China Presses Hush Money on Grieving Parents

Yu Tingyun, left, lost his daughter, Yang, in the May earthquake in southwest China, and Huang Lianfen, right, lost a nephew. Ms. Huang holds an agreement that Chinese officials want parents to sign, saying they will not hold protests about collapsed schools.
By EDWARD WONG
Published: July 24, 2008

HANWANG, China — The official came for Yu Tingyun in his village one evening last week. He asked Mr. Yu to get into his car. He was clutching the contract and a pen.

Translation of Contract Given to Parents (.pdf)

The remains of the Dongqi Middle School in Hanwang, China, which collapsed in the May 12 quake, killing at least 240 students.

HANWANG, China — The official came for Yu Tingyun in his village one evening last week. He asked Mr. Yu to get into his car. He was clutching the contract and a pen.

Mr. Yu’s daughter had died in a cascade of concrete and bricks, one of at least 240 students at a high school here who lost their lives in the May 12 earthquake. Mr. Yu became a leader of grieving parents demanding to know if the school, like so many others, had crumbled because of poor construction.

The contract had been thrust in Mr. Yu’s face during a long police interrogation the day before. In exchange for his silence and for affirming that the ruling Communist Party “mobilized society to help us,” he would get a cash payment and a pension.

Mr. Yu had resisted then. This time, he took the pen.

“When I saw that most of the parents had signed it, I signed it myself,” Mr. Yu said softly. A wiry 42-year-old driver, he carries a framed portrait of his daughter, Yang, in his shoulder bag.

Local governments in southwest China’s quake-ravaged Sichuan Province have begun a coordinated campaign to buy the silence of angry parents whose children died during the earthquake, according to interviews with more than a dozen parents from four collapsed schools. Officials threaten that the parents will get nothing if they refuse to sign, the parents say.

Chinese officials had promised a new era of openness in the wake of the earthquake and in the months before the Olympic Games, which begin in August. But the pressure on parents is one sign that officials here are determined to create a facade of public harmony rather than undertake any real inquiry into accusations that corruption or negligence contributed to the high death toll in the quake.

Officials have come knocking on parents’ doors day and night. They are so intent on getting parents to comply that in one case, a mayor offered to pay the airfare of a mother who left the province so she could return to sign the contract, the mother said.

The payment amounts vary by school but are roughly the same. Parents in Hanwang, a river town at the foot of mist-shrouded mountains, said they were being offered the equivalent of $8,800 in cash and a per-parent pension of nearly $5,600.

Flush with tax revenues after two decades of double-digit economic growth, China has used its financial muscle to make Beijing and Shanghai into architectural showcases and to open diplomatic doors in developing nations. At times, the state also acts like a multinational corporation facing a product liability suit, offering money to people with grievances in hopes of defusing protests. Most people, the government assumes, ultimately put profit before principle.

The tactic appears to work, including in the cases of the collapsed schools. Many parents said they signed the contract, even if they were displeased with the terms and still angry at the lack of any real investigation.

“Most of the parents now feel tired of this,” said Liu Guanyuan, 44, whose 17-year-old son died here, along with Mr. Yu’s daughter, in the collapse of Dongqi Middle School. “There’s a Chinese saying: The people sue the government, and the government doesn’t care.”

Officials are also using more traditional arrows in their authoritarian quiver: riot police officers have broken up protests by parents; the authorities have set up cordons around the schools; and officials have ordered the Chinese news media to stop reporting on school collapses. A human rights advocate trying to help some parents, Huang Qi, has been jailed.

Local government leaders have repeatedly promised to get to the bottom of why a staggering 7,000 classrooms collapsed in the quake, killing about 10,000 children. But there is little evidence that they have conducted more than a cursory examination, and there are hints of a cover-up. Even as negotiations with some parents continue, local governments have bulldozed the remains of many schools, appearing to close the door on a full investigation.

The issue remains one of the most delicate facing the Chinese government. Many parents accuse local officials of negligence or corruption during the construction of the schools. Some say they still hope the central government will take action, and they plan to go to Beijing to file petitions after the Olympics.

“We don’t want to get the government in trouble ahead of the Olympics,” Mr. Yu said. “We don’t want to hurt the nation’s image.”

Mr. Yu was among 11 parents and relatives of dead children from Dongqi who met with a reporter on Monday in a teahouse where shirtless men played mah-jongg. They said they were willing to risk talking to journalists in hopes that the central government would take notice.

Last week, Mr. Yu and about 10 parents were detained by the police during a protest. He said he was interrogated at a police station in the nearby city of Deyang for 12 hours, while other parents from the protest, including a pregnant woman, were beaten.

One woman, Huang Lianfen, said, “The local government has threatened us with beatings or punishment.”

