New member looking for 24 fret HSH strat

M

MasterofRhythm

New member
Hey guys,

New here and I am looking for a 24 fret HSH superstrat that has a body similar to the traditional Fender stratocaster. The closest I found was the Guthrie Govan signature Charvel or a Suhr Modern but they're above my budget of about 800-900 USD. Ideally, it would have an alder body and maple fretboard/neck, routed HSH, flat fingerboard radius and a sort of thin neck and it would need a tremolo (doesn't matter if it's floating such as a floyd or a modern Wilkinson like trem). I'm pretty set on this layout as it will have to be a versatile workhorse and the body has to be similar to an actual strat as I find many superstrats such as 6 string RG's pretty uninspiring (I do like the 7 string RG's though :?:).

Options would be the Charvel Pro Mod Socal though it has 22 frets (I read on here that it is routed HSH, is this correct?) and the Jackson Pro Dinky albeit a slightly different body and a headstock I kind of dislike. However, nothing else seems to come sort of close as I will be forced to go new due to a bad secondhand market here in Europe.

Would you guys have any other suggestions?
 
Re: New member looking for 24 fret HSH strat

Thanks man, I looked at that one although I rather have a different selection of woods as all 3 of my electrics already have a mahogany body/neck. It sure seems good though
 
Re: New member looking for 24 fret HSH strat

Ibanez RG770 all day long!

The RG550 was originally a lower series, although it could be more expensive than the 770 at times due to demand. These monsters aren't far from being JEMs in terms of playability, but are much cheaper and not as outrageous looking.
 
Re: New member looking for 24 fret HSH strat

Cheers mate! I am becoming more curious about the prestige series though because every review is so positive. Especially, the RG655 and RG2550 are interesting as they tend to be available here although they're quite a bit above my budget. The reason why I am hesitant about these RGs is because I did not like the JEM7V I played at all and it costs twice as much.

I may prioritise a 7 string for now though since I can't truly find anything I like within my budget and something like an Ibanez RG7421 would give me the 7th string and the 24 frets that I would need while leaving me the budget to mod it. This would allow me to eventually get a nice Fender/Charvel/whatever HSS/HSH strat without the need to have 24 frets and having the time to save for it properly.
 
Re: New member looking for 24 fret HSH strat

Ibanez jemjr which is fantastic or a chapman cap10. Charvel so cal if it is actually routed hsh. Ive played the so cal and the jemjr. Ive heard nothing negative about the cap10
 
Re: New member looking for 24 fret HSH strat

MasterofRhythm said:
Cheers mate! I am becoming more curious about the prestige series though because every review is so positive. Especially, the RG655 and RG2550 are interesting as they tend to be available here although they're quite a bit above my budget. The reason why I am hesitant about these RGs is because I did not like the JEM7V I played at all and it costs twice as much.

I may prioritise a 7 string for now though since I can't truly find anything I like within my budget and something like an Ibanez RG7421 would give me the 7th string and the 24 frets that I would need while leaving me the budget to mod it. This would allow me to eventually get a nice Fender/Charvel/whatever HSS/HSH strat without the need to have 24 frets and having the time to save for it properly.
Click to expand...

In that case, get a Charvel SoCal or ProMod and route as needed. Those guitars are such awesome platforms! I'm a Charvel-Jackson myself, and chose that path long ago over Ibanez because I like the slightly beefier Charvel-Jackson necks. The RG770 however, is still on my long term watch list.
 
Re: New member looking for 24 fret HSH strat

Everything about these Charvels seems pretty sweet, especially considering they can be found significantly cheaper as they tend to be commonly available as B-stock. Will be nice to actually have options to choose from and not necessarily having a strict budget as it'll be on my longterm list. After getting a 24 fret 7 string I won't have anything to blame but my own playing as I should be able to cover almost anything with that 7 and my current guitars :33:
 
Re: New member looking for 24 fret HSH strat

MasterofRhythm said:
Cheers mate! I am becoming more curious about the prestige series though because every review is so positive. Especially, the RG655 and RG2550 are interesting as they tend to be available here although they're quite a bit above my budget. The reason why I am hesitant about these RGs is because I did not like the JEM7V I played at all and it costs twice as much.

I may prioritise a 7 string for now though since I can't truly find anything I like within my budget and something like an Ibanez RG7421 would give me the 7th string and the 24 frets that I would need while leaving me the budget to mod it. This would allow me to eventually get a nice Fender/Charvel/whatever HSS/HSH strat without the need to have 24 frets and having the time to save for it properly.
Click to expand...

