The Strat Plus Series was introduced by Fender in 1987 and was the highest end production model next to Fender's Custom Shop guitars. Production stopped in early 1999. There was some transitional Strat Plus' in 1999 that were a mix of the new DX Strat series and the Plus Series. You can tell by the serial number, which started with DN9XXXXX and they also had a chrome Fender logo on the headstock. While some were sold as a "Plus" they were sort of a hybrid.
The Strat Plus Series consisted of: The Plus, and then in July of 1989, The Plus Deluxe, and then the The Ultra in January of 1990. Also why you are at it, check out my wild and crazy Custom Strat Plus guitars! Each of these models are taken up on different pages on this website (just click on the names). The Plus Series was a very good attempt to reclaim Fender USA's floundering reputation, as quality had drasically gone down hill under CBS's ownership. All the Plus Series had similar features. This page features the Standard Plus, some specs and history.
Some History
Leo Fender's Stratocaster was his second guitar design after the Telecaster in or around 1953, with actual production beginning in early 1954. The model went through a series of changes through the years. Here's a few little tips to remember to help aid in dating those late 1970s and 1980s Stratocasters: Fender's three-way selector switch was updated to the 5-way in 1977. In the mid 1970s the "Thick Skin" high gloss all-polyester finish was introduced.
After CBS sold Fender in 1985, there was no production of Fender guitars in the U.S. from February, 1985 to October, 1985 (almost 8 months!). When the Corona plant was started up, only the Vintage Reissue Stratocaster models were produced between late 1985 through 1986. Finally, as we talk about the Plus Series, the Fender-Lace Sensor Pickups, invented by Don Lace, were introduced in 1987. Some experimental Lace Sensors were used on a few 1984 Strat too, but they are pretty rare to fine. A Lace Sensor "Dually" was also used in the Ultra and some Tele Plus' using two Lace Sensors placed side-by-side, looking like a humbucker but were actually two independent pickups.
  The history behind the development of the Stratocaster Plus Series is quite interesting. As mentioned, the Series was going to be the first Fender Strats with the new Gold Lace Sensor pickups and the premier "roller-nut" designed by an English chap by the name of Trevor Wilkinson. As you look at the Yellow Plus below you will see the very first generation of this roller nut (we will discuss more about these nuts later!) This nut was design to reduce the friction at the nut when using the tremolo. Locking tuners were also part of the Plus Series. The first locking tuners on the Plus' were the Sperzel, then later Schaller.
Also: Fender introduced an Deluxe American Standard Strat in 1989 and discontinued them in 1990—so they had a short production life of about one year. It is estimated that only 400 instruments were produced. They came with all the features of a Strat Plus, such as Gold Lace Sensors but no locking tuners or roller nut. They are some-what collectable and are sometimes sold, mistakenly, as a Strat Plus. (They will often have the E4 or E9 serial number too and many of the parts will be leftovers from the pre-CBS buyout). Over time, these may very well be quite collectable.
The very 1st models that showed up on Fender's "price lists" were dated for sale March 1st, 1987. But in fact they never became available till a few months later because of a short supply of certain components and for certain "marketing reasons." A. R. Duchossoir points out, in his book called The Fender Stratocaster, the reason for this "marketing" delay:
 "A few months earlier (before March, 1987), JEFF BECK had asked Fender to make him a `62 Vintage model painted in the same yellow color as the souped-up Ford truck featured in the movie American Graffiti. The company obliged but seized the opportunity to talk Jeff into having a namesake Stratocaster model. The STRAT PLUS prototype was therefore put together with Jeff beck in mind, hence its yellow finish christened Graffiti Yellow. But Beck (temporarily) turned down Fender's proposal and the first Stratocaster with Sensors came out as the STRAT PLUS." Funny thing is, some people get a Graffiti Yellow Strat Plus and think it is a Jeff Beck proto-type! There was never a Jeff Beck proto-type on the market!
In 1990 Jeff Beck took up Fender's offer and they released the Jeff Beck Signature Strat Plus. Amazingly, it did not come in Graffiti Yellow! The JB Strat was released in Vintage White, Surf Green and Midnight Purple! Some "special orders" of the Graffit Yellow were sold. We will talk about the JB Strat Plus later on.
Here is an original Fender advertisement from 1988 displaying the Strat Plus guitar! Note the variations in color for the Surf Green. I have seen this color be a milky green to a darker green, looking even a bit like Sea Foam Green. (We will talk about the color confusion a little later.)
