squire strat with noiseless pickups sounds great

time2escape

i know its crazy but i had an old squire stratocaster that
meant a lot to me i fixed it up and

i run it threw my friends crate 2 x 12 it sounds amazing

exhausted

some of the old squires were real gems. as long as it's a good piece of wood, you can do anything with it.

mccreadyisgod

Yeah, there was even a time, long ago, in the before-time, when Japanese Strats sounded good. Ah, those were the days...

I almost prefer new Mexican Fenders over new American Fenders. They're half the price, the same quality electronics, and pretty damned good wood. And there isn't that uppity attitude that accompanies American Fender players. My Mexican Tele/Esquire and my Mexican P-Bass are a happy family (with our red-headed bastard step-child, my American Tele-Sonic).

New pickups of good quality can make almost any guitar sound a world better.

Pacomc79

it has to do with the factory McCready.

Japan has some of the cleanest factories and they have highly skilled electronics workers. Thus the brilliance of some of the new Ibanez stuff like the JS-1000. True it's not really for our sound but back in the 80's they build some damn fine fenders. Then to cut costs Fender axed Fender Japan and started building Squire affinities in China and Korea and the better ones in Mexico

The fender factory in mexico is about 20 miles south of Corona Calif. where they build American Fenders. Its a state of the art brand new factory and that's part of the reason the Mexicans are good quality.

Nothing sounds or plays like the old strats even the custom shops though they are close pick up a 65 and you'll know instantly, but we all can't pay 5 grand for a guitar either huh.

Oh well the custom shops are only about 2200 and you can finance em I guess.

time2escape

its a 90 i think made in korea its a nice piece of wood i painted it, blue from red
that was a bitch,

i now have a 97 lonestar, american strat and sometimes the squire sounds better

peace!

mccreadyisgod

The wood quality is the biggest variable. I hate cheap wood in a guitar! That's the main reason I hate the mid- to late-90's Japanese Fenders. I think I would still rather have a Mexican Fender that I could beat around a bit, than have a $2000+ Custom Shop that I don't ever take out of the case. If I ever get to be a touring musician, I think I'll just get two Mexican Tele's (with a SD Quarter-Pounder in the bridge, no neck pup) and two Epiphone LP Juniors (one with P-90's, one with Classic '57's). Then I'll have great tone on good-feeling guitars that I can put through the paces and not cry if they break a neck joint or headstock.

Then I can have a bunch of really expensive guitars for studio work...

Pacomc79

ah, scratches add character the funny thing is you pay more for a relic.

If I was touring I'd play used Japs I could find from the 80's or just beat the ones I already have because they're already scratched up good.

Then again if I was rich and touring I'd have the custom shop build me a few.