Ok so I'm currently in the market for a Strat, and the long and short of it is that I can get a fantastic deal, but I won't be able to play it beforehand and I don't have time in my work and school schedule to get out of town and try some out. But the price I will pay makes it well worth the punt anyhow.

So my story is used to play bass blah blah blah and recently been stealing my little brothers acoustic to learn some chords and all that jazz! But I must have an electric!

Now I enjoy playing a lot of bluesy kind of things but also enjoy a lot of punk, heavy metal and ska music which can get quite heavy through the chorus. From what I've read I feel like it would be a wise route to go down the road of getting a strat with a humbucker in the bridge.

So obviously there is a few models and I would basically just like any opinions or experiences you guys have had with them if you guys have the time or interest in your schedules I know it a lot of opinion and it won't make up for trying it out but in my situation the more info the better right?

So anyway there is obviously the Standard HSS.

Then of course we have the Deluxe Power Strat and also the Lonestar Strat (Which greatly appeals due to the Arctic White colour you can get )

Obviously any opinions on American vs Mexican are welcome but from what I've read around here there seems to be nothing but praise for the Mexican models, and seeing as I'm in the UK, they're all a foreign country to me anyway

After this guitar I shall likely be heading down the route of a Tele next, because if I've learnt one thing from going through this site, you can never have too many guitars right?!

Anyway any useful info you guy might have would be more than appreciated. I know it can get annoying on forums for newbies to ask probably the same questions as the last however many guys but there is so much info I've poured through on here it gets a little confusing!!

Cheers guys!

Joe

We can't give you advice as to the instruments validity without seeing the thing.
That said you won't go wrong with a Mexican Strat. Even when they haven't been looked after, you can bring em up to good playability easily enough.

What you need to look at, before handing any money over is the truss access surround. It should be black with the majority of Mexican guitars, walnut with American made guitars.

If this is a online sale, please provide a link. People here won't try to gazump you on it mate.

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No no and no

Without trying to sound too much of a pompous $@! I have a family member "in the business" right now so to speak so I am lucky enough to be able to take my pick right now at a very reasonable price. So the authenticity isn't the worry right now but of course much appreciated you mention it

It was more over the notable differences in sound or features on those guitars that interest me at the moment, because when it comes to guitar tech stuff, I'm pretty brainless

Thanks man!

Well Joe if validity is guaranteed, as it is in this case. Get it.
Mexican guitars are fantastic machines. There shouldn't be much wrong with it at all. The most you get amiss with a mexican guitar is the fretwork, and that aint the end of the world.
A good setup and you're good to go mate.

Are you in Gloucester? I worked round there a lot years back. Forrest of Dean, Cinderford, Hereford, Ross, Cirencester.
God's own land mate.

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No no and no

Very close, just moved from Worcester to Cheltenham at the moment, which more and more seems to be slowly linking up to Gloucester!

But I agree countryside around here is awesome, forest of dean is fantastic and close enough to a large amount of tasty ciders! Couldn't be happier

I think mexican would be a decent route to go, I plan on playing this guitar into the ground anyway and if I save a bit of cash here then of course that means the next guitar purchase is that much closer

Worcester eh?

Spent many a happy hour round Worcester.
Infact the first site I worked on (the afternoon I left school) was in Hillborough. A right disasterous site. It was a mass burial ground from the plague. The site manager, a forrester, was of a incredibly nervous disposition. Every day they'd dig up a couple of skeletons, the site manager had to drive the remains off to the history museum to have the bones dated then disposed of.
This nervous wreck of a guy driving cross town with a bin bag full of bones on the back set. He's pilled up to the eyeballs and having visions of a skeletal hand reaching over the back of the seat at him.

There was a doss house just across from the site. One weekend the tramps nicked all the lead off the roof and hid it in the mosque.
It really was a amazing first job for a school leaver. I'll never forget it.

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No no and no

I'm an acoustic player that discovered electric guitars recently...

Like everyone else you're have to find what fits, and that's usually about guitar number three or four... <G>

I've OWNED a Gibson 335 since it was new in the 70s... but it was a present and I never really got interested until I bought a MIM Strat HSS...

I was hanging around while my kids was auditioning guitars and just happened to grab it one day... it sort of stuck to my hands and I was back the next day to pick it up...

After a lifetime of ignoring electric solid body guitars I'd found one that fit my hands, felt goooood, and played like crazy... sort of goes on autopilot and I just watch things happen...

It's kinds special, one of the Fender Short Run models they did for their 60th Company Anniversary...

Gloss black body, black single layer pickguard, rosewood fretboard, chrome tele knobs, and some interesting chrome lettering on a glossy black head...

Anyway, looks are nice, but the HSS combo is what I fell in love with...

My usual playing as a rhythm guitar is done with one of the bridge coils switched in with the middle pickup... but switching back to a full humbucker gives it a completely different tone... and the neck pickup is so pure that it sounds nearly acoustic...

Just switching pickups gives me three completely different sounds, plus the other two blended positions...

Lots of clean sounds, plenty of drive for distortion if I want it, and it goes well with both my Princeton Chorus, and my little Champ...

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Still looking for that One Guitar To Rule Them All since 1964...
FSR Fender 60 Anniversary Strat HSS MIM, Gibson ES 335, Taylor 555, Ovation Custom Balladeer-12, Baby Taylor, Fender Princeton Chorus (stereo), Fender Champ 600

Hi Snowjoe: if I'm reading your first post right you are really just asking for thoughts on the different models and which way to lean, is that it?

Putting silly stuff about place of origin and price out of your mind, look at MIM and MIA Strats as offereing different features. Play both and see if the "rolled" fingerboard edges on the MIA matter to you comfortwise or not. Only your hands can decide that.

Sticking just to Standards from both lines, the American offers the two-point bridge, the Mexican the original six-screw type. Folk divide down the middle on that, and it has nothing to do with quality or price or the nationality of the hands that installed it. People often simply prefer one over the other. Again, play them both in a shop and see if the movement on one of them feels nicer to you than the other. That's all that counts.

Choosing whether you want 21 or 22 frets might matter to you, depending if you need to be able to bend up to a top E or not. There's a handful of numbers you can't easily play without that 22nd fret - but not many. That's down to you and the music you like - an awful lot of good stuff has been done with 21 frets!

SSS v HSS? Man, that's a tricky one. You can get very nice punk and lead rock sounds out of a single coil at the bridge, but you can't really get a chimey single coil sound out of a humbucker. I have a beautiful US Strat with a 'bucker in that position and I love it a lot. But if I could only have one Strat I think it might have to be an SSS. A few things I play just don't sound quite right on that HSS. I suspect the word "versatile" get's much overused in relation to HSS setups: it has its pros and cons. Can I be so boring as to suggest you have to go to a shop and try a guitar with a single coil at the bridge alongside one with a humbucker and let your own ears make that decision for you? I can!

For the very little it's worth: my thoughts.

Good luck - C

Thanks for the reply Ceri!

Preferably I would love to try out one in the shop unfortunately my local shop isn't too well stocked and currently has no HSS strats in stock to try otherwise I would be straight down there! Plus my work schedule and a lack of a driving license makes it tough to travel Next time when I don't have to pull the trigger quite so quickly I will be making extensive trips to try them out but I think in this case as I'm getting a pretty good deal and its my first electric I'm willing to take the punt.

I figure that whatever happens I'm gonna be able to make a great noise from it, and you can't go chasing that perfect set-up without a starting point! Either way picking up a MIM SSS is only a few weeks of hard graft at work away




You'll be sure to see some guitar porn from me when it arrives though, I'm gonna show my new baby off

The comments are much appreciated!