STRATOCASTERS most bang for your buck

:lol For the record, I never said it was impossible to find a decent guitar for $250. I said more than likely it will be a piece of shit.
 
It can be a real crap shoot buying a guitar that you can't actually play before buying. Try finding a lower price guitar in a local shop that you can try out. If it plays good and sounds good then it is good. Some higher priced guitars are inconsistent and many lower priced are. If you can return an item after you try it out, that might be a good route. Inexpensive guitars can be so inconsistent that 1 out of ten within the same model/build can be sensational and 4 out of ten are terrible. If you can PLAY it first you have a chance. My brother has a Squier tele that is actually a really good guitar.
 
That one on Reverb looks nice, but realize that it is 60$ shipping, so 345$ is the actual price. I would also ask if it comes with a case.
 
I'll probably be meeting the guy in person, or else I wouldn't consider it haha. I think I can get it for 250 or less.
 
i've tried the classic vibe and would definitely recommend.
the yamaha pacifica is not a bad alternative either as mentioned by someone else here.
 
VeryBadMan said:
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.
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All guitar below certain price level are tend to have issues. But you know what... cheaper guitars are like box of chocolate - you'll never know what you gonna get ;)

I bought brand new Fender Standard Stratocaster (MiM) back in 2012. Didn't played any guitar for about 20 years prior to that... I just one day recalled old days and said "shit man, that was fun back then". Let's call it a sort of middle-age crisis :lol

Anyway - my strat wasn't perfect. It had a couple of "childhood" issues. Wood wasn't dried enough (common thing in MiMs) so body shrunk a bit with time (resulting slight bend of the pickguard at bridge). So was neck - after several months frets edges started to coming out of fretboard. I have adressed those issues (well, not me - my luthier). Changed pickups for DiMarzio DP218 at neck/bridge, changed pots, did cavity screening. And guitar played very well.

In december I had a major dillema - stay with this strat and do some more upgrades or sell it as it is and get AM DLX Strat. So I took it to my luthier for detailed diagnosis and... seriously, I didn't believed what I've heard.

It turned out that over those 2 years and few months wood dried perfectly, the humidity of the body was in fact better than in customshopped Suhr the luthier had in service that day. It was slight warp of the neck, but really minimal. His exact words: Man, you have an outstanding guitar. So I decided to leave it. Luthier adressed neck warp by just levelling frets (he said that he will level the fretboard when time to change frets will come). I've replaced stock tuners with Fender locking tuners and MOST IMPORTANT - I've changed stock tremolo to stainless steel Fender Custom Shop Big Block Tremolo. Damn... it was like magic, I didn't recognized my guitar. Luthier even said that he would buy it from me :)

Right now my MiM Strat is just fabulous, I wouldn't never change it. Stays in tune even with tremolo use, sounds great. I have a really low action (about 1.2 mm at 12th fret) but there's no fretting out bending E1/B2 past the 12th fret. What could I want more?

SO MY POINT IS...
There are always some risks when buying brand new guitar. But if you're buying used one you know what you get and there's lots of outstanding guitars at that price level. I know that my guitar is not as good as strats from the old times. But there are diamonds even between present products. Even if the bodies are made of 3-5 matched pieces of wood (so what, present Gibsons below Standard model are made the same way). When childhood deseases are cured, even new MiM (with some upgrades) can become a great instrument.

Today I'll probably wouldn't buy a new one, I would search second hand market for some diamond. But in 2012... I just couldn't wait, patience never was my virtue ;) And it turned out I got very lucky :)
 
In that price range, I would run the racks at any guitar shops/pawn shops, etc. and consider craigslist as well. There are good deals out there and there are some good guitars (relatively speaking) in that price range, but you have to find them. I would set aside some cash for a good setup after you purchase as well, if you don't do that work yourself.
 
IMO the the ultimate Strat value is Classic Player Strats but they're a bit more expensive than what you're looking for I guess. If you can find a 60s Classic Player Strat used I suggest you get that one. It's what I'm using in this video f.ex.



Although I've done some mods it was still pretty awesome stock.
 
JRod4928 said:
Thanks man. Your constructive input has been invaluable throughout this thread
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Touche. :lol

You've been a good sport. :encouragement:

I'll try to be more constructive. Go to www.TheGearPage.net if you have not already; they have plenty of members that will be helpful and courteous in your quest.

Save up some more money!!! Have patience. Don't buy a guitar online unless the seller provides an iron clad return policy. Keep in mind that shipping the guitar back will eat into your guitar budget. You may have to do this several times if purchasing a low budget guitar online. Heck, you may have to do it when buying an expensive top of the line guitar online. You could eat up all your budget just shipping these guitars back and in the end have nothing to show for all of your effort. On second thought that might be a good thing since you are wanting to play the blues after all ;)

When you find your new guitar or settle for one don't throw good money after bad. Go to local shops and try these budget guitars out. If the guitar can be set up reasonable well and hold a tune there you go. To hell with how much or how little it costs.
 
kavoo said:
MOST IMPORTANT - I've changed stock tremolo to stainless steel Fender Custom Shop Big Block Tremolo. Damn... it was like magic, I didn't recognized my guitar. Luthier even said that he would buy it from me :)
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This! The bridge has a huge impact on the tone of the guitar. My brother bought a crap Squier in a pawn shop for like $75 to have something to mess around with. Last year the tiny cheap tremolo block broke loose making the guitar completely unplayable. I found a big block Fender trem online and replaced the flimsy pot metal Squier junk and it brought that guitar to life. The replacement trem easily weighed twice as much as the squier one. The guitar was much louder acoustically, had twice the sustain, and even with the crappy stock pickups, it actually sounded pretty darn good. For a $30 replacement bridge, I was shocked at how much better it sounded.

One thing to keep in mind is that some Squiers have thinner bodies than MIM and USA strats. The trem block stuck out of the back of the body a good 1/4 inch. Had to cut it down a bit in order to get the trem cover back on.
 
I may have found a brand new classic vibe for 225...not the color I wanted, but it's a great deal and I could replace the body at some point I suppose...and the pickups (fat 50's), and the bridge.... basically all I want is the neck because its maple, lol.
 
Watching this post myself. I have also been considering a cheap(er) Strat and/or Tele. Even if it means eventually getting new pups and a plek job with a total ~$600 investment for a killer guitar.

Seriously been leaning more towards a Tele lately. Been listening to a lot of recent George Lynch and his Tele tones are killer. Of course, those are more on the "heavy" side of the spectrum but I think it would be a versatile axe that would cover a lot of ground.
 
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