Any guitar player knows this is a classic. My friend bought some Japanese one from the 80s that I played today that sounds great. Definitely needs to be setup though. Anyways, what would jesus do?

$1300 - $1500 on an official American made
Half of that on a Mexican made
Buy a guitar off my friend for 100 bucks, customize the body, etc, and switch out all the pickups for strat ones

you could go with the mexican made fender and it will play just as good as the american made one

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w81/rsztalon/3strats3.jpg

The red American Standard Strat was my first guitar. I got the vintage blonde G&L Legacy a few years later and bought the American Deluxe Strat 2 years ago.

I've played cheaperFenders and they felt real good. You could probably get a Mexican or Japanese Strat and possibly upgrade the pickups and have a darn good guitar.

You could also look for a used Fender or G&L (I know the headstock is a little different, but they are every bit as good a strat as a Fender).

if you get the mexican one, play as many of them as you can until you find one that you really like, some of the necks tend to be lemons and just dont play nearly as well as they could. otherwise any of the americans will be amazing.

or you could just get a gibson :)

i just realized those are all left-handed strats.[8D]

i had stripped down a mexican 3 tone sunburst and replaced everything except the electronics, and it played great. too bad it was stolen.

I had one of those cheap ones from guitar center, tried to learn how to play, but eventually smashed it through a girls windshield(sweet story!) THe strat survived, but i gave it up

Are the American made Fender Strats really up over $1300 now?

I bought my American Deluxe Fender Strat for less than that about 2 years ago and that wasn't an entry level model.

Well, considering the price of a Gibson Les Paul Custom, I guess that would be a bargain anyway.

I've always liked the way a strat feels and plays, but I am also a big fan of a telecaster. Some telecasters come with the body contour of a strat and you can get single or dual binding on a telecaster.

That's the way it starts. Get a nice electric guitar today and then start planning for the next one, becauses variety rules.

ORIGINAL: 35thAnni99GT

i just realized those are all left-handed strats.[8D]



Here are the rest of my 'wrongies'....I mean "lefties". I started playing later in life and kind of made up for lost time. The PRS Custom 22 and white Gibson Les Paul Custom are my two favorites.
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w81/rsztalon/guitars14-1.jpg

i voted real strat

or just buy gibson as mentioned before

Right now as far as electrics I have a start pack ibanez that I customed out body wise, stock pickups, rarely play it. Then I have an Ibanez S520EX which is sweet. Also a Peavey EVH Wolfgang. I'm thinking of selling it but kind of want to wait till he dies so it goes up in value[8D]

Mmmmmm... I love Les Pauls... [sm=groupwave.gif]

it doesnt get much better than the sound of a les paul custom through a JMC2000.

Marshal amps FTMFW!!!

ORIGINAL: gibsonxplayer88

it doesnt get much better than the sound of a les paul custom through a JMC2000.


exactly what i was thinking...gibson FTW! the SG's are pretty nice too.

if you're going to get a fender go with the american...it'll be worth it.

Mexican, all the way...of course you could get the worse (in the end) USA Fender.

I know a person who has experienced many guitars...bought and sold way too many guitars (30-60?...maybe a LOT more). He has a Mexican made strat, swapped the pups and electronics out, and it plays a bit better than an american strat (same quality for the most part...and half the price). A guy that has been working on guitars all his life (65 ish now), says the same thing...you're kidding yourself if you think you get a better deal/guitar the other way around.

If you have the cash, just get a mexican fender, swap the parts out (if you want to...the stock ones aren't bad), then buy another one or what have you.

I've seen it in person, and it sounds pretty damn nice...not that I'm a fender nut by any means (Jackson fan)...

edit-try the mexican out before you buy though...I'm thinking the quality control would be as good as Gibson.

