1993 Fender Japan Stratocaster Mini Electric Guitar

Number two! This is the second of two Fender Japan Strat Minis I've just finished-up and this one will be up for consignment. It's the cleaner of them and all-original save for (huge upgrade) replacement Gotoh Kluson-style tuners.

As I mentioned before, these Japan-made Minis are much superior guitars to the current line of "Squier Mini" products. The whole construction feels much more like a real guitar and the quality level is the same of most Fender Japan output in the early '90s -- meaning... excellent! The body is a solid slab, the hardware is all good, and the only things that were a letdown (the original tuners) have been replaced.

Because of the shorter scale (18 1/2") compared to a Squier Mini (22 3/4"), these instruments handle more like a guitar-mandolin than they do a fractional guitar. To me this is a lot more fun because you can play superhero-style lead work on them as the stretches are so short. The first thing I did with this when I plugged it in was to simply zip around all over the fretboard like a headless chicken.

Also, with the two-pickup configuration and the farther spread of the pickups, you get more of that Fender "middle position" querve sound going on -- and you have a space to actually fit your pick in compared to what this would be like with 3 pickups mounted on it.

So, in short (hah), this is a pro-quality specialty plank that affords you all sorts of interesting opportunities that you won't get with a normal-scale instrument. I currently have it tuned G-to-G above E-to-E with a set of 10s, but stringing lighter (9s or 8s) will get you to A or B above this. A uke player would be fairly comfortable tuned A-to-A as that's ADGCEA low to high, with the top 4 string GCEA being the same pitch as low-G ukulele.

Repairs included: a fret level/dress, install of new Gotoh Kluson-style (15:1) tuners -- a huge upgrade, cleaning, and setup.

Setup notes: action is dead-on at a hair under 1/16" overall at the 12th fret. The neck is straight. I have the trem/whammy set with its rear deck raised a bit so you can do up-bends on the whammy. If you like your bridge flat to the top at rest, I can always set this up to taste -- but I love up-bends, myself.

Scale length: 18 1/2"

Nut width: 1 1/2"

String spacing at nut: 1 1/4"

String spacing at bridge: 2 1/8"

Body length: 15"

Lower bout width: 10 3/4"

Waist width: 7 3/4"

Upper bout width: 9 1/2"

Side depth at endpin: 1 5/8"

Body wood: basswood?

Neck wood: maple

Fretboard: rosewood, synthetic nut

Bridge: Strat, vintage-style saddles

Neck feel: slim C-shape, ~10" board radius

Condition notes: it's pretty clean overall with just light scuffs and playwear throughout. There's one filled old screw-hole north of the tuners on the back of the headstock and the tuners are all replacements. Otherwise it's original throughout.