STRATOCASTERS most bang for your buck

JRod4928

JRod4928

Power User
I'm looking for a SSS strat to play warm bluesy type stuff. I don't care if the logo says Fender, Squire, Yamaha, whatever. As long as it is comfortable to play, holds tune, and sounds decent with a reasonable amount of hum noise. My price range is less than $250. Of course, I'm willing to buy used :)

What make/models would you guy suggest? The world of strat models confuses me, so I'm not sure which ones are which.

I've read the Squier Classic Vibe strats are actually pretty comparable to MIM strats, for whatever that's worth :)
 
I know this is not what you want to hear but the money saved on strats is normally the things you mention-tuning keys, neck and body wood and pickups. I am a long time (30+) year strat player. While I am into USA only strats-that's just me.

But I really think you at least need to get to the Mexican Strats to achieve some of your goals-probably all. And I have seen many Mexican Standard strats for around your price range. Craigslist, etc. Check out Tyle Grund playing his Mexican Tele with FW18. He's changing the pups but it sounds great now.
Used is good, Just trying to help.
 
Stratman68 said:
I know this is not what you want to hear but the money saved on strats is normally the things you mention-tuning keys, neck and body wood and pickups. I am a long time (30+) year strat player. While I am into USA only strats-that's just me.

But I really think you at least need to get to the Mexican Strats to achieve some of your goals-probably all. And I have seen many Mexican Standard strats for around your price range. Craigslist, etc. Check out Tyle Grund playing his Mexican Tele with FW18. He's changing the pups but it sounds great now.
Used is good, Just trying to help.
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I've seen a few random MIM strats around my price range. my only concern is that most of them are older, so they'd have fret wear and the bridge is probably worn out, etc. So they will need more money dumped into them to get them playable. The advantage for me is that I don't care about how it looks, I'm going to 'relic' the strat anyway, so I might be able to find a deal on a scratched/dinged strat.
 
I bought a Mexican Strat years ago , one of those Tex - Mex ones with the " humbucker " pickup . At the time I thought it was a decent player for the money - under 300. Over time it seems the neck has gone out of shape a bit, intonation issues and fretting out past the 12th fret on bends so I put it away for years. Recently tried to resurect it took it apart cleaned it up - but I could find no way to readjust the truss rod ? So I pulled on it !! Seems to work ok now - cheap materials wood etc fun to play as long as you dont wanna bend notes say past the 14th fret lol.
 
Depending on the price you can get a used one for and the cost of a fret level (or if you can do it yourself) you can probably save a lot of money buying one that has some fret wear. You'd be shocked at how much fret material is actually there.

In terms of which type to go with I think that the MIM stuff is really solid and for the price is hard to beat, but if you are looking for something that requires no work to be a good player you probably won't find a really good one for that price without some luck. So generally I'd suggest looking at companies like Agile for value, but to be honest I think that the Squier Classic Vibe series is probably the best cheap value out there. I'm not talking about the Affinity stuff which is usually nonstandard parts and thinner bodies with really crappy fret jobs (that's why they cost like $150), but the classic vibe ones are actually good guitars. You can probably score a used one in mint condition for the price you are looking for and more importantly any parts you need are going to be strat sized.
 
You're right, I don't want to do any work to it, lol. I do also like that replacement parts are plentiful if I get a squier or fender - didn't think about that point.

I played a classic vibe, and a MIM strat, in GC yesterday, the CV needed set up, badly, but it sounded decent.... I haven't played a strat in a long time, so I'm comparing everything to my USA PRS and all I kept thinking was, holy crap this sounds different! lol
 
Most cheap guitars will benefit greatly from 3 things:

1. Fret level and recrown. 2. Replace and/or recut the nut. 3. Proper setup and intonation.

A little TLC goes a long way to making any guitar play and stay in tune better.
 