One thing is for sure—even though these guitars vary, all Standard Plus guitars had: locking tuners, roller nuts (which means they will NOT have string trees, and for some dumb reason some people put them on, thus lowering the value of the guitar!), an American two-point floating bridge, with strings going through the body, a TBX lower tone control, swimming pool route and Lace Sensor pickups. (I have seen American Strats, or peiced together guitars with Lace Sensors that people try to pawn off as a Plus on eBay and other places. So beware!)
Sample of One First Plus'
This Graffiti Yellow Plus has the split Wilkinson roller nut which was used only on the very first Plus’ and was discontinued late in 1987 or early 1988. The very first Plus' will have an E4XXXXX serial number, (as shown above and I will discuss this more later in this page) indicating they are from 1984. Truth is, it is a 1987 (and some early 1988s), as production for the Plus Series started in 1987, while the parts might have been from—who knows??? Don't let anyone try to convince you that there is a 1984 Strat Plus, they just did not exsist. Click Here to get USA Fender serial numbers from 1976 till today.
De Bodies
All Strat Plus’ have the “swimming pool” route in the body, no exceptions, that I have found over the years of taking these apart. You will also notice that the route cavity is 1st painted with a conductive paint, to keep out unwanted hum and pickup noise. Fender placed a piece of tape over one small spot in the lower edge of the route, to expose this conductive paint, while the finish was being applied. Every Strat Plus will have a black ground screw connecting the pickup assembly to this small area in the cavity. I have also seen bodies that were painted one color and then painted again another color from Fender. (Example: the Blue Pearl Dust above had Arctic White under one sticker!) The Brown Sunburst models like shown above are solid Alder, while some of the other bursts (such as the transparent Blue Burst above) the will have Ash laminated front and back on Alder, thus the dark burst edging is used to cover up the lamination seams. Please note that pre-1997 bodies do not have extra holes in the neck socket or below the pickup route as shown below.
Here is an interesting little tidbit about the extra holes: In 1997 Fender changed their jigs for holding the bodies. So while the Strat Plus body retained the all the features prior to 1997 there were 2 noticeable holes used to hold the body while it was being manufactured. You will find these holes located: 1) in the neck socket and 2) below the swimming pool route. This can be handy to know if someone tries to sell you a pre-1997 Strat Plus.
De Electronics
This is a pickup assembly off a Strat Plus Deluxe, but other than the color of the pickups, they are wired exactly the same. Inside you will find the Plus has a Fender TBX tone control on the lower tone knob. This is not an active system, as some believe, (using a battery as found on the 25db boost on the Clapton Strats), but it is simply a stacked set of potentiometer that cuts either treble or bass, where as the standard tone control only cuts the treble. So we have: T (treble) B (bass) X (Cut) thus TBX. When you turn this knob, you can feel a halfway point (detent)—this is tone neutral (#5 on the knob!). This TBX control gives the bridge and middle pickup a unique variety of sounds! When the 5-way switch is in the 4th position, by turning the tone control you can get a bell like sound to a honking out-of-phase mid-range sound. Put the switch in position #2 and, you get a quack, or a hollow twang! The 1st tone control is a standard Fender 250 k potentiometer as is the volume control.
 The Gold Lace Pickups were also used on several signature model guitars, as seen on this Jeff Beck model (above). The JB Strat uses a Dually Gold Lace in the bridge with a push button "coil splitter" to have it operate in either single or dually mode. (Really, since the Dually is just 2 Lace PUs side by side, the switch just turns off one PU). There is the Jeff Beck signature on the headstock as well. Of course there was the Eric Clapton Signature Strat with 3 Gold Lace pickups and a 25db mid-range boost. There was also the Guy Buddy Signature Strat (left) using the Gold Lace. It is like a vintage Strat with the Lace pickups and, of course, Buddy's signature on the headstock! When I get time I will post my 88 Eric Clapton Strat.
  Here is some (maybe!) useful information. The Lace Sensors had only white and orange wires up till around 1989-1990, then the Lace Music Company added the extra green ground wire. The pre-1990 Laces will have a smooth top and the later have the Lace logo counter sunk in a indentation on the top of the pickup. You will notice while examining the pictures to your left that the pre 1990 pickups also have square edges on the bottom. Some people have this idea that the older Lace pickups are better sounding than the newer ones. In talking to the people at Lace, they are still made the same way, but now have an extra ground wire.
Also, the Strat Plus used a different wiring schematics than the older American Strats; the TBX tone control was connected to both the middle and bridge pickups. Older Strats had the lower tone control connected to the middle pickup and the bridge pickup was bypassed all together. This newer design gives a person a lot more tone capabilities. On position #4 you can use both tone controls, one on the neck pickup and the TBX on the middle pickup while having both pickups on.
