My "new" '83 Flame

[Normster]

Picked this up Saturday.

http://www.thenormster.com/Pics/83FenderFlame.JPG

Pretty nice guitar and the price was right. The previous owner installed push-pull pots for coil splitting (which is very cool with this guitar). Overall, I'm very pleased with the playability and the tone isn't nearly as bad as some people have said. At first I thought it was woofy and inarticulate, but a little pickup height tweaking and some new strings cured that.

[Normster]

Oh, BTW. The guy I bought it from is a luthier who builds stuff like this...

http://www.thenormster.com/Pics/Ken%20Q%20%236.JPG

[mc5nrg]

Nice guitar, but if by '83 you are referring to its year of manufacture-more like 1985-6 and IIRC coil splitting was stock.

[johan]

"small body version" of the Esprit (which became the Robben Ford model) but with that "D*mble behind the guitar I guess this is no news to you. :)

[Ed Alvarado]

Cool axe! What's that home made looking thing sitting on your amp with the tube and tranny.

[treeofpain]

Actually, that guitar was only made in 1984. They are very nice quality instruments and are the basis for the USA Robben Ford model.

[Normster]

Right you are! The serial number begins with 403 so I guess that implies it was made in March of '84. After doing a little research, it looks like coil splitting was stock on the Elite, but not the Standard. (The previous owner did supply the original pots if I want to return it to stock.)

The homemade thing is the world's ugliest Dumblelator. :)

[johan]

Yopu can read all about the Master Series here
http://www.masterseriesguitars.com/

[mc5nrg]

I read the timeline at that site...while it seems these were originally conceived and started to be manufactured under CBS ownership, no way they ever hit the USA market in any sort of quantity if at all until Fender was reconstituted under new ownership. I never saw or heard of these working retail MI until 1985/6 . I would have to question some of the info on that site like serial numbers and build dates as lots of what you read regarding mid 80s Fenders just isn't accurate and the company was moribund for some time til CBS divested. Its possible the guitars were sitting around in some warehouse for a couple years but they were guitar vaporware, so to speak, til later than the claimed dates as far as being in USA store product. Just in general, print brochures don't always correlate with actual product manufacturing dates for numerous reasons even with fully functioning concerns, let alone those limping along as Fender was at the time.

[treeofpain]

They were pretty much made in 84 only. CBS pulled the plug on them, proportedly because they were too expensive to import. It would be interesting to see what the exchange rates were back then, but from what I remember, the yen was pretty high against the dollar.

Whether they were imported later, I can't remember. It is conceivable that due to the limited time of offering, some shops never got them, or even the literature to know they were available.

[mc5nrg]

As stated in my above post, yes, they were imported later ...any significant USA sales of these guitars were post CBS under FMIC. If they were sutting around in the USA , they would have been blown out like all the leftover product. To be redundant, never saw any til late '85 or later.

[MERCYFULFATE]

i love that guitar. it wants me. and i want it. i have some Duncans that would love it as well.