I took a chance on...

SlopeSoarer

... an 80's Sunn Mustang Strat (by FMIC) and can't believe how nice it is. The neck is slim and really silky smooth, the pups sound good and it has little wear and has minimal marks... barely any marks at all! The overall build is ace but it did benefit from a setup I suspect it had never been touched from new, why?

I'd never taken any notice of them previously but only paid attention after a mate had talked about how the 80's/early 90's versions were becoming a little collectible.

Has anyone else had positive experience/s?

HarrySeven

Yup. I've had a few. Still got one somewhere. Great guitars for the money.

richardhomer

HarrySeven said:

Yup. I've had a few. Still got one somewhere.

Presumably you could post this, pretty much regardless of what guitar someone had just bought...

SlopeSoarer

A couple of photos... 

Sassafras

Same colour as the one I had and, yes, it was pretty good.
Didn't know they were getting collectable. Still, I suppose given time everything becomes collectable.

SlopeSoarer

Sassafras said:

Same colour as the one I had and, yes, it was pretty good.
Didn't know they were getting collectable. Still, I suppose given time everything becomes collectable.

They probably aren't... my mate is full of it! But I do trust him: )

dbphoto

I have a couple of the slightly earlier ones with chunkier necks and ‘Made in India’ under the Sunn logo, not ‘by FMIC’, and considering they were cheap catologue guitars at the time they are ok.

One of mine was my first ever electric bought new in 1988 I think for £99

Collectible though?  I wouldn’t say so. 

Jez6345789

There were a few out their from the early days with Flame Maple necks to rival PRS.

remember seeing one in my local store and thinking shame it’s not Birdseye nobody wanted flame neck back in those days

tampaxboo

dbphoto said:

Collectible though?  I wouldn’t say so. 

i absolutely loathe the term 'collectible'. you can collect anything but it doesn't necessarily mean it's worth collecting.
to my ears it's as good as a criticism, on the basis that if you are digging so low for adjectives that you hit 'collectible', you have clearly passed by (for what reason?) so many other terms that signify a more meaningful quality.

(ps. not a criticism of the guitar in this instance, which looks fine and very playable).

p90fool

I think collectible is maybe putting it strongly but those pickups are well regarded in country/roots circles for being a touch microphonic but very cool-sounding things, and have found their way into way more expensive guitars. 

SlopeSoarer

tampaxboo said:

dbphoto said:

Collectible though?  I wouldn’t say so. 

i absolutely loathe the term 'collectible'. you can collect anything but it doesn't necessarily mean it's worth collecting.
to my ears it's as good as a criticism, on the basis that if you are digging so low for adjectives that you hit 'collectible', you have clearly passed by (for what reason?) so many other terms that signify a more meaningful quality.

(ps. not a criticism of the guitar in this instance, which looks fine and very playable).

Yeah.... I have to agree with what you say and to be fair the price I paid (£70) flies in the face of the comment: ) 

I had read different opinions on the internet, some saying they are excellent and others that they are just firewood material. Well... I've tweaked the truss rod and adjusted the action at both the nut and bridge since I posted and it's definitely not firewood material, in fact it feels brill to me. Happy days: )

dbphoto

For £70 in that condition I would be very happy.

The later ones (Chinese?) with the same headstock shape but different logo are not as good in my experience.

and the last batch from Korea with the different headstock shape are pretty terrible.

clarkefan

Original cost doesn't really have anything to do with collectable.  I bought my Japanese Squier for I think 180 quid, including lefty tax, back in the day.

Worth a bit more now (or would be if I hadn't wrecked the crap out of it)

robgilmo

That's the thing about Jap Squiers, not too long ago early Jap Squiers were regarded as very good guitars, nowadays anything made in Japan seems to hold the same value.
All it takes is for one forum post to say ''yes, this squire from such and such a factory and such and such a year is the best guitar in the world ever'' , a Google search researching an EBay listing finds it, the EBay listing turns into a bidding frenzy based on this forum members opinion of said guitar, then all of a sudden more guitars of the same turn up on EBay with asking prices based on the original sale with sales blurb based on the original forum post and bingo, a legend is born! 

Nothing is said about the cheap hardware, thin laminate/plywood bodies and cheap ceramic pick ups. For some reason early 90's very late 80's Squier Japanese guitars are as well thought of as the earlier ones.

