1982 Fender USA Bullet S3 Stratocaster Telecaster Competition Orange guitar with original hardcase

Pretty rare and rather quirky American Fender guitar for sale at Guitar Garage London! These unique guitars were only built in USA and Japan in the first couple of years in the 1980s and are well known for their super comfortable Telecaster necks (actual Tele necks from the late 1970s that Fender had an excess of) and rich sounding "red bobbin" single-coil pickups, quickly becoming a must-have for Fender aficionados. Make no mistake, this is a full-on Fender USA experience with full scale neck, 5 Strat sounds and rock solid tuning thanks to a hardtail bridge and strings-through-body construction.

The S3 model on sale has a full-on Stratocaster tonal palette - with a proper 5-way switch and 5 distinctive tones. “Red bobbin” single-coils were used during the so-called "Dan Smith era" of 1980-1983 on many very first "Vintage Reissue" series Stratocasters and are known for their beautiful tonal palette and true Stratocaster tones and on their own have become a sought after piece of Fender history. Neck pickup has been professionally rewound and rewired at some point.

Guitar has all original CTS USA A250K "dimple" pots and CRL 5-way switch, that surprisingly still work very well. Really cool "dime" ceramic disc capacitor provides smooth treble roll off. Original volume and tone knobs are worn and look pretty cool, as does the 3-ply yellowed white scratchplate.

Originally supplied in Torino red, the body has been refinished in Competition Orange nitro a while ago. Competition stripe sticker has been added in the vein of late 60s Mustangs. Refinish is of really nice quality, nitro-cellulose lets the wood breathe – you will be very surprised at the amount of body resonance and acoustic volume of this guitar! Finish has sunk into the wood and crackled all around, providing a true vintage look and feel. Neck pickup cavity has been professionally enlarged and can, if needed, accommodate a full-size humbucker. All internal cavities have been shielded with conductive paint to avoid any interference. Brand new bridge grounding wire has been added for reliability.

Slim C profile maple neck plays and feels very lovely, the timber used has a beautiful marble wood grain on the back. Vintage frets are in surprisingly great condition. All cosmetic wear on the neck is very minor. Original F-style chrome tuners still work well, as does the truss-rod, that is traditionally adjusted at the heel of the neck. True pleasure to play!

Original logo was accidentally removed by the first owner and has been replaced by the same design decal (obtained from Fender). Serial number that for these models can only start with E1, E2 or E3 has been lost with the original decal. Neck heel and neck pocket have all the factory markings and Garcia builder name, but unfortunately the date is smudged. We will assume it is from 82, but the smudged stamp can also be an 83.

Thanks to a full-scale Tele neck and sublime build quality, this smaller body guitar easily surpasses all the Mustangs and Musicmasters when it comes to both versatility and tone. USA build quality, unique look and ease of use: it will be hard to find something as cool as this in the price range. To make things even sweeter, this S3 Bullet comes with original early 1980s ABS moulded Fender USA case in stunningly great condition (it has never toured?) with all latches working, non-smelly interior factory form-fitted just for this S3. It even comes with the original Bullet Owner’s manual!

 This instrument received a full professional setup with deep body cleansing, neck deep clean, full electronics check, truss-rod and action, intonation adjustment. Restringed with Fender 11-49 nickel-plated steel strings for maximum resonance.

Please note that although we put our heart and soul and also all our knowledge into every single guitar we sell (over 250 guitars sold), a setup is a personal preference and we cannot give any guarantees. However, we try to get the best playability out of every guitar and set them up so you can play both rhythm and lead. We also pull them all apart to clean and check every single component and replace all unreliable parts with new ones, from dodgy pots to the whole wiring, tuners, string trees, nuts and etc. All the work done is described in detail in the listing.

We make sure that every guitar we sell is problem free and take full responsibility for the accuracy of our listing descriptions. All photographs are done by a professional photographer and processed on a calibrated monitor. Some colours might look slightly different on your monitor, but we will always put the official Fender colour name in the listing description, so please study pictures of other guitars with the same colour if you are unsure. We focus on finding great quality guitars and making them reliable and inspiring to play.

This guitar will be shipped around UK and EU with a Parcelforce courier, very safely packed into a sturdy guitar cardboard box. Worldwide shipping provided as well!

MODEL: Fender USA Bullet S3

COLOUR: Competition Orange nitro refinish, gloss finish, crackled

PICKGUARD: 3-ply yellowed very aged white

NECK: C-shape maple neck

FRETBOARD: maple, 7.25-inch radius, black dot inlays

FRETS: 21 vintage frets with minimal wear

TUNERS: Fender USA F-style, chrome finish

BODY: Basswood, HSH body routing, cavity shielding

TOTAL WEIGHT: 3,1 kg

BRIDGE: hardtail bridge with thick baseplate and saddles

WEAR: minor surface wear, nitro ageing, plastic yellowed, very minor neck lacquer wear

PICKUPS: Fender USA “Red Bobbin” flat-pole Stratocaster pickups

WIRING: CRL USA 3-way switch, CTS USA “dimple” A250K pots, “Dime” ceramic disc capacitor, Switchcraft output jack

MODS: nitro-cellulose refinish, neck pickup cavity enlarged, neck pickup rewound, logo replaced. Everything else original.