Fender '62 Reissue Stratocaster

This one was made about '90 a USA model. SN V045XXX. Sunburst with a white pickguard 3 '57/'62 Pups and the 5 way switch installed (I like that). I got all the original paper work, and hardware goodies, 3 way switch, ashtray, trem arm and the tweed case, I would rather have the brown toltex case but tweed is nice. This thing looks like it walked out the closet after 30 years. You can read all the other post for more, you know the guitar, right.

Sound is pure Strat, what you would expect. I played through my '76 Twin Reverb about 3 hours, changed the strings from 10-46 to 9-42 and adjusted the intonenation, !!!! what an improvenment in sound, stays in tune better when playing up the neck and got rid of most of the false harmonic notes, someone didn't know crap about intonenation. Played it though by Blues Jr. "nice".

After changing strings and setting up the action and intonenation it plays much better and feels great, my hand never got tired like it does on my SG, but that's another story. Several scraches in the back of the guitar body and one flaw in the finish looks like the finish didn't quite cover a small knot looking thing. One dent in the upper cutaway on the back about 1/2 the sizs or a dime, a few small scraches on the front. Some oxidizing on some of the nickle plated parts and the chrome input jack. I guess this thing has been played before, it has some good vibes.

Should last for ever, and gain in value.

Forget it.

I started playing in 1960, My first band was a garage Surf and Folk Music trio. We played crapy import guitars and Sears amps. Since then I've owned several Fender, Guild, Gibson and a bunch of other insturments and still do. I mostly use Fender amps but have been known to use everything. This guitar replaces my last Strat which I sold for way to little money. But I like this one much better. If I lost this guitar I would try to find another one nuff said.

japanese made 62 reissue. beautiful white with off green pickguard creamy knobs. rosewood board. standard options. this was one of my first guitars back in the 90's. it is exactly what it is. if you are considering buying one of these, DO IT! when i was young and played the rock music, my hand used to hit the volume knob and turn the guitar down sometimes. i replaced the plastic knob with an old tele knob. bingo. the feel of metal is great. i dont know who needs #'s to tell how loud you're playing, not i.

a little unballenced volume between pickups, my own fault for not having it adjusted for 8 years. pretty solid tone. jimi hendrix to the talking heads with the flip of a switch.

best action i've ever felt on a pre cbs strat. when i go into guitar shops and play new fenders it feels like adultery. can i get an amen? they feel wonky, big frets, locking nuts.. bah! this guitar is so low and so smooth.
and the finish on the neck i love. very smooth, like a gibson, as opposed to the more sandy feeling of newer finishes. for some reason i hate that. the guitar came with a ding in the finish. now it has many more dings. i would never buy an 'aged' strat. takes all the fun out of getting loaded and dropping it...

survived highschool pixies cover band, college space freak rock band, art school, whipped cream and professional gigging. the electronics are a little dirty, but wouldn't you be? this axe may very well outlive me. i am going to have the stock electronics and pups replaced with something fancy, texas, vintage who knows.
then i will play it for another decade. these japanese strats are rare. i believe they were never intended for the us market. i'm writing this review because for the money, i believe there is no better stratty.

never had to.

i have an old rickenbacker 330, and a newer gibson es335. between those and this baby thats alot of tone. if this was stolen i would be sadder than that time i got kicked out of a semi famous band, or the time i was dumped by a beautiful cowgirl. god bless leo fender and the japanese. this guitar makes me want to drink sake and play buddy holly songs. i understand that "Superficial, glowing reviews will not get published" but i just gotta shout about it. so there.

Made in 2004 in the USA. Alder body and is painted a beautiful olympic white. Mint green pickguard and aged pickup covers and knobs. Maple neck and rosewood fingerboard. Very cool looking giutar. Comes with a brown deluxe hardshell case that includes a strap, signal cord, extra tremolo springs, extra 5 way pickup selector switch, polishing cloth. You can check it out at www.fender.com

Sounds like a Fender Strat. I love the stock pickups. I use a Mesa Road King and it matches up well with Strats.

I pretty much use the factory setup but i dont use tremolo so I had the floating bridge laid down on the body. Everything works like a gem on it. No flaws .

I have several American Fender Strats and teles, all reissues and have never had an issue with them. The working mans guitars !I always hear people going on about how great the Japanese versions of this guitar is so great. I had one and didnt care for it. Cheap parts.

I've only called them once and they answered all my questions

Ive been playing for 35 years and love these American reissues. I've never had a problem with any of them. I own two 62 strats, two 57 strats, a 52 tele, and a 62 tele custom. All Sweeeeeet !