Many Colors, Some Not Listed
Here is a little Fender inconsistency for you. Fender lists the colors that were available for the Standard Plus models as: Arctic White, Black, Black Pearl Dust, Blue Pearl Dust, Brown Sunburst, Caribbean Mist, Grafitti Yellow, Lipstick Red, (see-through) Blonde, Midnight Blue, and Midnight Wine from 1987 till 1997. And then in 1997, Candy Apple Red, Inca Silver, Sonic Blue, and Vintage White finishes were introduced; Arctic White, Black Pearl Dust, Blue Pearl Dust, Caribbean Mist, Lipstick Red, Midnight Blue, and Midnight Wine finishes were supposedly discontinued.
There were a lot of other finishes offered by Fender that were NOT listed. Some were vintage colors and others were just not listed as available in the Plus line. In fact., one advertisement for Strat Plus' for 1988 had: Bahama Green (517), Dusty Rose (519), Torino Red (558), Ice Blue (583) and the rare Razz Berry (584). Many of these colors were only seen in 1987 to 1990. There was Surf Green (seen on the Jeff beck Strat above and could vary in tint from year to year, but it was always a more milky, light green), Sea Foam Green (which is much brighter and darker than Surf Green), Gun Metal Blue, Shell Pink, Burgundy Mist Metallic (very rare), Lake Placid Blue, Pewter, Shoreline Gold, Taos Turquoise, Brown Sunburst, and several other colors. Also I have seen more Vintage White Plus' in 1993 than Arctic White, yet Vintage White was not listed as available till 1997! There were Candy Apple Red Plus in 1987-1991 too, which also was not listed till 1997. Sonic Blue was available in 1996! Toward the bottom of this page you can see the Taos Turquoise which is pretty rare. I hope to show most of these colors in up coming web page updates, but untill then check out all my Strat Plus pages and you will see a lot nof these colors!
Another unique finish on some of the Plus, Plus Deluxe and Ultra Strats and Teles is the Fire Storm finish. It is somewhat rare, but available. This color is also not listed on Fender’s sales charts for the Plus series. :-)
If you want to see what color your Strat or Tele might be check out this cool web based color chart by Fender: Fender's Color Chart. Not all the colors of the Strat Plus arefeatured there, but many of the 1990 colors are available to see.
Now De Hardware
Many of the Plus Series, but not all, came with a Hipshot Trimsetter, which compensated for string tension. Once set up correctly, and after getting the guitar in tune, they stay in tune. If a string breaks while playing, the Tremsetter will compensate and the guitar will continue to stay in tune. (How to set one of these up will show on the "tips" page.) Please note the neck plate—all Plus' have the Fender logo written on it like the one above, except the Ultra's will also have the word on there too. If you get one that says Corona, CA on it, it has been changed! Like many of the later USA Strats, these necks have the micro-tilt adjustment, which is an Allen Screw under the Fender neck plate, which pressed against truss-rod grommet on the backside of the neck. This gives you the versatility of tilting the neck instead of the old method of resorting to shims. All have the Skunk-stripe down the back, with a nice C Radius, as well as the bi-flex truss rod, which was a good improvment over the older straight truss rods.
The Standard Strat Plus came with two basic bridges, both 2-point floating American types; one used a pop-in tremolo arm and the other a screw-in tremolo arm. On the top they basicly looked the same, with 6 bushed offset saddles. It is easy to tell which you have by simply taking off the back Trem cover and taking a peek at the tremolo block. The pop-in type has a BLACK block and the screw-in type has a GREY block (see above).
The pop-in type has two Allen set screws. The top one adjusts the tenson of the bar, so it will not hang too loose and swing around. The lower one sets how hard it is to push the arm into the catch spring. Now, saying this, I have seen where people, myself included, have tightened down the Allen set screws on the pop-in arm one so tight that one could screw in a tremolo bar! Not the best, but people have done it. I learned the hard way years ago. The pop-in block (BLACK) will always have a bigger hole. The screw-in tremolo arm is bigger than the vintage tremolo arm. If you need to buy one, you want to get the screw-in "American Standard Stratocaster Tremolo Arm" with a plastic tip. The pop-in type is called "Fender Deluxe Locking in solid chrome."
Also note that the Strat Plus Deluxe models came with both these types of bridges and some had the Floyd Rose II bridge as seen on the The Strat Plus Deluxe page.
The Plus Series used locking tuners, the first, not so common, were the Sperzel (1987 and early 88), and then later Schaller. You can see the Sperzel (left) and the Schaller (middle & right). Let it be known, that there seemed to be a mix and match on tuners the first few years. Not all 87s had Sperzels or visa versa. These are really slick as you just loosen the nut, pull the string through till it is tight, tighten the knob on the back, cut off the excess, and tune!
