Three Fender Stratocasters... 1 Fake and 2 Real | Try and Spot the Fake

In this video, we look at three Fender Stratocasters in questions. Two of them are real... one is a fake. It turns out one is a Squier that has had the logo replaced with a Fender Logo. One is a Made in Japan (MIJ) real Fender, and the other is an real American Fender. Can you spot the fake?

[on_in_five]

The last guitar is 70’s reissue hence why headstock is 70’s oversized, bullet truss rod, the 3 bolt plate.

Only thing is ‘off’ are tuners but that’s not really an issue.

[timnoneya]

Title..."Try to spot the fake"....as soon as the picture comes on the screen..."THIS IS THE FAKE!". lol

[davesbassworld]

The tuners on the Japanese Strat are obviously Gotohs, which makes sense - Japanese tuners on a Japanese guitar.
Also found pretty much the same Japanese Strat on Reverb straight away, but in a different color. This was from a French seller - if you don't allow international sellers in your preferences, they won't be shown in search results! I just searched for Japan Strat 1993 and it was pretty much first result.

[robertgandy]

In 1993 they made three reissue series Strats 70s, 60s & 50s. I have a 50s it is an incredible guitar.

[whiterose]

The third guitar is a genuine made in Japan Guitar. It's not sold in USA but they are just as good as far as quality is concerned.

[nosellama]

I found a good mim strat hb on marketplace but the serial number gives no results on the fender serial number If the serial number is not found is fake?

[concob]

It seems pretty clear that Mr. Russell is not familiar 70's era/CBS Spec. Fenders. This is a Japanese built 70's/CBS Spec. Strat. The three-Screw heal plate is totally dates this instrument.

[davidburke]

That second one... the headstock shape doesn’t even look right (may be the photo) before you even get into finer details like walnut truss rod surround, the string trees (that seem to be seriously distorting straight string pull, as well as there being two of them, which isn’t Fender correct), etc etc. I’m more of a Gibson guy, or Fender Tele rather than Strat, but that one sticks out like a sore thumb to me as a fake despite lack of first hand experience with Strats.

[donnyhall]

That bullet trussrod is from the '70s, as is the CBS headstock. Yes I know they went to that headstock in '65-'66. But people usually place it with the '70s. Japanese fenders say crafted in Japan by the heal of the neck by the pocket. And the 3 bolt neck plate is classic '70s as well. The Japanese Fenders are way better guitars than any of the American. This particular guitar is a reissue. If you can find any Japanese made guitar, buy it. They are amazing.

[johnskerlec]

I tried several times to establish exactly what my 82 Strat was and its specs. What I found was that it might be a hybrid of parts left over from pre 80s CBS put together during the Dan Smith 80s. It's a Cream colour with Black Scratch Plate white PUs. I haved owned it since 84, and have replaced Nut, Bridge and Pus since. PUs are Noisless Texas and sound great, a bit of single coil with some HB roundness. I've never seen another the same.

[oldineamiller]

I spotted the fake, right on the thumbnail of this video.

[randyupchurch]

...That "Japan" strat is a '70's, CBS strat with a "Bullet" truss-rod...

[AndrewAHayes]

I have a Squier Telecaster that I bought in 1984, when I went to the store I fully intended to buy a Fender Telecaster but of the ones they had in the store they all had issues and so the salesman gave me a Squier to try and I was blown away by it and so I bought it.
The hardware is very good quality and not what you see on modern Squier models and the pickups are sweet, I have read somewhere that the early Squire models used genuine Fender parts, with that in mind after watching this video I wondered whether people have faked a Fender by putting a Fender decal on an early Japanese Squier

[DekkardBryon]

At 2:55, picture of the first Strat headstock, why does this not have slotted tuning pegs? Also, the machine-head knobs don't look right.

[petedazer]

I’ve got three bonafide strats with two string trees! A 1976, 1990, and a 1999! Holes in your logic there!

[TheShrededward]

string trees are not a good way to tell because it's always possible that somebody threw another one on, and some CBS era fenders had two string trees because they were so badly made. The fender Japan tuners look like gotohs, which is rather strange because that's what they put on the lower end guitars (like mine). The reissues would have period correct hardware, which would also include a bridge with saddles stamped "fender".

[johnapitoe]

The red one was a fender by squier which were made in the 90s, they put the fender logo on them

[mikejones-vdfg]

Imagine if there were no copywrite/patent laws, we'd have the best fakes by now, they wouldnt be considered fakes, they'd just be competition and probably made better.

[papisnuggs]

to not expose the scam of paying 2, 000 for a fender vs 300 for a squire...that last thing they gonna do is play both side by side so you can realize you wouldnt tell the diff and quite frankly, the squire sounds as good or better ( thisn is about the 4th fender vs squire video ive seen ). For 2000-3000 dollars idk care if the neck is made out of vibranium...it better melt the paint off the wall when you play it. You better feel them 3, 000 dollars come out that amp. Truth is, its a scam to pay so much for a guitar when you cant justify the cost. Play both side by side and buddy wont know what to say.

[WayneMemphisMojo]

excellent subject ... something else you might want to focus on is "How to spot a Parts-Caster" ... I have 4 (both Tele & Strat) & I'm honest about it ... but MANY folks are not.