Ms. Huang, 33, a factory manager, is the aunt of an 18-year-old boy who died in the Dongqi collapse. She said her brother, the boy’s father, was detained by the police last week and had so far refused to sign the contract.

“We’re asking not only for compensation, but also for justice,” she said.

On Monday, a vice mayor of Deyang, Zhang Jinming, met with the Hanwang parents and delivered the conclusion of his government’s investigation, the parents said. The school, he told them, collapsed solely because of the earthquake. He said the case was now closed.

Government offices in Sichuan Province and Deyang ignored a reporter’s calls seeking comment. A woman at the police headquarters in Deyang said she was unaware of the protest and detentions last week.

The New York Times obtained a copy of the compensation contract offered to parents from Hanwang. It is written as if the parents were appealing to a beneficent ruler for money.

“From now on, under the leadership of the party and the government, we will obey the law and maintain social order,” it says. “We vow resolutely not to take part in any activity that disturbs post-earthquake reconstruction.”

Another section is full of praise for the Communist Party: “Natural disaster is merciless, but the world is full of love. The party and the government reached out their hands to us and mobilized society to help us and alleviate our hardships. In this regard, we sincerely appreciate the help and care from the party, government and society!”

The contract does not state the payment amount, which officials discussed orally, the parents say.

One father, Ye Liangfu, said it was unfair that parents of high school students were not getting more than parents of younger children who died.

“Those parents whose kindergarten children died, they’re young, they can have another child,” he said.

Other parents who said they were asked to sign a contract represented Xinjian Primary School in Dujiangyan, Juyuan Middle School in Juyuan and Fuxin No. 2 Primary School in Mianzhu. Hundreds died in those schools. In each case, as here in Hanwang, buildings around the school remained standing.

“I heard that most of the parents in our school have signed it,” said Wang Lan, whose 8-year-old son died in the Xinjian collapse. “We parents can’t do anything about it. We’re helpless.”

Ms. Wang is staying with an aunt in Guangdong Province. She said in a telephone interview that the mayor of her township near Dujiangyan had called her several times to ask her to fly back by July 25 to sign the contract, which is for $10,000 in cash and an unknown pension amount.

Ms. Wang told the mayor the plane ticket was too expensive.

“If it’s too expensive, I’ll pay back the money to you when you return, even with my own money,” the mayor said, according to Ms. Wang. He even offered to send a car to the airport to pick her up, she said.

“I think the higher government must have placed a lot of pressure on the lower government,” Ms. Wang said. “They’re very nervous and pressed us so urgently to sign the paper.”

Ms. Wang said she was told that the ruins of Xinjian Primary School would be cleared away by Aug. 1.

Other schools have already suffered that fate. On Saturday, the remains of Fuxin No. 2 Primary School were cleared out, said Zhang Longfu, whose daughter died there.

“All the parents from the school have signed the agreement, although we’re not very satisfied with it,” Mr. Zhang said. “We’re still thinking of petitioning later.”

Several Fuxin parents declined to meet for interviews, a sign of how effective the government’s intimidation tactics have been. Those parents were once among the most vocal protesters. A photograph of several of them carrying portraits of their dead children and yelling at a kneeling government official became an intensely resonant image after the earthquake.

The parents from Hanwang say they are also worried that the Dongqi school will be torn down before a real investigation is conducted.

Before sunset on Monday, Mr. Yu walked along a river running past the eastern wall of the school compound. Peering over the wall, one could see piles of bricks and concrete all over the ground. He pointed out the few standing ruins of the main building. His daughter’s classroom had been on the fourth floor.

He said she had lived for two days after being buried alive, like some other students. She had even called out to him.

“We could hear them under the rubble,” he said. “We passed them milk and water, but it was no use.”

He smoked and stared at the debris.

Would the parents try protesting again? he was asked.

“We don’t dare,” he said.

Huang Yuanxi contributed research.

"Blue" - a 1985 Memphis Strat Copy

Blue... my first electric guitar. She ain't purty, she ain't expensive, she ain't rare, and she wasn't always named Blue ... but she was my first.

In 1985, I was 15 years old and was taking guitar lessons down at Dale City Music, in Dale City, Virginia. I had been taking the lessons since June, and for Christmas I was asking for an electric guitar. After all, you can't be in a rock band with a classical guitar, can you? Not in 1985, you couldn't.

When Christmas came, there she was. A deep metallic blue with a bright white pickguard. I don't remember anything else from Christmas that year; that guitar was enough. You couldn't have gotten it out of my hands.

I played it constantly... after school, after dinner, forever. I carried it the three miles that it took me to walk to guitar lessons every week, and didn't mind.

