Fell for $53 Fake Strat Bait...

[Silence Kid]

...Monday should come, and I will have one of these on my doorstep. The best words the internet chooses to describe it are: "Full-Sized."

Entertained by the notion of it getting here and looking anything like the one pictured. Also looking forward to having a guitar that I absolutely should have no qualms about ripping apart due to some historical/sentimental reason (as usually happens with my guitars.)

Selected because:

-Absolute cheapest "Full Sized!" guitar on eBay
-Bootleg Strat headstock! It'll be that much less pathetic looking next to my American Deluxe
-See-through finish, so I can enjoy looking at the grain (of the basswood! Um... At least it'll be easier to detect ply...)
-Seems to be a full-width body from pictures? Beats most Squiers

Have a few pickup ideas in mind (after ripping it apart, polishing/filing the fret ends, dealing with the neck finish as I see fit, emptying it of detritus from manufacturing oversights.) Might fit the Rose Picasso (Jazzmaster humbucker) I have on order, then proceed through a bunch of other ridiculous pickups I have (Duncan Scorcher?) Already ordered a new guard to play around with some different configs. Sort of excited to see how much work it takes to make it playable; I'm betting somewhere between none, and every.

 

[beaubrummels]

Re: Fell for $53 Fake Strat Bait...

Nothing wrong with that. A single Duncan pickup costs more than that whole guitar. If it can be set up, cool.

 

[AlexR]

Re: Fell for $53 Fake Strat Bait...

Its not really a 'fake' strat. Its just strat shaped.

 

[Johnny the Kid]

Re: Fell for $53 Fake Strat Bait...

Wow, you know that guitar is really high end when it's big selling point is that it has an adjustment for the truss rod...


Joking aside, that's not a bad score. If you happen to get a good example then good on you. If not, then you're only out $53. I've lost more than that on one hand of blackjack. There's not really a downside to this.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Fell for $53 Fake Strat Bait...

Well, any pickup change is bound to be an improvement. I'd opt for something warm, as the whole guitar can be bright sounding. Listen to it for a few weeks before you make any decisions, so you can at least try to correct any problems you hear.

 

[KeeperOS]

Re: Fell for $53 Fake Strat Bait...

*Sigh*, I miss my Strat project days... Simpler and more exciting times (but harder on my wallet too).

Enjoy man!

 

[Rand-O-Monium]

Re: Fell for $53 Fake Strat Bait...

Shoulda hit the Pawnshops,but 'Grats anyway!

 

[Silence Kid]

Re: Fell for $53 Fake Strat Bait...

I never find anything good at pawn shops in my area, or else they're overpriced. Guitar Center has better deals on used gear. Think I dropped maybe $40 on a Yamaha Pacifica of similar spec. a couple years ago? A quick browse of their used section reveals a few contenders around that price point, but shipping kills it. Had been keeping an eye out lately for something of that nature in local stores but not much for the last month or so.

Secondary use for this guitar may be to stay disassembled in a roller bag when I travel, so I don't have to chuck around a gig bag or case on a plane.

 

[Silence Kid]

Re: Fell for $53 Fake Strat Bait...

Uncorked.





TLDR? This isn’t the worst guitar I’ve ever played. I don’t know how drunk I’d have to be to take it home next to the American Deluxe next to it, but there are people who would (get that drunk.) It has some... Interesting... Issues, but-

First, the negatives (and I’m going piece by piece for this: )

Neck
-The finish on the neck: it’s NONE. Only (rough) wood
-The string pull through the headstock? Not even close to straight. Wish I’d taken a better photo to capture it, but the strings “lean” several degrees to the left as they pass the nut to the tuners
-Irregular spacing of tuning pegs
-Gouge(s) on the headstock
-The fretboard has a line very visible, across the grain, apparently from where they stopped planing
-Frets are rough
-Fretwork seems patchy. I’m guessing the action won’t go below the 2.5mm where it is at present, I won’t try
-Heel from hell; I recently complained about this on American Strats, but Ed Roman can feel this one from the beyond

Body
-Finish oddities; mostly in the form of pinpricks
-Edges of the guitar are misshapen in areas (only caught this after I’d packed up my camera)
-SUPER light, especially compared to my mahogany American Deluxe Strat
-ABS plastic, everywhere. Seems wrong on a guitar

Electronics
-Very low output pickups, even when raised. Spiky, yet squashy, spongy bass, no mids, no Strat/twang character, you know the drill for these
-You need a winch to select different pickups

...The good!

