Fender Japan JV Strat

Tokai Forum

Help Support Tokai Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

ScottA

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 31, 2005
Messages
138
Reaction score
1
Location
USA
Here's the lowdown on the JV Strat from my Tokyo guitar hunting trip. It arrived on Sunday morning! The US postal service woke me up with it. Sunday morning delivery. Who knew?

The pics are at:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=4ogncvq.27ywvafu&Uy=sderis&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0

The body is serial # JV01833 which would probably put it circa 1982 (JV serial numbers produced 1982-84). There is a "Y" stamped in the control cavity, as well as a "B" stamped in the neck inset. The neck is marked "3-20-87" in pencil with a "J" above. On the heel is a round sticker with "BA" written in pen. Also a magic marker "420" with what looks like could possibly be a Japanese character on the left. The shopkeeper told me he thought it was a custom shop US neck, but he wasn't sure. I think maybe a custom shop Japanese neck? Is there such a thing?

The neck and middle pick-up's are stamped with "211782", and are not RWRP. Probably original. 1982, maybe? The bridge pick-up is a Van Vandt and is RWRP with the middle.

The neck is a beautifully orange amber aged slab-board maple. Nice wear marks where they should be, and a very cool cigarette burn on the headstock.

Nice grain on the body, maybe ash? It seems pretty light but I don't have a weight.

The knobs and pickup covers are nicely aged and the pickguard is mint green.

Does anyone have any info on these neck markings? I'd like to have a good history.

She looks sweet, and plays like butter. Very resonant, with a decent hunk of neck, nice jumbo frets and fat tone.
 
ScottA said:
Nice grain on the body, maybe ash? It seems pretty light but I don't have a weight.
Right, that looks like standard ash graining to me (always mix it up with alder). Here's a nice site for identifying tone woods:

http://www.woodfinder.com/woods/white_ash.php

By the way, this time the Kodak Gallery worked without problems.
 
a 3 tone burst with maple neck...looks like the neck has been swapped. Look for a custom edition sticker on the back of the headstock to i.d. it as anything other than a standard production model... the ExTrads didn`t come till later, and have a different sticker. Because of the collectabiity of the JVs, theres been a lot of shady stuff going on in Japan recently, no lack of unscrupulous sellers in Japan either and due to the changes made to your guitar it no longer is as valuable to many... however, who gives a rats arse about that? If it plays and sounds good...it is good. In June I got my 3rd JV, 3 tone with rosewood neck and a small green 65 sticker on the back of the headstock, meaning it`s a ST62-65 model, selling for 65,000 yen originally, haven`t taken t apart yet.
About those markings...there are lots of opinions but I`ve yet to read anything that sounds definitive. The neck plates are easily changed too, so we all have to be careful... pencil dates are also not guaranteed to be original, so theres no way of knowing if mine are genuine either, they certainly look old but who really knows. I was one of the many who thought that the natives have an international reputation for being among the most honest people in the world, but I`ve learned they are no better or worse than any other country...I have met some of the nicest folks I`Ve ever met anywhere and I`ve also met some I`d never like to meet again... no different than any country of your choice...buyer beware eh.


maybe you know this site...maybe not...
http://www.squierjv.info/index.htm
 
sneaky-

Actually I ran across that site the same day, but thanks for the in-site (ouch!?).

I contacted Paul Rumble who manages that site and this is what he told me:

