Fender '54 Reissue Stratocaster

My guitar is a 1995-1997 (not quite sure) Shell pink MIJ 50th Anniversary Strat. All '54 appointments less the PUP switch. A BIG FAT juicy V shape neck and a wonderful vintage bridge provide for a feel that is supremely different than an American Standard--I own a 1993 American Strat. All the usual appointments of a Strat guitar except the body is made from poplar/basswood?? as opposed to alder. I purchased used. The previous owner upgraded the PUP's to Torres. It came w/gig bag.

My primary amp is a Mesa Boogie Blue Angel. The guitar sounds great. The Torres are different from my American 1993. The problem with this set-up may be the other electronics. The volume and 1st tone control are not right. I haven't taken the time to determine what the proper fix might be but there is a problem with the BALANCE of the PUP's. It is hard to describe. The guitar sounds great but I'm not satisfied moving from one PUP combination to the next.

It's a beautiful guitar. Nice finish and I love this hardware more than my 1993 American. However, I do prefer the way my American sounds. Again, I purchased used and the guy I bought it from sold it without strings--it needed setting up.

This guitar actually feels better built than my 1993 but the electronics need adjustment--I won't gig with it until it's properly adjusted.

No

This is my coolest electric guitar but it's not my favorite nor my best. It needs adjustment. If lost? I wonder if anyone has actually lost a guitar--I've lost a lot of guitar picks. If it were stolen I would love to replace it but I don't think it would be possible. How many shell pink '54's are out there? I would be SOL. I love the guitars neck and vintage bridge--what a combination. If you have a chance to get a MIJ '54 or '62 Anniversary I would strongly urge you to buy it (if you get a decent price.) But sadly, I've seen some greedy bastards on ebay like, "lawman-mike" ask far to much for these guitars.

Ok...to start, I'm giving my 1986 MIJ Fender Stratocaster E-Series a 10 for features. I'm giving it a 10 because it has everything it needs to be my new favorite guitar!! I received this guitar last night in the mail, tuned it up, plugged it in, and something came alive in me. I am completely blown away by this instrument. I recently got interested in playing blues guitar...and tried blues on my les Paul, but definitely didn't feel it. Within 10 minutes of playing this Vintage Strat, I turned into a blues machine. Played for 4 hours straight and produced some of the best music i've ever played in my life.

Paid $550 for it...and i'd say it's worth 4 times that to me.

completely amazing! The tone!! The sustain!! Oh my god!!! Can't say much more than that.

I like my action really low...and this guitar has it. The strings are so close to the fret board, yet absolutely no buzzing what so ever!!! Everything is set up, and plays exactly the way i like it.

Well, considering it's about 24yrs old...and everything works perfectly...i'd say it's a 10.

not applicable.

I'm completely in love with a guitar!! I think i have issues!! Was almost losing sleep last night due to being inspired by this Strat. Was writing blues songs in my head as i dozed off.

i think i need to buy another e-series strat!! Actually...i think i need "All" the E-series strats!!! lol.

Mine's a surf green MIJ issue from 1993. I love the vintage look of it. My favourite part are the kluson vintage tuners and 50s fender decal. I managed to pick this up for fairly cheap I've been told. i clicked the buy it now on ebay from the seller. it was a guitar they had owned and use so they were not a dealer. all of the japan fenders i see on ebay go for more than I paid. I'm happy with that

the sound is great. pretty sure they're american pickups. it's got the classic stratocaster sound. that's for sure.

the action isn't bad on it right now. I've had it maybe 5 months and havn't had it set up. i adjusted the pickups myself but the neck needs to be adjusted, and possibly the bridge. I'm probably going to take it in for a new set-up in the coming weeks.

this guitar is great for anything. it's totally durable and I have the original fender hard case it came in so it's always a safe ride.

never had to contact fender for support. doubt I will if anything happens to it. it's an old guitar so the best I can do is just take it into my local shop and have whatever problem fixed.

love this guitar. that's all I have to say.

