50th anniversary Stratocaster

[EsquireOK]

It's not the 50th anniversary of the Stratocaster. It's the 50th anniversary of Fender, which applied to all sorts of their instruments made in 1996 (if not all of them). They do this every 10 years. It's hard keeping it all straight, because they also put out anniversary editions of specific models. E.g. my 2014 AV '54 Strat and my '2018 Classic Lacquer Jazzmaster are both 60th anniversary editions...but neither is related to the 60th anniversary of the Fender company – just those models.

 

[soundchaser59]

That's a nice piece. If I was selling it, I'd be asking $1,300 but would take $1,000.

With the economy in flux, I'd offer your neighbor $600 since he doesn't play it and doesn't have a problem lending it out. (Always lowball someone that doesn't play what they're selling.)

Might work, although google and ebay have been around long enough that even the common lay person who has never played will usually google it to see what it's selling for. IMO $500-600 would be quite a steal for that guitar!

I tried that with my neighbor and his old beat up Super Champ. He has never played one note in his life and doesn't even know how his parents got the amp. I offered him $500 for it and he came back the next day and said no way, these amps are selling for $1000 and up. Under cross examination he admitted he looked it up on ebay, though I played dumb. I didnt' have the heart to argue with him by telling him the $1000 dollar ones are in pristine minty condition and don't need $300-400 dollars worth of fixing.

 

[soundchaser59]

Had a friend that I helped buy a 40th Anniversary Strat back in '94 - his had a flag thing on the headstock like this:

Same emblem my 40th anniv MIA Strat has. And the neck plate says something about "....40 years....." I bought it in 94 and have been pampering it ever since, 26 years now. It was all original until I put Area (58 and 61 I think) pickups in it and locking tuners on it last year. I've been very lucky with it, it has a perfect setup and almost plays itself. People at church can't play it because it's too easy, which means it's very unforgiving. They are a little on the hammer handed side, too used to their rusty string acoustics. I can't ever imagine selling it or parting with it.

 

[teleplayr]

Sonic blue is a pale baby blue color; yours is most likely lake placid blue. Another from this series was ocean turquoise - the two can look similar depending on how the LPB might have yellowed over the years. That being said on my monitor yours looks like the LPB to me.

I think @teleplayr is remembering the 2009 limited run colors - they were sonic blue, fiesta red and surf green - probably because surf green was also a 1995-96 color.

I've tried to find the old Fender price lists - since these were limited editions they were typically only found on "addendums"; the only "addendum" I could find was from July 1995 and it showed that the colors for that 6 months (July-December 1995) were ocean turquoise and candy apple red.

EDIT: By looking them up on Reverb I was able to piece the chart below together:

The 6 colors from these runs were:

• burgundy mist (January-June 1995
• surf green (January-June 1995)
• ocean turquoise (July-December 1995)
• candy apple red (July-December 1995)
• lake placid blue (January-June 1996)
• olympic white (January-June 1996)

Fender listed it a Sonic Blue.

 

[teleplayr]

so do you think mine is in sonic blue finish? I thought it was more a lake placid blue..

Fender listed it as Sonic Blue, so that's what I'm inclined to go with.

There have been different shades of Sonic Blue over the years, they just can't seem to stick to one basic shade.

I have a '95 MIA Standard, (no matching head-stock) and people have thought it was Surf Green due to the light shade. According to the original SN & Case Candy from Fender it's Sonic Blue. One article I'd read from a Fender employee stated that in 1995 the shop floor had ran out of Sonic Blue at one point and that they had acquired paint from the Custom Shop at one point to fill demand.

The earlier editions were made in many different colors....Candy Apple Red, Burgundy Mist, Surf Green, ect... Fender was known to change colors frequently, and the numbers made fluctuated from 100 to 300 each for that year.

If you're not sure just email Fender with your SN and they'll send you a build sheet with all the info you want. Fender will have info. on just about any American made instrument post 1993.

 

[knavel]

so do you think mine is in sonic blue finish? I thought it was more a lake placid blue..

In the photo it seems to dark for sonic blue and a tad light for LPB. It's a nice color whatever it is. if you can get it make a play!

I lived in Ridgecrest for two years when my brother was in the Navy in 1990. We picked up a lot of great stuff out of RC back then--half a dozen blackface and older Fender amps, 59 Precision Bass, a 56 Gretsch Jet Firebird which is still the best 50s Gretsch I've heard and a couple of 1930s Gibson acoustics. I got my 71 strat in Olancha from one of the three people that live in that town. I have been using the BF Princeton I got in Ridgecrest this past month in lockdown for recording.

One of the cool things my brother did in RC was buy up old military tubes that engineers on base wouldn't throw away when the tubes were rotated out of service per protocol rather than because of wear and tear necessary. So we have bags of 12ax7 and 12au7s from the 50s and 60s those old engineers sold us. And a lot of great records from that thrift store and my brother got a fair bit of old hi fi stereo gear. He still runs his state of the art 1965 stereo today.

I digrees....but seeing "Ridgecrest" brought back a lot of memories. It's been years and years. Hopefully you can do a deal on the guitar it's a looker.

