Strat...strange situation

[feaker66]

Moj

Thanks for the tip. I expected to pay $1200 plus for something with a decent sound.

Your price was almost rediculous. In a good way.

The difference between us is that you know what you are looking for. I usually rely on the salesperson to guide me.

I only care about the sound. Will be looking for a good amp match as well.

Will be in the store ten o'clock this Friday with all my mad money.

paul

[jdhogg]

Feaker

Never trust the guys in the store 100%.
Some are honest some are not.
I used to know someone who worked in a music store.....some of those salespeople dont give a hoot.
They just want to sell you the stuff with the biggest markup.
As mojo proved...like I said if you can buy great sounding cheap gems if you take the time to try them out.
I have an epiphone tele that sounds as good as my usa one. The epiphone one sounds really country my usa more rock/pop.

[feaker66]

JD

Yup, I hear ya. I trust everone. Small town kinda guy.

I had a beautiful 25 year old blonde beauty help me last time.

I was going to buy a $3500 Martin and she wouldn't budge $50 on it. Neither would the store manager.

I just don't want to buy the wrong guitar. It's 350 miles from my home one way. Long ride to take it back:)

Peace bro

Paul

[jdhogg]

feaker

unfortunately we have to play hardball.
its easy to forget they are trained to sell.

Here are some tried and tested tactics for getting a good price.

I never go in and tell them I am buying.
I always tell em I am just looking , been thinking about getting a xyz guitar.

The passing/floating customers always get the best deals because the sales people have to make them want to buy.

The guys that walk in and say "I want the xyz because its a great guitar" get screwed.
Dont give away how impressed you are with the stuff you are about to buy.

Dont tell them you are after an amp.
When you pick up a strat/tele ask one of the sales guys "I want to try this out what amp will it sound best on?"
That way you know he will send you to the best one and not one that he wants to shift.
When you have decided on your guitar and a good price then hit them with the "how much is this amp?"
"how much off if I buy both?"

And the icing on the cake can sometimes be making them throw in 10 packs of your favorite strings and/or a good lead.

Im sure you know all this, thought I'd mention just in case.

Show them no mercy....
Looking forward to your bargaining stories.

One more thing. Always take the guitar you play not the "identical" boxed one in the warehouse/backroom unless you actually play that one as well.
Sometimes (more with acoustics) they will pick the best from the batch and put that out in the shop.

[crs7string]

Paul,

Like all things in life-quality withstands the test of time.

AND you get what you pay for.

If you can spend $1200 to $1800 on a tele or strat, you are, most likely, going to get an instrument that plays better, sounds better and over time has more residual value.

Every time I have compromised on price and purchased the "cheaper" model it has cost me more. You have to add the expense of the cheaper product to the one you eventually go back and buy (the one you should have bought the first time)

In terms of an amp, Fender guitars sound great thru a Fender amp. I would play thru a Deluxe Reverb, Vibroluxe Reverb, A Princeton and a Hot Rod Deluxe and buy the one that resonates with you. (also take into consideration the weight, which is why a Twin Reverb is not on my list)

You may end up spending $2500 before it's over, but if I hear you properly, you've got the money to spend.


Chuck

[t4mh]

Feaker

Cool! We'll want to hear all about it Friday Night!

I agree with comments above as far as sales people go. Ask instead of telling and see what they hook you up with. With regards to the guitar, you already have a PRS ( I think ) and so you know what a good guitar is. Play everywhere on the neck and play it a lot before you decide. You should be preparded to walk out with nothing. If you can't find a guitar that works for you then say no to the deal and walk out. Simple. There are other stores. This has happened to me a lot. But then a guitar has to "sound" the way "I feel". I do my own tech work on my guitars and so I have to be able to "see" that I can change this or that so that the guitar will work for me sooner or later. A lot of those changes are made in setting up the guitar, something more and more stores are not doing with guitars straight from the factory. They come setup for shipping and the store will just hang em up on the display rack. The tweaking is a big deal to me and factory strings are the worst!

I could go on and on and I would probably like to see a war story thread on buying guitars. I own many and each deal was different. I think a new guitar is better than a new car!

