Members Brainfertilizer Posted April 28, 2011 Author Members Share Posted April 28, 2011 I would steer towards a squier myself. I like that they are mostly the same shape as a real strat and you can swap alot of components out with off-the-shelf aftermarket pieces.I bought an insanely {censored}ty $75 Bullet by squier strat that ended up not being plywood. I bought a USA-spec vintage trem from guitar fetish, dowelled and redrilled the mounting holes. I replaced the tuners and pickups and paid for a decent setup. That is a really nice guitar now. It stays in tune great. It actually is the best action that I ever got with a vintage fender style trem. Now, if you go get some lotus or asian strat copy, it may not take a standard strat pickguard and the peghead is going to look "unique". I'd just rather get a licensed platform and throw money at screwing components on. But I like that as a hobby/past time. Parts upgrading is a good point. But I don't give a rip about headstocks. The point isn't to fool anyone, its just to get a close approximation of the right sound/feel...to have a cheap guitar come close enough to decent to be worth investing $500+ in a quality strat at some point in the future. But your point about needing same shape/specs for decent-quality upgrade/replacements is compelling... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MorganB Posted April 28, 2011 Members Share Posted April 28, 2011 To set it up... to keep the Vintage Trem in tune while using it... get a roller nut and locking tuners. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jerry_L Posted April 28, 2011 Members Share Posted April 28, 2011 I put a set of Sperzel locking tuners on a Douglas Thinline with a Wilkinson trem. It's quite stable now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members cephus Posted April 28, 2011 Members Share Posted April 28, 2011 Yeah, I guess i am prejudice about the headstock shape. I have a couple guitars with mighty might necks that aren't intended to fool anyone. I just don't like the aesthetics of the other approximations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jonny guitar Posted April 28, 2011 Members Share Posted April 28, 2011 Carvin Bolt with a Wilkinson and locking tuners....it is like a floyd without losing tone and sustain and it stays in tune very very well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members goosefartfan Posted April 28, 2011 Members Share Posted April 28, 2011 most tuning probs from fender trems come ,not from the trem, but from the nut. options:1. graph tech nut2. get graphite or some other lube into the nut slots, and string trees if you have them.3. new bone nut made to order, with the luthier informed of what gauge strings you use. #3 is the best, but costliest answer. BTW, have you changed string guage recently?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Brainfertilizer Posted April 28, 2011 Author Members Share Posted April 28, 2011 All this advice is good. I got a line on a Hamer Slammer Series (1st generation import) for $100 shipped. It has good sound, very few dings, a cool "engine turned" pickguard, and an aftermarket TBX. I'm going to slap some locking tuners on it, and will add either a graph-tech nut or roller nut. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members faberbz Posted April 28, 2011 Members Share Posted April 28, 2011 No one suggested it yet: Why not get a used MIM Strat? You could easily snag an '08 or later MIM Standard Strat for $300. And if you pay attention to a few things in set-up, the trem won't foul the tuning at all. Pretty simple, actually. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members streetknight Posted April 28, 2011 Members Share Posted April 28, 2011 Used Peavey Predator. Made in USA and great guitars. Can usually be had for $150 or less on CL. I just bought one myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Brainfertilizer Posted April 28, 2011 Author Members Share Posted April 28, 2011 $300 is about double what I'm willing to risk. That might be a good follow-on. and to be honest, I think MIM gets its sales by the Fender name more than being the best price/quality combination. I think an 80s MIJ or 90s MIK is probably best for that, because they were so dissed as "cheap foreign crap" even after their quality control improved at the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members robertkoa Posted April 28, 2011 Members Share Posted April 28, 2011 Some of the Yamaha Pacificas are really nice guitars, I ordered one used years ago just to play around with and it was surprisingly good, nice tones etc. I gave it to a friend but that Pacifica was $99. used from Daddy's Music- it was listed in excellent condition but it was almost new with the clear stuff on the pickguard, and a nice new gig bag. This was a while ago like 1999 but I had played a few Pacifica 112s and knew they were good and over the years I've had very good luck with Daddy's Music. Anyway- suggest you play a few of these- they usually have an EVH sounding Humbucker in the bridge ( not exactly but pretty good ) and two nice sounding singles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members billybilly Posted April 28, 2011 Members Share Posted April 28, 2011 People who can't keep a strat's floating trem in tune have not done their homework or experimented enough. Vintage, modern two point, neither is hard to do. Smooth nut, lube, tie strings properly, done. You don't need locking tuners. I set my trem up just over 1/8th of an inch off the body, use 4 springs and use it aggressively. Never have a problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members JerEvil Posted April 28, 2011 Members Share Posted April 28, 2011 I owned a Westone Spectru 2 waaaaay back in the day. It was a cool guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members softwarejanitor Posted April 29, 2011 Members Share Posted April 29, 2011 If you find yourself over here in the Austin area (probably your nearest GC, unless there is one in Lubbock or something) I'd actually recommend Musicmaker's on South Lamar over Guitar Center anyway. They have a good selection of Fender and Squier, competitive on price and they are nicer to deal with than a big corporate store like GC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Special J Posted April 29, 2011 Members Share Posted April 29, 2011 All this advice is good.I got a line on a Hamer Slammer Series (1st generation import) for $100 shipped. It has good sound, very few dings, a cool "engine turned" pickguard, and an aftermarket TBX.I'm going to slap some locking tuners on it, and will add either a graph-tech nut or roller nut. That's a good choice, and for a great price. I usually see those 1st gen Hamer imports going for at least twice that. Hamer really didn't want their name on an import guitar, so Kaman made sure they were up to really good standards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members faberbz Posted April 29, 2011 Members Share Posted April 29, 2011 $300 is about double what I'm willing to risk.That might be a good follow-on.and to be honest, I think MIM gets its sales by the Fender name more than being the best price/quality combination. I think an 80s MIJ or 90s MIK is probably best for that, because they were so dissed as "cheap foreign crap" even after their quality control improved at the time. Sure, the Fender name is worth something to many. But the instrument itself is not bad at all, '08 and later, particularly. Pretty sweet necks, actually. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tvvoodoo Posted April 30, 2011 Members Share Posted April 30, 2011 If you can find a washburn shadow WS series from the late 80s they are pretty great strat clones. I love mine and it holds up against any MIM I've played - find em used for around a hun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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