Pls help! Fake stratocaster or not?

Hello!

I am up to buy my first Fender american deluxe stratocaster HSS serial number DZ 8175474.

I took a look at stamps and saw a difference in dates and there is a stamp "Morales" on the body. Seller says it was purchased in Europe. Serial number is checked on official web site.

Could you please be so kind to help me and tell if it is real american guitar or not? Or maybe it is "constructor" and has japanese body? White pickguard is set, but it also has original brown one.

Thank you all for your help.

https://cloud.mail.ru/public/2P64/3GFoQkgnQ

https://ibb.co/9pC3Lv2
https://ibb.co/Q8fSs10
https://ibb.co/zXKJHQg
https://ibb.co/K9MVbxY
https://ibb.co/dphbC5g
https://ibb.co/Gtwq7NS
https://ibb.co/wNJK1wk

It looks legitimate to me. I seldom think anybody is going to go through the trouble and additional expense to fake the micro tilt adjustment feature. The different dates on the neck are normal. The guitar wasn't built in one day, much like Ancient Rome :D

As far as the electronics, I have no idea without pictures of the underside of the pickguard. Are these pictures provided by the seller?

Everything looks legit, it has the correct truss rod cavity plug, correct logo, correct bridge, offset neckplate, even the knobs are typical.

The Spanish name is also typical, most of the ones I’ve seen from the Corona plant are like that.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DanTheBluesMan

It looks legitimate to me. I seldom think anybody is going to go through the trouble and additional expense to fake the micro tilt adjustment feature. The different dates on the neck are normal. The guitar wasn't built in one day, much like Ancient Rome :D

As far as the electronics, I have no idea without pictures of the underside of the pickguard. Are these pictures provided by the seller?

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Here are fotos of electronics. Thank you for fast response!
https://ibb.co/0rM3MZ9
https://ibb.co/sqx3Cgc
https://ibb.co/BrwJjCN
https://ibb.co/X3z03ZT
https://ibb.co/1T6rkrk

Everything looks ok to me.

yes, I agree. Looks good to me.

Having looked closely at the images you provided I have a number of suspicions regarding this guitar.

The most telling images, which lead me to believe that it is possibly not legit, are the images of the neck. The heel of the neck appears to have paint residue which indicates that it was originally fitted to a guitar of a darker colour. The heel also has a number of different date stamps suggesting dates of manufacture. There is one clear one from October 2008 and a feint one in the area of the paint residue for November. The serial number location differs from the ones in my workshop now, though that doesn't mean it has to be fake, but if you download the service documents from the Fender website you will see where it should be.

On the evidence I have seen I would not purchase it and I would advise my clients not to purchase it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SGB

Having looked closely at the images you provided I have a number of suspicions regarding this guitar.

The most telling images, which lead me to believe that it is possibly not legit, are the images of the neck. The heel of the neck appears to have paint residue which indicates that it was originally fitted to a guitar of a darker colour. The heel also has a number of different date stamps suggesting dates of manufacture. There is one clear one from October 2008 and a feint one in the area of the paint residue for November. The serial number location differs from the ones in my workshop now, though that doesn't mean it has to be fake, but if you download the service documents from the Fender website you will see where it should be.

On the evidence I have seen I would not purchase it and I would advise my clients not to purchase it.

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I'd guess, it could be a neck that was meant to fit a particular guitar and for whatever reason It ended up being redone or adjusted to fit a different one.

I didn't see anything suspicious others than the employee markings, stamps and doodles.

Looks pretty straight. I see those dark marks on the heel of the neck, but they do not look like paint. A scuff like that could even have come from a dirty work bench

Looks good to me too. Nothing out of the ordinary or out of place.

Generally there's little to no paint in the neck pocket, maybe some sealer, so the dark paint theory seems dubious. You can't hold these modern Fenders to the same standards as the vintage ones.

Looks like a pretty nice modern-style Stratocaster.