How much should I spend on a strat...?

Re: How much should I spend on a strat...?

Here's another approach. Save up some cash (physical cash money), none of this "free up room on a credit card" thing. Have cold hard cash in your pocket, say $1000. Go to every guitar shop that you can get to and play as many as you can. Don't worry about the color. Just play them. You never know, the gem Strat for you may be Seafoam Green or Olympic White. Just play as many as you can, plugged in and unplugged. When you find "the one", you'll know it and you'll have cash to get it right on the spot.
 
Re: How much should I spend on a strat...?

ErikH said:
Here's another approach. Save up some cash (physical cash money), none of this "free up room on a credit card" thing. Have cold hard cash in your pocket, say $1000. Go to every guitar shop that you can get to and play as many as you can. Don't worry about the color. Just play them. You never know, the gem Strat for you may be Seafoam Green or Olympic White. Just play as many as you can, plugged in and unplugged. When you find "the one", you'll know it and you'll have cash to get it right on the spot.
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The color is almost as important to me as the sound at this point. And I do have cash onhand (or rather, a debit card on hand). I'm fairly well off, if I wanted to go commission a custom shop fender, I could do it and the bank wouldn't feel a thing. That's not what I'm after though. I'm after the Candy Apple Red, and simply looking for something that will play well for when I want to jam to some blues, or crunchy rock.
 
Re: How much should I spend on a strat...?

That's cool. Then hunt down every CAR Strat in your area that you can find, and have cash in hand (not the debit card). While the debit card is nice and pulls from your bank, sales associates and managers especially love the cash. Even on a debit transaction, they still have to pay a 2-3% transaction fee. Paying with cash takes that out of the equation and gives you more room to bargain with.
 
Re: How much should I spend on a strat...?

$20,0000, thats probably the entry level for a start that sounds halfway decent through an old Blackface in my opinion. If you play with a Hot Rod Marshall at least as far as "high gain", you can spend much much less and sound great.
 
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Re: How much should I spend on a strat...?

the best guitar i ever played and bought was straight out of the box. now i'm reluctant to buy off the wall.
 
Re: How much should I spend on a strat...?

Does it have to look like a Strat, too, or just be an awesome Strat guitar?

If you don't need the looks then old Ibanez Blazers and some Roadstars are really good options once you put in SSL-1s (might require pickguard modifications). These 1981-1984 models (21 frets) have very nice necks (vintage size frets only) and good body wood. The natural models also have paper thin finish which back in the day made them cheaper but is now in the age of bulletproof MIM finished considered the best thing since sliced bread. These go below $300 plus shipping. I can give more tips if needed.

In the regular space of close-to-Fender I think the best way to get a perfect Strat cheap is
- a MIM 50s reissue neck
- a random alder body with no finish or whatever doesn't have thick finish (ash is more difficult since finishing it yourself is annoying)
- a GFS trem block tremolo (e.g. Fender MIJ reissue trem with steel block)
- SSL-1s or whatever fits for you. Then you try the body and if you like the sound you have it finished in a color you like

Definitely stay with a 6-point trem because then you have choice later.
 
Re: How much should I spend on a strat...?

It should more or less be a Fender body. The OCD in me says it should be an official Fender through and through...
 
Re: How much should I spend on a strat...?

I would get a candy apple red EJ Strat. It is close to what your dad had and a great Strat. Find one used for arond a grand and enjoy.
 
Re: How much should I spend on a strat...?

Here's your body: http://www.fender.com/store/strat-b...der-body-vintage-bridge-mount-candy-apple-red

or a MIM one: http://www.fender.com/store/strat-b...der-body-vintage-bridge-mount-candy-apple-red


Get a neck from Warmoth or USACG in the specs you want (no options offered by Fender other than what they make standard) and have your own custom Strat.

Then you just need the rest of the parts.

All of this depends on whether you are open to assembling your own, or course.
 
Re: How much should I spend on a strat...?

ErikH said:
Here's another approach. Save up some cash (physical cash money), none of this "free up room on a credit card" thing. Have cold hard cash in your pocket, say $1000. Go to every guitar shop that you can get to and play as many as you can. Don't worry about the color. Just play them. You never know, the gem Strat for you may be Seafoam Green or Olympic White. Just play as many as you can, plugged in and unplugged. When you find "the one", you'll know it and you'll have cash to get it right on the spot.
Click to expand...

This puts guitars with nice wood and garbage hardware and pickups at a disadvantage. That's a problem since the tremolo really matters for a Strat and obviously you can't go by acoustic sound, and how do you compare the electric sound? You have to take it home and put in a prepared pickguard.

Disclaimer: non-steel tremolo blocks sound different, not worse. So it might go the other way round, too.
 
Re: How much should I spend on a strat...?

ErikH said:
Here's your body: http://www.fender.com/store/strat-b...der-body-vintage-bridge-mount-candy-apple-red

or a MIM one: http://www.fender.com/store/strat-b...der-body-vintage-bridge-mount-candy-apple-red


Get a neck from Warmoth or USACG in the specs you want (no options offered by Fender other than what they make standard) and have your own custom Strat.