Serial Number Confusion!
Now about the "E4" serial number that show up on some of the first Strat Plus': The photos above show some Plus' with the "E4" serial number. These are 1987-88 guitars. The serial numbers on the 87-8 models have caused some confusion due to the CBS buyout and the start up of the new plant in Corona, California. In general, Fender has had a lot of confusion over serial numbers, over the years, especially the older models. The Strat Plus series continues this tradition! Many of the 1987 and later models will have a serial number that says one thing and the date in the neck pocket in the body or on the butt end of neck that says something different. Some have said this was due to the use of parts left over from the CBS buyout, or even serial number decals left over from CBS. The very first Plus' will have an E4XXXXX serial number indicating they are from 1984. Truth is, it is a 1987-88, as production for the Plus Series started in mid-1987, while the parts might have been from—who knows??? Don't let anyone try to convince you that there is a 1984 Strat Plus, they just did not exsist. Click Here to get USA Fender serial numbers from 1976 till today.
Now comes the 1999 serial number saga—more confusion with the Plus serial numbers. The date? 1990. Man, oh man! Fender used E9xxxx and N9xxxxxx and even a few N0xxxx serial numbers for 1990! Now N0xxxx makes sense because N0 = Ninety 0 or 1990. Truth is, I have not found a 1999 N9xxxx Strat Plus. There was a few transitional Plus’ made in late 1998, early 1999 and these had Fender’s new Noiseless Cobalt pickups, not the Lace Sensors pickups. All had DN9xxxx serial numbers. (Note the "D" See below, for a 2000 model!)
So THIS IS NOT REALLY A STRAT PLUS! (above) It is a 2000 Deluxe Strat. The 1998-9's are are fairly rare and they where first marketed as a “Plus” and then in the middle of 1999, they were marketed as Fender's new Deluxe Series. These sported a chrome Fender Logo on the headstock and many of the Plus features, like locking tuners, LSR Nut, but had 2 Fender Noiseless Strat pickups and Fender’s Colbalt humbucker in the bridge which are powerful and very quiet. They carry the DN or DZ serial numbers. (DN9xxxx = 1999; DZxxxxx = 2000's).
So about 99% of the Plus’ with an N9xxxx serial number are a 1989-1991 manufactured guitar. (Hey, there might be some 1% fluke out there!) I do not know how many times I have sold a 1990 Strat Plus on eBay to have some “smart” guy tell me I am a dumb bozo for saying it was a 1990 and not a 1999. (I have owned a few of these as you can see in the above pictures). Well, here's how you can know if your Plus is a 1989-1991 with an N9xxxxx serial number: 1) The Wilkinson Nut (Fender changed over to the LSR Nut mid-1993;) 2) The serial number is on the FRONT of the headstock (Fender moved the serial numbers to the back of the headstock in 1995). So as you can tell by the above Plus’, all have a Wilkinson nut and serial number on the front, indicating that are ALL pre-1999….....except the pictures BELOW? Hummmm.
Ok. Here is something that even makes things more confusing. Some people will do the LSR Nut conversion on their pre-mid-1993 Plus. (I think I just invented a new word!) The way you can tell if your Wilkinson Nut has been converted is the small black strip of plastic on the headstock side of the nut that is used as filler for the missing wood made for the wider Wilkinson Nut. For an example inspect the middle picture above.
ALSO, again, please note that in 1995 Fender moved the serial numbers from the front to the back of the headstock. (See last pict above).
Going Nuts
The new, premier "roller-nut" designed by an English chap by the name of Trevor Wilkinson. The very first version of the Wilkinson roller nuts to be introduced (above, left) had the top 3 strings floating while the other strings had to feed through an upper pin. This was called the Wilkinson Split Nut and is more rare to find, being discontinued late 1987 or early 1988. The other photos (above middle and right) show the regular Wilkinson nuts that had all the strings fed through a upper "roller" pin that the string rested on, while it went down under a 2nd pin. These were a problem if you wanted to use heavier strings as feeding them through the slots and the two pins was a real hassle if not in some cases impossible.
Mid 1993, Fender stopped using the Wilkinson nut and replaced them with the LSR Roller nuts (above). These made string changes much easier, as each string rode on top of a set of roller bearings—a great improvement over the Wilkinson nut. The idea with the roller nut was to improve tuning while using the tremolo as the strings could freely move. Some people, bless their hearts, just could not imaging having a Strat without string trees! So they put them on, not realizing this counteracted the whole concept of having the roller nut. A Strat Plus will NOT have string trees, and putting them on the guitar greatly lowers its value!
