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Also agree that whilst you might prefer one CS Strat amongst 10 on the wall, the chances are that the other 9 are still good examples - In the last 5 years I have only sent back 2 CS Strats to Fender, that when they arrived they sounded lifeless - I'm sure Fender will just send such guitars out to another dealer who is less fussy
E.g. 10% of American Fenders being dogs? Surely that's not the case, is it? Again, I haven't tested even close to enough to be relevant, I'm just surprised and must have been lucky with the ones I have bought/played.
Also very surprised at the thought of only a quarter of CS Strats being really great - my perception is that they're given a lot more time and attention for every instrument than the non-CS ones so would expect the majority of them to be very good or even great.
Maybe I've been completely duped by perception and CS guitars aren't all given the attention and time that I thought; maybe they're more just glorified production line guitars than I had thought.
Just to express again, my perceptions are not backed by evidence, I'm just posting to say how different my perceptions are to others' (whose may well be backed by a lot more evidence).
Out of interest - does anyone know if the way Fender distribute bodies through the ranges - would they make a certain number of alder Strat bodies then sort them by weight and then use the heavier ones for cheaper guitars and vice versa? Or do they make bodies specifically for each range before knowing how the bodies will turn out? (i.e. can one get lucky and buy a Mexican Standard that just happens to have an extremely lightweight body or would a body like that have been assigned to a higher end model?
From my infinitesimally small sample size (my avatar pic) the outer 2 guitars both have 2012 American Standard necks and trems, same Schaller tuners but one body is American Standard and the other is Mexican Player with the latter being the heavier guitar.
I have returned 2 guitars in the last 5 years - sold /purchased maybe 500 in that time - Both returned models just sounded dead/lifeless - But after that IMO it has been more about preference
Finding a CS dog is a rare occurrence - So much so that if you buy a CS via mail order, from any authorized UK dealer, then chances of finding a bad example are very low
Looks like they have a host of such guitars now - Some look more interesting than others but all 4K-ish
It's so far away from the concept of a guitar as a working tool which gets used and naturally worn it's ridiculous.
"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
Add another £500 to get it refinished because of the ridiculous relic job.
• Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@Goldeneraguitars
I hope they mean fretboard wear!
None of those look remotely like old guitars at all, and no it isn't just a "finish choice". They are intended to look old and worn... but they're just done badly.
"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
The whole point of Fenders were that they were relatively cheap to make on a production line in comparison to the guitars of the day. I think Leo would be shaking his head in amazement at the money being made from these.