Tokai mentioned on Squier offcial website

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iainblack

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I thought JV stood for joint venture!?

1982-83: Squier JV guitars

The promise of a new, revitalized Fender dawned in the early 1980s as the dismal CBS era wound down, and concerned Fender officials noted the abundance of Japanese guitar makers who were blatantly copying?in some cases cloning?original vintage Fender designs with great accuracy and low costs, albeit with some occasionally bizarre details.

In one particularly galling instance, for example, one manufacturer used headstock logos closely resembling those of original pre-CBS Fender guitars, but using the words ?Tokai? (with a large backward uncrossed ?F?), ?Springy Sound? instead of ?Stratocaster,? ?Breezy Sound? instead of ?Telecaster,? ?Oldies but Goldies? instead of ?Original Contour Body? and?the last straw??This is the exact replica of the good old Strat? instead of ?Fender Musical Instruments? in small print below the main logo. Ouch.

Fender acted by setting up its own official Japanese manufacturing operation, Fender Japan, in March 1982. A joint U.S.-Japanese venture, Fender Japan produced guitars with material and technical support from Fender?s U.S. facilities; Japanese manufacturing facilities even included factories that had been producing the aforementioned Fender copies. By May, Fender Japan had six vintage instruments??57 and ?62 Stratocaster models, a ?52 Telecaster, ?57 and ?62 Precision Bass? models and a 62 Jazz Bass?.

Meanwhile, as the flood of Asian Fender copies surged over Europe, Fender sought a competitive low-cost alternative. Accordingly, the long-dormant Squier name was resurrected and assigned to export versions of the new Fender Japan vintage models; these became known as Squier JV (?Japanese Vintage?) instruments. These high-quality models featured minimal design changes, including a small Squier logo on the headstock where the ?Original Contour Body? decal normally appeared, and a more cost-effective zinc tremolo block in place of the usual steel one.

These early Squier JV models were produced until late 1984 and are highly sought after among collectors today for their quality and relative scarcity. Soon after their introduction, a new and larger Squier logo appeared, accompanied by the now-familiar ?by Fender? logo.
 
These 1982-1984 Squier (JV serial) stratocasters are pretty amazing. Here is a video clip that shows what they are like:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qr7blIJbCaA
 
iainblack said:
I thought JV stood for joint venture!?

Personally I never thought it stood for joint venture, because giving a company a contract to produce a product is not technically a joint venture.

Obviously I don't know any of the actual details of that original deal, but on the face of it, it doesn't look like a joint venture.
 
It does mention in the text that it is a joint venture and this is the way that a number of countries require you to do business like Thailand, if you want to run a bar you have to have a local partner. I think Japan has similar protectionist rules (I'm not being judgemental in that statement by the way!)
 
A joint U.S.-Japanese venture, Fender Japan produced guitars with material and technical support from Fender?s U.S. facilities; Japanese manufacturing facilities even included factories that had been producing the aforementioned Fender copies

these became known as Squier JV (?Japanese Vintage?) instruments

confusion - what does JVsearch say his JV stands for?
 
JV stands for Japanese Vintage, as they were replicating the specs. of the 1957 and 1962 model Fenders that were so sought after. There was some variance however, as the finish was polyester instead of nitro. This change helped keep production costs low and increased the speed of the manufacturing process.
 
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