Help me ID This Strat Model

[CosmicDebris]

I found this one through local channels and have not been to check it out yet but the dude is asking $975 and hopefully will take less . Looks like something I might be interested in but would like more info. I have not had a chance to get more info from the dude yet but most likely will get more info.

What can you dudes tell me about it by these pics?

[elcid]

I have one and it's awesome. I keep forgetting to upload pics, mine is a blueburst. Fender Deluxe Ultra Strat or something along those lines.
Gold Lace Sensors, locking tuners, awesome neck, tremsetter. TBX control. $975 isnt a bad price at all.

[CosmicDebris]

Originally Posted by elcid

I have one and it's awesome. I keep forgetting to upload pics, mine is a blueburst. Fender Deluxe Ultra Strat or something along those lines.
Gold Lace Sensors, locking tuners, awesome neck, tremsetter. TBX control. $975 isnt a bad price at all.

Is the Tremsetter factory installed or is it something you had done or did? What is TBX control? I have never owned a strat but would not mind giving one a shot for when I want something different than my RGT220A.

[elcid]

Its factory installed. The spec sheet says it has one, but I havent had a chance to look yet and make sure. The TBX control is what the Clapton Strat has, it's some kind of active tone control. I think the other tone control is something special too, but I really dont remember right now.
I wishI could help but it;s been crunch time at work and I've been working 76 hour weeks so Im kind of fried right now. I will look into it more and get back to you. Ibanez 249 had one exactly like mine for sale here awhile ago. In fact he found the one I got for me on the bay.

[CosmicDebris]

Cool, I will have to meet up with the dude this weekend and check it out and lowball him

[elcid]

It might be a Deluxe Ultra Plus, you know how Fender is.
Good luck man, I dont think you'll be disappointed.

[elcid]

This is a pickup assembly off a Strat Plus Deluxe, but other than the color of the pickups, they are wired exactly the same. Inside you will find the Plus has a Fender TBX tone control on the lower tone knob. This is not an active system, as some believe, (using a battery as found on the 20db boosters on the Clapton Strats), but it is simply a stacked set of potentiometer that cuts either treble or bass, where as the standard tone control only cuts the treble. So we have: T (treble) B (bass) X (Cut) thus TBX. When you turn this knob, you can feel a halfway point—this is tone neutral (#5 on the knob!). This TBX control gives the bridge and middle pickup a unique variety of sounds! 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. Put the switch in position #2 and, you get a quack, or a hollow twang! The 1st tone control is a standard Fender 250 k potentiometer as is the volume control.

Here is some (maybe!) useful information. The Lace Sensors had only white and orange wires up till around 1989-1990, then the Lace Music Company added the extra green ground wire. Also the Strat Plus used a different wiring schematics than the older Strats—the TBX tone control was connected to both the middle and bridge pickups. Older Strats had the lower tone control connected to the middle pickup and the bridge pickup was bypassed all together. This newer design gives a person a lot more tone capabilities.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.


Many of the Plus Series, but not all, came with a Hipshot Trimsetter, which compensated for string tension. Once set up correctly, and after getting the guitar in tune, they stay in tune. If a string breaks while playing, the Tremsetter will compensate and the guitar will stay in tune. (How to set one of these up will show on the "tips" page

[elcid]

The Strat Plus Series was introduced by Fender in 1987 and was the highest end production model next to Fender's Custom Shop guitars. (Production stopped in late 1998 or early 1999.) The Plus Series consisted of The Plus, The Plus Deluxe, and then later, in 1990, The Ultra.

[elcid]

The standard Plus usually came with 3 Gold Lace Sensor pickups. These pickups were designed to give a 50's single coil sound, with a lot of chime and even bell like tones. Crisp, and quiet, they really do perform like a 1950's pickup, but with no hum! The Lace Sensors were a whole new design of pickups—having a unique radiant field barrier system that surrounds both the coil and magnets, eliminating annoying 60-cycle hum. The patented Lace Micro Matrix Combs replace traditional bobbins, yielding a wider tonal range and better string balance than traditional pickups. The Gold Lace were the pickups of choice for years by Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, and Buddy Guy on their Signature Series.