 

[Dacious]

There was a limited Strat Deluxe in 94 - gold lace pickups, vintage trem, ash body , maple neck and two-tone burst too. I think they did something similar for 2004 60th too.

 

[Lonn]

I had that very model. It's called an FSR Deluxe Vintage Player 62 Stratocaster.

 

[Jakedog]

Yeah, both my '96 Strat and my '06 American Series Tele have little round anniversary stickers; both for the Fender company anniversary. They put them on everything for a couple of years every decade. The unique thing with your Strat is the painted headstock.

Had a friend that I helped buy a 40th Anniversary Strat back in '94 - his had a flag thing on the headstock like this:

I had two of those. A black one, and a Midnite Wine. I really miss the Midnite Wine. It was an amazing guitar.

 

[Jakedog]

I had that very model. It's called an FSR Deluxe Vintage Player 62 Stratocaster.

Different guitar. These were American Standards. From an era way before FSR was even a thing.

 

[Dismalhead]

I had two of those. A black one, and a Midnite Wine. I really miss the Midnite Wine. It was an amazing guitar.

My friend's was great too. Absolutely flawless and it played like a dream. His was midnight wine also.

 

[Lonn]

Different guitar. These were American Standards. From an era way before FSR was even a thing.

It's the same guitar, mine was also an N5, I got the info from Fender. 2005 FSR Deluxe Vintage Player 62 Stratocaster. Ice Blue Metallic with matching headstock, The base model is the American Vintage 62 Stratocaster. All nitro, SCN pickups, S1 switching that works on all 5 positions. Only 372 were made.

 

[Jakedog]

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It's the same guitar, mine was also an N5, I got the info from Fender. 2005 FSR Deluxe Vintage Player 62 Stratocaster. Ice Blue Metallic with matching headstock, The base model is the American Vintage 62 Stratocaster. All nitro, SCN pickups, S1 switching that works on all 5 positions. Only 372 were made.

So, NOT the same guitar. The OP’s guitar is a plain Jane American standard. They were just done in special colors and had matching headstocks. It’s not a 62 RI. And there were far more of them. They were in every fender dealer in America.

I had one in LPB, one in CAR, and one in Burgundy Mist. Plain American standards with special colors. Not vintage reissues. No S1, no SCN pickups. Because they hadn’t been invented yet. The only noiseless Fender pickups in 95/96 were Lace Sensors.

The guitar in question is ten years earlier than yours. Yours is way cooler, too.

 

[Lonn]

Mine was a 2005.

 

[stratisfied]

Hi!
Yesterday a neighbor lent me this guitar. He says he bought it new from a local store about 25 years ago, and he played it very little.. in fact the conditions are awsome.
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Looking at the sticker behind the headstock and the headstock itself (same body colour) I supposed it is a sort of 50th anniversary edition. After some research, I found that in 1996 Fender produced a commemortive stratocaster model, but only in an Antique burst finish.
Could anyone help me understand what model this is exactly (and possibly the colour name)?
Has it been produced in a limited number of pieces?
What could be its value?

Thank you very much!

As others have said, every guitar Fender made in 1996 had that button on the headstock so it's nothing more than a 1996 Fender Stratocaster finished in Lake Placid Blue. It may have been a special run model with the painted headstock.

Fender made 250 ea of specific 50th Anniversary commemorative models. All were sunburst with gold hardware and engraved 50th Anniversary neck plates. They were serialized sequentially "xxx of 250" on the headstock. Here they are all together from a collection for sale (not mine).

 

[Tim G]

I have the 50th anniversary telecaster shown above. They made 1250 of them. The stratocaster, (I had one of those also) they made 2500. I have the Fender Frontline magazine that intoduced them around here somewhere. The guitars were American Standards with Bookmatched maple tops and backs veneered on to a poplar body with gold hardware. The ones I've played were really so so.

 

[Dreadnut]

The Strat and I were both introduced to the world in 1954.

 

[frettchen]

As others have said, every guitar Fender made in 1996 had that button on the headstock so it's nothing more than a 1996 Fender Stratocaster finished in Lake Placid Blue. It may have been a special run model with the painted headstock.

Fender made 250 ea of specific 50th Anniversary commemorative models. All were sunburst with gold hardware and engraved 50th Anniversary neck plates. They were serialized sequentially "xxx of 250" on the headstock. Here they are all together from a collection for sale (not mine).

Great collection! how much do you think they might be worth?

 

[stratisfied]

Great collection! how much do you think they might be worth?

Yes it is. I was impressed that the collection even included a lefty Stratocaster in addition to the others. The seller has them listed on eBay for $18,000 OBO.

 

[stratisfied]

As others have said, every guitar Fender made in 1996 had that button on the headstock so it's nothing more than a 1996 Fender Stratocaster finished in Lake Placid Blue. It may have been a special run model with the painted headstock.

That said I'd still hit it due to the gorgeous color and congitiion. I'm thinking the pickguard is a mint one and not aged as the trem cover is till bright white.