"Your guitar body is a very early genuine Fender JV from around April or May 1982 The 'Y' stamp is often seen, as is an 'A' or an 'S'.
From what I can see from the pictures, it looks more like nicely figured alder than ash (see pic of alder body early Fender domestic JV). This is something which I have noticed over the time that I have been studying these guitars.
Most very early domestic market Fender JV Strats seem to have alder bodies as per the original U.S. models from 1962, and most very early Fender Squier series Strats have Sen ash bodies (Just from my observations).
The body of your guitar is routed and sunburst painted as a vintage 62 model, but it shouldn't have a maple neck. The neck is from a later non-JV 57 reissue model, the Fender Decal gives this away, as does the neck date (see pic of correct neck and headstock decal).
JV headstocks are always recognizable by their slightly oversize 'Fender Stratocaster' decal and the 'made in Japan with synchronized tremolo' decal underneath . (as if written in one line)
The original neck of JV01833 (by most other examples) is likely to have had a pencilled date of between 4-28-82 and 5-19-82.
The neck and middle pickups are original USA Fender units from 1982, but the bridge pickup is not original.
The Steel trem block is correct for a Japanese home market JV."

And, in a follow-up:

"Sorry, I forgot to mention that any bridge saddles that are not Fender stamped are almost certainly replacements and probably from a later model.
The neck looks like a Japanese one to me, as they always seem to stick the 'original contour body' decal on at the wrong angle on the headstock ie; pointing downwards.
A mint green guard was never fitted to JV models, but was fitted to the later Japanese reissues."

This guy rocks! I'm stoked to know an accurate history of this guitar. This is destined to be my #1 Strat for awhile (although I do have a wedding to go to in Nashville in October, hmmmmmmmm)

Scott
 
Can someone enlighten me what a "JV" Strat stands for, "Jeff Veck", "Jerry Vapton"? :-? Oh wait, must be "Jimmy Vaughan", that guy surely knows how to play it... 8)
 
All good guesses to be sure.

from the squierjv site:

"JV stands for "Japanese vintage" and although JV pre-fixed serial numbers have found there way on to some other models (i.e; SQ and Contemporary series guitars) It is the opinion of this site that 'True' JV models are guitars with pre-CBS appointed specifications.

These were the very first squier instruments available, and were high quality vintage style guitars with a great sound and feel. Though they were available in the Japanese domestic marketplace, they were also Fender Japan's first export guitar. This makes the export models historically important, and these in particular have become very collectable, especially in Europe. It is this historical importance and collectability (amongst many other things) of the export vintage spec 'JV' guitars which has directed this site to concentrate on only those models.

They were built (from the original blueprints!) and exported as 'Vintage' replicas of pre-CBS 1952, 57 and 62 models. Features included six in a line Kluson style tuners, USA made vintage staggered pole pickups with cloth covered wires, period correct screw positioning , vintage body contouring and neck radiusing.

Squier JV guitars were built right alongside the Japanese domestic market Fenders at the Fuji Gen-Gakki factory, (makers of Ibanez, Greco and Antoria brand instruments) Matsumoto, Japan, between 1982 and 1984."
 
my earliest JV is from June of 1982. The truss rod is maxed out and was like that before I bought it so it was cheap. It`s a 3 piece 2 tone burst and I simply bought another FJ strat for the neck and have put the original neck away until I can get back home for good and get it looked at. If you like that JV, I recommend you keep an eye open for custom editions...I have several of those and they are outstanding. I got a 40th anniversary strat with the real flame maple neck, not the foto flame hamburglar version, I have an IKEBE strat that was custom made for that chain of shops here and the 2 piece ash body is so well matched it looks like one piece all US parts and electronics and may be the best sounding strat I have, got a 1989 Esquire that looks like it`s made of sen. I have a 90s strat that was made with a tele neck, have a TLG-110LS, a tele with 3 lace sensors and a double bound figured mahogany body. Have a tele-acoustic but not the recent ones made with the plastic body mine has a solid semi-hollow spruce top and 2 piece mahogany body with piezos in the bridge and a lace sensor in the neck and I am able to blend each of the pick-ups to get either an electric sound an acoustic sound or a combination of both... a very nice guitar, actually they`re all nice and thats why I bought em. Also have an ExTrad strat, I`ve read these were custom ordered by customers and feature the best wood and parts that were availabe at the time, and I must say, it is in every way equal or better than my F/USA custom shop team built strat... these are excessively rare so if you ever see one buy it and ask questions later.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top