Then you just need the rest of the parts.

All of this depends on whether you are open to assembling your own, or course.
Click to expand...

I checked out the Warmoth builder and it was kinda overpriced it seemed. $399 for an american body, $150-$200 for pickups already puts me at $550-$600 before other hardware and the hassle (well, joy, really) of putting it together myself. I don't have any specs in mind for a neck really, because I couldn't tell you exactly what year or model my dad's Fender was, and I'm not necessarily trying to recreate it to a T. Are current Fenders that far away from the Standards of yesteryear? I'm almost positive he had a simple American Standard SSS, and the earliest I remember him having it would have been 2000-2001, but I'm almost positive it was older than that.
 
Re: How much should I spend on a strat...?

ya know
a $1200 guitar isnt twice as good as a $600 guitar

after $500 the difference is fit and finish ( stuff you may want to do yourself, ie change hardware or pickups etc )

just sayin


Edit
what makes one special is what you do with it
 
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Re: How much should I spend on a strat...?

I'm definitely keen to that. I think this thread slightly derailed, because basically I'm just wondering where the price exceeds quality in the Strat line. Is a good MIM going to be the ticket (granted I find one that I like the feel of)? Is an American Standard worth the price of admission?
 
Re: How much should I spend on a strat...?

For myself: I would look for a used USA reissue or most any series with a traditional tremolo made in Japan. The Standard, Reissue, & even Squire from Japan are consistently great playing guitars.
For a Green Stratocaster look at the Eric Clapton.

I have found no uniformity in the USA or MEX standard series necks, they seem to run chunkier than the Vintage RI & Japan necks, some feel good some not so good.
There may be some elements of the American Standards that you like or are drawn to for sentimental reasons, like the two point tremolo (I hate it), or the ability to easily add a humbucker without cutting up the body (that is convenient on mex standard too), or the quality modern tuners on all the USA & MEX standards.
 
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Re: How much should I spend on a strat...?

Shadow1psc said:
I'm definitely keen to that. I think this thread slightly derailed, because basically I'm just wondering where the price exceeds quality in the Strat line. Is a good MIM going to be the ticket (granted I find one that I like the feel of)? Is an American Standard worth the price of admission?
Click to expand...

I think that is what I was getting at in my post

if you must have an American, for some reason, the consensus is used would be the best buy
but the standard series offers nice features
the Highway One series is nice some friends have prefered them over Americans
 
Re: How much should I spend on a strat...?

Whatever you are willing to pay.

It's not a matter of whether you get a good instrument or not, it's how the instrument gels with you. I've seen guys on here who still play Squires because the Squires sound or feel awesome.
 
Re: How much should I spend on a strat...?

secondhand american/usa standard/plus/plus deluxe.
Any of these are good axes and excellent bang for buck. Obviously some are better than others, but you wont know of you have a really sweet one until you play it, however - even the not so special ones are pretty damn good axes and good enough for any pro.
 
Re: How much should I spend on a strat...?

Simple US Standard Strats are good. Good wood, decent workmanship most of the time.

God do I hate them. Way too sharp angle at the fretboard side. Too thin neck. Both combine really feel like the fretboard sanding went a couple mm too deep. Stupid trem putting way too much pressure on two screws which then require metal anchors. But when I sold my 2008 Strat body I got complimented on how resonant it is. The neck from that Strat is one of the best rosewood board necks I tested. Fender has some way to identify well-sounding wood with a noticeable probability and keep it for the US stuff. The escape is AVRI of course.
 
Re: How much should I spend on a strat...?

If you want a Candy Apple red strat, then by god get it. Go to your nearest retailer , whether it be Guitar Center or whatnot and see if they have any in stock. If not , go to American musical supply and check out what they have. I've been doing business with them for years and IMO, they are the best mail order company around. If you want used, then go to Guitar Center's website www.GuitarCenter.com and click on their used gear section and hit guitars. At the top, type in Fender Stratocaster and from there, you should be able to find what you want.
 
Re: How much should I spend on a strat...?

Kramer Guy said:
If you want a Candy Apple red strat, then by god get it. Go to your nearest retailer , whether it be Guitar Center or whatnot and see if they have any in stock. If not , go to American musical supply and check out what they have. I've been doing business with them for years and IMO, they are the best mail order company around. If you want used, then go to Guitar Center's website www.GuitarCenter.com and click on their used gear section and hit guitars. At the top, type in Fender Stratocaster and from there, you should be able to find what you want.
Click to expand...

Do you have any experience ordering used gear from GC? I know from personal experience in store that their used section can have a great guitar, but it looks like a 5 year old took care of it (at which point I haggle that they clean that **** and do the setup and put new strings on it). I can see trusting them (or AMS or Sweetwater etc) to buy something new sight unseen if I can return it at the end of the day.
 
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