Fender Aerodyne Strat "crafted in Japan"

I may trade for a Fender Aerodyne Strat, "crafted in Japan", black with white binding, serial number R0150xx.

Could anyone give me an approximate value for this guitar?

Thanks a million!

I bought one last summer (the only one I've seen in person). I don't like black and I'm not a Strat guy, but I like this one. I just wish the neck was a bit bigger.

http://www.tdpri.com/telephoto/data/523/aero6880.jpg

I think these were available in the USA (North America?) for only 2 years as a limited or special edition. If I remember right they were priced the same as the newer '69 Mustang Ltd that were available at the same time. Above the Thinlines, Classic MIM, and Hwy1's, but below USA Standards.

The new Aerodynes (http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/StratAeCCRT/) don't look as nice to me (colors + pg)

Value now? Sellers advantage:

Semi-rare model
Japan high quality


Tough guess in a used market, but that should give you ideas for a starting point.

A quick look at completed listings on eBay show's them selling regularly for around $400-$500

Thanks very much!

Here's a link to what I did to an areodyne!

http://www.tdpri.com/forum/stratocaster-discussion-forum/111040-just-finished.html

Value now? Sellers advantage:

Semi-rare model
Japan high quality


Tough guess in a used market, but that should give you ideas for a starting point.

I just reread my post and realized that I completely left out the second part of my thought.
The buyers advantage:

It was only imported officially for 2 years - Why?
Not popular? Slow seller? Wrong marketing?
Not quite "Strat" enough?

As far as I know this model is still produced - only for the Japan market. The factory mods wouldn't appeal to the typical Strat buyer. It is pretty, but the pups seem to be low output, the neck is on the thin side, the body is lightweight & non-standard cut. If there was such a thing, I would say it reminds me of a "Custom Shop" Squier Affinity. And I like it.:wink:

There are also the 2 variations on these. The black one I have does have a black pickguard and some are top loaded like the one above. There are a lot of nice finishes in the whole Aerodyne series including transparent FMT styles in Amber, Blue, Red and so on. I really like them. I plan to pick a few more of them up. The Aerodyne series also incluedes the Tele and P&J basses.

Yes, mine is the early version, black without a pg. Then there was black with pg. Now colors with pg.

I could fall for a second one, if the neck was bigger.

I have an Aerodyne Strat and Tele. Both in black w/o pickguard/ The Tele is my #1. The strat plays well, weighs next to nothing and looks good...but I guess I'm just not a Strat guy. My buddies who are strat guys love it.
I'm thinking of selling mine to help fund a Godin Kingpin.

I have been lusting after one of those ever since I sold my MIM strat. I love the black with creme binding. Just a classy look. I played one in a little local store last year and loved it! Very smooth, great tone, nice quality.

I bid on one a couple weeks ago on ebay, but missed - oh well. It went for just over $400 which was actually pretty fair, but I set myself a limit of $400 at the time. I think they're definitely worth $500 in mint condition.

BTW: ReliableFender has a couple bodies and necks that they scavenged that they have marked way too high, IMO. In the neighborhood of $300 - $400 for just the bodies and necks, each.

I just picked up a new (old stock) Aerodyne, black, no pickguard and creme binding. WOW!!! It is a great guitar. After picking it up I spent about an hour setting it up with a set of GHS Boomers (9-46). I set the action and the intonation and off I went. I couldn't believe how low I got the action without any buzz. This guitar plays incredible, sounds better than my USA strat and IMO looks amazing. I have a USA strat (Sienna burst with an incredible maple neck), a MIM strat with the H/S/S pickup configuration and a Frankenstien Tele. Although the neck on my USA is better, the Aerodyne is now my favorite player. Looks, playability and tone......worth twice the amount ($550.00) I paid for it. If you want great playing strat with a little "attitude", I highly recommend the Aerodyne.

Welcome aboard bmrsmonkey. Even though the neck is thin, the Aerodyne is my favorite Strat so far.

Welcome aboard bmrsmonkey. Even though the neck is thin, the Aerodyne is my favorite Strat so far.

yeah aerodyne are great fender japan line.. the differencies is that body is made of basswood not ash or alder used for other fender strat guitars. It is very close to mustang sound which has his body made of basswood as well. If you happend to get a "lucky" piece you can get very decent guitars and very playable one. Mostly necks as mentioned before can be setted for deadly low action which is very comfy to play. They have sound of their own and their are made by TOKAI guys ..what more do you want for 500 bucks. Deffinately better way than Fender MIM.. fretwork and overal QC even better than American standard

Hi folks,

This is what I know about the Fender Japan Aerodynes.

Fender Japan produced a garden variety Aerodyne, in both Strat and Tele configurations, in solid colors. They have basswood bodies and vintage necks, meaning 185mm (7.25") radius and vintage (narrower) fretwire. I believe these guitars were marketed in N. America, and they're usually what you find used. I may have seen a short scale version of this guitar on the racks in Yokohama, but not sure.

Fender Japan also produced (still produce) another version of the Aerodyne stratocaster called the Aerodyne Special. This is a gorgeous guitar produced and sold for domestic consumption in Japan. It has a bound body of 2-piece alder body capped with AAA curly maple top in 4 colors. The pickups are DiMarzio Heavy Drive DCS-2 (not listed in the US DiMarzio catalog). The neck is capped with rosewood, is much wider at the nut, and has a 250mm (9.84") radius with medium jumbo frets. The bridge is a diecast S5D. The Aerodyne Special was produced for about 1 year (2007?) in a SSS configuration. It was not available new last year. This year (2009) Fender Japan reissued it with similar specs except burst colors and a SSH configuration.

I bought an Aerodyne Special Stratocaster in Japan 2 years ago (amber), and it is without a doubt one of the most resonant and delightful guitars I own and have ever played.

BTW... I'm in Calgary too. I had a tremsetter installed a month ago and it is even more incredible now that it stays more in tune on deep bends.

Anyway, hope that sheds some (hopefully correct) light on the Aerodynes from Fender Japan. BTW, a price for a new Aerodyne Special in the store in Japan ranges from about 92,000 to 105,000 yen depending on the store, plus 5% tax.

Looks very similar to the made in korea strats and teles like the FMT HH with the thinner body contour, neck profle and aged white binding...

http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s26/ublazy/103_1941.jpg

I have a Crimson Transparent. Basswood body with flame maple cap (think Tom Anderson although I think the cap is thinner).
Beautifully built ,Killer looks ,Very comfortable and very ordinary ceramic pickups for which I substituted S Duncan Alnico SSL1s

http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s26/ublazy/103_1941.jpg

you can come on stage with that beauty , but you better be wearing something to match...jeans a a t-shirt ain't gonna cut it........maybe a little sharkskin

http://store.contempou.com/images/T644GA.jpg