I bought this Crafted In Japan ST54-80AM in almost new condition from an eBay auction for a total of $600. I?ve been playing professionally for over 25 years, owned and played many Strats in my time and this one is my favorite. The one piece maple neck is excellent. It has some heft and the V contour continues all the way up to the octave. It has the vintage 7.25 radius, vintage style frets, nice amber tint, thin even poly finish, slotted tuners and a 50?s style headstock with a button type string tree. When I received the guitar, the action was set very low and still didn?t buzz. That?s unusual. I had to raise it to suit me. Overall, a great neck. The body is a super well matched 2 piece ash with the classic 2 tone sunburst and poly finish. The poly finish is very well done. Not thick and gloppy. The body routes are the authentic individual style. The one ply white pickguard is a bit thicker than those on original vintage Fenders. Maybe it won?t warp and crack at the neck pickup adjustment screw. The pickups rate a 10+. Best vintage style Strat pickups I?ve ever heard. I?m unsure of the exact model, but they are vintage output, beveled polepiece, cloth wired with Custom Shop stickers. The middle pickup isn?t reverse wound. The other electrical components worked well, but I swapped them out for more traditional ones out of personal preference. I also upgraded the shielding because this is a working guitar. The trem tailpiece is vintage with vintage spacing. My one complaint is that they put those deep counter-bores in the steel trem block. When strings break at the bridge, the string barrels get hung up in the deep bores and need to be pushed out with a tool. I keep low E string trimmings in my case for this purpose. A shallow counter-sink, like the genuine 50?s Strats have would have been better. Because of this, the electrical components and the poly finish I?ll give the features an 8 because it?s supposed to be a reissue and I would have preferred more authentic details. But wait! V necks didn?t appear until ?56 and I REALLY love this neck. OK, up to a 9.

The tone of this Strat is perfect. The combination of all the parts with these pickups just makes for a top of the line vintage Strat tone. She sings. I?d give her an 11 if it was in the menu. A high quality 10 percent overwound bridge pickup with a base plate would be a good option for this guitar and well worth the money, but the standard output pickup still sounds great, but personally, I?m considering a Fralin for the bridge position.

1996 made in Japan. It's a54'reissue, so you know the specs. Staggered pole pickups are some americal vintage type. Not sure which exactly they put in those guitars, but IMO these are to great extent "responsible" for the killer tone.

I must say I was looking for that tone and now I finally have it. If you ever enjoyed 60s, 70s and 80s rock and blues, then playing this guitar and playing with pickup and tone settings will sound like you went through your collection old vinyl and played it over again. The tone puts you back in time like you wouldnt beleive possible. Full, rich, bell-like, twangy sound if you play clean, screams smoothly when driven. Tube amp is not a must (but preferrable sure) - you would be amazed with the sound on a decent solid state practice amp too. Grade here is given based on a fact that its a stratocaster. That means you have to work a bit harder when you play (no it ain't a super-easy-to-schred Ibanez... and did I mention the chunky neck.. well its not too chunky, and once you realize what it contributes to the tone, you quickly end up loving it). Sound always depends on the particular piece you get, but lets assume this reissues are pretty much consistent in quality and hence its sound.

Got it used, so had to adjust it to my likings. That would be the same if it was factory set-up. I had to clean it up a bit but nothing was rusted or oxidized. Only flaw was a bit warped pickguard, probably due to taking it off and on meny times for pickup replacement. However, thank god, the original fender vintage pickups are now back on.

Everything worked ok so far.

Never dealt with the company.

Been playing for years, have had some nice guitars, but here it only makes sense if we compare it with other strats. I beleive all that matters in a guitar like this is the way it sounds. Made in Japan, Mexico, USA... is that really most important, or is it the sound you are getting? I would have to confess that USA sticker would be fine, BUT, for similarly or identicaly sounding american strat, I would nowadays probably have to pay a fortune, which means I simply would not end up with the sound I have now.

La chitarra e Made in Japan ed in quanto tale non dovrebbe essere datata oltre il 1997, ma non posso stabilire l'anno perche e stato cancellato il numero di serie.
Corpo sunburst 2 toni in tre pezzi di frassino e manico ovviamente in acero 21 tasti.
Pickups molto simili ai FAT '50 USA (ammesso che non siano proprio quelli).
Tutti i particolari della originale '54 sembrano rispettati.
Finiture medie.

Suono veramente bello e potente ma ho dovuto cerare i pickups perche prima erano rumorosi e fischiavano. Si ottengono i suoni di Hendrix o SRV molto facilmente, molto vicino anche ai suoni tipici di Bryan Adams e del suo chitarrista sui vecchi albums. Meglio se accompagnata ad un ampli valvolre tipo Fender.

Meglio usare poco la leva, la chitarra tiene poco l'accordatura, ma e un prezzo da pagare per non stravolgere la chitarra. Esteticamente e bellissima, il frassino ha belle venature evidenti ed i tre pezzi quasi non si notano. La chitarra e stata probabilmente "reliccata" dal precedente proprietario ma devo dire che i difetti alla fine diventano "belli" e ci si affezziona ancora di piu.

