Home Forums Guitar Discussion Guitar Fender California series, maybe?

  • Creator
    Topic
  • #24288
    Major_Casualtie
    Participant

    Ok, here’s my situation. I have a brand new hardly used guitar. The only problem is, I have no idea what kind it is. When my parents bought it for me as a gift, the guy at the shop said it was a Fender California Series, but I’m not sure. It says California on the head, but it doesn’t say “Fender” like I’ve seen on most. I’ve tried forgetting that it might be a fender and looking up “California guitars” on google.com, but all I got was a bunch of links on the California Guitar Trio. My guitar has 2 stickers on the back of the head:
    1. “Made in China”
    2. a white sticker with 3 letters and 8 numbers before a dash followed by 3 more.

    I’ve looked at http://www.fender.com and looked through their guitar catalog but I couldn’t find any California series guitars. I found one website, http://www.vintageguitar.com/brands/details.asp?ID=178 ,that talked about remakes of the ’62 California series guitars made in ’97, but I’ve looked at those, and they say “Fender” next to “California”.

    If anyone could help me identify this guitar, that would be awesome.

Viewing 5 reply threads
  • Author
    Replies
    • #69167
      Lou_Ranko
      Member

      LOL!

    • #69148
      1bassleft
      Participant

      It’s the “reserve not met” that’s killing speculative bids. Chinese guitar in a dealer’s shop, not much point in cracking the reserve. I noticed that California bass had a distinctly un-Fender style headstock. It makes me suspicious that this is not FMIC licensed; “California” would be impossible to trademark.

      Hey Mike, I liked that text but my display is playing up. It seemed to read “Fender realized there is a lot of profit to be made from holy-grail nitrocellulose bores yakking on about its mystical tone qualities ( 😉 ). Unfortunately, tiresome trade-union types and tree-hugging, tofu-munching Californians would cut our margins to a sliver. Good job we’ve got a place down the road full of dispensable Hispanics we can lob pneumoconiosis on. Kerchiing!”

    • #69154
      lee_UK
      Participant

      [quote=”myfoot”]
      edit ..here’s a bass that says california on the headstock
      http://cgi.ebay.com/Used-California-4-String-21-Fret-Base-Guitar-Blk_W0QQitemZ190106686389QQihZ009QQcategoryZ4713QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem%5B/quote%5D

      i think it screams volumes when the guitar has 23 hrs to go and nobody feels it safe to put in a $1 bid to take it home.
      China is a corned beef factory, you stuff the wood in one end, and out comes a generic guitar from the other, be it Fender, Stagg, Wasburn, it’s all mince meat, quality is the last thing on their mind, nothing wrong with that, if thats what you want, great learner guitars.

    • #69136
      Michael
      Participant

      Fender made California acoustics in 2006, but I take it your talking about an electric?

      There were Cali Strats made in ’97. Here is a bit of info on them:

      “Emmission restrictions are so ridgid these days is hard and expensive to shoot bodys and necks with nitros so Fender shaped these bodys and necks in the California factory then sent them to Mexico so they could be sprayed with nitros paint then sent back to California for final assembly with 60’s style reissue parts.”

      http://www.areaguidesmall.com/product_details.asp?kdmsj=187&prodid=12160&source=cat&catid=1999

      Please post a picture of your guitar so we can help some more.

    • #69158
      myfoot
      Participant

      Here’s a fender california guitar on ebay and it looks like it says made in china on the back of the neck but it says fender on the front

      http://cgi.ebay.com/FENDER-Malibu-Acoustic-Guitar-CALIFORNIA-Series-Gigbag_W0QQitemZ150115717164QQihZ005QQcategoryZ33024QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

      edit ..here’s a bass that says california on the headstock
      http://cgi.ebay.com/Used-California-4-String-21-Fret-Base-Guitar-Blk_W0QQitemZ190106686389QQihZ009QQcategoryZ4713QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

    • #69137
      Tim
      Participant

      Hey, welcome to the board.

      Don’t suppose you’ve got any pics have you? There’re people on here that can spot a correct/incorrect detail or shape instantly, might help with the ID…

Viewing 5 reply threads
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.