It should be noted that the guitar was not always named "Blue". One of my first band-mates, Jason Griffin, told me that a lot of people name their guitars. He had a Danelectro that belonged to his Dad, and had named it "Dan". I had also learned recently that the British call a piece of wood for the fire a "fag", and so, thinking that the guitar would also make good firewood, named the guitar "Fag". This name stuck until my first daughter asked me what the guitar's name was (this must have been around 1994, when she started talking) and I had to come up with a name other than "Fag". I asked her what she wanted to name it, and being a two-year old, she said "Blue". That's the name that the guitar has had ever since.

I did some pretty stupid things with this guitar, I'm sorry to say.

When I was still 15, I took the whole thing apart (just to see what was inside). I lost some parts, and poor Bob Parker at the music store had to put it back together. I took it to him in pieces - electronics were in a ziplock bag! He had to call all over Northern Virginia to find screws for the pickups that would match the threads.

When I was 16, I drilled a hole for a locking strap nut, and that split the wood because I had never heard of drilling a pilot hole. I also got some pinstriping from the journalism class at school and tried to tape up a design that was a cross between the letter 'A' (for Auld) and Eddie Van Halen's stripe design. I left it this way for about a year. I have some black-and-white photo negatives with this design.

About this time was the terrible arm-breaking incident, and it's not what you think. This is gross, so if you're watching a young person read this on the internet, fair warning: read this first and then decide for yourself if they're ready for it.

What happened was this: my friend Quentin Chirdon, who was in a band with me at the time, had boasted to a keyboardist of a rival band (see the comments on "Dawn at Dusk" here) that he could outplay the guy. Somehow, he accepted (or instigated) a challenge to a keyboard duel. Now, the idea of a keyboard duel in 1986 sounds pretty funny to me now, but I can tell you that at the time, Quentin was scared white. First of all, he stank on the keyboard, and he knew it. He was able to figure out basic rock songs, but would get killed if any improv started up. Secondly, this 'duel' was supposed to be in front of the love of his life, a girl that I can barely remember. I think her name was Cheryl.

The point is, that Quentin decided that it would be better to somehow forfeit the duel rather than lose it. One of us got the incredibly stupid idea that if he was to break his arm, the duel wouldn't happen. (We were pretty stupid 16-year-olds, right?) So, what we decided on was this: Quentin wanted me to break his arm. He actually braced his arm between two chairs and asked me to hit it with something big and heavy. What did I have that was big and heavy? You guessed it: the blue guitar called Fag.

It's hard for me to think about this now without cringing, but I actually did raise the guitar up and come down on his arm. I think I was afraid to hit it with too much force - I think I was afraid of amputating the arm or something. We didn't know anything back then - you know, you can die from this kind of thing, right? Bone fragments in the blood stream, a piece of bone protruding from the skin, broken arteries, etc.

What ended up happening was that Quentin's arm was severely sprained. The duel didn't happen, and this has to count as one of the most utterly stupid and irresponsible things I have ever done in my life. How any of us survived childhood, I'll never know.

When I was 17, I had Bob replace the bridge pickup with a "Seymour Duncan '59" humbucker that I got from Todd, my guitar teacher. That wasn't a stupid idea, that was agreat idea. What tone... I eventually had the pickup moved into Blondie (but that's a different story on another guitar...)

I also drilled into the wooden area above the nut, and installed a lock for the strings - a dumb thing to do considering I ended up playing without tremolo.

When I was 18, I had Bob replace the white pickguard with a Union Jack pickguard. There was no benefit to this other than that I thought it looked cool. Bob did the work, shaking his head "at kids these days." This was also about the time that I first blocked the floating bridge. I read about Eric Clapton using a piece of wood to 'block' the floating tremolo, and asked Bob about it. "Sure," he said. When I got it back from him, it seemed to me that the guitar had a more solid tone to it. It also finally stayed in tune. I took a Bic pen and wrote "Blockhead" on the piece of plywood.

This was about the time when I played Blue (and Blondie in a band called Toxic Shock. The times I spent with this band, as well as with 'friends of the band', are part of why this guitar is so important to me. I'm a sentimental guy.

Here's Blue with the Union Jack, circa Fall, 1989.

At age 20, in 1990, I moved with all of my guitars to Florida. I started going to church in January of 1991 (Gulf War, remember?) and for about a year, the electrics just sat in guitar stands in my apartment. No band, no playing out, nothing.

In '92 I started playing acoustic guitar in the church. I was back to that same classical guitar that I was playing in 1985. After about a year of that, I started taking the electric to the church. I can say that this was a stretch for the Lutherans, but I took it slow and didn't crank the jams up too quickly. In fact, we kept it mellow for quite a while, I'd say up until about 1995.

