1982 Fender USA The Strat Sapphire Blue sparkle gold hardware maple neck Dan Smith era guitar

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Beautiful Fender Stratocaster from 1982 for sale at Guitar Garage London! Lovingly know amongst Fender enthusiast as "The Strat" this model was company's first attempt at a Deluxe high end model and first big change for the iconic Stratocaster since the late 1960s. These were only made for a couple of years in the early 1980s, when Fender was going through management change. Under the wise supervision of now legendary Dan Smith Fender reinvented themselves and by mid 1980s were back in at the top of their game with new guitars and new ideas.

Because of the high-end nature of "The Strat" models these came with a broad variety of specs and colour options: client could not only choose the finish, but also order different neck shapes and sizes. This model was also the first time when Fender came back to the smaller headstock since the mid 1960s.

Guitar for sale came out of Fullerton Factory in 1982 being Lake Placid Blue. At some point in its life it was refinished in gorgeous Sapphire Blue Sparkle finish, but you can still see the original paint left around the logo and serial on the headstock. Colour is deep and has that 3D metallic effect. Finish is mainly in pretty good shape with only some small dings on the body and some surface scratches. Pickguard is a 3-ply, but this was also refinished in eggshell white what looks like a while ago.

The Strat model was notorious for its very deep sculpted body curves (this guitar hugs you when you play it) and substantial weight of the ash body. Guitar for sale comes without any body modifications or extra holes and has several period-specific body design features, like couple of extra grounding points (one near the control cavity, one in the output cavity), that ground the factory shielded body cavities. Neck pocket has a Fender factory sticker with the serial number matching the one on the neck. Unlike so many guitars from the 1980s, this one avoided being butchered for a humbucker or something similar.

Original gold plated knobs were replaced by classic Fender aged white ones. These guitars also came with this massive brass tremolo system with an extra brass bar in the back, which were not so popular among the players and many of these were replaced with more conventional vintage-style tremolo systems, like the one here.

Neck on this guitar has a pretty unique feel to it. Fretboard has a traditional vintage-correct 7.25-inch radius and vintage frets, but the nut is a bit narrower than usual, making this particularly comfy. Back shape is a nice C with quite a pleasant taper towards the neck heel. Frets are in great shape and the tuners work well after so many years, mainly thanks to their tension adjustment screws. Gold plating is faded here and there, but generally still has plenty of life in it (maybe except of the strap pins).

Alnico V pickups produce a very versatile and detailed tone, with plenty of variation via the 5-way switch. Extra button adds two extra sounds (like on some modern American Deluxe models): besides the tracidional tones you can now use neck and bridge together (Telecaster sound) and all 3 pickups together (very clean, acoustic-like tone). Wiring consists of CTS USA A250K pots with smooth and usable roll-off and separate capacitors for the neck and middle pickups.

Guitar comes in the original Fender USA moulded plastic hardcase and a Fender logo strap. Hardcase is generally in decent condition, although one side latch and same side lock are broken. Case still holds well on two latches, but we probably wouldn't go touring the world with this one.

This instrument received a full professional setup with deep body cleaning, body polish, neck deep clean, full electronics check, truss-rod and action and intonation adjustment. Restringed with D'addario 10-46 Nickel-plated steel strings.

Please note that although we put our heart and soul and also all our knowledge into every single guitar we sell, 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 with Parcelforce courier, safely packed into a sturdy guitar cardboard box. 24h courier service provided to UK customers. Worldwide shipping provided as well, but please get in touch regarding EU shipping.

MODEL: Fender USA "The Strat"

YEAR: 1982, G-serial

COLOUR: Sapphire Blue sparkle refinish (originally Lake Placid Blue), gloss lacquer

PICKGUARD: aged white

KNOBS: aged white

NECK: C-shape maple neck, gloss finish

NUT WIDTH: 41.2 mm

NECK THICKNESS: 1st fret: 21.8 mm, 12th fret: 23.8 mm

FRETBOARD: maple, 7.25-inch radius, gloss lacquer

FRETS: 21 vintage frets with moderate wear

TUNERS: Fender USA sealed tuners, aged gold finish

BODY: Ash, original SSS body routing, period-correct grounding lugs, serial number sticker in neck pocket

TOTAL WEIGHT: 4,7 kg

TREMOLO: 6-point vintage style gold tremolo, bent steel vintage width saddles, full-size steel tremolo block, 3 springs

WEAR: surface wear, couple of dings on the body and headstock, faded gold hardware

PICKUPS: Fender USA Alnico V (016730) single-coil set

WIRING: Oak Grisby USA 5-way switch, CTS USA vintage-style "dimple" A250K pots, Orange Drop capacitors, extra sounds button: neck+bridge and all 3 pickups together

HARDCASE: original Fender USA moulded ABS hardcase

ACCESSORIES: Fender logo strap