[CosmicDebris]

Very very helpful. Thanks dude. I called the dude and set up a time for Sat morn.

[John C]

I can add some more timeline detail and my $0.02 is I'm 95% sure the guitar in question is a Strat Plus - easily confirmed if the Lace Sensors have the gold lettering. A Plus would also have a screw-in trem arm. Based on the roller nut shown it has to fall in the 1987 to late 1993 range; Fender switched from that Wilkinson roller nut to the narrow LSR roller nut sometime in late 1993.

The Plus Deluxe would have Lace Sensors with other color lettering - the very early ones would have blue/silver/blue lettering; by sometime in 1989 they switched to blue/silver/red (red in the bridge). Plus Deluxes usually had "custom" colors - the earliest ones were offered in "Stratoburst" colors (outside edge silver, inside "burst" a dark color like blue or black). By circa 1989/90 they settled in on just bursted colors as they were using ash veneers on the front/back of the body - the blue and red bursts used lake placid blue and candy apple red for the opaque edges. A Plus Deluxe should also have a snap-in trem arm.

When the Ultras came out in 1990 they had figured maple veneers front/back. They had blue/gold or silver/dual red lettered Lace Sensors. The "Dual" Lace was two single-coil size Lace Sensors in a humbucker housing, and had an extra mini-toggle to control which coil was active (front/both/rear). The early Ultras also had chrome hardware instead of satin and an ebony board. This definitely isn't an Ultra.

All three had the Hipshot Trem-Setter until late 1993; when Fender switched to the LSR nut, they also switched the Plus Deluxe and Ultra to the "Fender/Floyd Rose" single-locking bridge. They did continue to put the Trem-Setter on the Strat Plus.

One last "oddity" from the early FMIC era - when FMIC bought Fender from CBS, they only got the "intellectual property", i.e. names, designs, patents, paperwork, etc. CBS sold the factory and machinery separately. Part of that "paperwork" was a bunch of ready-to-use headstock decals for Strats and Teles that had "E4XXXXX" serial numbers. Normally, "E4XXXXX" would indicate it was a 1984 guitar - "E" for "Eighties" and "4" for the year. These were used on 1987 American Standard Strat, Strat Plus, and Strat Plus Deluxe models. They are not 1984 guitars; the 1984 Strat was a completely different design. I can't accurately blow up the headstock photo, but this one might have an "E4XXXXX" number, making it a 1987 guitar.

Edited to add:
Also, as an FYI the Plus/Plus Deluxe/Ultra series were dropped at the end of 1997; the American Deluxe series was introduced as the replacement at the 1998 Winter NAMM, although some final units probably trickled out during early 1998 as Fender always uses up their parts on hand. Regardless, based on the headstock decal design and Wilkinson roller nut this guitar could be no later than a 1993 model

[trynyty]

This link may help you out:
http://www.xhefriguitars.com/page3.html

[jb4674]

It's a Strat Plus Deluxe I believe with gold lace sensors. Mine's the same blueburst Cid's talking about. I think $975 is a bit high for the guitar but, I can definitely attest to the fact that it plays superb and you can get a lot of sounds out of it.

Here are some pics of mine:













Jimmy

[John C]

Originally Posted by trynyty

This link may help you out:
http://www.xhefriguitars.com/page3.html

That's a good site but it does have some inaccuracies - primarily the part about the Strat Plus continuing through 1998 to 1999. I know they were dropped and replaced by the American Deluxe series as of 1998 - I had a 1998 Am Dlx that I got in May, and it was the first one to hit the stores here after they were announced at the NAMM show.

The rest of it is really good; particularly the sections on the various roller nuts and bridges used.

It's also apparent that most dealers where I was living during the Strat Plus era just preferred to order the "fancy" colors for the Plus Deluxe; I swear I never saw a Plus Deluxe in anything other than a burst or the natural ash (the natural finish meant that the guitars got a solid ash body, and those suckers were always heavy) in either Central Kentucky or Northeast Ohio!

[jb4674]

Originally Posted by elcid

How to set one of these up will show on the "tips" page

Cid, I'll be your best friend forever if you post a how-to guide along with pictures and idiot-proof directions. The Hipshot directions are simply awful and not very helpful.

Jimmy