Originally Posted by: fastelvisThanks, guys. I'm not a Fender junkie so I did not know. I used to have an old natural Tele, late 60' to mid 70' age (?) with a humbi at the neck. Still wish I had it.

Sounds like the American Fender employee that set up the Japanese facility really cared about the output quality, and the locals did too.

[font=trebuchet ms]Yeah, like I said on that Plexi Palace BBS, the 1986 '62 RI JapStrat I used to have is one of the two guitars that I wish I still had. As it happens, the other one was a late-60's Yamaha SG-2 Strat-type.

The Japanese had some very strange styling ideas in the early days, but the quality of their products was second to none. I have 4 Yamaha guitars at the moment, ranging from a late-60's SA-30 12-string to a late-80's RGX-350 bass. And that number is more likely to increase than decrease. Tokai guitars are also highly desirable IMO. Try one of their Love Rock axes and you'll see why Gibson was so unhappy about them.[/font]