Another Fake Fender Strat | NOT a Squier This Time 

A blind man running for his life could tell that isn't a Fender.

Ok, if you dont even know those are schaller tuners, you kinda lose credibility regarding spotting fake guitars. Just my opinion

The indentation on the headstock looks to line up with a truss rod cover

I suspect the body is a genuine 70's strat body. Based on that alone, I'd take a chance and offer $150 for this guitar.

A video on the old Teisco Guitars would be interesting. I had a Teisco Tulip guitar when I was a kid, the $39 Wonderland special. It was impossible to keep it in tune. The fret ends would slice my fingers. The neck was warped. The truss rod was useless, and the pickup was so microphonic you could easily use it as a microphone. I loved that guitar..., only because it was my first electric guitar.

Once again, you kind of missed the biggest glaring thing that shows this to be a fake. As you noted, it has 2 serial numbers (huge red flag #1) but both serials, if real, would come back to a 70’s Fender. All Fender Strats in the 70’s had the large CBS headstock, with the large CBS logo. Most would also have the bullet truss rod and 3 bolt neck. This having some kind of a bullet truss rod (obviously not Fender style to boot) and being a smaller headstock logo (80’s transitional) would automatically tell you it’s a fake. Fender didn’t start making small headstock Strats again until the 80’s, and they had stopped using the bullet truss rod by that point. So any “Fender” Strat with a bullet truss rod and small headstock logo=fake. Same goes for any Strat with a 70’s serial and a small headstock logo=fake. 100% of the time. The real Strats you were comparing it to (E series=Eighties) were all from 1980’s, after they had brought back the small headstocks.

Dude those are Schaller tuners , if you can't even Identify Schaller tuners then maybe your not the guy to do authentications, also the those are bridge saddles not tuners and the have height adjustment screws not thingys.

Those are Schaller tuners

tuners are 1970s Shallers.

The indentation in the headstock could be from a truss rod cover.

It's not a Tiesco they have Mahogany necks , this may be a 70's Body with a replacement neck among other things , if the body itself is a 70's body it's worth it you would have to disassemble it to confirm.

Agreed ! 1st glance tells you it is not a real Fender. The tuners are actually pretty good being Shallers, but the string "tree"/bar , the crazy looking skunk stripe, and several other factors instantly say fake.

Those are older schaller tuners, made in Germany! Looks like the neck had a floyd nut at one time. Definitely NOT fender! Decals like that are printed on inkjet printers, ebay, etsy's, etc...

That's the most obvious fake I've seen for ages

most teisco guitars had that string tree that goes through the back, and also a lot of them had zero frets as well not all though

Mid 70s s/n on neck. “E” prefix on headstock s/n indicates 80s. Also, Stratocaster script on the large style headstocks were curved. Neck heel is wrong. And never mind that abortion on the back of the neck. It took less than 10 seconds to determine this was fake.

why are people relying on this guy to see if their strat is fake. It gives me anxiety. 8:01 the logos that you looked up are from the mid to late 80's not the 70's. But you are still pretty good at spotting fakes. Good job

I have noticed a number of negative reviews of this video talking about things like the shape of the Headstock being clearly wrong, the angle made by the nut and the truss rod being miles out, the "skunk stripe" is obviously stain and not wood etc. Please note that these videos are intended for people who may be novices in identifying fake guitars, and as such wouldn't know the difference between a 60's and a 90's Headstock, or the specific angles made by different parts etc. Therefore it is much more helpful for Kennis to focus on the things that are more obvious - the shape and size of the logo, where it is positioned, the "string tree bar", the screws on the neck plate and so on. These are things that somebody with little or no experience would be able to check, rather than the more subtle differences. Give him a break guys. Kennis is trying to provide a service for people who don't have your knowledge. This is not aimed at people who already know what a strat looks like in detail, but at people who really don't know the exact dimensions etc.

If that is a Teisco neck, It's a style I haven't seen before, all the ones I've seen have had the bar bolted on. Might be a neck off an Eko?

The $180 price is the dead giveaway that this is not a genuine Fender Stratocaster guitar.

Those are Schaller tuners.

Looks like they used a Univox Ripper for some of the parts. Which would be ashame since they were better guitars than Fenders.

A casual glance and a one word summation - FAKE!! As soon as I saw the truss rod slot it was obvious!

It’s a PartsCaster, and a lot of it isn’t Fender. If it plays ok, maybe $300. $175 max if your tryin to flip it.

Yup. Schaller tuners. Logo on headstock not right color or applied in correct location. Eighties serial number on headstock. Neck, screws. What a mess. Of coarse, an older guitar could be modded to death.