In '95, we moved the church (twice, actually) and one Sunday afternoon, I was taking my guitars out back along with my little two-year old daughter. I put the little girl into her car seat in the front of my '87 Jeep Wrangler, and went around and got into the driver's side. Fired up the engine, put 'er in reverse, and... ==CRUNCH!!!==.

I then realized that I had backed over Blue, which was in a cardboard carrying case, the same case I had carried those three miles to guitar lessons ten years before. Sweating, heart racing, stomach churning, I got out, opened the case, and one of my worst fears confronted me: the front pickguard, and all of the electronics, were completely caved in. I closed my eyes, and focused on breathing...

After I got Blue home to assess the damange, I could see the good side: 1. (as my wife pointed out) I ran over the guitar, not the baby. 2.) the neck of the guitar was not broken. If I had driven over that, it would have snapped.

I put the guitar in a closet "until I could fix it" and got out Blondie, tuned her up, and took her to church.

Blue sat in that closet for four years.

Let's fast-forward to 1999. I had been working at Motorola for a couple of years, and had met Mitchell Weissman, who is probably the most under-appreciated and unknown genius in the world of guitar repair. Mitch has worked on guitars for Bo Diddly, the guys from Anthrax & many others. I told Mitch about Blue sitting in the closet, and he said, "Yeah, bring it and let me see what we can do."

Mitch knew of a place where you can order pre-wired pickguards for Strats. We orered a white pickguard with three single-coil pickups, and for under $100 Mitch had the guitar back in shape. Mitch also miraculously fixed the joint where the strap lock was splitting the wood, and where I had drilled holes in the neck. I'm telling you now that Mitch works miracles with guitars.

Blue, now fully restored to her origninal, stock configuration, is one of three guitars that I rely on for weekly playing at the church. And now that we're past the year 2005, she's 20 years old: a true classic.

Bill Monroe's Cherished Mandolin Finds a Home at the Hall of Fame

The "most famous mandolin ever played," as one admirer described it, now resides at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. Philanthropist Robert W. "Bob" McLean donated Bill Monroe's 1923 Gibson F-5 model instrument to the Museum during a Tuesday
(Sept. 13 2005) ceremony in Nashville.

The donation coincided with the 94th anniversary of Monroe's birth and the 60th anniversary of the founding of his legendary band, the Blue Grass Boys, which gave the name to an entire genre of music. Monroe died Sept. 9, 1996.


Robert McLean (right) at the Unveiling

The precious instrument, designed by Lloyd Loar, has had both an inspiring and a troubled history. Its quality added a dimension and sound to Monroe's music he had never achieved before, but it has been scarred and crushed by violent emotions and was lately the object of a fierce legal battle.

Monroe's friends and fans packed the Museum's Ford Theater to pay tribute to the Father of Bluegrass and hear Ricky Skaggs and his band, Kentucky Thunder, play several of Monroe's classics. Among the onlookers were Monroe's son, James, Earl Scruggs (who revolutionized banjo playing as an early member of the Blue Grass Boys), Vince Gill, Brenda Lee, Tony Conway (Monroe's longtime friend and talent agent) and Nashville Mayor Bill Purcell.

Although the donation had not been officially announced, many in the audience noticed the battered mandolin case lying open and empty on a table beside the stage. When Skaggs came on stage holding the distinctively shaped and scratched instrument, it became apparent this was more than the "birthday celebration" that had been publicized.


Ricky Skaggs pulls the instrument out

Skaggs opened the loosely scripted proceedings with "Mother's Not Dead." Then the Museum's executive director, Kyle Young, announced that this event was "one of the most important occasions in the history of country music." He confirmed Skaggs had been playing the music pioneer's mandolin and told how Monroe had purchased the Gibson at a barbershop in Florida for $150 around 1945.

Noting that Monroe had last played it on March 15, 1996, at the Grand Ole Opry, shortly before suffering a stroke, Young added, "Occasionally, like today, it will be heard again." He explained that the Museum, which has no acquisition fund, could not have secured the mandolin without the intervention of an "angel," whom he quickly identified as McLean. "I can't help it," he added, "but I think the arrival of this mandolin here was providential."

In 2001, the Bill Monroe Foundation attempted to buy the mandolin to be used as the centerpiece of a museum to be erected at Monroe's birthplace at Rosine, Ky. The prize was owned at the time by James Monroe, who priced it at $1.125 million. The foundation put a 10 percent down payment on the mandolin but was never able to pay the remainder. The Ohio County Industrial Foundation in Kentucky then sought to purchase the instrument in Kentucky for display at another museum. Ultimately, the matter went to court, but a sale was never finalized.