Niente da dire

Niente da dire

Mine is a brand new Stratocaster model ST54-80AM (54's reissue), bought from ISHIBASHI WEB SHOP!! This Guitar is 2 Tone Sunburst, Crafted in Japan, 21 vintage frets, 1 piece maple neck, V-shape, larger than USA/Mexico made V-shape necks, 2 piece ASH Body with offset glue seam (looks like 1 Piece body, very well glued) 5 way selector, 3 USA made Custom Shop FAT 50's single coil pickups (original!). THis guitar is finishet in Poly (body and Neck) that feels very smooth. Its bridge is vintage style, steel trem block, Vintage stile tuners (think its Gotoh, looks very much like my Clapton). Included with guitar was 3m cable, manual(in japanese) and a horrible gig bag. I will give it a 9 because of the horrible bag! :-)

I play mostly Blues (SRV, Clapton, Freddie King, etc) and for this kind of music, couldn't sound better. ASH body is fantastic. Can get Fat strat tone and also a very bright tone. She can screams a lot. Who likes SRV sound will love it. Less mids than SRV sig series, but still have Texas punch! Best Stratocaster tone I ever got.

I live in Brazil, so she travelled half world to get here... But it came to me in very good condition. I had to do some minor adjustments, but no big deal, I still have to get her to my luthier, although its action and fit are Ok. The finish is Flawless, even better the american ones I have.

The hardware seems very reliable. The woods and construction are ammazing. I gig out with her 2 times, and seems that will last hundred of years....

Didn't have to deal with, but I think it will be very difficult... Japan is soooo far away... No representatives here, but she worths every peny.

I've been playin for 17 years. I used so many guitars that I can't even remember. But I finally got my better choices: ST54-80AM (CIJ), Mexican 50's Classic Series with texas specials pickups (MIM) and American Standard with Lindy Frain Blues pickups (MIA). Those are really fantastic for me. But this 54's reissue is simply ammazing. Excellent choice I made. I personally should thank Koichi From ISHIBASHI, because if wasn't him and his first Class work I would never buy this guitar. Thank you man!!! Now I'm a very happy owner of an Crafted in Japan Strat Guitar!!

Fender Japan 1954 Stratocaster Reissue, First Year Strat, USED.
Manufactured in 2003-2004, (CIJ), Japan, Vintage Premium Reissue.
Purchased from Ishibashi Music, Tokyo, Japan, Used for $650+ Ship.

21 frets, 2 piece Ash Body, Gorgeous Two Color Sunburst, Nitrocellulose Finish on Body and Neck. All '54 style authentic,
3 single coil (s/s/s) USA Vintage Pickups (American)of some kind,
possibly hum cancelling in 2&4 positions. PU's nail the vintage
tone, smooth and with good power & clarity, obviously passive strat pickups. INDIVIDUAL PICKUP ROUTING!!!!!!
ASH Body, high figured grain, premium woods, Neck is one piece Maple
50's authentic comfort "V" style with skunk stripe? but truss access is at body end, cool grain in neck as well (some figuring, mostly on back of neck). Neck finished in light amber tint. Little fretwear. Crafted In Japan decal on back of neck near body with serial number under finish. I believe its a 7.25 + Diameter Neck, Medium-Jumbos, Simply excellent V neck! First year USA features, basically.

Vintage '54 authentic bridge, steel block S8F vintage, floating with tremelo and whammy bar ( I wont use it) Did I say steel block trem? Came with three springs on tremelo, I added two immediately for tuning stability and sustain. Ill employ the Eric Clapton hardtail solution (tremelo block) later, or maybe use the bar with a tight setup, to see how it works, then toss it!

My style is rock and roll, roots, blues/rock, blues and classic rock.
I had to test it with my no frills Fender Bronco Amp, 15 Watts, 2 Channel, 8" Speaker and I knew right off these arent the stock Mex PUs cause the 54 sounded so smooth to my ear through this small solid state amp. I really like the sound a lot. It is rich, bright and smooth. I reduced treble at amp and rolled down rear tone on guitar right off. It produces a sweeet tone, I cant wait to jam it through my new Fender Vibrolux Reverb, which is on the way. This guitar is not suited for heavy metal at all, without butchering the entire concept, which is so beautiful!

