Up for sale, a 1989 Fender "Extrad" Stratocaster '62 vintage reissue in collector-grade, 100% original condition with a nitro lacquer gloss finish and all USA Fender electronics and hardware. The Extrad Fender Japan instruments are the most sought after and excruciatingly rare instruments ever produced at Fujigen during Fender Japan's golden age, designed for the domestic Japanese market and rarely seen in their country of origin or elsewhere.
A true Custom Shop offering, the Extrad instruments (in later years rebranded as Custom Edition) were ostensibly made to order one-offs with features that paralleled Fender's USA Custom Shop output. Established by Makoto Sugimoto, who benefitted from a quarter century of experience in R&D, custom guitar building, and engineering at Fujigen, the Extrad/Custom Edition instruments were produced by a small team of expert craftspeople, representing Fender Japan's absolute best. This premium instrument line was first offered in 1986 and was retired in 1994.
This particular Extrad '62 Stratocaster is stunning in every detail, with a solid alder body, flame maple neck, and thick slab rosewood fretboard. The instrument is extremely lively and resonant acoustically, with equal presence afforded each string and notable clarity in every register. The trio of pickups are the original Fender USA black bobbin single coils (the same pickups seen in the American Vintage line and early USA Custom Shop Strats) with staggered alnico magnets and cloth-covered leads. Lively, sparkling, and very dynamic, the sound is distinct and vital in every position on the three-way switch. The bridge pickup has bite and bounce, with a woody, percussive middle pickup, and round, bell-like chime at the neck. The “in-between” settings have a delightfully thinned out snap and scooped spank. The guitar weighs 7lbs 4oz, professionally setup here at Mike & Mike's Guitar Bar with 11-49 strings, low action and accurate intonation.
The maple neck has a modestly slender C-shaped profile carve, very representative of an actual 1962 Stratocaster shape with just enough roundness in the shoulders and lightly rolled fretboard edges, measuring .825" deep at the 1st fret and .935" at the 12th. The rosewood slab fretboard has a vintage-spec 7 1/4" radius with practically perfect original slender fretwire. The guitar plays cleanly up the 25 1/2" scale with a straight neck and responsive, optimally adjusted truss rod. The bone nut measures 1.650" in width. The Gotoh-made Kluson-style tuning machines turn very smoothly and hold pitch well, and the Extrad badge is present. The "Made in Japan" text and E-prefix serial are present above the four-bolt neck plate, and the neck heel is pencil dated 11-3-88.
The electronics all function as intended with the traditional Strat control array and untouched solder joints. The harness boasts original USA-made CTS pots which date to the 23rd week of '89, along with a Sprague Orange Drop tone cap. Plastics comprise a three-ply parchment pickguard and lightly aged pickup covers and knobs, and the hardware includes a premium Fender vibrato unit with a full-size block for optimal resonance and sustain. The vibrato actuates very easily with three springs for deeper dives and subtle gestures, and the chrome plating on the bridge and jack cup is notably clean.
The nitro lacquer three-tone gloss Sunburst finish is remarkably well-kept, with some extremely faint finish swirling in the clear coat of the gloss, a few small dings on the back clustered between the neck plate and tremolo cavity cover, and just a few additional minor marks on the body as a whole. The deeply ambered nitro lacquer gloss on the neck profile highlights flame figuring that extends along the profile and headstock, and the gloss is flawless.
A gigbag is included.