Dingwall wrote:
Basically the JV range were the first production guitars when Fender moved east in the early 80s. They were made in the famous Japanese Factory called fujigen which made other good guitars such as Grech. The Squier JV models (there are also Fender JV models) were the ;cheaper' export models I believe but a lot of people think these were better than the guitars being made in the US at the same time. Based on vintage models and up to now quite affordable and therefore very collectable. And at around 30 years old they are now truly vintage in their own right. If anyone finds one or indeed has one for sale then 'please' let me know!!
Actually there was a time during the early 80s when Fender USA wasn't making any guitars, that's when they opened Fender Japan.
"The new team set about studying ways of bringing Fender back from the precipice. Taking a cue from the success of the Japanese 'copy' guitars (Gibsons) , they included in their plan of attack a return to the guitars that had made the company's reputation in the first place -- the classic Stratocasters and Telecasters of the 1950's and early 1960's. And so began the American vintage reissue series -- the 1952 and 1962 Telecaster reissues and the Stratocaster reissues based on the original 1954, 1957 and 1962 models.
Fender launched a Japan-based manufacturing operation licensed to create and market guitars using not only the classic Fender designs but bearing the Fender name. And so Fender Japan was born.
When the American Fender team visited Japan to see how their counterparts were faring in the effort to capture the magic that had made vintage Fender guitars so special, they made a startling discovery. As Dan Smith, head of Fender USA marketing, was quoted in Tony Bacon and Paul Day's excellent THE FENDER BOOK, "Everybody came up to inspect them and the guys almost cried, because the Japanese product was so good - it was what we had been having a hell of a time trying to do."
So in fact, Fender Japan made Vintage Re-Issue Strats and Teles before Fender USA did.
