My friend has an 80s MIJ explorer. It played ok. He never uses it though.
As I remember the pickups were quite raucous and the fingerboard was very playable. I'll ask him his opinion and report back.
Thanks, I'm very happy with the guitar nonetheless.
So just a question regarding the pots. What is the benefit of CTS pots? Are the "Made in Japan" ones not as smooth? Are there huge benefits to change them?
Thanks for your comments everyone.
Back in sometime around 2003 when I bought my Tokai Strat there was a lot of interest in the "Lawsuit" stuff (apologies for using that term but at the time that's what everyone was talking about). People were importing a lot of guitars. And in every guitar...
So, I had an old Silver Star, and it became an important guitar for many years gigging and recording. It was great and I recommended that a good friend get one - he ended up with a Goldstar and still maintains to this day it is better than any fender start he has played.
I was never tempted...