Fenders Made In Brazil

[Doctor J]

Here's one you may not know about, which I just stumbled across. It appears FMIC licenced instruments under the Fender brand in the early 90's, to be made in sunny Brazil, which were known as the Southern Cross series. Despite the shonky looking headstocks and cheapo parts, these things appear to be legit.

 

https://www.fuzzfaced.net/southern-cross-stratocaster-en.html

 

Edited December 22, 2023 by Doctor J

[wateroftyne]

Well I never. Every day's a school day...!

[nige1968]

Ick.

[Jono Bolton]

18 hours ago, Doctor J said:

 

 

Is that a Coronado headstock?

[Marc S]

I'd never heard of these. Always worth knowing of such rarities.

Thanks for sharing 

[tauzero]

And this is why Fender should have made headless basses.

[Bassassin]

That's properly interesting. Same era as the made in India FMIC-licensed Sunn Mustangs (which were sold as Squier II in some territories), and also when Fender started production in Mexico.

 

Wondered if the factory was Giannini before I read the article - they're well-known (in some quarters!) for their very nice quality Rickenbacker 4001 copies, and also made Fender clones (called 'Stratosonic'!) in the 70s/80s era. It's odd that they used that wonky headstock shape on licensed instruments, but I wonder if that's what they were tooled up to make already?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 26, 2023 by Bassassin

[Rib13Bass]

Precursor to Tajima maybe?

[nilorius]

I wonder how good they are and how much would MIB jazz cost now?

[Doctor J]

They were shite.

[nilorius]

3 minutes ago, Doctor J said:

They were shite.

Just.....or very, very much ??? 😊

[Bassassin]

On 24/12/2023 at 21:45, Rib13Bass said:

Precursor to Tajima maybe?

 

Had to Google that one. Looks like Tagima was founded in '86 so would have been a contemporary of Giannini during production of Brazilian Fenders. They're still around now.

 

[rocco sigfredi]

i southern cross jazz bass non sono assolutamente una merda, i primi, quelli del 1991/92 montavano pick up Fender e potenziometri 250k CTS, i legni erano gli stessi dei fender u.s.a. e solo dopo, nel 93, per ammorbidire i costi e adeguarli al mercato brasiliano cominciarono a usare elettronica coreana e legni di cedro.

[miles'tone]

On 26/12/2023 at 16:17, nilorius said:

How much would MIB jazz cost now?

Your memory?