Fender Jungle, PLZ answer and comment!! Options

[Mackietao]

I´ve been thinking about buying a Fender Statocaster. I like their looks and sound. And it would make my guitarcollection a whole lot wider.. soundwise. Since I got a bit more expensive Ibanez RG guitar
and a Hagströms Ultraswede. But I do not know what to look for!!! It´s a jungle out there. So many different models and different countries produced in so it´s superhard to know if a guitar is good or not. And since I´m mainly in to buying a used guitar I can´t try it. I will have to order from someone on the internet.
PLease give me some tips in how to know if a guitar is good or not. Mostly I need to know if it´s a fair price.
I try sometimes looking up a guitar and comparing to a new guitar on a musicstore. But for every color, land, model and such there is so many to chose from so I´m really just guessing.

Anyway, there is however an American Highway one strat, black, year 03 around where i live that I will check out tomorrow. But I looked on the internet and it seems to be a really cheap stratocaster, like 700 euros new... I rather pay up to somewhere around 800 euros for a used one and get a nice one.
He has demanded like 450 euros for it. A gigbag goes a long with it. Doesn´t seem like a really good price if it only costs 700 new. However there was nothing about where those guitars where made. So I don´t know if that were american made or not. And I don´t really know if that changes anything or not in the guitar. All I know is that amercan made is more expensive. Due to workers paycheck?? Or due to better work?? Or both?? I don´t know. (and becides, I don´t like black/white fenders that much so I don´t think I will pay what he demands. BUt what do I know, it might be awsome. But I doubt it with the cheaper pickups and all)
Buy it and change pickups?? help

Sell me your fender! haha

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This post has been edited by Mackietao: Dec 2 2007, 09:56 PM

[shredmandan]

Your right.There is so many different fender's out there.Actually the highway one your talking about is a pretty good guitar.We need more info though on what you like playing ,the sound you want ,do you prefer humbucker of single coil, ect ect.Lots of time when people post questions we dont have enough to give the right answer.

So with the info on here i would suggest a Fender Stratocaster Deluxe series.You can go the American route or the Mexican route for this one because they both make them.Guitar features a transparent paint finish in your choice with an Alder or Ash body along with rosewood or maple fretboard.This is a 3 single coil guitar with features fender's noiseless pickups and a 5 way selector.One of the cool things about this guitar is it has a mini button that gives you a total of 7 pickups selections for ultimate tone options.I had the Mexican model and i installed a Duncan Distortion Bucker in because i love playing heavy with plenty of high gain.I loved that guitar and it is one of the best souding i have heard.Although if you want one with a humbucker already instaled you could go with the Fat Strat.Good luck and let us know what you decide.

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[Mackietao]

nice answer I do not really know what want. Humbucker sounds better because you can turn half off and get a singlecoil.. I got metalhard sounds from the ibanez and grunge/jazz sound from my Hagström.. FOr the stratocaster I´d like to play some funk, nice clean passages and get the Yngwie sound while trying to shred

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[Hisham Al-Sanea]

ok there is a different between USA fender and squaire fender .the squaire made in china/malesia/indonesia and cost you between 200...450 USD and thats depend on the wood,neck,briedge,pickups
but for USA fender strato new one between 1200$ and higher. the second hand USA starto in good case from 600....800 USD $ it depends on how ever its is good and wood/pickups hot sensor or cold sensor.finally if yoiu desided to strato you need to change 1 single coil pickup to humpickup for rock and metall and you can choose between
demarzio old version /duncan/AMG

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[fkalich]

the highway one is american made. go to ebay and do a search on fender stratocaster highway one, do the advance search so you can see completed sales to see what they are going for.

and go to harmony-central.com and read reviews on that model. that is a good reference I think to decide.

also you can go to thefenderforum.com to research fenders. that is what I did before I got mine.


edit: according to the luthier I have gone to (martin and fender approved) fender supports it's american product better than the foreign made. And my experience with fender was good. I bought a new telecaster, and felt the truss rod seemed tight. but i did not take it to him for over a year. the truss rod was maxed out. fender sent a new neck and he installed it under warranty. he says that they are pretty good about that kind of thing, at least for their american product.

edit2: the highway one is cheaper, I think about $700 or so here. The finish is not as fancy, probably a few other things are different for the one that costs a few hundred more.

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This post has been edited by fkalich: Dec 3 2007, 01:00 AM

[Hardtail]

The highway one is the lowest end of the American Made strats. It is on par with the Mexican made strats and If you are looking for a nice guitar to hold or go up in value I would not recommend the Highway one.