Last year, McLean presented the Museum with Mother Maybelle Carter's equally historic 1928 Gibson L-5 guitar, which a vintage guitar dealer had priced at $575,000. At the time, McLean observed, "This Museum couldn't have bought this guitar. They can't purchase Bill Monroe's Loar mandolin either. But this is where they both belong. They belong here because the soul of America lives here with them."

Young said the purchase agreement on the mandolin had been reached in June but added that the instrument had not arrived at the Museum until earlier Tuesday. He said details of the agreement will be kept private but noted later that Conway was closely involved with achieving the deal.

Alluding to the mandolin in his brief remarks, McLean noted, "It's playing music that tells a good story." He went on to cite a gallery of artists Monroe influenced -- from Skaggs to Alison Krauss to Dolly Parton to such mandolin adventurers as Sam Bush and Nickel Creek's Chris Thile. Explaining his zeal to donate the instrument, he added, "When no one owns it, everyone can own it." He said he worried about all the cultural treasures lost in Hurricane Katrina and implored young artists to think about donating their prize instruments when they reach the end of their careers. "Happy birthday, Maestro Monroe," he concluded.

James Monroe, speaking in a voice uncannily similar to his father's, recalled being taken to the Opry when he was a boy and of adjusting to his father's absences while he was on the road. He introduced his lawyers who had helped him conclude the transfer.

"The most compelling thing to me today," said Gill when he addressed the crowd, "was the sound of James' voice. ... I think we heard your daddy speaking." Gill continued, "People still talk about [Monroe], still tell stories." And he had one of his own to tell. He said he was "out at the Opry" early in his career when he got into a backstage jam session with Monroe and some others. When the session was over, Gill said, Monroe inquired, "Where's your wife, boy?" Gill recalled, "I said, I think she's home in bed,' and he said, 'You're not feeding her right, boy.'"

Later, one of Monroe's paramours became angry at him and smashed the mandolin into splinters with a fireplace poker, Gill continued. "So I called him and said, 'Doesn't look like you're feeding her right, boy.'" Fortunately, a Gibson craftsman, Charles Derrington, was able to repair the instrument by gluing the 500 or so fragments together -- and without diminishing the sound quality.



Gill also related how, in a fit of anger against Gibson, Monroe took a pocketknife and gouged out the company's nameplate. "That's the beauty of this mandolin," Gill said. "It's the Holy Grail. Most musicians think it's in the New Testament. And it ought to be."

When he and his band returned to the stage, Skaggs explained the mandolin was really Monroe's "partner." He explained that he had researched Monroe's recording history and that the master had written and recorded only two instrumental compositions before he bought the charmed instrument. (They were "Tennessee Blues" and "Honky Tonk Swing.") Afterward, Skaggs said, he wrote "countless hundreds" of instrumentals. "This was sweet to his ears. This was what pulled me away from my toys."

Skaggs said he got his first mandolin when he was 5 years old and was soon playing at local churches and stores in and around Martha, Ky. When Monroe came to town for a show a year or so later, the homefolks shouted that he should let "Little Ricky Skaggs" play a tune. Skaggs says Monroe lifted him up on stage by one arm and asked, "What do you play, son?" When the youngster muttered that he played mandolin, Monroe took off his Gibson, adjusted the strap and let the boy have a go at it.

But it wasn't an entirely benign encounter, Skaggs noted. "He then sets me off the stage and does his most popular tune -- 'Muleskinner Blues' -- just to show me up."



Skaggs then resumed the music at Tuesday's ceremony, playing "It's Mighty Dark to Travel" and "Toy Heart." He related he once asked Monroe, "Mr. Bill, what does it take to be a good mandolin player?" He said Monroe got a faraway look in his eye, thought for a moment and said, "Well, boy, you've just got to whip it like a mule." So saying, Skaggs applied that advice to a supercharged version of "Bluegrass Breakdown," which earned him a standing ovation. He followed it with the ever-popular "Uncle Pen."

At the end of the ceremony, Young presented McLean with a plaque of appreciation. And the Grascals joined Skaggs and his band for a scorching romp through the Monroe showpiece, "Rawhide."

More Than Just What's Required

On Jul 17, 2008 7:13 AM, Leonard Jones wrote:

When I was in music school I bought a dictation machine that used regular cassette tapes to learn the solos from people I wanted to play like. People like John McLaughlin, Jean Luc Ponty, Larry Carlton. I would painstakingly transcribe their lightning fast solos by slowing the tape down.

Problem was, it put the songs in a different key, so I would also have to transpose them up to the original key. I got zero credit for this in school, but I was the best player there.

When I am looking for someone to pour into; that is one of the traits I look for, someone who does more than what’s required.

