The Fender Stratocaster guitar is an American icon. So why you may ask am I writing about it in a photography blog about Japan…

Imitation may be the highest form of flattery, but in the early 80’s Fender USA was trying to deal with a flood of foreign-made Stratocaster-like guitars. Fender decided to make the best of a bad situation and set up Fender Japan to produce Japanese Fender guitars for the Japanese  market.

Fender Japan was particularly good at producing vintage reissues. So good in fact that Dan Smith, Fender’s Director of Marketing said:“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.” 

Fender Japan guitars are not officially exported to Europe or America, these markets are supplied with Fenders from Mexico or, for the higher end models, from the US. There is a healthy used market however. My friend John exports Japanese made guitars to musicians and collectors all over the world. You can check out his website here.

Last year, when we were sure it wasn’t going to rain, John and I lined up a few guitars outside for a photo shoot.

Fender Japan Stratocasters

 My guitar is the one in Fiesta Red. Unfortunately, the fact that I rarely practice means I will never play like Mark Knopfler. However if you’d like to hear a painfully bad rendition of either Sweet Home Alabama, Blaze of Glory or Come Together then I’m your man.