From sean.kern–(at)–drc.com Fri Apr 7 11:22:29 CDT 1995
Article: 41385 of alt.guitar
Path: geraldo.cc.utexas.edu!cs.utexas.edu!news.sprintlink.net!uunet!psinntp!sdrc.com!casepc
From: sean.kern–(at)–drc.com (Sean Kerns)
Newsgroups: alt.guitar
Subject: Re: How is this used Fender Strat? Worth it?
Date: Fri, 07 Apr 95 15:02:23 GMT
Organization: SDRC
Lines: 49
Distribution: world
Message-ID: <3m3kdr$3e--(at)--nfo1.sdrc.com>
References: <644V3c1w165--(at)--rsys.edmonton.ab.ca>
NNTP-Posting-Host: casepc.sdrc.com
X-Newsreader: News Xpress Version 1.0 Beta #2
da–(at)–cs.gla.ac.uk (David Morning) wrote:
>kshunte–(at)–rsys.edmonton.ab.ca (Kevan Hunter) writes:
>
>>Ok, I’m deciding its time to upgrade my guitar from the no-namer I have
>>now. What I’m buying is a slightly used, (the guy selling it never played
>>in a band or anything) Fender Squire Stratocaster from 1982. It’s made in
>>Japan, before they moved the prduction to Korea. The neck is maple and
>>the fingerboard is rosewood, and the neck is slightly thinner. I’m not
>>sure about the pickups yet, but I know it has a descent whammy bar
>>included. The price is $400. I guess that’s it, I would appreciate any
>>comments very much. Thanks in anticipation.
>
>$100 US tops…not sure the exchange rate
>
I beg to disagree. I’m not sure what $400 Canadian translates into, but these
early ’80’s Japanese Squires are really pretty nice guitars. They were modelled on the
’70’s American Strat, with a bullet truss-rod, big headstock, etc., and the neck is
a very nice neck, if you don’t mind smallish frets. The tuners are Schaller-alikes,
and hold tune very well. The hardware is comparable to what was on late-’70’s
USA Fenders, and has the same limitations, too. The main differences are the
body wood, and the electronics.
The bodies are basswood, which was unheard of at the time, though now it is
popping up all over (like the MusicMan EVH model). It is lighter and less dense than
the alder that Fender was using by then, but still has decent resonance.
The real weak spot on these guitars, IMO, is the electronics. The pickups are
“Squier Hot-Rod” pickups, and have decent output, but are screeechy and
feedbacky; the bridge p/u was almost unusable. I replaced it first with a ’59, then
with a Quarter-Pounder. I like the QP best. Also, I have had to replace the Volume knob
and the selector switch (both within ~2 years of new). I replaced them with good
Switchcraft parts, and haven’t had a problem since. The neck is very sturdy, and
handles lots of different string gauges with grace.
In general, I would say that one of these in good condition is a great-playing,
okay-sounding guitar, which can be easily re-built to sound great, too.
Now, IMO, the ones to stay away from (from that same time period) are the Bullets.
They were just plain junk (IMO). The Squier Strat, I think is a good guitar. I bought
mine new in ’82 or ’83 for ~$400 US (I think). I haven’t seen many of these around used,
but I would thin they ought to be worth ~$200-$250 US in good shape.
As always, YMMV.
=====================================================================
| Sean R. “Snake” Kerns e-mail: sean.kern–(at)–drc.com |
| DoD# 1052 ’48 CJ-2A ’79 F-250 4×4 429 ’93 750 Virago |
| Structural Dynamics Research Corporation ’79 AQHA |
| These opinions aren’t SDRC’s… They may not even be MINE… |
=====================================================================