This is a Jap 62 reissue I bought new in 1990-one of the first ones I had seen. It has an alder body,rosewood board and standard vintage-type hardware and electronics. I use a refinnned, refretted, changed pickups VOO series 57 reissue as a main axe. I had been using a TERRIBLE 77 hardtail strat as a backup and got the Jap 62 to replace it. This 62 has a real sweet black/yellow/red sunburst that looks opaque-the grain doesn't show! This axe unlike my other strats has always remained stock,except I always block the trem with a length of broken-off drumstick!(sounds superior and is a butt-cheap, easy to reverse mod)I gotta say it looks way cooler under the lights than the 57's 2-tone burst(altho the 57 is WAY cool, heheh)Anyway I give it a 9 as it ain't got TONS of features and is a stock strat.

It does everything well for what I do-heavy alternative rock-I us this particular guitar for LEAD heavy tunes because it has such a great neck and those jap pickups are very well balanced-I use this the 57 reissue, a beat late 60's tele and a 65 jazzmaster thru a Crybaby wha into a 60's tube echoplex, an early ProCo Rat into two blackface Fender bandmaster heads and two ampeg 412 cabs loaded with EV SRO 12 inch speakers-I can get every sound you ever heard with my rig and believe me, people are always asking about my tone from such a simple rig. I also use Gibson Gretsch and Rick guitars from my collection to record,but live the Fender axes are able to get all their sounds well enough. This 62 strat has been my main strat since the first gig I used it on-it is FREAKISHLY good sounding and playing!

this particular guitar was perfect right off the wall-all I did was vhave it set up with heavier strings than the factory supplied(11-52)This axe isn't nearly as pretty as some I've seen, in particular the neck-the board is light colored rosewood, and the maple looks like hell with some ugly mineral marks and horrible looking grain(think cheap paneling) but DAMN it plays great!

I actually have thrown this guitar across the stage and....no damage-it has been handled by fools drunks and degenerates, left in the cold, abused mistreated and kept without a case and nothing hurts it. My stage axes lead a wild life (as do I!) and this one begs for more! It's more durable finish wise than my other laquer painted fenders(the Jap ones have some thick poly-type finish) and has aged well-The color is still bright and all looks good-I never gig w/out backup-but wheras my other axes get tucked into a rolling storage coffin at the end of the night, this one accompanies me wherever I go at all times. Most my jamming and recording go down on this 62 cuz it is there at all times-it"s a KILLER!

never needed em to support me, although the store I got it from backs up all they sell

Been playing now for 18 years and I'd buy this guitar again. I buy either used modded player pieces or nice import versions of classic fenders like this 62. Just bought a 72 reissue and a 60's reissue MIM so I guess I'd sure buy again-These axes are cheap, sound good, look hip as the old ones(to the crowd anyway) and give great reliability-I got a few "snob guitars" that were just "used" when I bought 'em years ago, and frankly these Import Fenders are cool as any of them. High dollar dudes that can't play for shit pay to come see my band kick it on these cheapos! WooHoo!

one of the first japanese '62 reissue's, serial number sn002937. classic strat body, D-shape neck and those old style tuners. mine is 3 tone sunburst.

i love it.... i'm a blues player. stevie ray, buddy guy etc. this guitar is fantastic for blues, it's got the true srv tone. I play 0.12 and sometimes get a bit concerned about the tuners but they have been working fine till now on. As said in other reviews, the greatest thing about this guitar is the neck. it's a huge difference... read HUGE difference between this D-shaped neck and the standart C-shape.
My effects come from a boss me-50... wich I,ve bought a month ago and am very pleased with... (nice tubescreamer mod.)
The amp I use is well known for it's sound, roland jazzchorus jc77.
that's my nice little setup... large enough for my needs.

for the money i've payd i don't have the right to complain about anything... 400euro incl case. for a 1986 fender that has lain in it's case for 17 years... brand new

it's a copy from the original... same building specs (apart from the 5 way switch).. this guitar has earned respect on it's reability...

no experiences

if you can get your hands on one of these beauties... don't ever let go... ghehe.

US-made tobacco/red sunburst '62 reissue Strat, bought new in about '96. Alder body, original neck was maple. Unlike some others, mine was very nicely made, well routed, all parts signed and dated by the techs, etc etc.

I bought this things for the sound, wanting a blues/classic git for a blues band I was in. I've never played with anything more than an Ibanez reissue TS with the original parts retrofit done, a Univibe, and a Fender ProSonic combo with a Marshall Power Brake (so I can heat up the output tubes.)

After buying the git and gigging with it for a while, I wanted more (sound, better action, etc.)

So, I had it retrofitted with a custom Warmoth neck (vintage radius, narrow, huge fretwire), Van Zandt Vintage Plus PU's, a five-position switch, and then a full shielding and setup.

After all that, this is by far the best blues git I've ever played. When I was in the band people used to hang around searching for "whatever it is" I was getting my tone from. I could never convince people it was mostly the git and ProSonic, with just a touch of the TS & 'vibe thrown in to "wet down" the signal.

