Up for sale, a 1999 Fender Stratocaster ‘71 vintage reissue model ST71-85TX in exceptional condition and in perfect working order. This “Crafted in Japan” guitar is rarely seen outside its country of origin and features USA-made Texas Special pickups, a large 70s-style headstock, one-piece maple neck and a gloss Natural finish on an ash body.
The stock trio of USA-made Texas Special single coil pickups offer a great array of classic Fender tonalities, easily accessed via the five-way selector switch. The neck pickup is throaty, full and rich, the bridge delivers shimmer and snap, and there’s plenty of quintessential hollow Strat quack on the "in-between" switch positions. Texas Specials features black fiber bobbins, staggered alnico magnets and cloth-covered leads; wound slightly hotter than standard Strat pups and perfect for pushing a tube amp to an “edge-of-breakup” tone. This guitar weighs just 7lbs 6oz, professionally setup here at Mike & Mike’s Guitar Bar with 10-46 strings, low action and spot-on intonation.
The maple neck has a moderately slender C-shaped profile carve with full, inviting shoulders and lightly rounded fretboard edges, measuring .840” deep at the 1st fret and .970” at the 12th. The maple fretboard has a vintage-spec 7 1/4” radius and retains the stock medium jumbo fretwire. The frets are in fantastic shape with their full factory height with well-rounded crowns, showing only a hint of wear beneath the plain strings on frets 1-3. This guitar plays cleanly up the 25 1/2” scale with a straight neck and a responsive, optimally-adjusted truss rod. The stock bone nut measures 1 5/8” in width. The large ‘70s-style headstock features a bullet truss rod and block logo, and the Schaller-made Fender "F" tuning machines turn smoothly and hold accurate pitch. The D-string tuner has lost roughly half of the chrome plating from its gear housing, but the other tuners are quite clean. The “Crafted in Japan” script text and O-prefix serial number are present above the three-bolt “F” neck plate.
All of the electronics function as intended, with the stock trio of USA-made Texas Special pickups wired to a Japanese wiring harness complete with a premium tone cap. The guitar has a full-size tremolo block for optimal sustain and clarity, offering a smooth and deliberate response for deep dives and expressive warbles, jumping back to the original pitch with ease. The chrome-plated hardware has just a light dusting of patina. Stock plastics include the yellowed pickup covers and knobs, and the white three-ply pickguard shows some light scuffing along the treble side of the strum path. The gloss Natural finish highlights the broad, dynamic grain in the ash body, with cosmetic wear limited to one small ding on the bass-side lower bout edge and a handful of faint finish scratches on the body as a whole. The neck profile retains its smooth ambered gloss.
A gigbag is included.