. ive seen several usa & mim. this is the first one ive owned. it is defiantly not the traditional strat and now with the mods it is totally on of a kind. i hope this helps. maybe you could let me know what you think it is or help me find info on this model. thanks in advance

ps - i will try to post some pics later. i have a couple in my album if you want to look. it is the one that has the image of Christ carved in it.


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## MacTown09 (Jun 2, 2010)

Heavy Metal Strat


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## Aurochs34 (Jun 2, 2010)

^^  No shit! 

This may seem like a stupid question, but I just checked it out in your album... does it actually say "Fender" on it?

Is it possibly a custom G&L or something?

[Edit: p.s. BADASS guitar regardless man!]


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## M3CHK1LLA (Jun 2, 2010)

no, it does not have anything on it. the guy i bought it from said that it was a fender and he had it for a while. it was orig. red. it was totally beat up & scratched. his brother is an artist so they thought it would be cool to totally sand it down & do the carving (which by the way was graded in his college art class). i guess the headstock was red too, so that may help narrow it down.

i asked him about serial #'s or model or origin and he said he didnt remember-never paid too much attention to it, just knew it was a fender. it was one of his first guitars and really didnt care for fenders-was buying ibbys, jacksons & esp's. he did have all the electronics done at a shop. the emg's were fairly new.

anyhoo....like i said it is a high quality guitar. the multi wood neck-thru is amazing. the guy had bought & sold several guitars on ebay and had 100% feedback with nearly 200 trans. this being the only unidentified guitar. he had several decent to high end guitars. i dont think he was lying or anything. i won it for $280 - just about what the pups & trem are worth imo.


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## Toshiro (Jun 2, 2010)

Squier Stagemaster:
http://www.elderly.com/vintage/items/30U-11387.htm

Pretty sure Fender never made a neck through strat with 24 frets outside these. The HM strats were all bolt on.


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## HamBungler (Jun 2, 2010)

^ Fender actually made the Stagemaster for a couple years as well.

*EDIT* I may or may not of misread Toshiro's post  There were both Fender and Squire Stagemasters, not sure which one yours is though.


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## Toshiro (Jun 2, 2010)

HamBungler said:


> ^ Fender actually made the Stagemaster for a couple years as well.
> 
> *EDIT* I may or may not of misread Toshiro's post  There were both Fender and Squire Stagemasters, not sure which one yours is though.



Never seen a Fender Stagemaster, just the Squier. There was a Fender Showmaster though, but it didn't have a reverse headstock or a Floyd. Turns out these were 24 fret, thought they were 22.


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## Aurochs34 (Jun 2, 2010)

M3CHK1LLA said:


> no, it does not have anything on it. the guy i bought it from said that it was a fender and he had it for a while. it was orig. red. it was totally beat up & scratched. his brother is an artist so they thought it would be cool to totally sand it down & do the carving (which by the way was graded in his college art class). i guess the headstock was red too, so that may help narrow it down.
> 
> i asked him about serial #'s or model or origin and he said he didnt remember-never paid too much attention to it, just knew it was a fender. it was one of his first guitars and really didnt care for fenders-was buying ibbys, jacksons & esp's. he did have all the electronics done at a shop. the emg's were fairly new.
> 
> anyhoo....like i said it is a high quality guitar. the multi wood neck-thru is amazing. the guy had bought & sold several guitars on ebay and had 100% feedback with nearly 200 trans. this being the only unidentified guitar. he had several decent to high end guitars. i dont think he was lying or anything. i won it for $280 - just about what the pups & trem are worth imo.



Dude, well either way that thing is pretty fucking badass. Especially for $280?!?! Damn.


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## tmcarr (Jun 2, 2010)

They made HM model neck throughs... I played one in a store once. They discontinued them after a year though...

I'll see if I can find a pic online.


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## tmcarr (Jun 2, 2010)

This is what I'm talking about. Does this seem close to what you have? I agree, its probably a custom shop version of this... 

Fender Set Neck Strat FMT Gorgeous perfect Stratocaster - eBay (item 130397219769 end time Jun-08-10 19:24:32 PDT)


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## ittoa666 (Jun 2, 2010)

This looks very sexy for a squire.


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## soliloquy (Jun 2, 2010)

here you go






















source:
http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/standard-guitars/82539-new-showmaster-pics.html

maybe a variation of this.
but it doesn't seem to be a neckthru but a set-thru


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## M3CHK1LLA (Jun 3, 2010)

thanks guys for all the help - we seem to be getting warm here.



Toshiro said:


> Squier Stagemaster:
> FENDER SQUIER STAGEMASTER HH (2000) (30U-11387) - Elderly Instruments
> 
> Pretty sure Fender never made a neck through strat with 24 frets outside these. The HM strats were all bolt on.


 
this looks pretty close-just a few details off. mainly the factory routed single coil in the middle.