The Fender Japan Story

From Fender Stratocasters: Made in Japan

The Fender Stratocaster is arguably the most popular electric guitar design ever. Almost certainly it is the most copied. The copies had always been considerably cheaper than the 'real thing', but by the early 1980's they were also often of a high standard. Bad news for Fender who, under CBS ownership, had let standards slip. Fender's reputation and market share were waning.

In 1981, a new management team at Fender, largely recruited from Yamaha's American operation, decided on a two pronged attack. They would address quality control via a program of reinvestment and staff training in the US, and at the same time hit the copyists in their home market by producing Fender guitars in Japan.

Following negotiations with two Japanese distribution companies, Kanda Shokai and Yamano Music, Fender Japan was established in March 1982. Fender held 38 percent of the stock, occupied three of the six board seats and, of course, owned the all important product licenses. Fuji Gen-Gakki, best known for building Ibanez brand guitars, was chosen to build Fender Japan instruments.

Back in the USA, in an effort to rediscover what had made Fender's reputation, the company went to vintage dealers and took measurements from production instruments built before CBS's 1965 purchase of Fender. They even spent $5600 buying a '57 Precision bass, '60 Jazz bass and a '61 Strat. Both the US factory at Fullerton and Fender Japan set about producing vintage reissues - in fact, the Japanese were the first to succeed and the superb quality of their instruments resulted in the famous quote by Dan Smith, Director of Marketing, Electric Guitars at the time: "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."

Originally, the idea had been for Fender Japan to produce guitars for their home market. However, when Fender's European distributors called for budget Fenders to compete with the flood of oriental imports effecting their sales, a range of lower price guitars was launched under the Squier brand. Squier guitars are outside the scope of this site- suffice it to say that they are a good buy for the price, with early Japanese-made instruments being of particularly good quality.

In 1984, CBS decided to get out of the musical instrument business and sold Fender to an investment group led by Bill Schultz, the incumbent President of Fender Musical Instruments. The Fullerton factory was not part of the deal, and US production ceased in February 1985. Towards the end of that year a new factory was established at nearby Corona, California, but for a while the 'new' Fender Musical Instruments Corporation (FMIC) pretty much relied upon Japanese production. In fact it has been estimated that as many as 80% of the guitars sold in the US between late 1984 and mid-86 were sourced from Fender Japan.

Although Fender Japan still exists, their guitars (aside from a very few special models which do not conflict with the existing US/Mexican range) are no longer officially exported to the US or Europe. Those markets are catered for by Fender's US and Mexican factories.

Because of their justly deserved reputation for quality, the many Japanese instruments floating around on the secondhand market, particularly the Stratocasters, are becoming very sought after and made an excellent addition to any collection.

An Old Stratocaster Comes Home

When I was 17 years old, I went with my friend Wes to an annual guitar sale at Veneman's Music Store, up in Rockville Maryland. The deals were always so great at the annual "May Day Sale" that we camped out over night in his Subaru Brat to get in line before they opened.

Early the next morning, we were in line as store employees passed around a flyer stating what they had on sale, and at what prices. I was there to buy my first 'real guitar' - I wanted a name-brand, quality guitar. I had been playing a budget knockoff guitar for two years and wanted something nice. I looked through what they had, and picked out a "Fender Contemporary Stratocaster" that was on sale for $400, down from $750. This was to be my first professional-grade guitar. In 1987, you could get pretty nice stuff for that kind of money, and this was a really nice stratocaster. Although it was 1987, this particular guitar was made in 1985, and had probably been sitting on Veneman's shelf for two years. 1985 was the first run of guitars made by Fender in Japan (see below for details on this run of guitars).

Fast forward 7 years ...

In 1994, I needed an acoustic guitar to play at church, something practical that could plug into the soundboard. I went to this big guitar fair that they used to hold every year here in Florida. I traded away that Fender, a Yamaha 12 string acoustic guitar and a Kramer bass guitar for a Gibson electric-acoustic that I could plug in and play on stage at church.

The store that I did the trade with was Ed's Music, from Miami.

I have always wondered what happened to that Fender. Who did Ed's sell it to? Did they take care of it, or trash it? Was it being played and loved, or was someone who knew nothing about it just leaving it to sit in a closet somewhere? I had no way of knowing, until last week.

Someone reported a thread for some problem or other at the guitar website at which I'm a moderator. I went to the thread in question, fixed whatever was the problem, and then on a whim, I read through the rest of the thread.

I saw several guitars that this guy in Orlando has listed for sale, and one of them was a dead ringer for my old Fender.

At this point, I was about 50% sure it was my old guitar.

