I recently picked up an ‘89 korean squier strat for £100.
The electrics needed sorting ie pots/switch/cap etc and now its restrung it sounds and plays very very nice / i’ve never been a real strat fan but it does feel nice and i quite like it.
The only negative being the trem - with anything other than a slight “wobble” it drops out of tune.
So, options are upgrade the trem - but, is that worth doing on a lower end guitar and if it is, what should i look for/need?
Or, flog it along with a couple of my other guitars and get a decent basic strat, preferably single coils, rosewood board, medium frets - mex/usa/mij - nothing fancy, just a reliable workhorse.
Any thoughts?
Comments
Remember, it's easier to criticise than create!
Or just hardtail it.
Is it sticking out of tune in the same direction as the last arm movement, or the opposite? Same - the problem is at the bridge; opposite - the problem is at the nut or machineheads.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
I did end up selling as strat was my main guitar and I decided I should have more money in the strat and less in the tele, but was perfectly good. I made back the money I spent on it and learned a lot from the process.
Horses for courses.
Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message
I tilt mine upwards by the regulation 3/16ths of an inch.
I briefly owned a late Eighties Fender Big Apple Stratocaster with the fixed bridge. At the time, I blamed its lack of pizzazz on the *spread and veneers* body construction. In retrospect, the absence of springs and a cavity could have had something to do with it.
Gotta disagree with this. Despite making numerous attempts, I have never succeeded in getting a three pickup Telecaster to sound exactly like a Stratocaster without also losing the Tele-ness of its bridge position pickup.
For what it is worth, installing a Tele-inspired bridge position pickup into a Stratocaster also fails to achieve that elusive hybrid Fender sound set. The nearest that I have ever got is a Squier JV Stratocaster with two Duncan APS-1s and a Twangbanger.
Clapton prefers a locked-down trem too. I think it's likely that the cavity and springs do add 'something' to the tone - not least because when the spring vibrate, they're within the magnetic field of the bridge pickup.
I don't like Nashville Teles either.
It's a circle that cannot be squared - a part of the fundamental character of each guitar comes from the bridge, so putting Strat pickups into a Tele or a Tele bridge pickup into a Strat - even a hardtail - won't give you the same sound as the other guitar.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message
(formerly customkits)
If I could pick out a trem vs hardtail in a blind test I'd believe they sound different.