Necking Around
The Plus necks were made from Maple with either a Rosewood or Maple cap and usually had 22 medium-jumbo frets with a radius of 9.50. Some of the Maple necks were solid one-peice while others had a Maple cap on Maple.
Again, you will notice that in 1995 they moved the serial numbers from the front to the back of the headstock.
Let's take a look at some Standard Plus'!
This is a fine example of a 1995 Midnight Wine Strat Plus. You can clearly see the Gold Lace Sensor pickups and the American 2-point floating bridge. I have owned many of this color and have noticed the color can be a little lighter on some models. These are darker and more purple than the Candy Apple Red, but has the color applied like the Candy Apple Red, which is a silver base coat, followed by several coats of transparent color and then the clear coat. Candy Apple Red, Midnight Wine and Midnight Blue were all silver base with transparent color finishes. This is why they can have such a deep look in direct light.
Again, notice that the serial numbers started to appear on the back of the headstocks in 1995.
This is a excellant condition 1990 Gun Metal Blue metallic Stratocaster Plus. (I have one of these on my Deluxe page too). This guitar sat umplayed and was owned by one person most of its life. Gun Metal Blue was used on some of the very early Strat Plus guitars between 1987 to 1991, but was not listed on the colors available in the Plus Series. They, along with a few other colors are rarer to come across. This one has the E9xxxxx Serial number. The E9 serial number was a crazy time for Fender because E9, N9, and N0 serial numbers can all be 1990. E9 is also 1989, of course. The paperwork that came with this beautiful Strat says it was made in 1990.
This is a fine example of a beautiful 1993 Vintage White STRATOCASTER PLUS that has faded to a really cool cream color. Now Fender does not list Vintage White as available till 1997, even though it was used on their Strats since 1987! This is not the Artic White which is lighter and whiter. So, go figure! As stated earlier, in the middle of 1993 Fender changed the nuts from a Wilkinson Roller nut to the LSR Roller nut.
This Strat Plus has been completely rewired using TFN Technologies custom wiring system, which provides 10 different pickup tones. (See eBay seller: tfn_technologies.) With TFN Technologies custom wiring, using a 3-way rotary knob and a 5-way Super Switch you can get humbucker, Strat and Tele tones, plus some.
Many of the earlier Plus' came with plain pickguards, like on these 3 mint Plus':
1) 1990 Midnight Wine Plus with Rosewood, (left);
2) 1996 Midnight Wine Plus with Maple neck, (middle) The colors on the Midnight Wine Plus' varied some as the 2nd one has more of a purple color, but not to be confused with Candy Apple Red which is lighter and more flake.
3) 1993 Lipstick Red Plus with Maple Neck (right).
This Natural Plus is a 1989 made from a fairly heavy peice of Ash. Most of the solid colored models were made from Alder. Most of the transparent colors had Ash sandwiched-laminated on Alder thus the dark color around the edge to produce the "burst" effect. it was to hide the laminated edge. The natural Plus' and some of the bursts were solid Ash. All the Standard Plus Models had the American Standard two point floating bridge. The grey areas on the front and back is a shadow cast when the picture was taken. This guitar has darkened by age.
This 1988 Plus in a very rare Taos Turquoise in mint condition which had the pickguard changed to the periold type. This color is very hard to find on a plus and was not listed in the colors available. It was a vinatge color used in the 60s Strats and was only used on the Plus series from 87-90, along with colors such as Shell Pink, Gun Metal Blue, Burgundy Mist Metallic, Sea Foam Green and a few other colors. (Do a Google picture search for Taos Turquoise, and you will find out more about this color.)
This is a 1997 Sonic Blue Strat Plus that is a Closet Classic—the guitar has rarely been played. 1997 was the first year for this beautiful color, which is very similar to the Dalphne Blue of the Vintage Stratocasters. The three Gold Lace really do put out that 50's vintage sound! Sonic Blue was introduced in 1997.
One of my favorite playing Strat Plus' is this 1996 Anniversary model in Surf Green with an aged Maple neck. This color was used on a lot of the Jeff Beck Signature Strats. The color is not represented well in these pictures. It is actually a little greener, but not much.
On this Strat you can see the 1996 Anniversary sticker on the back of the headstock and can tell the pickups have been change over to the Hot Gold Lace. These really screams with the vintage sound of a 1950-60s Strat but with more power and a hotter bridge pickup. This guitar has a look to it like it should be sitting in the back seat of a 1955 Chevy Belair hardtop! WELL...The truth is, Fender used Genderal Motors paint color GM111 which was called Surf Green on the Strats! Over the years Fender borrowed many colors from General Motors!
|
