How I assembled a 350.00 Strat that BEATS a Fender American Deluxe

Re: How I assembled a 350.00 Strat that BEATS a Fender American Deluxe

I always love tinkering with my guitars, hell, the only one I've left (mostly) stock was the hadcrafted one made to my personals specs to begin with :9:

Oh, and my closet queen condition MG-122, but not only she is awesome stock, I'm kinda on the fence on changing its' perfectly stock condition seeing as she's an 18-years old guitar looking as an 18-MONTHS old one...
 
Re: How I assembled a 350.00 Strat that BEATS a Fender American Deluxe

TattooedCarrot said:
Strats can't do metal.

/thread
Click to expand...

Obligatory:

 
Re: How I assembled a 350.00 Strat that BEATS a Fender American Deluxe

I had a similar ages predator in the HSS configuration and it was a great guitar. I remember the neck being especially easy to maneuver (Wolfgang profile?) and frets nicely filed. The pickup tones were OK, but were not as good as the Peavey SuperFerrite single coils.... those things are AWESOME. Like a punchy P-90 with rail poles. I've seen some Predators at pawn shops. Might be worth it to get one to mod.
 
Re: How I assembled a 350.00 Strat that BEATS a Fender American Deluxe

I have the same guitar in black. I don't know about it being better than an American Standard, but I did swap in a Dave Murray pickguard (PAF / MIM Single / Super D) so at least it can do Metal LOL!

Can you give better details on the upgrades? I don't understand what you were saying about the trem block upgrade.
 
Re: How I assembled a 350.00 Strat that BEATS a Fender American Deluxe

Strats can certainly do metal. If it's good enough for Dave Murray, its good enough for anyone. :dance:
 
Re: How I assembled a 350.00 Strat that BEATS a Fender American Deluxe

Considering you can pick these up for around $150 they're steal. Mine was $150, with an SKB case, shipped. They are made in the USA, but don't expect usual USA build quality, damn near everything on my Reactor was crooked. Horrible kid-guitar-ish tuners have to be replaced, but once that's done they're totally serviceable, and the stock bridge pickup on mine was actually a pretty good pickup.

The necks are cut quite a bit deeper at the heel than regular strats, and it does make them feel weird up high on the neck. The heel is also about 1/16" narrower. It makes it a ***** to swap on a different neck. My Warmoth squeezed in nice & tight, but with a 3/16" wood shim. It sounds great, and was totally worth it. I wasn't a huge fan of the stock neck.
 
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Re: How I assembled a 350.00 Strat that BEATS a Fender American Deluxe

I have a Peavey Predator II and the only thing I changed it in was the bridge pup to a lil'59.
Did it play better than a MIA one? Not necessarily. Frets were still Peavey and the tremolo arm left a bit to be desired.
Did it sound better than a MIA? I would say it was pretty frickin' awesome.

Sound-wise I don't see why a super cheap instrument can't sound like a super expensive one with the right changes. But the feel and response to the player will definitely not be the same.

Be sure to give us an update after the honeymoon ;)
 
Re: How I assembled a 350.00 Strat that BEATS a Fender American Deluxe

nothing beats the real deal. american deluxe > *

it's just wishful thinking to "think" otherwise. it's something else to "know".
 
Re: How I assembled a 350.00 Strat that BEATS a Fender American Deluxe

esandes said:
nothing beats the real deal. american deluxe > *

it's just wishful thinking to "think" otherwise. it's something else to "know".
Click to expand...

IM the guy that started this thread, and I am going to say you are correct.
I dig the fat Poplar body on the Peavey, and with the upgrade pickups and saddles and nut and Arm, its a hell of a guitar for the jack, but after further review, I am ruling in favor of you..its certainly no Amercian Standard fender by a fair margin, and not in the same league as a Deluxe .

Basically the neck has such thin frets, that the only thing going for it is the 12" radius, which can be quite appealing of you are used to playing a 9.5 radius , and you do fretboard stunts.

Ive recently come to realize I dont actually need great big frets to get the playing action I love, but these frets are just TOO small to get some of the action I need for my style.

Still a pretty sweet guitar for the money, fopr certain, even after doleing out the cost for the upgrades.

BTW, as has been mentioneds, you cannot just Swap necks for a fender neck. They are two totally different fitments.
 
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Re: How I assembled a 350.00 Strat that BEATS a Fender American Deluxe

Looks nice! I bet the SSL1s made a big difference.
 
Re: How I assembled a 350.00 Strat that BEATS a Fender American Deluxe

I once had a Predator shipped from another GC for maybe $90 or so, but for whatever reason the neck didn't line up right and so the high E was almost off the board on the high frets. If not for that, I'm sure I would've had a blast upgrading it similar to what's been done here. The '90's Peaveys are probably around the cheapest guitars out there with solid bodies that were made in the USA, but I doubt that even upgraded they compare well with MIA Fenders.

OT, I've picked up my next shot at a cheap mod-platform Strat, an early '90's MIK Squier.
 
Re: How I assembled a 350.00 Strat that BEATS a Fender American Deluxe

MetalManiac said:
you cannot just Swap necks for a fender neck.
Click to expand...

You can, it just takes a lttle more work. The pocket might need to be widened a bit (mine didn't, fits tight, but strat necks are 1/16th inch wider at the heel), and you need a shim about 3/16" thick between the neck and body.

I'm glad I did it, might be funky, but this guitar will kick your ass.
424.jpg
 
Re: How I assembled a 350.00 Strat that BEATS a Fender American Deluxe

I bought one of these on CL for 20 bucks. Bought a new body on Ebay for 25 bucks. Put a 5 way switch and SD SH-11 in the bridge. This guitar kicks ass :naughty: Crazy bastard cut the horn off for some reason?

LOL on the pic on the string cover

Picture2copy.jpg


P1010541.jpg




P1010555.jpg
 
Re: How I assembled a 350.00 Strat that BEATS a Fender American Deluxe

I must've missed the part about how it's better than the ADS. When it comes to guitars, "better" is a pretty subjective and personal thing. A neck that feels perfect to me might be uncomfortable to someone else. Pickups that are awesome for me might suck for you.

The only things that might be reasonably objective is build quality and component quality but even that's kind of subjective. While poplar might give you a chubby, it leaves some other people thinking of Margaret Thatcher naked on a cold day.

I might like my MIM Ash Tele better than the '52 RI I compared it to, but I wouldn't go so far as to claim it's a "better guitar".

Bottom line is you have a guitar you dig and it didn't break the bank. For that I'll say "Well done!"
 
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