I cannot see buying an inexpensive guitar and then spending $$$ on it? I find that weird. I have seen so many near perfect MIM used strats-at GC even. Craigslist like I said but I am in florida.
As an example: I am selling my 89 USA Standard. (this is not a sales pitch, I have it at a music repair shop on consignment, where it will stay until sold or I take it home-I am not shipping a guitar). I am asking a low price because it will need a fret job soon I think. But that's different. An 89 USA std was one of the best years for Fender USA Strats. Worth spending money on.

Also, as a side note, most folks I know that have Mexican strats wind up changing the pups, temolo block and tuning keys. Where is the logic in this?

But a great player like Tyler Grund here is only changing the pickups, and like I said his MIM Tele sounds great as is. BTW, IMO, the Mexican Teles are made better than the MIM Strats. Maybe because there is no tremolo block to mess with.

Hope you find what you want.

I am retired, so I'll have a look around here to see ..........................
 
You can buy a MIM strat all day for $150-250 any fretboard or color you want

BUT i'd recommend a squier STANDARD SERIES and spend the extra $100 on good pickups
The best strat pickups out there are the dimarzio Area set-
 
Jeries said:
You can buy a MIM strat all day for $150-250 any fretboard or color you want

BUT i'd recommend a squier STANDARD SERIES and spend the extra $100 on good pickups
The best strat pickups out there are the dimarzio Area set-
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Sorry, I have to disagree, just to help the OP.Those are noiseless, hardly everyday strat pickups. We do not know if he wants noiseless. Dimarzio is good, Lindy FRalin is better, Seymour Duncan is Good. So many good and great fender strat pickups, including Fenders own pickups.

Pretty soon you guys will have him down to a $35 Stratocaster that he can "fix up" only $439.66 and 2nd male child born at night
There are many conversations I cannot hold my own in so I stay out.
But Strats of any make, country, etc ......That I can have some fine in an easily hold my own.
 
I recently bought a Thomas Blug Vintage Icon Series Strat and it's one of the nicest Strats I've ever played regardless of cost. Distressed guitars aren't my first choice but even this works on this guitar because of the played in feel it gives the instrument. I believe there are a few in the Vintage series, definitely worth checking out. Also have a look on YouTube to see Thomas demo this great guitar.
 
Stratman68 said:
Sorry, I have to disagree, just to help the OP.Those are noiseless, hardly everyday strat pickups. We do not know if he wants noiseless. Dimarzio is good, Lindy FRalin is better, Seymour Duncan is Good. So many good and great fender strat pickups, including Fenders own pickups.

Pretty soon you guys will have him down to a $35 Stratocaster that he can "fix up" only $439.66 and 2nd male child born at night
There are many conversations I cannot hold my own in so I stay out.
But Strats of any make, country, etc ......That I can have some fine in an easily hold my own.
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so what years of mim strats are good, what years are bad? what model of strats are good, bad, etc (standard, tex mex, highway one, etc.) , which pickups are best for a bluesy or gilmour tone?
 
There are so many choices out there, I have no idea which ones are high quality and which are garbage. Seems like the quality of strats,especially mim, varies greatly by year and model
 
For instance right now I'm looking at a mim strat,made in 2001,02 in the Ensenada plant. No idea what pickups it had or if this year/plant was any good
 
$250 is more than likely going to buy you a piece of shit guitar, just my opinion, and we know what those are like.
 
JRod4928 said:
Thanks for the help. I'm not expecting a Suhr quality instrument. I'm confident a playable guitar can be had for 250
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I'm not a gear snob and you will never see me acting in such a way. It's just that I have never met a $250 guitar that was actually worth $250, but I digress. I wish you the best.:encouragement:

Edit: damn, maybe I am a gear snob, :lol
 
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haha, that's just out of the range right now. I bought my USA PRS new last year, I bought the AXE FX 2 months ago, A new monitor last month... so the only way I can justify (to my wife) buying a strat is if I can fund it by selling other gear. That gives me about 250 to work with.
 
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