Since you stated you are trying to expand your collection and sound I would highly recommend sticking with the single coil strats especially since that is where Fender shines. Some suggestions are below:

1.) USA Stratocaster - Fender's absolute best materials and craftsmanship go into the USA Standard and better stratocasters. You almost can't go wrong with a USA Stratocaster.

2.) '62 Reissue Stratocaster - These are actually Made in Japan but are the best Fender to come out of that country. People LOVE these things. The quality is good. The pickups are excellent. And because it's from Japan they usually aren't totally over-expensive.

3.) USA Fender Deluxe - A slight step up from the Standard and includes the S-1 switching system for more pickup configurations. Nice guitars.

To be honest if you don't live in USA then I'd recommend the '62 Reissue Strat. These guitars are awesome and can be found more readily in other countries since they are exported from Japan rather than the US. My friend has one and I can personally attest that they sound great. I think they are called the Vintage Hot Rod '62 now but you should be able to find some used ones on Ebay as well.

Hardtail

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[fkalich]

The highway one is the lowest end of the American Made strats. It is on par with the Mexican made strats and If you are looking for a nice guitar to hold or go up in value I would not recommend the Highway one.

Since you stated you are trying to expand your collection and sound I would highly recommend sticking with the single coil strats especially since that is where Fender shines. Some suggestions are below:

1.) USA Stratocaster - Fender's absolute best materials and craftsmanship go into the USA Standard and better stratocasters. You almost can't go wrong with a USA Stratocaster.

2.) '62 Reissue Stratocaster - These are actually Made in Japan but are the best Fender to come out of that country. People LOVE these things. The quality is good. The pickups are excellent. And because it's from Japan they usually aren't totally over-expensive.

3.) USA Fender Deluxe - A slight step up from the Standard and includes the S-1 switching system for more pickup configurations. Nice guitars.

To be honest if you don't live in USA then I'd recommend the '62 Reissue Strat. These guitars are awesome and can be found more readily in other countries since they are exported from Japan rather than the US. My friend has one and I can personally attest that they sound great. I think they are called the Vintage Hot Rod '62 now but you should be able to find some used ones on Ebay as well.

Hardtail

this is all very good advice

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[Mackietao]

very good reading here indeed
I do have a friend from LA that´s coming here in the end of the week. But maby it´s to short time to make that happen... meaning send money and she´ll buy a strat over in the US and takin it here to sweden. All good advice guys! I´m not looking for something that will go up in value. I´m just looking for a really good guitar. I´d prefer if it´s good looking but I can always sell it and buy a nicer one later so that´s not a main issue. I will post more about the fender looking tomorrow. (now I need to sleep. Just 4 hours before alarm clock rings. )

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[Ivan Milenkovic]

Try some second hand USA CORONA Strats. THe minimum options they have - the better. Also check out on the net some advices how to know for sure if its original or fake. There are a couple of things on the guitar itslef that can tell you straight away if it is fake or not. I think that the used ones that have past through some wood drying periods are much better thatn the new ones. ALso the new ones are made from cheaper wood.

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[Mackietao]

Hi! No fender for me tonight. The Highway one I checked out was actually better looking then I thought. Kind of darkbrown old wood body. Tuning was okay too. With a little adjustment it might have been great, who knows.. But the sustain wasn´t that good and the guitar itself felt a bit akward. I want the feeling to be real smooth. Maby I´m used to another type of guitar, who knows. But the feeling was a bit cheap, a bit hard. And the pickups very easily... Oh what the word. Kind of bass feedback with some VRROOOOM sound. And the volume wasn´t even that killing. It felt okay for funk but no shredder feeling at all.. Back to searching the web!!

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[Hardtail]

Hi! No fender for me tonight. The Highway one I checked out was actually better looking then I thought. Kind of darkbrown old wood body. Tuning was okay too. With a little adjustment it might have been great, who knows.. But the sustain wasn´t that good and the guitar itself felt a bit akward. I want the feeling to be real smooth. Maby I´m used to another type of guitar, who knows. But the feeling was a bit cheap, a bit hard. And the pickups very easily... Oh what the word. Kind of bass feedback with some VRROOOOM sound. And the volume wasn´t even that killing. It felt okay for funk but no shredder feeling at all.. Back to searching the web!!

That review of a highway sounds typical... but be careful of judging some things. Old brittle strings will ruin playability and sustain. Fender does not carry great sustain typically due to the materials used and their tremolo bridges. I'm not much for tremolo so I searched for and found a Hardtail Strat (hence my name) and the thing holds a note forever. However, a decent USA strat or that '62 reissue will give much better playability than the Highway One and due to better fit and materials will also have better sustain (even if you get a trem bridge). Good luck hunting!

Hardtail

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