Actually, the 70s-80s were a rough spot for CBS Fender USA and some of the worst guitars they ever made were from that era. You can find a good one but for every good one there are maybe five duds. They totally cheaped-out on build quality, hardware, fit and finish, and nearly went out of business halting USA production for 2 years. After employees bought the company from Columbia around 87 quality started to improve and by the mid nineties they were putting out high quality guitars that rivaled their best efforts.
Here is a timeline of Fender production:
https://www.soundunlimited.co.uk/blogs/articles/fender_timeline