Piecing together a strat vs. buying a good one

[honkyjonk]

I was just hoping to spur a bit of a discussion concerning the best way to get a cheap good strat, as I'm having a jones for one.

Has anybody here, say, bought a squire, and then a nice maple neck off ebay, and replaced pickups? I mean, there are thousands and thousands of different strats and strat pieces out there.

Or, is it generally cheaper/easier to get a recent (last 20 years) American made strat ,or . . . . something else?

Fender experts, I know nothing other than the fact that I want it to have a maple neck, and probably a humbucker in the bridge, not too much to ask I don't think.

Advice?

[jgimbel]

I'd think I'm the minority here, but I actually have a few Squiers that I LOVE (that I've had for years and haven't replaced after looking for Fenders). I've got a Squier Affinity Tele and HSS Strat. While most people scoff at Squier, their biggest issue is not that they're crappy guitars, but that they have poor quality control. I've played Squiers that have been AWFUL - sharp fret edges, inability to stay in tune, a lot of things that just make them unplayable. However if you go to a store that has a bunch of Squiers (a bunch of the same model, for example), sit there for an hour and play a handful of them. I haven't had one time that I haven't found a gem. I get compliments on the sound of my Squiers, and the people who come record here always love playing them, more than once they've used them over the guitar they brought. Not saying there's no difference between an American strat and a Squier, but I've played many many MIM Fender strats that I've turned down after comparing them to the ones I've got. So there's another option for you. Also the ones that aren't too great often only have one weak link (yes, a nicer guitar might not have any), but if for example a Squier is great minus the tuners, upgrade the tuners, and there's a great guitar.

[Mane1234]

I guess if you like the process of tinkering around changing out parts and all then go down to a pawn shop and find something decent and then start upgrading. I have a strat that has a neck from I think Warmoth or one of those parts stores and the rest of it is stock except for the tuners...It's one of my favorite guitars. I even invested in a nice paint job for it. I don't even know if the body is MIM, MIJ or American but it sounds great and that's all that matters.

[-3db]

Try a Warmoth Body and neck then go to RS Guitarworks get RS pots and cap kit with CTS pots. They have great hardware and good pickups too.

I built my own tele a few years ago for about $400.

Scan ebay for good Fender necks .

[Nick Sevilla]

I have two MIM and a MIM Tele.

They sound good.

Try a LOT of them first, until you find the one that sings to you.

It might be the wrong color, but you'll get used to that.

Color is secondary to sound quality.

Cheers

[mrc]

I've got a Squire Tele I bought from a guy in Cincinnati last summer, he had started changing out parts, and had replaced tuners, strap locks, bridge, pickguard and pups, basically everything but the pots, switch and jack, and then needed money. I went with a 4 way switch , CTS 250 pots/w Wima cap and a push-pull tone pot for phase, along with a new jack and metal jack mount. He installed a stacked dual rail Humbucker at the bridge and an American Standard neck PU and gave me all of the original parts. It's a really nice guitar that plays and sounds great. I have a 61 SG, 64 ESTC 175, 74 Les Paul Signature and a 59 Martin 0018, and this is a great player. Less than $225, look around, I found this one on Craigs list. He bought the right bridge for a through the body conversion, so I'll probably buy the parts for that and do it for the final mod.
Good Hunting

[JGriffin]

nothin' wrong with a partscaster if you buy good parts.

[kayagum]

You can always have fun building your own frankencaster (bridges, pickups, necks, tuners, pickguards), but I've been happy with my G&L ASAT. Had to replace the jack, but otherwise everything I've wanted.

[jnTracks]

i did that with my tele. i got a Korean made light ash telecaster, used, like 4 years ago. $400. since then i put a genuine american tele neck on it. $215 swapped out the bridge with a USA tele bridge $40. dimarzio fast track-t (best pickup in the known universe) $90. and i put a switch in to coil tap the dimarzio.

so my total cost is about $750 and only the body wood and the neck pickup are originals from the korean. i end up with what is basically a light ash tele deluxe with custom pickups. that guitar goes for something like $1600?

so that's the angle i took, and i looooooove this guitar. it plays nice and i prefer the tone to any guitar i've ever played.

highly recommend that dimarzio fast track pickup. thick and powerful, unbelievably clear and transparent.

