Fender American Vintage ’57 Stratocaster 1987 Mary Kaye Blonde. Excellent Vintage Condition. 9/10.

Early Fender USA Corona built reissues are starting to accrue in value right now. Whilst these aren’t at the same level of investment you would get from a 1982-1984 Fullerton vintage reissue, they are next in line and are far superior in build quality to the modern “American Vintage” reissues.

Built in 1987 as part of the US vintage reissue series, they only made 500 of these with maple fretboards between 1987-1989. These were some of the very first guitars made in the Fender custom shop alongside actual Fender artist guitars.

At 35 years old this particular guitar has been played but has been very well looked after. It is in excellent original vintage 9/10 condition with just a few small marks as shown in the photos, you’d be hard pressed to find another in the same condition from the period. The only thing of note is that cavity has been painted with shielding paint (which is not unusual to see) and will only help to lessen the “hum” you get from Strat single coils. The pickups sound sublime, 57 spec and to our ears slightly underwound for that signature strat tone. Despite the lighter look of the bridge pickup cover all three pickups are original, it looks as though it has just aged differently depending on its exposure to UV light. The neck has a lovely 57 soft V profile with some real playwear to the thin layer of Nitrocellulose lacquer as shown in the images. The neck dates to ’87 as do the Pots.

“This gorgeous Stratocaster marks a major turning point in Fender’s history. As told by A.R. Duchossoir in The Fender Stratocaster – 40th Anniversary Edition – Hal Leonard 1994, page 30, the “Mary Kaye” reissue was the very first limited edition produced by the newly established Custom Shop: a total of 1000 guitars were built, all with the V serial number of the regular vintage series, of which one half had ’57 style maple neck and one half ’62 style rosewood boards.

The choice of this particular version as starting point for the Custom Shop production was not accidental. The see-through blond finish and gold hardware Mary Kaye Strat, associated by Fender collectors to the name of the famous hawaiian-born Lounge Music singer and guitarist, earned to this elegant version a special reputation. It was always considered as the best of Fender aesthetics and the accurate reissues built by Custom Shop from 1987 to 1989 reproduced all its beauty.”

Specification:

Body:

Body Material: 2-Piece Ash

Body Finish: Blonde Thin Nitrocellulose Lacquer

Neck:

Neck Material: Maple

Neck Shape: 1957 Soft V

String Nut: Bone

Neck Plate: 4-Bolt Vintage-Style

Neck Finish: Nitrocellulose Lacquer

Fingerboard: Maple

Inlays: Black Dot

Electronics:

Bridge Pickup: American Vintage ’57 Single-Coil Strat Pickup

Middle Pickup: American Vintage ’57 Single-Coil Strat Pickup

Neck Pickup: American Vintage ’57 Single-Coil Strat Pickup

Controls: Master Volume, Tone 1. (Neck, Mid), Tone 2. (Bridge), 5 way Switch.

Hardware:

Bridge: Gold 6 Saddle American Vintage Syncronized Tremolo

Tuners: Gold Vintage-Style

Pickguard: 57 Single Ply

Control Knobs: White

Neck Plate: “V” Serial Gold 4-Bolt

Accessories:

Deluxe Hardshell Case, Tremolo, Ash Tray Cover & Some Case Candy as shown.

Guitar will be well packed and sent fully insured with UPS.

Thanks for viewing!

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