The old 550s and 770s are MIJ Prestige level instruments, they just didn't call them "Prestige" then. The reissued 550s were MIJ and great too, I think there were some 770 reissues (?) than may have been made in Indonesia. I do hear great things about the MII Premium line though, apparently Ibz has trained that factory well and they have great QC.
 
Re: New member looking for 24 fret HSH strat

Older Ibanez guitars will be pretty hard to find here though so I tend to be limited by the current production models. The premium line is a bit of a mystery as some are priced more than the prestige models while others tend to hover around the Iron Label line. Though, if I were to go for an Ibanez I'm pretty sure I'd go for the prestige series as I hear nothing but good things and the ones I like tend to be priced a bit more generous compared to some of these 2k+ Prestige models
 
Re: New member looking for 24 fret HSH strat

MasterofRhythm said:
Hey guys,

New here and I am looking for a 24 fret HSH superstrat that has a body similar to the traditional Fender stratocaster. The closest I found was the Guthrie Govan signature Charvel or a Suhr Modern but they're above my budget of about 800-900 USD. Ideally, it would have an alder body and maple fretboard/neck, routed HSH, flat fingerboard radius and a sort of thin neck and it would need a tremolo (doesn't matter if it's floating such as a floyd or a modern Wilkinson like trem). I'm pretty set on this layout as it will have to be a versatile workhorse and the body has to be similar to an actual strat as I find many superstrats such as 6 string RG's pretty uninspiring (I do like the 7 string RG's though :?:).

Options would be the Charvel Pro Mod Socal though it has 22 frets (I read on here that it is routed HSH, is this correct?) and the Jackson Pro Dinky albeit a slightly different body and a headstock I kind of dislike. However, nothing else seems to come sort of close as I will be forced to go new due to a bad secondhand market here in Europe.

Would you guys have any other suggestions?
Click to expand...

I was going to suggest the RG series before I saw that you'd already looked at them. They're a little sharper than a true Strat body, but very reminiscent, and have all the features you're after. They come in a wide variety of styles including very Fender-like pickguard setups like white pearl on black or blue.

You could go custom if your tastes in tonewood and finish options are fairly modest. Warmoth will build you a guitar based on their Soloist line which will support 24 frets; unfortunately you have to make a choice between having the pickguard and overall look of a traditional Strat versus having 24 frets, as the neck pickup will get in the way of the fretboard extension, and they won't reposition it on top-rout bodies or on pickguards.
 
Re: New member looking for 24 fret HSH strat

You could always get a squire strat and mod it. They sell 24 fret strat necks on ebay for like $50. Only problem is that its not a 7 string and you may need to route the neck for a humbucker, but if you do a swimming pool style route itll be easy.
 
Re: New member looking for 24 fret HSH strat

I'd love to go custom and looked at Warmoth a couple of times but I am not sure if I am willing to take the risk of assembling it myself and the cost of shipping it to Europe. I am a bit wary of assembling something without knowing how it'll actually turn out, especially after disliking the general feel of some higher priced guitars. I rather play something that feels rights from the get go. Think this will be easier as I won't need 24 frets anymore as a future 7 string will solve that issue, giving access to a lot more of conventional strats.
 
Re: New member looking for 24 fret HSH strat

Thanks mate, modding a classic vibe strat was what I looked at before choosing a 7 string over the strat as my first purchase. Since I'll have 24 frets on the 7, It'll give me way more options to choose from for my strat. The benefit of getting that 7 first is that I'll have more time to save up for a strat exactly how I want it, will probably go for an American standard strat or a Charvel/Ibanez prestige if I dislike the 9.5" radius. Thanks for reminding me about the name of the swimming pool route but if the guitar I choose doesn't have the routing for a neck humbucker I'll probably throw a SD single coil humbucker in.
 
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Re: New member looking for 24 fret HSH strat

Your request screams Ibanez, either an RG for a classic SuperStrat approach and feel, or a recent S range for a more streamlined look.

Unfortunately, Ibanez doesn't use alder for either shape...
 
Re: New member looking for 24 fret HSH strat

Yer G&L is looking really interesting especially after Fender got rid of the standard American line for some "professional" strat which seems to sell for a lot more. Everything I hear about G&L seems positive and most seem to prefer them over Fenders so definitely interesting!
 
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