....maybe not as bad.[8D]

A guitar is basically wood with a logo slapped on it. Each slab will sound different from each other....better or worse.

if you buy an american strat buy it used so you don't take a giant loss right away. if you want to get a knockoff, look into the USA peavey predator strat knockoffs. not quite as good of quality as american strats for less than the price of a used MIM strat. tuners are decent but could be better, electronics are the same way. regardless, you have the same thing as a MIM strat with better string saddles, 22 frets and the micro tilt neck for about 100-200 less.


what are you looking for in a guitar? what playing styles are you shooting for? i thought my MIM strat was the bomb until i bought my peavey for 100 bucks in a pawn shop and it sounded as good or better and was 22 frets instead of 21. then i got my pirates of the carribbean G-400 (epiphone SG) for 250 and understand why everyone likes gibsons. too bad they sold out recently , that thing was a steal at that price http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Epiphone-Pirates-of-the-Caribbean-3-G400-Electric-Guitar?sku=514314

also look around on musicians friend for the stupid deal of the day (http://www.musiciansfriend.com/stupid). i saw american teles in a certain color that were down to like 700 or 750 brand new the other day. random **** pops up on there and unless your heart is completely set on something, there is likely almost always a better deal if you know where to look and wait for it. craiglist is good too. don't overpay on a guitar if you've got one right now and it's not horrible




question for you strat guys since we finally have a guitar thread on here. do you block your tremolos or leave them as is? i block both of mine for tuning stability


re-reading this thread amazes me at how many of you blindly push him towards a MIM strat when they are 21 fret. sure, for a beginner 21 works, but when you start getting into soloing you'll feel held back. i almost never play my MIM cause a lot of songs ive been playing lately need the 22nd fret.

as far as styles go, i guess i could say that im 'good' at rythm. i am trying to get get better at soloing, but wont have more time to practice on my electric till schools over. (next year i have a single though, so thatll be sick). I have a guitar with a floating trem, (the S520EX) that I want to learn to use, and I have another guitar with the floyd rose setup. I might actually sell that one, as I don't play it that often.

Since there is such a discrepancy, I'm thinking of buying a freakin warmoth body and turning it into a frankencaster. I love everything about the looks of a Fender, the nice body shape, the headstock, etc. But I rather build the damn thing myself if they're going to charge me a premium (then I can choose MY custom paint, MY pickguard, MY tuners, etc. It would probably still be close to $1000 after everything, but that's better than the $1500.

thats why you should buy a used american or a highway 1 if you really want a strat. 1000-1500 dollars for a bolt on neck guitar is ridiculous. if you like rhythm, check into gibson/epiphones. my G400 has a lot more crunch than my strats cause its set neck

Get a Les Paul. Seriously.

All the Strats I've played sounded great clean and mildly overdriven, but sounded like chit when you wanted it to get the nice thick and chunky sound.

I can get any sound out of Les, and it does really well with all of them

i cant speak for LP's, but my SG is cool as ****. its as light or lighter than my strats but its all mahogany so it has mad sustain still. and i think you could get a good crunch out of anything as long as you have a tube amp.

I have a Peavey Valve King 112. It's a great little tube amp for 400 bucks. I'm thinking of this

Buy a used Squier pos - <$100
Buy a new nice maple neck - $230 ?
New Fender P-Ups - <$200

I like customizing things out. Maybe I'll just get a Squier body, strip the paint, and what I want is this - A 3 tone sunburst but with a stripe in one area (like 45 degree across the bridge around the whole guitar) that is not really a stripe. So it would be like, yellow, orange, then stripe over and go with the black. So it's just like an invisible stripe I guess. That's my idea of a cool guitar!


I'm not really a fan of how gibsons look. For me, how the guitar looks is as important / if not more important than how it sounds. You can switch out pickups easily and for little money, but it's hard to change the look of the guitar without a lotta cash.

My Jackson-Charvel Kelly is crunchy as fck. I replaced the pickups with EMG 91/90 active pickups... saweeet. I just play random powerchords in drop C and sounds like dethmetal.

your choice for guitar should be based on what's comfortable to you and what type of music you are playing. I used to have a strat and it was ok but its nothing on my Ibanez RG170 with maple neck and dual hums.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aS_IYe5JTZ4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eK0rvReE-4c

i vote for a gibson lol:D

i have a kramer myself, and i really want to get back into playing

although when i played in hs for marching band, i only had a cheap guitar, i cant remember the brand, but a few times one of the trumpet players let me play his fender strat and it played better, was lighter, and i just loved it

A strat is one of those guitars that you can pick up and play and have it feel good just about every single time. With the wide range of different pickups you can put in one, you can pretty much get it to sound the way you like (of course depending on the amp or effects used).