It was a unique combination of features and colors for a guitar. A humbucker pickup in the bridge with a toggle switch to split it into a single coil. That funky locking nut Fender used to use.

It had the same combination of pickguard color, paint job, bridge type, nut type, pickup combination, was located geographically in a spot in the country close to where I let it go, and the serial number has the same "E" prefix that mine had- E540593.

It had the same knocks on the paint on the headstock that I caused as a teenager. I think it is a common blemish that a lot of guitars get -- but it's just one more thing pointing to 'same guitar'. Having the same configuration, the same serial prefix and geographically close (Orlando) all led me to be pretty sure this is my old guitar.

Side diversion:

Fender guitars have serial numbers that tell you the year made ... the first letter represents the decade. "E" means "Eighty" .. "N" means "Ninety" and "Z" means "Two-thousand-and..."

So an E7xxxx guitar was made in 1987. A N9xxxx would be made in 1999. A Z3xxxx was made in 2003.

But Made-In-Japan Fender guitars are a little different. Normally, the 'MIJ' serial numbers do not follow the standard prefix format.

Fender started manufacturing guitars in Japan around 1982. Mid-decade Fender Japan E series serial numbers from 1984-1987 follow the American Fender serial number format of E = eighties and the first digit of the serial number representing the year. For example E6XXXXX = 1986.

Like was said previously, made-In-Japan Fender guitars are a little different. Normally, the 'MIJ' serial numbers do not follow the standard prefix format. However, the Fender USA serial format was used on the Fender Japan E series (1984 - 1987), possibly because Fender was undergoing a transitional period within their corporate structure - a consortium of Fender employees was buying their company back from CBS, who had bought it from Leo Fender twenty years before.

However, it is generally accepted that E4 guitars through E7 guitars could be made anywhere between 1984 and 1987. You cannot rely on an E7 Japanese guitar being 1987; it could be anywhere in the 1984-1987 range.

Back to this particular guitar:

The seller of this guitar, Shane, was asking $425. I made contact and started asking questions, and let him know that I am pretty sure it is the guitar I let go 14 years ago.

After some back and forth discussion he made it known that if I decided I wanted it, he could be flexible with the price, maybe hoping to get some good karma for getting her back to her original owner. "If this was yours, it is pretty amazing that it has showed up," Shane wrote.

I think it's a pretty cool story - to find my old guitar, still in good condition, 14 years later. I looked all over for some photos of me with the guitar before I let it go, hoping to find the serial number, but no luck, no photos.

Finding Meaning

Let's look at this as if this were somehow something the Lord was trying to communicate through. Let's think about what the interpretation is? What might God be saying/indicating?

Restoration of something lost?

A return of things that were once given up? Traded away? Swapped for convenience and practicality?

I traded away a guitar I really, really liked in order to get a practical guitar for ministry 'work'. 14 years later, that guitar 'just happened' to show up in a for-sale ad that I responded to a report on, at a time when I can pick it up while returning from a conference in Fort Mill where the speakers kept reiterating that God is restoring all things? That does not sound like a coincidence to me.

(Re-)Acquisition

Last night on my drive back from Fort Mill, I stopped at the exit to FL Highway 50 and met up with Shane and paid for the guitar on the front porch of the Cracker Barrel restaurant.

Holding the guitar I became positive this is in fact my old guitar. It's got the same dings I put in the bottom shoulder near the output jack. The only difference in the guitar is the result of age - the pewter metallic paint has started to oxidize and turn a slightly greenish hue, similar to the way some of the old Les Paul goldtops did but with silver instead of gold. I think it's a really cool color now, like metallic-corroded silver or something.

And now it's back home.



The guitar as it appeared in Shane's ad. Click to enlarge.




Some history on the Fender Contemporary MIJ Stratocaster (wikipedia):

The Fender Contemporary models were the first Fender Japan models to be named Fender Stratocasters or Telecasters. The previous Fender Japan models were all Fender Squier models.

The Fender Contemporary models were manufactured from 1984 to 1987 by FujiGen Gakki and these Stratocasters were designed to be Superstrats (Super Strat) with a Floyd Rose-like bridge designed by Schaller (and Gotoh) and humbucking pickups. There was a lower priced Fender Contemporary Squier model produced as well. The Fender Contemporary Stratocaster and Telecaster models were part of the Fender Japan E series model range.

When CBS sold Fender to its current owners in 1984 there was a transitional period from 1984 to 1987 with limited Fender USA production resulting in mostly Fender Japan and leftover stock being sold. There are also Fender Contemporary Telecaster models with HSS (Humbucker-Single-Single) or HH pickup configurations and switches for selecting pickup options. The Fender Contemporary Telecaster models used the same tremolo systems as the Fender Contemporary Stratocaster models.