[comfortstarr]

I have a frankencaster (ESP neck, don't know the body) that is awesome. It was put together by a Nashville session player. He stuck a fender sticker on the headstock--I always assumed he'd done it just to avoid hassles. I never thought much about it, then I had it set-up by the dude in Chicago who builds those wild metal guitars (name is escaping me at the moment). He, apparently, took offense to the ruse and scratched "ESP" into the back of the headstock... pretty funny (I'd have preferred he just remove the sticker, but I didn't/don't really care).

[JGriffin]

When I refinished my Squier strat last year I put a Fender sticker on the headstock. But since I'm not attempting to fool anyone it doesn't say "stratocaster." It says "plastercaster."

[Jeff White]

I worked at a music store ten years ago. We had a ton of MIM stratocasters in the store. I played so many of them it was ridiculous. But I found mine. I fell in love with its maple neck immediately. Over the next five years this would be my only electric guitar. I paid $200 for it new (employee discount), pulled every piece of hardware off of it, replaced the pups (Dimarzio Virtual Blues, Virtual Vintage, Seymour Duncan JB Jr), redid the electronics, had a new Wilkinson Modern Vintage bridge professionally installed, and added locking tuners. These upgrades turned a great playing and feeling guitar into one of the best guitars I've ever played. I bought an American Strat in 2001 and sold it because it never felt quite right. No strat feels better to me.

Anyway, found an awesome Highway 1 American Tele in 2005 and never looked back really. At least for a while.

I'm into red or white guitars these days (Red Jaguar, white Tele, White Reverend) and decided to buy a white body for the strat to replace the wine red body. I also changed out the PUPS to a GFS set (http://www.guitarfetish.com/Strat-and-T ... s_c_8.html). I need to take this guitar to my set up guy for a setup. However, it still feels great. The original body of this guitar is for sale here on the TOMB right now btw.

http://messageboard.tapeop.com/viewtopi ... 798#610798

Also...cheap guitars means that you don't have to care about shit. Sand the finish off of that back of the neck! It makes a huge difference in feel. Build multiple pickguards with different PUPs in them, change them out when you want a different flavor, route for humbuckers, etc. As long as the neck is killer it doesn't matter.

Jeff

[chris harris]

then I had it set-up by the dude in Chicago who builds those wild metal guitars (name is escaping me at the moment). He, apparently, took offense to the ruse and scratched "ESP" into the back of the headstock... pretty funny (I'd have preferred he just remove the sticker, but I didn't/don't really care).

I guess if you don't care, you don't care.... but, if I hired someone to set up my guitar, and they scratched ANYTHING into the headstock, without my consent, they'd be buying me a new neck at the very least. I don't care if they take offense. This a-hole is lucky that you're so laid back about this.

[Nathangrn]

The Korean Squier Strats from the late '80s or early '90s are nice and can be bought for next to nothing. I have a stratocaster III I bought a couple years ago with a great neck. A plywood body but a great neck. All I had to do is switch out the pickups and the tuners and it was a great guitar.

[alkooloid]

I'd put together one from the parts there -
Maybe a neck from Warmoth instead, but get an unfinished body -
the paint they use these days kills the tone. Guitar Fetish may not use it, but for the money, their parts rule. Ask (email) about the finishes, makes a big difference in tone. Pickups kill, the steel block trem is awesome, cheapest best tuners, etc.

I've had lots of cheap Fenders, and the bodies are NOT LIGHT ENOUGH. A heavy body sucks for a Fender.

Something cool on the GFS site are the new Brighton Rock PUs in the retro PU section.
I'd love to build a strat with those - and they even have a Brian May wiring setup for Strat in the pickguards section.

Not with GFS - just a guitar junkie always looking for a steal/deal - and GFS is IT!