A 1954 RI, US or Japan is built for the holy grail tone of vintage rock, blues and roots music. Natural electric reproduction and hum are standard here. It is kind of a one trick pony, but this little pony is a thoroughbred. I think its great.I could add variety with aftermarket Pickups, the only ones Id consider would be Fralin
Vintage Hots or Blues Specials, Maybe Fender Custom Shop Cloth Wound 54 Originals or CS 57-62s! In that order I think.

Highest quality of work throughout. Almost every production detail is stickled. Very smooth, clean, 0 blemishes, few pickguard scratches and contour brushes, hardly used. Neck may be ever so slightly bowed, no problem to play comfortably, but nitro will be sticky on sweaty palms. Back door (trunk), rear opening is slightly crooked, absolutely nothing is loose.
Overall, this looks like the high end Fender 54 Reissue that it is.
Cant compare side by side with the Fender USA 54/ 50th Anniversary Model that is $1300 discount online price, but this was an incredible deal- it is comparable to a degree! I used to own a US Lone Star Hot Rodded Stratocaster, and the finish on this 54 is much better quality wood. The Lone Star had a fully visible knot near upper bought on 3 color sunburst finish. It was not a blemish deal either. Pretty sloppy QC on that one, not on this. The Ash grain is one of the best 2 tone sunbursts Ive ever seen. First Rate!

Will withstand what the original would, easily. Hardware is US issue for the most part, I think. It will last plenty long with steel block trem! I will play this live if it kills me! I wouldnt gig without backup, Ill just bring my Fender MIM 50s Strat along in the trunk just in case. Im not a slowhand, rapid onstage string changer yet.

Talked to them regarding this Strat, very helpful, although CIJ is an independent company, they said this would be good, and they were right.

LOVE IT, Like to have an American 54 Body with 62 neck also!

Id buy another, but Id chase somebody down with a vengeance if I caught them pilfering this one.

2002-2004 model of the Fender 54 stratocaster- made in Japan. 21 frets. Single volume- two tone with 5 way selector I only use the treble, mid and bass switches - the others are not really usable for gigs,staggered pickups. Don't know what make and model of pickup. An educated guess - made of basswood- three pieces with a darker sun burst finish. Strat style tailpiece with the "fender" name stamped on string saddles ( a site I visited informed that this indicates a "fully fledged reissue" and not an economy model- is this BS??. Tuners are non locking Klusons - solid.
Neck is one piece maple with round string guides.
Came with whammy bar.
I would give this a 9 as it is a great looking axe and a breeze to play. It also has inbuilt versatility via the selector that gives tonal variety when going from rhythm to lead (one guitar band!!)

We play straight ahead R&B (thats rhythym and blues!!) with a dash of good ol' rock & roll- for the the pub punters!! Not too flashy but it gets em movin!
We go thru Fender Deville 60w tube amp. I go thru the drive channel and couple that with an Ibanez tube screamer when I need to go the the stratosphere (sorry)- but it lifts me up where I belong (oooohhh- thats cheesie!). If its good enuf 4 Mr B Guy then its OK by me.
We r a 3 piece ( 2 musos nad a drummer- ha ha) that play pubs- we r loud!! Without gettin too technical- I play as loud as the bass player/ desk jockey will let me- I am always sneakin up & all our good gigs r when I "let em have it." This aint fingerpaintin!
I also use a Gibson SG classic and I must confess that the Fender sounds better thru the Fender amp ( is this too obvious). The Fender needs more herbs and is better for the more cutting numbers that have a classic rock and roll / country feel. We r experimenting.
This axe delivers a sharper sound than the gibson but does not have that really solid grunt- it is a guitar that can trully be "played" and it is a shit load more responsive and versatile. the 2nd and 4th selector setings are not 4 me- I keep the tone on full- it has an awesome sound that cuts to the bone. No dislikes.

Set up on purchase- no complaints- slight scratch on neck- otherwise AOK- I love the colour- reminds me of a tiger eye stone.

This guitar DOES stand live playing verry well- DOES NOT GO OUT OF TUNE - thank you Leo F for those great tuners! It feels solid on stage and I always feel confident playin it. I never gig without a back up.

The dealer I bought thru is great. But no contact with the mother company.

This guitar is a welcome addition to my arsenal- it is a good foil to my SG- my next axe will be a Les Paul. I am not a purist- otherwise I wouldn't own a Jap Strat- I know what I like and I did try other strats (USA kind ) before pickin this one. I would always own a strat now that I have used one ( first one in 40 yrs of playin)
It si just the complete package and it looks great to boot! I find myself wanting to slot more into the act- it is addictive to play.
I originally bougght it as a back up but now it is a fully fledged partner to my SG.

