Extrad and Custom Edition Fender Stratocasters and Telecasters Made in Japan


ST57 in Two tone Sunburst

Fender Extrad Guitars

Stands for Extra Traditional. The range of guitars known as Extrad are high quality models intended to be very close replicas of vintage guitars.

Extrad and Custom Edition initial thoughts

There is a lot of speculation and comment about Extrad and Custom Edition Guitars and a lot is wrong or just guesses. I will include some speculation on these pages, but will tell you what is speculation, otherwise it is facts from official sources or as close as we can get. We know that the first Extrads appear in the 1986 Twang as part of the collectors editions. The first bit of speculation from me based on what is known is about these being made in the Japan Custom shop. Exactly when Makoto (Nick) Sugimoto set up the custom shop is not clear, but best evidence suggests around 1987, this would mean that the early Extrads were not made in the custom shop. This isn't a surprise Fuji were more than capable of making guitars of this quality, they made the JVs. The first Extrads 1986 and 1987 didn't have the Extrad mark but did have a certificate of authenticity. So it could be that those made in the custom shop have the mark and the other early ones had the COA. Just speculation. A point to note is that certificates of authenticity sometimes called certificates of merit were issued with some guitars right up to 1994.

There is a lot of debate about whether or not to call the Custom Edition Extrads and indeed Fender Japan did do at times indeed the 1992 Twang shows the Extrad offer with the Custom Edition Logo. However as you will see later the Custom Edition range is very varied and has some guitars more expensive than the Extrads and some quite low priced guitars, it cannot be right to call all Custom Editions Extrad but probably right for some of them model numbers are probably the best guide.

Here are some examples of COAs

this is from a 1991 and refers to an ST62-1100 a model which probably doesn't exist anywhere else

This is from an ST62-140 sold by TC Gakki

A TL52-120

Another TL52 certificate is in Japanese

Order Made and Semi Order

At times (see later) you had a choice of body woods and around 1988 a semi order system was in place and a customer could vary the details of their Extrad by body wood and colour etc. This was part of the custom shop setup.
This is different from Order made guitars which appear throughout Fender Japan's existence. Order made does not mean Custom shop though some are custom shop, some are not. See separate page on this site for more order made info.


This 62 In Fiesta Red would be the result of the semi order system

The early models in more detail

Inevitably I will already have covered some of these guitars on other parts of my site but they are included here as "part of the story" The 1986 Twang introduces three Strats and a Tele as the Extrad range, the Strats are priced at ¥140000 and the Tele at ¥120000
The initial offering was three Strats and a Tele The Strats were ST54-140, ST57-140 and ST62-140 at ¥140000 the 140 was at various times different as prices varied
The Telecaster was a TL52-120 at ¥120000 and again the 120 became various other numbers, as prices varied.
There is a mention of a TL62 Extrad model priced the same as the TL52 this is not the TL62B which shows up later in the Custom Edition models. That has a much lower price and a Basswood body
These were all Nitro finish described just as Lacquer in the catalogues and as there are various types of Nitrocellulose this one may well be different from the original USA Nitro finishes.
They were vintage specs american made vintage style pickups vintage style bridges etc. Originally the bodies of these guitars were Lightweight Ash but fairly soon came in a choice of Premium Alder or Lightweight Ash. The Alder Version was ¥10000 cheaper. In 1986 at approximately £730 this was considerably more than a Fullerton AVRI
I am not going to list the full specs of these models if you want to know these then: For the Strats go to Antonio's site Fuzzfaced
For the Teles I shall shortly be updating my TL52 and TL62 pages.

Transition from Extrad to Custom Edition


In the 1992 catalogue the Extrad Section featured the Custom Edition logo see below
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In the 1992 catalogue only 2 models are shown in the Custom Edition section a Telecaster and a Strat ST54 only the strat is described as an Extrad order model.
In the 1993 catalogue a whole range of guitars was featured under a section styled Custom Edition. Further models were included until 1994 when they stopped appearing. As previously mentioned some of these were more expensive than the Extrads and some were relatively inexpensive. Some of them are even Floyd Rose models so definitely not Extra Traditional
A look at some markings



Here are the standard Extrad and Custom Edition marks placement and style is fairly consistent but there may be some variations.

Now some neck and neck pocket markings

Standard Marks for a TL62-120 The circled S is often seen on Extrads

This is from an ST57-140 note the STS again often seen on Extrads maybe "special" who knows


In 1992 there were 40th Anniversary Extrads a Strat and a Tele they had commemorative neckplate


From a TL52 again note TLS and the red S

And another

Some misc. interior details

An ST57-140


Two different ST62s

The TL62 shown below is clearly an Extrad perhaps a one off order made or the TL62 referred to in the price list It is certainly different to the TL62 Custom Edition model
It is a premium Alder Nitro finished body and dates from 1990



The next pages will take us on to the Custom Edition Models in More detail Link is
Custom Editions