VanZandt STV-R1 Strat on the way

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marcusnieman

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Pulled the trigger on this one.... want to see what all the fuss is about :wink: Looks right up my alley. May need to sell my Fender Japan
ST54-128 Custom Edition strat to fund this one if I keep it - need to play both side by side first.....




 
Nice to see you found one - Ishibashi? Welcome to the club! They are among the best strats and teles out there IMO.
 
Thanks Lads..... from everything I've read and with some nice input from Wulf (thanks and fantastic neck on that one!!), I was able to snap this one up from Ishibashi before it disappeared locally in Japan. I've tried on four other guitars only to be told they were sold. Here's a few links from my research, the last one being the current Van Zandt strat offerings:

http://www.mij-guitars.be/luthiers_nl.php?post_id=323
http://japaneseguitars.blogspot.com/2013_01_01_archive.html
http://www.taurus-jp.com/vanzandt/guitar_stv.html

I'm real familiar with Van Zandt pickups here in Texas so it's also an interesting find for me. Egg shell thin nitro finish on them and this one is pretty light at around 7lbs

I'll let you know when it arrives.
 
cashcow said:
Is there a big difference in quality between Fender USA and Fender Japan?

I'd imagine that it would depend upon the spec of the guitar. Clearly they'll differ from guitar to guitar both on the US and MIJ sides. You'd need to compare a similar spec against one another USA vs MIJ.

My experience is that the standard MIJ product is better built than the standard USA stuff. The current MIJ Fender goods come out of the Tokai factory don't they?

Some of the extremely high end MIJ Fender guitars (like the ST54-128 Custom Edition I mentioned earlier along with the JV era guitars), are as good if not better than the Fender USA Custom Shop builds.

Fender USA has so many variations now (Squire, Road Worn, US Vintage, Standard, etc) that the brand is really diluted and you don't really know what you're getting. Too many choices, sacrificing quality for quantity and all built around price rather than product.

Me, I prefer Japan..... although I do have a Fender USA Custom Shop 65 reissue that is spot on to the real one I also have locked away.
 
Here is a link I found with some rare models:
http://www.h5.dion.ne.jp/~vanzandt/LimitedRareVanzandtGuitar.htm

Click on the links for some examples. All in Japanese unfortunately!
 
Good question on the dating. Serials are just sequential with no year info. I think they are into the 5000 range now. However, there should be a production date/number on the neck and body.

This one was 4444 and had this in the neck pocket. Could that be 2007 October 15, 6th body made?





This one is 1822 and from the neck pocket could be 2002 August 9, 4th neck made?



This one is stated to be a 1999 limited model and has SN 1455 so that seems to fit with the rough dates.
http://www.h5.dion.ne.jp/~vanzandt/RV-TLV-68 Sakurai-san.htm


If yours is in the 3100 range I would guess 2004-2005 from the numbers. The manufacturer also makes PGM guitars and some LPs so it could be that they use the same serials across all their products.
 
Nice looking guitar. Glad you found one. Let us know what you think, Id be very interested in hearing your opinion on how these measure up.
 
Thanks!

Still waiting on it. EMS/USPS tracking shows that it's been in Chicago since Sept 18..... wonder what the hell is going on. Should have been here by now. :evil:
 
marcusnieman said:
Thanks!

Still waiting on it. EMS/USPS tracking shows that it's been in Chicago since Sept 18..... wonder what the hell is going on. Should have been here by now. :evil:
They must be giving it the old rubber glove!

Eeeyyoww that poor Strat... :lol:

To be honest this has happened to stuff that I've sent to US - a week in customs can be par for the course sometimes. I reckon you'll have it soon.
 
JVsearch said:
marcusnieman said:
Thanks!

Still waiting on it. EMS/USPS tracking shows that it's been in Chicago since Sept 18..... wonder what the hell is going on. Should have been here by now. :evil:
They must be giving it the old rubber glove!

Eeeyyoww that poor Strat... :lol:

To be honest this has happened to stuff that I've sent to US - a week in customs can be par for the course sometimes. I reckon you'll have it soon.

I'll take the rubber glove for that one :wink:
 

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