Aurochs34 said:


> Dude, well either way that thing is pretty fucking badass. Especially for $280?!?! Damn.


 
thx man. yeah, the best $280 ive spent. the thing too is that it plays better than any other fender ive ever played-mim's & usa's included. that would be crazy if it ended up being a squire cause all the ones ive played felt cheap & crappy. this fells quality-that is why i thought it must be some kind of special or custom ed.



tmcarr said:


> They made HM model neck throughs... I played one in a store once. They discontinued them after a year though...
> 
> I'll see if I can find a pic online.


 
im gonna see if i can find out more on this model too. never heard of it, but like i said i dont know much about fenders & this is the first ive owned.



soliloquy said:


> here you go
> 
> source:
> http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/standard-guitars/82539-new-showmaster-pics.html
> ...


 
i dont know about this one. this looks like it is more of the s shape. mine is flat. this also has a different trem. the guy said it orig had a floyd but that is not to say that someone else put that it also. thx dude.


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## Toshiro (Jun 3, 2010)

tmcarr said:


> They made HM model neck throughs... I played one in a store once. They discontinued them after a year though...
> 
> I'll see if I can find a pic online.



Pretty sure they didn't, even the HM Ultra was bolt-on:

Fender HM Strat - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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## Inazone (Jun 3, 2010)

A local shop had a couple of the neck-thru (or maybe set-neck) models, and I believe one had a reverse headstock. Cool guitars, but I don't think the Fender "purists" cared for them, and most people wanting those specs would more likely have been looking at Jacksons or ESPs.


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## Konfyouzd (Jun 3, 2010)

ittoa666 said:


> This looks very sexy for a squire.



i've seen these on the bay for mad cheap. i want one. 

if they had 7 strings i'd already have one.


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## tmcarr (Jun 3, 2010)

Toshiro said:


> Pretty sure they didn't, even the HM Ultra was bolt-on:
> 
> Fender HM Strat - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



They most certainly did. Look at the pictures above... thats a set neck.


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## Ketzer (Jun 3, 2010)

tmcarr said:


> They most certainly did. Look at the pictures above... thats a set neck.



That's not an HM strat, though.


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## Toshiro (Jun 3, 2010)

tmcarr said:


> They most certainly did. Look at the pictures above... thats a set neck.



That's a Showmaster, not an HM.


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## M3CHK1LLA (Jun 4, 2010)

Konfyouzd said:


> i've seen these on the bay for mad cheap. i want one.
> 
> if they had 7 strings i'd already have one.


 
i know its not this one cause of the pickguard and input jack on the front instead of the side. it does look sweet though.



Inazone said:


> A local shop had a couple of the neck-thru (or maybe set-neck) models, and I believe one had a reverse headstock. Cool guitars, but I don't think the Fender "purists" cared for them, and most people wanting those specs would more likely have been looking at Jacksons or ESPs.


 
mine is for sure neck-thru. the fender purists are right cause it looks like a jackson or esp and its the reason i like it. it doesnt feel like a fender either. a friend of mine who worked at guitar shop and is a fender & gibson hater, actually thought it was pretty cool & played well.




Toshiro said:


> Pretty sure they didn't, even the HM Ultra was bolt-on:
> 
> Fender HM Strat - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


 
wow, who knew wiki would be used to help solve this puzzle 

we are getting close, if the hm was offered in rev. h.s. & neck-thur i would say this is the model....still reseaching. 

by the way on my guitar the 24th fret has the double dot inlay, the wiki pic didnt.


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## Toshiro (Jun 4, 2010)

Still 100% sure your guitar is not an HM. They did not make neckthrough HM Strats. 

I'm pretty sure it's a Squier Stagemaster, because they offered it in different pickup configs, neckthrough, reverse headstock, and a Floyd.

Like this:





And this:


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## playstopause (Jun 4, 2010)

^

I'm with Toshiro on this.


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## M3CHK1LLA (Jun 4, 2010)

Toshiro said:


> Still 100% sure your guitar is not an HM. They did not make neckthrough HM Strats.
> 
> I'm pretty sure it's a Squier Stagemaster, because they offered it in different pickup configs, neckthrough, reverse headstock, and a Floyd.
> 
> ...


 


playstopause said:


> ^
> 
> I'm with Toshiro on this.


 
well after researching this model and finding pics to compare it to, i have to say that you guys were right - perfect match, mystery solved! thanks guys 

it didnt end up being an super rare / high end fender model after all but i am suprised it is a squire, like i said before it is a great playing guitar. i have several esp's, jackson's & ibby's to compare to including a couple custom shops. 

does anyone else have one that can atest to what im saying? im still suprised its a squire but maybe it was made by someone who actually tried to make a quality guitar or maybe i was lucky and they are usually crap.

well to me this is a keeper. im sure the kahler 2600 trem, emg 81 & 85 help it alot, but the neck-thru & very low action is great. for what i paid for it, it was a steal.


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## eaeolian (Jun 4, 2010)

Konfyouzd said:


> i've seen these on the bay for mad cheap. i want one.
> 
> if they had 7 strings i'd already have one.



They did make a 7 string version - here's one on eBay, though I like the pictured one a little better.


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