I thought for this piece it would be worth exploring the reality of the Squier Stratocaster of the 1980s just as a guide for anyone whos been subjected to conflicting pitches from vendors who might be, shall we say, a little over-enthusiastic to sell their merchandise.The Squier Strat is one facet of the guitar market which comes steeped in hype, and I wanted to provide a bit of balance amid what can sometimes be wishful, hysterically over-gushing, or just plain misinformed rhetoric.The early 80s JV Series Squier Strats were undeniably amazing value for money, representing as they did the premium Fender Japan product in Europe, at a budget price.
![]() But not all JV Strats were created equal, and in my experience their appeal fluctuated quite markedly. The most serious problem, though, lies with the sellers who use the great reputation of the very best JV Squiers, to sell inferior Squiers made in the latter phase of the 80s, for totally unjustified prices. This article, along with its companion piece on the 80s Korean models, sets out to provide an impartial and realistic look at the sometimes great, and sometimes not so great, 1980s Squier Strat. Im not going to be including late 80s Korean Squiers in this piece. Squier Jv Telecaster Full Study OfIve now added a full study of the first Korean Squiers, which you find in The Truth About. But suffice it to say that the 80s Korean Squiers were inherently and consistently inferior to their Japanese predecessors, and they had what Id describe as double-take retail prices. Much cheaper than the last of the Japanese Squiers, making a downgrade in quality inevitable. If you were looking for info on the Fender-branded 62 Reissue Strats exported from Japan from the mid 1980s to the mid 1990s (the FujiGen Gakki Fender MIJs), please follow this link. You can also find a detailed look at the Squier Japan Silver Series Strats of the early to mid 90s via this link. LETS GET STARTED. So, most guitarists know that Squier was a sub-brand of the Fender company, originally made solely in Japan, but later forward from 1987 in fact made in a variety of other countries. The Squier branding was originally used so that Fender could offer high quality vintage reissue guitars at price points which would compete in the highly active unauthorised copy market (which had devastated Fenders profits), but do so without further damaging sales of its own American guitars. Heres a more detailed look at the Japanese Squier Strat THE PREMIUM OUTPUT The first Strats made in Japan by Fender were vintage reissue 57 and 62 replicas, launched in Tokyo on Friday 7th May 1982. Squier Jv Telecaster Serial Numbers BeginningThe new line of instruments, produced by FujiGen Gakki, featured serial numbers beginning with the letters JV, and theyre accordingly known as the JV series. From the start, there were multiple variants of the JV vintage reissues, serving different price points. Among the variables were the type of finish (either polyester or nitro-cellulose), the body woods, and the neck profiles. Initially, all carried the USA-made pickups for which these early JV series guitars have become renowned, but other parts scratchplates for instance could be American on the most expensive variant, but Japanese on the cheapest. The first wave of JV series Strats intended for the Japanese market carried full Fender branding. That is, a Fender spaghetti logo on the headstock and no reference to the Squier marque at all. The left hand image below shows how these initial Fender reissue headstocks looked. Very similar to an American vintage reissue but with Made in Japan beneath the Fender logo, next to a slightly chunkier version of the With Synchronized Tremolo lettering. On the early JV Strats, the spaghetti logo was also a little fatter than on the later export MIJs.
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