Keith

[t4mh]

This convo must've lit a fire under me; I picked up a new Tele at GC yesterday, a Squier Affinity in butterscotch/maple. For less than two bills, tax included, it kicks the Variax's Tele sound to the curb. Slight drawbacks: a top-loading bridge, which is dang inconvenient for stage use, ( I might convert it to string-through, at some point) and the nearly unfinished neck is just so-so, but the tone is absolutely Roy Buchanan-approved twang-tastic! Interestingly, there were a lot of Mexi Strats and Teles in the store marked $499 with very poor setup and intonation; this Chinese beast was spot-on. Not too shabby, and for pocket change, heehee.

Buy it in Indy?

Do you break a lot of strings onstage?

Keith

[ernstinen]

Hey Paul!

Lots of good advice above! Feel, sound, intonation, build quality, etc. is all important, as I'm sure you know, plus strings and picks.

In terms of an amp, Fender guitars sound great thru a Fender amp. I would play thru a Deluxe Reverb, Vibroluxe Reverb, A Princeton and a Hot Rod Deluxe and buy the one that resonates with you. (also take into consideration the weight, which is why a Twin Reverb is not on my list)

Yup, for that "Fender sound," there's nothing like a good Fender amp. I play through a 70's Deluxe Reverb with an Altec Lansing speaker in it for that clean Fender sound. Speakers also make a difference, too. When I had a Marshall JCM-800 50 watt combo, it had the original Celestions in it, and I swapped them out for some old re-coned Jensens. Much better sound for my style!

The wattage of the amp is also a consideration. I doubt that you need a 100 watt amp! If you want a dirtier sound, but not blow the pictures off the wall, a lower-wattage amp makes sense. For instance, my Deluxe Reverb is about 22 watts, but it can get real loud if I want it to. When recording, I have the volume knob at between 2 and 3! But that's my "clean" amp. Another Fender amp that I heard a guy play through in a club was the Blues Jr. It sounded fantastic, wasn't even miked, and during a break I asked him how many watts it was. It's something like 15 watts, and plenty loud to cut through a band. I was amazed!

And I also agree that don't have a sales person steer you to an amp. When I bought my Soldano, the "boutique" amps of the day were Riveras, Mesa Boogies, and one amp the salesman wanted to sell me on that was made my Groove Tube. He was going on and on about it, and I played through it and thought it sucked. These amps were all in a soundproofed room, and I was in there by myself. I saw the Soldano, plugged in, and knew in 10 seconds that was the one for me! It just had the tone and punch I was looking for.

Have fun, and take your time!

Ern

[eeoo]

Hey Paul - Just a quick chime in here. In my experience the strings that come on new Fenders are horrible. First thing I would do is put your favorite strings on. Also have them set it up for you, don't know if GC does that but any decent smaller operation should give you a free set-up.
eo.

[feaker66]

JD, chuck, Keith and Ern

I am getting lazy here because I usually address each person's comments.

I haven't been this excited since I bought new high profile oversize snow tires for my 46 Willy's back in 71.

There are two guitar centers in Minneapolis that are both about a half hours drive from my oldest daughter's. I called each of them today to see what kind of inventory they had with the strats.

The American strats are all on sale for about a hundred bucks off this week. (both stores said the same thing)

The one dude said he had a few of the American deluxe type. Said they were a much better deal for about $1200 to $1300.

I am bringing out 6G, so I really an not concered that way. No I am not rich. just have a lot of mad money:)

Once owned a Fender twinn. Played that amp for eight years until our band trailer left the hitch and rolled over at 60 MPH. My amp and ES 335 broken into pieces. Might go Fender again??


My fingers really hurt today after playing alot of acoustic and I thought to myself, should I even go this route. How long will I actually be able to play?


Was going to trade this 2003 ES 335, but took it out yesterday and it sounded pretty good. Great for songs like "day tripper" , "mustang sally" etc. That's the stuff we play for fun these days.

Man Am I rambling on. Gotta go, 24 is on in a few minutes. Bet Jack will be in deep doo doo again:)

Think the world of you guys

Paul