1988 Orig Fender Strat Plus in RARE COLOR Razz Berry
You will never find this Color if you collect. If you do, it will not be this Clean....
It Plays and Sounds As Great as it l@@ks!
One of the most rare finishes ever on an American Standard; the first one I've had...ever. "Razz Berry", made its only appearance in the Oct 1 88 price list, and was dropped by the time the '89 price list was printed. Also noteworthy, this finish wasn't available on the American Standard Strat, only the "Plus" model, but was fairly common on the HM Strat from this era. The Plus model first appeared in 1987, within a year of the first American Standards, the earliest of which I've had was Nov '86. Many people incorrectly identify these as 1984 models due to the "E4xxxxx" serial numbers. The fact is, the only American Strats being produced in '84, '85, and most of '86 were the USA Vintage Series, which had the serial number on the neck plate. Any "E4" serial number you come across is an late '86 at best, but most are '87 and '88, and even a few '89's. The Plus was a souped up American Standard, with an $849 retail price that was $200 higher. It has a bunch of upgraded parts, most notably a trio of gold Lace Sensor pickups, which produce almost no hum and are non-magnetic which means no magnetic string pull and, thus, longer sustain. Another innovation is the TBX (Tone Bass Expander) control for the middle/neck pickups which looks like a regular tone knob but underneath the guard it's a stacked pot - with a center detent, it works like a tone control from "5" to "1", and TBX from "6" to "10". You'll notice the headstock which has the bold silver logo of the era but...no string trees, which aren't necessary due to the staggered height Sperzel tuners. The Sperzels are excellent tuners and unlike vintage tuners you don't need to wrap the string around the tree. Just insert the string through the tuner post and cut it as close as you want - once you screw down the back it's locked into place and usually tunes to pitch in around 1/4th revolution of the post. Another cool feature is the "tilt adjust" neck, in use since the early 70's, with access through the neck plate. With an Allen wrench you can adjust the neck angle; a great improvement removing the neck repeatedly until you find a shim with the perfect thickness. In place of the stock nut this model used an Wilkinson roller nut (later models used an LSR with bearings) which reduces friction over the nut and helps maintain tuning stability. This model is outfitted with the Schaller locking strap pins, which made their debut with the '83 Strat Elite. Although not used in 1988, later models also included a "Tremsetter" inside the trem cavity, which is a spring-loaded device that prevents de-tuning if you break a string. About this guitar: Extremely clean - a true closet classic that looks like it was played for a month or two and then put away. The frets are as clean as the day they left the factory. There are no buckle scratches and no major flaws anywhere. The worst flaws are a small area of finish chips and the typical lacquer crack on one side of the neck pocket (see pic) - any other flaws were so minute that they wouldn't photograph. Even with these flaws I would rate it around an easy 9+, since it's insanely clean otherwise. Also, at 7.6 lbs., it's definitely on the light side for an American Standard era ('86 - '99). If you're a collector of different colored Strats, the most rare are Tanqueray Tonic, Graffiti Yellow, and Razz Berry...and this is the first Razz Berry I've ever had. I think this would be a valuable Strat in any condition due to the rarity. Includes case and trem arm