CustomKraft guitars had the bar instead of the string trees also

Clearly not a Fender neck. The bridge pickup has been left at an angle to reuse the mounting screw from the original angled pickup. What price was being asked?

Kennis, it's so cool to have you back again. Cool and very informative videos as usual. I was curious, what about the other channel, though?

WOW!! Can't spot GENUINE Schaller tuners????? Looks to me like probably a genuine Fender 3 bolt body but with (from my 40+ years of knowledge) possibly an 80's Hondo or similar neck on it. And given the screw and hex adjustable poles on the bucker, could be an early DiMarzio or japanese copy there of. I would happily give in the region of £500 for that!....... But would need a closer inspection of the body....

Didn't you look at the headstock shape?

Agreed completely. Headstock logo and that "string tree" bar are dead giveaways. Please keep doing these type of vids, cos there are so many fakes out there and some of them are really close. Your experience is much appreciated 👍👍👍.

There are Teisco guitars, but there are also Teisco guitars with different brandings. I have a Teisco from 1965 and it's logo came off, but no indent. The logo was glued on. I feel like what you're seeing is a sort of "built in the same factory but branded differently" variant. Probably the same Japanese company, but sold by another company with whatever their logo was.

It was a common mod To place a hum bucker in a Strat at an angle like that back in the late 70s/ Early 80s....I would’ve asked for a picture of the neck pocket...Never know it could be an original body. And I wouldn’t even go into not knowing the tuners.

Oh, you're being kind. I was past 100% the first time I saw the back of the neck. People need to trust their instincts. Someone will say, "I'm not sure about this one." Of course you are. And you're right. That's totally fake.

I think there are bullet truss-rod 70s strats with the big logo, but you're right that the 'Stratocaster' part is all wrong and, yes, the serial number crammed in like that doesn't look right. In any case, the guitar looks like garbage, Fender or otherwise. There are loads of clues that the seller doesn't know what he's doing and hasn't cared for the instrument. The saddles are all in a line, so it's not been intonated. Things like that are easy to put right, but they set off alarm bells about the seller. Offer him $50 for it if you fancy a fun project putting it right.

I realize that this series of videos is aimed at beginners to educate so they don’t get ripped off, but most professionals could spot a fake like this immediately!

I think you were spot on the price. 100 - 125 I think was fare. Japan did make some amazing guitars in the 70’s. I have a 72 Aria model 1930A a SG copy. @ the time I bought it. I played every Paul (what I was looking for) SG & a RD custom in the store. The SG’s looked like they’d been made by fence builders. The Aria with my eyes closed sounded and played better than any Gibson in the store. She still plays as good or better than any LP custom Ive ever played. Tysco’s not quite that level. But japan put a hurt on Gibson & fender

First glance at headstock I knew exactly what it was...and those are Schaller tuners..very,very common

just a thrown together guitar,japan copy neck. fyi,an earlier fender decal on a big headstock was in 66 transistion period beetween the old style decal and the curved larger decal. they had rear truss rod adjust,nothing in the front,dead giveaway.

i may have done some water sliding and that one is crooked as the guy who pute it on there

Wouldn’t the logo be completely different for that shape headstock the word Stratocaster would be running around the curve on the headstock

WOW...$180 bucks for a 70’s 3 bolt strat...dude...you could buy that and flip it for $185....best deal ever!!!

Fender DID use the Schaller tuners.

I need knowledge on a strat I bought which was made by VENTURA

OMG Blahaha that's like a fake of a fake, like someone who faked a fake in Japan or something.

Hi Ken. Ok you wanna change parts on the starcaster and we should say what parts to be changed? Ok then: 1. New neck (Fender Strat vint 50s) 2. New body (Göldo) 3. Ah let me Not waste tym, just change it all. (Or, just leave it as it is) Lol All the best and well wishings. 1Love

I already have my own Starcaster almost exactly like that one which I am going to go even farther in modding it.. and yes all but the neck and body will be replaced and severely upgraded...3 quad rail humbuckers wired like a Les Paul but with 5-way switch and each with its own volume and tone with coil split ...also a bypass switch to activate both neck and bridge.. going to attempt to install led's in the neck under the fret board to light up the dots front and edge. fun fun fun...lol

Obvious fake. Those tuners are Schaller. They are very well known and were used on fenders and Gibsons in that era Also I believe the 70s CBS Headstock logo's had Stratocaster in a arch. You should have put up a pic of that instead of the regular Headstock shape. The 70s fenders would also have a bullet trussrod end piece. The bridge saddles are also wrong - it would have bent steel saddles. Those there are cheap Asian pot steel sadles The bridge pickup can't bee used to spot a fake. It's obvious it's been cut to size by modification to fit a humbucker

Great that you're trying to help people but you should probably do a little more research on differences in Fenders before offering up advice. Most people in the comments pointed out glaring things you clearly missed. Also, you have a Partscaster made with a genuine Fender body but don't know how many screws hold the backplate on?