I just got this guitar off ebay from a seller in Japan. The guitar is a classic 2 tone sunburst with 1 pc maple neck/fretboard and 2pc ash body. Now, I have seen a few (not many though) of MIJ '54 RI strats floating around on ebay for some time, but they all seem to be made after 1997. I knew for some time that Fender Japan made these RI 54s as early as 1984, 2 years after they started operations under the "Fender" badge.

When I saw a "1980s 1954 MIJ RI Strat" on ebay, I knew I had to have it! When I received the shipment, I could not believe that the condition is so good for a 20 year old instrument. It looked like a closet classic, like Eric Clapton's "Brownie". No scratches, no dings, just a little fretwear. I love the V neck and with some adjustment to the truss rod, it plays beautifully and the intonation was spot on.

Next thing I fell in love with was the sound. Pickups from what I understand are US custom shop '54 RI ones. Sweet. After researching for some time before deciding to buy this guitar, I realised that the JDM (Japan Domestic Market) spec Fender guitars are very high standard instruments, unlike the ones Japan exports, which were forced to have lower specs than their own JDM ones. This includes the wood, craftsmanship, pickups and hardware. This one has the engimatic "E" serial number. One of those that Fender Japan used by mistake as "E" numbers were meant for US made Fenders. But it proves this guitar was made between 1984 and 1987, according to dating sites.

Single ply pick guard, 8 pickguard screws, round string tree, Kluson tuners. Everything naturally aged nicely. But it has a 5 way switch, which is not authentic, but good for sound flexibility. The back plate has oval shaped holes and not round ones though.

I am into all sorts of guitar music but mainly play blues rock. I like my sound clean and this guitar cuts through really nicely. It has a classic vintage strat tone, with a brightness unheard of from my other strats.

Ok, it sounded very good clean, so I decided to stress test the guitar by putting it through a few different effects. Drive, Blues, Hi Gain, u name it. It all came out tops! Humming comes about when I add more gain to the amp, but it is to be expected. But even with the distortion effect, the guitar sounds good, with the individual notes ringing clear. The best so far is with the overdrive, imho. Playing Rolling Stones songs with it just got me high...

When the guitar came, it was pre-owned, so I was not expecting it to be in great playing condition. It needed some slight adjustments to the neck and I took the guitar apart. The neck was dated March '84 and the body April of the same year. The ash body was lovingly crafted, with the pickup cavities nicely rounded. Now that was a bonus! I did not expect Japan to replicate this on the 54 RI. Finishing was excellent to say the least and the neck and body fit was air-tight.

The neck is a cross between a V and a U, I think. I could tell that the previous owner did not play much on this guitar, yet it felt so run in with the original frets which led me to reckon that the factory must have made it like that. Really nice action and feel to it, makes me want to pick it up and play everytime I walk past it in my studio.

I have seen quite a few USA, MIM and MIJs in my time and I have to admit that the JDM MIJ ones are comparable to the higher end US made Fenders. Yes, they will last. No one gigs seriously without a backup. Period.

Never tried and hope I never need to.

Been playing for 17 years. I am a composer/songwriter in Asia and I do my full production demos at home. Electric-wise I have a US made 2002 Standard strat, MIM 2000 Tele, 1990 JDM MIJ strat '72 RI and now the 1984 JDM MIJ '54 RI. I would say the '54 sounds the brightest, but it does not match the newer strats I have in terms of sustain.

I chose this particular guitar as it was one of the earliest made in Japan Fenders, before anything was over commercialised. And of course older wood just sounds better some how. But it seems that this is not the case for Japan Fenders. They are still made with as much pride today. But they are not available outside of Japan anymore, so those lower end export MIJ models are not in the market anymore. The only way is to get it used from sellers and from Japan direct. There are online stores in Japan that can sell and ship you a JDM MIJ Fender.

I compared mine with a friend's 1997 JDM CIJ (crafted in japan - after 1996, they changed 'made' to 'crafted') '54 RI and find that though the worksmanship is about the same, mine sounded brighter and has a richer tone and it twangs better. For USD550 including shipping, my 1984 '54 RI cannot be beat and I would have spent a heck of alot more to get this action and sound from a strat. If I see another "E" serial number MIJ '54 RI for sale, I would snap it up first, to avoid crying into my whiskey if this one gets stolen. *touch wood*