I had not complaints, mine was perfectly made and fitted.

Not a single problem.

Never needed them

I've been playing most my life off-and-on. My several year stint in a weekend warrior band showed me that I really didn't want to take this all *too* seriously, just not the life for me.

I love this guitar, and along with my Taylor 815C and my Guild BluesBird, will be one I will own for life.

This instrument is a Fender Japan '62 reissue model # ST62-70TX in Fiesta Red made in 2000 0r 2001 and is a faithful rendition of an early 60's Strat. This model is not sold through dealers outside
Japan and is destined for the Japanese market only. It is a very
high-quality guitar indeed, and easily matches the very pricey USA
version of the same guitar.Alder-not basswood- body, slab RW fretboard with narrow vintage-style frets. Urethane finish (nitro-cellulose on USA guitars).
I bought this from its previous owner in the UK (thank you, Dale..)
who'd had its circuitry modified to engager all three Texas Special
pickups (US-made and factory-fitted for these guitars)by rolling off
the second tone control. It was shielded with copper foil in the UK
and given a pro set-up. It comes with a gig-bag but I got a Gator
hardshell case with it!)Electronics are passive. Colour is Fiesta Red,
now discontinued on this series in Japan.Maple neck has a tasty vintage tint to it and the Fiesta Red finish is drop-dead gorgeous!
the fingerboard is dark rosewood. The overall finish resembles that
of my early 80's Squier P-Bass- beautiful and robust.

As I use it to play country, it twangs! The Texas Specials have a powerful output and vintage sound-the quintessential Strat. Positions
2 and 4 give a hum-free hollow,yet powerful honk which I like. I compared it to a 2001 American Series Strat,at a range of similar amp and guitar settings,and found that output from the ST was higher,
and sound a little more mellow. Nothing between them,however in build quality, but as imported to the UK the Japanese pots and wire are inferior to the US instrument's. Bridge is of vintage -style with
Fender-stamped saddles.As stats already, the modification done in the
UK increases the tonal possibilities of what purports to be a reedition of an early 60's Strat.Played through my '76 Twin Reverb,
through a BOSS ME-50, it sounds GREAT!

As stated, it had had a pro set-up prior to my acquiring it. I changed to 10's and raised slightly yhe action to suit my style of playing.Neck relief, nut, 'vintage-style' Kluson pegs, 'mint'green
pickguard,'aged' parts combumed with the red finish make for a striking effect.

This is one superbly built guitar, which, because of its upgraded circuitry will outlive me! I am well aware of best Japanese quality-
I have a number of CIJ basses and early Squiers. Based on a lot of gigging experience, I wouldn't ever bring a backup to a gig.
Remember here that both US and Japanese '62s are meant to give you
detailing features,general vibe and sound of a real 42-year old strat.
Neither is the real thing. To import one of these (this was exported to a private individual in the UK by Ishibashi (visit Fender Japan Web Shop)will set you back a fraction of the cost of an essentially
identical US guitar. Add USA-made pots -inexpensive- and you have one grat guitar. These models are superior in every way to the MIM Classic series and to Japanese Strats sold through US and European dealers.In Japan they cost about 56,000 Yen (?420, or c.US$500)and as such, importing one and allowing for customs,etc, still leaves you with a GREAT cool-looking,well-built and great-sounding instrument.
We just don't get to see many of these in the 'west'!Because of the pots, I'll give this an '8'!

No dealings with them. I know a good tech......

I have a selection of other instruments,guitarts and basses as I gig both. I like this guitar a lot and will not part with it. It's highly unusual to source somethgig aof this quality for such a low price...

Hey, plug it into a TUBE AMP, crank it, and PLAY! You want features, go to BLOCKBUSTER!

Sounds like a strat.....nuff said!

I suppose some of you might have gotten one that wasnt all that, but hey...youre supposed to try the thing first right? Anyone who buys a guitar blind through the mail (ebay), or such gets no guarentee...right? If you run across a good one youll know it! Mine is a gloss black "97" The only mod Ive done is to put a bone nut in, (like my real "62" has.) The damn thing plays better than the old one! (although the fingerboard isnt as wide....

I play the dog-shit out of this thing, and its going strong.

Mike at the custom shop is cool, but if youre not into waiting...forget it!

Playing since 1967. Played with 4 major bands, now semi-retired. (Too bad we never made the fuckin money these cheesey ass wanna-bes make today!) Listen, you can knit pick any guitar made, what most of these kids forget is its who's playing that guitar!!! Never expect an axe to play itself, and then bitch and moan about it cause it doesnt! This axe is the most coppied piece in guitar history!!! (yes, outselling Les Pauls from day ONE!) Again, NUFF SAID!