The string tree metal bar, is clearly an aftermarket accessory. That 70's headstock has no holes from previous string trees and Teisco used a round wire bar that went through to the back using bolts. I believe this is a Hondo neck bolted to a real 3 bolt Fender body. The serial number on the metal 3 screw neck plate is real. The serial number in the neck is fake, the fender logo decal is crooked and fake. Those are German Schaller tuners are super high quality tuners. The string saddles are off something else, real fender saddles are different. the stamped block saddles remind me of korean squiers...

Correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t that a big headstock with a little headstock logo? The big headstock has a curved logo.

Those are schaller tuners and are actually pretty great

I told several so-called Elite shops here in Minnesota 20 years ago to watch out for this stuff. Willie's in St Paul was a big one. They laughed at me and told me I was a fool. I guess buyer beware

yeah wtf.... he zooms in on the headstock and the thing he points out is the string retainer? Crazy. Could easily be added to a 70's Fender... often, indeed, actually WAS added to those guitars. The "skunk stripe" was not enough for him to say its 100% fake? It's enough for me. The nut isn't a fender nut, the logo isnt right, the truss rod isn't right AT ALL for any fender ever made. Like, screw the hardware, look at the way it is built! Determining guitars authenticity is to do with the manufacturing processes. You are looking for physical evidence of known manufacturing techniques... not what hardware is on the thing.

What are the two brown spots that look like plugs on the back where the neck meets the headstock?

There was also some Arias from the 70s and early 80s that looked very close that strat with the large headstock but yeah the neck does look like a Teisco

With that much mods on it, no matter what the headstock or the neck plate says, it's a frankenstein. Buy it if it sounds good, but it's a reach to claim it as a Fender.

Yeah the neck peices, the screw hole fill on head, weird parts construction, angled pick up.

Concur it is fake, but not sold on it being a Teisco though. As for the angled humbucker, this type of mod is sort of common with people that don't know or have the tools to do it properly. The single coil in a traditional Strat is angled as well. Many in the late 80s and early 90s would hack out a larger square to fit a humbucker in it. And because they wanted to just get out as cheap and easy, would use the old pickguard and the same mounting holes the single coil did, resulting in an angled humbucker. Although many of these are no longer around, usually sitting in an attic or deep in a closet, mainly because the person probably wasn't serious about playing guitar for long or at all when back then.

This dude is completely clueless

The Stratocaster font on the headstock isn't right. The headstock isn't right either. The flare out part slopes out too much. Also the round part and the transition into the slope is too tight. Also they didnt put Made in USA on the headstocks in the 70s.

Teisco has a zero fret. The fake Fender has a Gibson style nut that all Japanese guitars had up to 1975. Bit surprised it wasnt noticed. Pickups could be Dimarzio. Very obvious Schaller tuners with its distictive S logo.

Based on what I could get from a cheap guitar, you are gonna make some lucky person a happy guitar player. With a solid body and a good neck you can build a really great playing guitar for far less than buying one new of similar play-ability and tone. Just did a custom strat-aloid build from a Kramer pawn shop guitar with a great flamed maple neck with rosewood fingerboard and a heavy plywood black painted body. Planet Tone Alnico II custom PUPs, Fender fat block tremolo bridge. Fender 3 layer greenish pickguard with CTS pots, Orange Drop caps. Dressed the frets and refinished the neck down to 1500 grit then Teak oil finish with a blank flamed maple headstock. Kluson locking tuners in black. Plays and sounds like a good guitar for less than $350 total including the guitar. I also get to play a real Sttrat. The difference is not worth $1000 more except from an investment standpoint. I would not take a real Strat to a bar or some other sketchy gig. Guitars like this are great, great to play and if lost or stolen, not a disaster for most.

Looks like a vintage Hondo Strat clone. Run!

Teisco De Ray. Owned one of these from the mid 70’

Looks like you found my first guitar.

I have a strat that has a serial number on the back of the head stock, I looked the number up and apparently it is a 95/96 Japanese strat, BUT ! nowhere on the guitar does it say MIJ or CIJ. It looks as though it could be a Japanese Strat, it's a great guitar, I wondered if it could be a Strat they made for the home market.

East Asian copy. China Vietnam Not even close on the headstock. That truss rod Was way off. The logo was completely wrong The route the the bullet ... nope. That dumb skunk stripe looked terrible like an awful mistake they tried to cover up. Yeah and that neck plate made no sense with Sheetrock screws It makes me angry that these guys think we are that ignorant that they would try to sell something of this poor quality to us I’m glad your helping out the younger guys that may com across this type of low level craftsmanship

Closer to a Hondo.

