1998 Fender (Mexican-made) Stratocaster Standard Electric Guitar

This was bought for its current owner/consignor second-hand but only just second-hand. He's owned it for 20 years and received it just as it's seen here. Aside from the swapped middle pickup, mild pickwear on the pickguard, and some finish flake-off on the fretboard in the usual spots (top surface, treble side, between the frets -- I've sealed it), it looks pretty dang clean.

A lot of Fender Mexico products tend to go into heavy rotation as "first-good-guitars" for players. I know my old Mexican Tele saw a lot of action. They usually wind-up here with lots of scratches, scuffs, dings, and a long list of swapped-out and replacement parts.

The only non-stock thing about this guy is that the first owner fit a DiMarzio twin-blade humbucker in the middle position. I thought that it was really odd at first, but after playing it for a bit I found that I like it a lot, actually. It makes the guitar quite different from a normal Strat, to be honest. You get a nice, twangy bridge sound and the classic Strat "perfect neck" sound. In the middle, though, you get a voice geared more towards modern lead or crunchy rock work... and it changes the "in-between" position voices a lot. It's a little weird but I like it. The pickups seem to be nicely-balanced volume-wise, too.

After minor work it's ready to go and playing spot-on. I've set the whammy to free-float just a hair so you can get a small up-bend if you want.

Repairs included: fret level/dress, cleaning, setup.

Body wood: looks like alder to me

Bridge: Strat-style

Fretboard: maple (one-piece-neck)

Neck wood: maple

Pickups: 2x staggered Strat, 1x DiMarzio twin-blade humbucker

Action height at 12th fret: 1/16" overall (fast)
String gauges: 46w-10, unwound G

Neck shape: slim-med D

Board radius: ~12"

Truss rod: adjustable

Neck relief: straight

Fret style: medium

Scale length: 25 1/2"

Nut width: 1 11/16"

Body width: 12 1/2"

Body depth: 1 3/4"

Weight: 7 lbs 15 oz

Condition notes: it's pretty clean but it does have finish flake-off on the treble side of the board at some positions. I sealed it, however, and it's not a big issue. This happens on a lot of maple-board guitars and, frankly, it's what allows for the cool "aging" process of accumulated greyness on the board to begin. The middle pickup is swapped but otherwise everything else appears original. The backplate's cutout for string-loading has been modified a bit/sanded to make it a little wider.

It comes with: a good gigbag.