These guitars were made only for one year, with every part being produced in the U.S. as usual, then shipped to Mexico for assembly. Note the "California Series" on the headstock. This particular one is a fantastic player's Strat, so it needed a fret dress and some minor soldering repair.
The lacquer on the neck and fretboard is showing typical signs of wear, with blistering and chipping in the high traffic areas. This certainly adds to the character of this guitar, proving many hours of play have been logged!
The owner complained of a problem with the jack cutting out. Looking at the soldering on the jack showed why ~ two cold solder joints that had worked themselves loose. I suspect at some point someone soldered the wires on while the jack plate was still attached. This would cause too much heat to be drawn away from the contact points through the plate, meaning the connection wasn't made hot enough to meld with the solder. You can see in both photos the result of a bad soldering job. With the jack plate removed while the soldering gun heated up, this was a quick and easy fix.