Kennis, that's NOT a Fender. The pickups are wrong. Maybe a Squire parts caster. That bar is pretty weird. Maybe Teiesco or another Japanese guitar. What do the tuners say? No way is that a genuine Fender. I'm not an expert but I've had Fenders since 1968, and never seen anything like that. Partscaster for sure. Maybe $200? He should get a new one.

Is that shoe polish for the skunk stripe?

I have a fake that I bought on reverb and it has a painted on skunk stripe but it did have real Seymore duncan pups so that was a plus

The head stock is not the same shape.

kramer used the angled humbucker.

Truss rod slot is a give away , Schaller Tuners Germany,

It could be said in a second. Noway this is a Fender Stratocaster. No need for an almost 30 min time waste! 🤦

It literally doesn't look anything like a fender ! My cat knew this isn't a fender ! Laughable :) Butchered columbus ?

You are probably right on the neck being Teisco or some other K-mart guitar. It probably originally had a painted finish which is why the back looks so odd. It would have originally been covered with paint to conceal the janky woodwork. The body looks to me like any of a million knockoff bodies, anything from an old Mako, Lotus, Hondo, Cort, Harmony to something newer like a Jay Turser, Silvertone, Fernandez etc. Surprised you missed on the Schaller tuners. The pickups look like the DiMarzio wannabe's you see in all kinds of import guitars like old Epiphones or Kramers. The neck plate looks authentic but i'll bet if you look behind the adjustment port for the tilt neck there is no actual hole or allen screw. I think the drywall screws and that cheap slotted screw in the bridge tell the whole story of this Frankenstrat and the abused life it led. Fender did actually have a series of guitars with the canted bridge humbucker in the early 90's. I think it was one of the few times they came stock with seymour duncans. However i seriously doubt this kluge-mobile contains an actual fender part.

It's a fake, you know the old saying if it's to good to be true, it probably is.

The thumbnail with the headstock photo kinda gives it away. Next!

I bought My "Starcaster" from Music-Go-Round here in Bradenton Fl. for under $80 and am pairing it with a Blackstar ID-Core Stereo 40 modeling amp.. sounds fine now but with all I'm about to upgrade and mon the heck out of it ..I think it should sound awesome and then some..

Those are early 90s shallers

The blind leading the blind.🕶

"Dude, the headstock shape is wrong! Point that out, why aren't you pointing that out!" - me during this whole video.

Head shape is different as well. That hook goes too far out from the neck...

those are legit schaller tuners

That pickup looks like its replaced the slanted single but a bigger hole cut for a humbucker. Those are also Schiller tuners but there is too many red flags.

Not sure what that is, but I’m 99.99% sure it’s not a Fender for all the reasons pointed out, plus more. I bought a barely played ‘90s MIM Fender Strat for $350.00 at a Guitar Center a few years back. GREAT guitar for a GREAT price, and 100% authentic Fender. Real Fender Strats can be had at affordable prices... just gotta look, so no reason to spend a dime on this thing.

Definitely fake but disagree with the conclusion that the guitar is a Teisco the string bar is not the same design (this one is flat and doesn’t go through the headstock) and the indentation on the neck is in the wrong place for a logo but potentially a truss rod cover although I’d expect something deeper. Pickup set up doesn’t look right even for Teisco that angled bridge humbucker is just strange!

Schaller older tuners made in W Germany. The neck is wrong especially the skunk stripe.

You don't even know the parts..lol

Not a real strat

Kennis, could you do a spot a fake Fender telecaster?

That bridge is the bridge on those cheapy Strat copies.

Definitely a fender three bolt body with Schaller Tuners that i am not sure are any good. The rest is total fake! As a guitar restorer i would offer around £60 to purchase as there is tons of work to bring it back to something credible

I would like to find out if my strat is real.How can I send you some pic. No ser. number found Everything matches like tuners etc. iIt's been turned into a hard tail (vibrato bar removed. But the bridge looks fender but was changed).

That looks like a Gibson style string nut. Fender never used a nut like that.That guitar looks like one of the many Japanese copy's...and i think that indention on the headstock is from a truss rod cover.the is so much more that says this is a total fake.

I’m pretty sure that neck isn’t a Teisco. Though it might be be from a 70’s Greco, Hondo, Maya, Ibanez or other 70’s Japanese brand. Teisco used other types of wood. This string bar looks like a poorly constructed DIY thing to me.

They were trying to make the guitar look real with a skunk stripe, but they screwd it up by making it too wide

Waay to many red flags on this guitar. Wouldn't buy it for a dollar.