Mine's a 1986 Jap Strat. Paid $300 for it in pretty bad shape. Passive w/ 3 single coils, body is alder. I actually bought it cause of the neck, perfect! Made the guitar look very old, the rose wood board looks almost like ebony, not from dirt either. The tuners are the old slotted type w/ 2 clip type retainers. Stays in tune great(I currently have 9's on it), and I bend them alot. The finish was a black spray can type, lousy job. Had the usual Fender type bridge. Got a nice Fender case with it. The guitar didn't look to nice but the tone was there and the neck was perfect. $300 later, now it's my #1

The sound was why I bought it. Even with the stock pick-ups it sounded real laid back and bluezy. I put a DiMarzio HS3 in the neck and middle and a S.D. Classic Stack in the bridge, took out the bridge and swapped it w/ a Wilkinson Satin bridge with tremelo, upgraded the pots from 250 to 500 and replaced the stock 5-way. Now this baby sings! Stock I'd give it a 6 now a 10.

The guitar was set up well when I bought it, the owner before me played out often and kept the neck and intonation perfect. I have $600 total into it and would put it up against any high end guitar(gotta have a good amp though). These Jap guitars are really meant to last and be played, and bang for the buck is outstanding. In fact I just bought another with VanZandts and I can't put it down. It sounds nicer than the other.

Like I said these are meant to be played, not hung on a wall or kept in its case cause its too nice or cost big bucks. I've never broke a string(even with excessive alchol consumption) and playing it very hard. Use it with out a back up? Definatley, it's that dependable. I did put strap locks on it though as I do with every guitar I own. The cost verses what could happen if it drops is a no brainer.

Who needs it. It's a Fender.

Been playing 30+ years. Have a Brian Moore C90P,Fender Custom Shop Classic Player Strat, Fender 93 Strat Plus, 2 of these Jap Strats, 81 Silverburst LP Custom, Peavy EVH Wolfgang, Custom made Roscoe Explorer, Alverez-Yari DY 85A, Ovation Country Artist and a 64 Silvertone Amp-in-case. Guess what gets played daily, yep, the 2 Jap strats, they just have that tone. The next one I buy is getting Screamin' Demons or EMG's. I can't say anything negative about the Jap re-issues.

Jan 83 Fullerton made V00 sunburst '62 RI tremelo 3-way sticky switch grainy alder body & maple neck w/slab rose board unlacquered tweed case

the stock RI pickups are pathetic...microphonic,weak,dull bass,stiff treble,poorly made...put in Duncan SSL Vint Stagger...similar to 60's strat output and tone,much better 3-way switch sticks in-between like real old ones did,no need for 5-way

for those of you who believe these early reissues are something special,remember to look them over closely...the workmanship on this one is unbelievable! the trem cavity is way off center,the neck pocket is so deep it needed two shims to level,the fingerboard was wider than the neck,which was shaved too thin on the sides resulting in a sort of V shape,made worse by the fingerboard overhang...terrible feel,had to rework it..only since it turned 20 has the neck stabilized to where constant radical truss rod adjustment is needed less often...the slightest change in humidity would warp it...this is not the rock maple like the originals

despite the above,I have been able to compensate for these faults and use it continually for 7 years..have broken trem arms a dozen times,neither AllParts or Fender are any good...Fender won't sell just the block,you have to buy the whole bridge assembly for 150! C'mon now...heard Callaham makes good replacements,haven't tried one..so I've got the AllParts junk in there now...it does stay in tune because I setup the trem the way it's supposed to be...doesn't break strings,never needed a backup

as I said,Fender is ridiculous about parts,although much better than in the past...got the so-called exact vintage replacement screws for bridge saddles...had to buy two sets 'cause they weren't matched correctly ...too many short,not enough long!ASSHOLES.Why should I have to buy the whole bridge ASSembly if all that's needed is the block?Think your cheap foreign laborers are the only ones that can turn a screwdriver?Leo Fender would never have allowed the poor quality and user UNfriendly marketing to go on...he sought out musicians to better meet THEIR needs...this company could do a lot better

playing 30 years; just got this to have a strat,was using Jag and Jazzmstr at the time,got sick of those rattletrap treble makers and can't afford to pay some crooked hoarder 5 to 10 grand for what always was a 250 dollar,mass produced factory-line utility guitar...this one was overpriced,I bought in to the horseshit story he gave me about how these were like the originals from the same factory...well,don't YOU believe it...as a result of this experience,I'd probably build a strat,since Fender's current line of reissues is inconsistent and inaccurate as ever since '65,I wouldn't buy anything I know of that they make...green wood,cheap hardware,crappy pickups,uneven workmanship...WHO NEEDS IT? If you're deluded enough to think that the right strat will turn you into Jimi or Stevie or whoever you wanna be,make a pile in the stock market and go make some jaded,gambling addicted guitar hoarding millionaire richer,just like all the no-talent non-playing yuppies did in the 90's