Fender ST-57 Stratocaster Reissue (MIJ)

About the Fender ST-57 Stratocaster Reissue (MIJ)

This guitar's existence traces back to a genuine corporate crisis at Fender in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Japanese manufacturers like Ibanez and Tokai were building high-quality, affordable instruments that rivaled Fender's own - some of them so-called lawsuit guitars, near-exact copies of Fender designs built with startling precision - at the very moment Fender's own American-made CBS-era instruments were widely regarded as the weakest of the company's history. Rather than keep fighting Japanese manufacturers in court, Fender did something more surprising: it joined forces with them. In March 1982, Fender Japan, Ltd. was established as a joint venture between Fender, Kanda Shokai, Yamano Gakki, and Fujigen Gakki, with one specific condition baked into the deal - Kanda Shokai had to stop producing its Greco-branded Fender copies. Fujigen Gakki, the factory ultimately chosen to build the first Japanese-made Fenders (after negotiations with Tokai broke down), carried a genuine irony: it had previously built guitars for Ibanez, including some of the very lawsuit-era copies that had embarrassed Fender in the first place. The company that had helped tarnish Fender's reputation abroad became the one tasked with restoring it. This ST-57 carries the specifications of that restoration effort: a basswood body rather than the alder or ash typical of American Fenders, and a one-piece maple neck with the visible skunk stripe that construction method produces, cut to a 7.25-inch vintage-spec radius with rolled fingerboard edges across 21 frets. Three single-coil pickups and a 6-point synchronized vintage-style tremolo round out a spec sheet built to replicate a 1957 Stratocaster faithfully rather than modernize it.

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Sound character of the Fender ST-57 Stratocaster Reissue (MIJ)

The basswood body, a departure from the alder and ash typical of American Fenders, generally produces a somewhat softer, more midrange-focused foundation than those tonewoods - a general tonewood characteristic rather than a specific documented test finding for this exact model. Combined with vintage-spec single coils, the overall voice leans toward the classic, slightly rounder character associated with late-1950s Stratocasters rather than the brighter, more aggressive output of later Fender pickup designs.

What owners of the Fender ST-57 Stratocaster Reissue (MIJ) say

Collectors and players consistently rank 1980s Fujigen-built MIJ Fenders among the most desirable vintage-adjacent instruments available, with the neck quality specifically singled out as exceptional. The general sentiment treats these guitars less as budget alternatives to American originals and more as a genuinely distinct, highly regarded category in their own right, born from a manufacturing partnership that outperformed expectations.

Playability & handling of the Fender ST-57 Stratocaster Reissue (MIJ)

The necks on these 1980s FujiGen-built Fenders have earned an almost mythical reputation among players and collectors - one retrospective piece simply called them divine. The 7.25-inch radius and rolled edges keep the feel authentically vintage rather than smoothed out for modern playing preferences.

Recommended accessories & strings for the Fender ST-57 Stratocaster Reissue (MIJ)

Standard 25.5-inch scale takes .009-.042 or .010-.046 sets well. The vintage 7.25-inch radius suits classic rhythm and blues playing more naturally than aggressive modern bending technique, so players chasing that style should expect the guitar to reward a more traditional touch.

Technical data for the Fender ST-57 Stratocaster Reissue (MIJ)

Price history for the Fender ST-57 Stratocaster Reissue (MIJ)

Cheapest seen: 564 EUR  ·  Most expensive seen: 2.528 EUR

The history of the Fender ST-57 Stratocaster Reissue (MIJ)

This guitar is a direct product of one of Fender's most consequential strategic pivots. Facing both a credibility crisis over its own declining 1970s American build quality and fierce competition from precise Japanese copies of its own designs, Fender chose partnership over continued conflict, forming Fender Japan in March 1982 with Kanda Shokai, Yamano Gakki, and Fujigen Gakki. The condition that Kanda Shokai cease its Greco-branded copies shows how directly this deal was aimed at converting former rivals into allies. Fujigen Gakki's selection as the manufacturing partner carries a pointed irony worth remembering: this was a factory with direct prior experience building lawsuit-era Fender copies for Ibanez, meaning Fender effectively hired the source of some of its own reputational damage to help repair it. The strategy worked - the JV series that launched Fender Japan's production earned broad acclaim for build quality and vintage accuracy, and this ST-57 carries that same restoration-era craftsmanship forward as a faithful recreation of the original 1957 Stratocaster specification.

About Fender as a manufacturer

Built at the Fujigen Gakki factory in Japan as part of Fender Japan, Ltd. - the 1982 joint venture between Fender, Kanda Shokai, Yamano Gakki, and Fujigen Gakki formed specifically to restore Fender's build-quality reputation using the manufacturing expertise of a factory that had previously built lawsuit-era Fender copies for Ibanez.

Notable players & recordings featuring the Fender ST-57 Stratocaster Reissue (MIJ)

No verified professional endorsement ties a specific touring artist to this MIJ reissue model in the sources reviewed for this research round.