How to spot a Fake?

[stretch_333]

Couldn't it be very easy to take a neck from an american series strat or tele and put it on a sqiure or MIM body and classify it is an american made strat or tele?

 

How do you tell if it's all american made?

[frankie pajamas]

correct me if im wrong, but don't most American Strats have a 2 point trem

[Artslinger]

There are bar code tags on new bodies, plus on almost all MIM bodies the trem bridge and mounting holes are different then a MIA.

[Mister Crow]

Different bridges, different neck plate, micro-tilt adjust on AS not on Mexico, different pick-ups. All obvious differences.

[Yogi_Sizzle]

correct me if im wrong, but don't most American Strats have a 2 point trem

 

 

Squier Standards do too, so thats not always an indicator of American made or other origins. Also the only American strats that have 2 points are the standard and certain CS models, in reality the rest of the American Range are all vintage 6 points

[alphamarquis]

8 vs 11 hole strat pickguard???

[vintage clubber]

8 vs 11 hole strat pickguard???

what does that have to do with real vs fake Fender?

[jimytheassassin]

Couldn't it be very easy to take a neck from an american series strat or tele and put it on a sqiure or MIM body and classify it is an american made strat or tele? How do you tell if it's all american made?

Yes it could, and it would probably fool the majority of the public at first sight. Fender has had so many variations in their own line, from different countries of origin, that it's very hard sometimes to collect all of the attributes that authenticate it from photos alone. Import bodies may be so identical to USA production, particularly Japan or Mexico, you'll scratch your head for hours. Probably the single biggest red flag would be modern string trees combined with a 6 point tremolo. AFAIK, you will always see "butterfly" trees with a 6 point, but YMMV. Serial numbers and associated specs may not match up to specs of the body. You'd have to pay close attention to the year, model and/or series the neck belongs to. Pickup routes, body marks (painting nail holes), cnc marks, neck routes etc. Pickguard screw hole placement, string spacing, body contours to the discerning few, can be immediate red flags. Hardware to some degree (saddles for example), components and pickups would be immediate red flags, but a crafty seller may have a lame reason to explain why Mexican PUPs replaced USA PUPs. A good fake will address these too, and you may not know until you can see under the hood (so to speak). The paint can matter, bursts, solids etc.. if your'e really really observant. But it can all be suspect, and in the end you may think something is fake when it is indeed real. But above all if you have a seller that's unwilling to entertain your questions of authenticity, just walk away.