These MIJ Contemporary Stratocasters and Telecasters are not to be confused with a run of USA-made Contemporary Stratocasters, which were totally different than the original Japanese models in terms of features and construction. These shortlived American-made models were made by the Fender Custom Shop in the mid-1990s.

The MIJ Contemporary Stratocaster came with several bridge types.

The System II tremolo system was designed by John Page, Chip Todd and Charlie Gressett. The System III tremolo system was designed by John Page, Dan Smith, Charlie Gressett and John Carruthers. Both bridges were manufactured in Germany by Schaller.

All of the pickups used on the Contemporary models are Alnico and not ceramic pickups. The humbucking pickups used in the Contemporary models have a DC resistance which is approximately 7.6 kilo-ohms. The single coil pickups used in the Contemporary models have a DC resistance which is approximately 5.6 kilo-ohms. The Contemporary models that use a TBX tone control use 500 kO volume pots and use 0.022 µF tone capacitors.

Fender Japan used five different types of body woods on their guitars: Alder, Basswood, Ash, with 3 different variations of the latter: Light Weight Ash, Northern Hard Ash and Sen. The guitar I bought is either Basswood (likely) or Northern Hard Ash (possible).

Side Note 2:

The vast, and I mean vast, majority of these will have a basswood bodies. By the way, some vendors have, oddly, started to describe basswood as Japanese alder. It isn't. Basswood and Japanese alder are two distinctly different types of wood as a quick search on Google will reveal. There is nothing wrong with basswood but it certainly isn't Japanese alder.

Anyway, although most export Strats were basswood there are a very few exceptions: the Hank Marvin Signature and natural finish '68 Strats for instance. But, JV serials excluded, I have never yet come across an imported 54/57 or 62 Strat with anything other than a basswood body. They might exist, I have just never come across one except in the dreams of hopeful Ebay vendors. I have also never come across one of these imported guitars with a body finished in anything other than poly.

Again, with the exception of JV serial guitars, I have never come across an official import Strat or Tele with anything other than Japanese pickups. There seem to be two basic types. The 'vintage' style alnico magnet type which can be identified by have staggered poles, and the lower spec ceramic magnet type which do not have staggered poles.

I frequently see on Ebay what are, I am sure, ordinary import guitars with basswood bodies, Japanese pups and poly finishes, described as being either alder bodied, or US pickup loaded - or both! Giving the vendors the benefit of the doubt (if I really must), it is probable that they looked up the specification of current non-export models and thought their guitar must be same. [1]

Northern Hard Ash, which Fender Japan refers to as "White Ash", is open-grained, porous in areas and is the heaviest/most dense of the five woods used in Japan. It is common for hard Ash bodied guitars to weight 9 lbs and sometimes over 10 lbs. Has a nice grain pattern for non-opaque paint finishes, and is used for Fender Japan's '67 Reissue Telecaster among others.

According to Warmoth, maker of guitar bodies and necks, Northern Hard Ash is very hard, heavy and dense. An empty Northern Ash Strat body will normally weigh 5 lbs. and up. Its density contributes to a bright tone and a long sustain which makes it very popular.

Also: Read this history of Fender's relationship with Japanese manufacturing.

I'm Back

I'm back from my trip to Fort Mill. I'll write more as I get more time later, but for now, let me just say that accidentally taking a similar-looking and similar-sounding (but incorrect!) exit can radically change your trip.









I did get to see a nice part of South Carolina that I've never been to before. They've got an Air Force Base out there (Shaw), and I crossed the Lynches River - twice.

I figured out my mistake right around Camden - you can see it on the map - and remembered that line from Peter Schmidt's Oblique Strategies: "Was it really a mistake?" At the next rest area I looked at the map and figured it was not far enough out of the way to bother me, and the side trip could prove interesting / fruitful. Did you know their rest areas are set up as monuments to America's War on Terror?

Turned out to be a nice drive through South Carolina's Plantation country.

More later.

Guitars, Guitars, Guitars

I have had so many guitars over the years. I thought that it would be a good idea (and fun, too) to create written appreciations (with pictures, of course) of my guitars. That's what you have here.

Click on one of the guitars below to learn more about it.

• Blondie, a 1979 Memphis Les Paul copy
• Ruby, a 1998 Fender American Deluxe Ash Stratocaster
• Blue, a 1985 Memphis Strat Copy
• Red, a 1994 Ibanez Acoustic PR7
• Yamaha, a 1990's Dreadnought Acoustic
• Pewter, a 1985 Fender Contemporary MIJ Stratocaster
• Agile, a 2006 Agile Les Paul Copy
• Iced Tea, a 1994 Epiphone Les Paul
  

The Furnace