Perhaps one of the biggest talking points regarding the Fender company’s history through the latter half of the 1980s, is the move in production of the Squier guitar range from Japan to Korea.

What I find most interesting of all, is the extremity of opposing views on the early Korean Squier Stratocasters, first produced in 1987.

Much of what’s written about the guitars on the Internet comes from people who’ve acquired them secondhand, within the fairly recent past.

Some say they were excellent; some say they were absolute rubbish.

Very few guitars have polarised opinion in quite such a fashion on the basis of their quality.

For the most part, collectors are only interested in the Stratocasters manufactured before CBS bought the company in 1965.

These pre-CBS Strats are relatively easy to identify by looking at the serial number on the metal plate on the guitar’s back, where the neck is attached.