I remember those days when Squier guitars may they be from Korea or Japan, pre or post late 80's were thought of as being rubbish, but now they arnt? I wonder if the internet has had something to do with that?

The way I see it is, if something isnt all that great, then you read all over the net that its brilliant, then you buy one before trying one, you may well kid your self into thinking its fantastic.

SlopeSoarer

robgilmo said:

That's the thing about Jap Squiers, not too long ago early Jap Squiers were regarded as very good guitars, nowadays anything made in Japan seems to hold the same value.
All it takes is for one forum post to say ''yes, this squire from such and such a factory and such and such a year is the best guitar in the world ever'' , a Google search researching an EBay listing finds it, the EBay listing turns into a bidding frenzy based on this forum members opinion of said guitar, then all of a sudden more guitars of the same turn up on EBay with asking prices based on the original sale with sales blurb based on the original forum post and bingo, a legend is born! 

Nothing is said about the cheap hardware, thin laminate/plywood bodies and cheap ceramic pick ups. For some reason early 90's very late 80's Squier Japanese guitars are as well thought of as the earlier ones.

I remember those days when Squier guitars may they be from Korea or Japan, pre or post late 80's were thought of as being rubbish, but now they arnt? I wonder if the internet has had something to do with that?

The way I see it is, if something isnt all that great, then you read all over the net that its brilliant, then you buy one before trying one, you may well kid your self into thinking its fantastic.

Yeah, I get what you mean but it is also just as easy to run something down with the internet.

I don't fully know the answer to this but when you say that, "Nothing is said about the cheap hardware, thin laminate/plywood bodies and cheap ceramic pick ups." to me that is quite a generic statement and won't necessarily be true of all. I think what the internet has done for me is given me greater confidence (through tutorials/youtube vids/etc) to 1) take a gamble and 2) to have a go at doing my own setups (i.e. not having to spend again). The guitar in question I believe has never had a setup, I suspect if the the internet was around (as it is now) in the 80's I wouldn't have been paying £70 for it.: )

My experience is that I have bought a guitar which for the present I'm delighted with, I've improved it, it has cost me next to nothing (to be honest I'd have been happy if I'd paid double... probably a bit more). 

I'm happy; )

robgilmo

SlopeSoarer said:

robgilmo said:

That's the thing about Jap Squiers, not too long ago early Jap Squiers were regarded as very good guitars, nowadays anything made in Japan seems to hold the same value.
All it takes is for one forum post to say ''yes, this squire from such and such a factory and such and such a year is the best guitar in the world ever'' , a Google search researching an EBay listing finds it, the EBay listing turns into a bidding frenzy based on this forum members opinion of said guitar, then all of a sudden more guitars of the same turn up on EBay with asking prices based on the original sale with sales blurb based on the original forum post and bingo, a legend is born! 

Nothing is said about the cheap hardware, thin laminate/plywood bodies and cheap ceramic pick ups. For some reason early 90's very late 80's Squier Japanese guitars are as well thought of as the earlier ones.

I remember those days when Squier guitars may they be from Korea or Japan, pre or post late 80's were thought of as being rubbish, but now they arnt? I wonder if the internet has had something to do with that?

The way I see it is, if something isnt all that great, then you read all over the net that its brilliant, then you buy one before trying one, you may well kid your self into thinking its fantastic.

Yeah, I get what you mean but it is also just as easy to run something down with the internet.

I don't fully know the answer to this but when you say that, "Nothing is said about the cheap hardware, thin laminate/plywood bodies and cheap ceramic pick ups." to me that is quite a generic statement and won't necessarily be true of all. I think what the internet has done for me is given me greater confidence (through tutorials/youtube vids/etc) to 1) take a gamble and 2) to have a go at doing my own setups (i.e. not having to spend again). The guitar in question I believe has never had a setup, I suspect if the the internet was around (as it is now) in the 80's I wouldn't have been paying £70 for it.: )

My experience is that I have bought a guitar which for the present I'm delighted with, I've improved it, it has cost me next to nothing (to be honest I'd have been happy if I'd paid double... probably a bit more). 

I'm happy; )

Coolio, I have to admit I al.ost bought one of those a while back, I couldnt make up my mind after reading up on them, people were slating them while others were praising them, the auction bids went up further than I wanted to pay so that made my mind up for me.