-The trem worked, out of the box! Unbelievable. Stays in tune very well for a six-hole. Then I adjusted the spring retainer and... The thing ****ing floats, and doesn’t go out of tune. No other work necessary
-Probably due to the nut. Although the string pull isn’t straight, it’s cut... Reasonably. No binding. A few strings could go lower, but...
-The neck pocket fit is actually pretty good, better than most Squiers or MiM Fenders. Actually, the best of any of my guitars short of the American Deluxe Strat. No cracks yet
-Body is real, three piece wood, nicely matched
-Standard body dimensions; not a potato chip Bullet/Affinity body
-Reverse wound, for hum cancelling (Beat that, Fender Japan!)
-Very good tuners; better than my old MiM Telecaster
-Neck plate gasket... lol

Will continue to update as I mod But I’ll probably leave it like this for a week or two.

 

[Johnny the Kid]

Re: Fell for $53 Fake Strat Bait...

Obviously the frets were something that weren't going to be great out of the box. The pickups are in the same boat. However, if it truly does stay in tune that well, then that's great. From the picture you posted, the finish doesn't look that bad.

And last but certainly not least, if there really is no finish on the neck, then go to your local gun shop/ outdoors store and pick up a bottle of Tru-oil. Then on the way home, stop at a hardware store and get some fine grit sandpaper or a sanding sponge. Remove the neck from the body. Take a clean cloth and apply a very thin layer of the oil on to the neck. Wipe it on and then wipe off the excess. Let it cure for 24 hours. Then repeat the process. I've refinished necks with it and I usually go 2-3 layers depending on the neck. When the last coat has dried, then take the sandpaper and sand down the finish until it's matte. I'm gonna do this on my 5 string next time I have the money for a pack of strings.

 

[beaubrummels]

Re: Fell for $53 Fake Strat Bait...

Sounds like truth in advertising:

"Tremolo effect to get cool sound feeling. Enjoy the paradise of music, you can become the one you want to be."

 

[Silence Kid]

Re: Fell for $53 Fake Strat Bait...

Thanks for the instruction on the oil I'll prob. do something like that.

Assembling a couple pickguards at the moment: Duncan Scorcher HB with MIJ Fender singles, and a Screamin Demon pickguard with a split (waiting on the Demon; I've always wanted to try one.)

These ceramic pickups are really pretty sad sounding, I'm reminded of how frustrating it is when things just don't sound right no matter where you set knobs... All woofy with odd spikes, under gain it's really grating and despite the low output they always sound broken clean.

I had an adventure getting it to intonate, the ultimate result being that it did, but a few strings were resting on the back of the nut slots, which threw things off. If you're buying a guitar for a kid, go at least a notch up. Hell, if I wasn't having fun doing the work, and if I didn't have other guitars to rely on anyway, I'd say I couldn't recommend it to myself. But at $50 , it's the bare minimum of 'playable.'

And... I give up on not defending the finish. Despite the flaws, it's thin, gorgeous, and doesn't have that oily/plastic feel. I cautiously said the body was three piece earlier; it's either really well joined, or actually one piece. I just can't find the joints. Too bad for the shaping errors, and the immutable problems with the tuner holes in the peghead.

 

[Silence Kid]

Re: Fell for $53 Fake Strat Bait...

...Update! I mean, no updates!

To start off, I got my time and materials together to do some mods... Had not yet cracked it open, so had no idea if my long-legged Screamin Demon would fit in this cheap gal's um... Hole.

Turns out no.

-Item one: It's a swimming pool route with no shallow end to speak of. Good. My long legged bucker could technically fit

-Item two: Ever see a guitar where they smashed a hole in the paper thin wood between the cavities to ground the bridge? See below

-Item three: Again since it's a swimming pool route, ANY pickup will fit. Right? Well, not if the route begins a good inch back from where it does in any regular HSS Strat, and won't even fit a standard sized pot let alone the humbucker. A standard slanted single coil is all that will fit

How pissed am I? Not very. I should clarify that this guitar is offered in kit form, so I knew that it would come with the swimming pool route; figured that would be good for fitting the Demon. If I'd examined the picture more closely I'd have seen the issue.

Some routing or a creating a new pickguard/dealing with the humbucker being halfway to the middle pickup will help it, and I haven't yet chosen which I'm going to do... Or decided upon just putting it back together to call it a day. However, what a shame, as the body was (I thought) the best part of this guitar; I may not have changed that assertion to be truthful, considering the rest of it. But at $50 , that's the failure you budget for.

 

[kramersteen]

Re: Fell for $53 Fake Strat Bait...

-Item two: Ever see a guitar where they smashed a hole in the paper thin wood between the cavities to ground the bridge? See below

No word of a lie at least 3 times. haha

 

[Aceman]

Re: Fell for $53 Fake Strat Bait...

Glad I spent the extra $40 on this...