Did the trade and upon inspection it is a made in china Fender Modern Player Telecaster Plus of unknown year at 8lb 9oz a charcoal transparent pine body with a Warmoth fender regular 12 inch radius neck, a Dimarzio Area T neck pup with a Seymour Duncan SSL-1 middle and Bare Kuckle Miracle Man in the bridge. The 17.5k ohm ceramic Bare Knuckle is spec'd oddly with a brushed nickel cover and a single braided conductor wire so the coil split toggle is now a kill switch. The Area T is woefully under powered next to the SSL-1 let alone the beast of a bridge so it may need a change.
The other concern was that the Modern Players had 22 fret non overhang necks but it seems they put non drilled Warmoth neck and drilled it a bit away from the body so a few extra mm back on the bridge saddles and it intonates fine with 10's but I can't use it on my Ash Tele so dang.
At 7lb 12oz The strats serial # comes up as a '96 most places but Fender shows as a '98 which seems to be the first year for a mim Standard strat to be Midnight Wine. It is bone stock but also has a birdseye neck with great authentic looking play wear and my prefered vintage frets instead of medium jumbo and a poplar body. Poplar is not my first thought for a strat but this one is sounds great and is an uncommon color in my area as well.
So far loving the Strat and the Tele but will need pickups cause with the Bare Knuckle in the bridge Luther Perkins is nowhere to be found here.
