Yeah let me k now what you think!

From previous experience they seem quite willing to knock the prices back a bit!

A

Howdy!

I've just got back from GAK in Brighton where I had a go on this....



….through one of these...



Sorry about the blurry pics. Iphone's fault.

It sounded great! The pickups are lovely and have a very Strat like bluesy tone to my ears. Apparently these pups are different from the “Custom Shop” 69's and are actually “Custom 69's” that were actually designed for this model. I might have to ask Mike Eldred about that. Despite the staggered pole pieces there wasn't that much difference between the G and B strings. The neck pup is the real star here, roll the tone back a bit and we're in business. Its awesome! Very nice indeed

Volume and Tone pots worked really well with no scratchy noises. The 12” radius neck is a joy to play. The trem is nice but had quite a thin base-plate. The nut pinged at the slightest touch of the trem arm but that's to be expected for an off the shelf Strat.

A few of the pickguard screws were sunk right into the scratch plate and there were a few small blobby bits of paint around the neck pocket where the finish wasn't quite right. The trem arm was at a weird angle out of the trem block which was a bit more of a concern.

Overall, a nice sounding Strat with a great spec. The Custom Shop features make this guitar and for under £500 I'd defiantly buy one of these over an MIA standard. Just a few cosmetic issues on the one I played.

Sonic blue is lovely but I think is one of those colours that I could get bored with after 6 months so If I was to buy, I'd go for the 3 colour sunburst model as that's a pretty timeless classic Strat colour.

Hope this helps

Andy

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Pending Greatness

Thanks Andy. I'll give one a go next time I'm in there.

Did you see the team-built Custom shop one on the top shelf that looked just like the CP60s?

Oooh! I forgot to mention that! The only Sonic Blue Custom Strat they had on display was this one...



They did have some nice faded Surf Green ones though. Lots of very desirable Strats in that shop.

Cheers

Andy

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Pending Greatness

I love the place, so far I've had an Am Std, a YJM strat; and, (boo hiss) an Ibanez RGA321F from them!

Just waiting to win the Lottery to add several more strats, an Gibson SG and Les Paul, oh and maybe a ES 335.

Everytime I go to Brighton I leave the wife and kids at the sea, and pop up to the North Lanes for a quick shufftie!

Cheers!

They are still CS 69s, just not wound in the CS or by Abby's team anymore, they are the same specs. I had an early CP60s with the Abby signed pickups and they sound the same as the modern "Custom 69s".

I have the 3-tone Sunburst Classic Player's 60's version. It is an absolutely fantastic guitar. Extremely easy to play and bend notes. Even the stock pickups sound pretty good but I replaced mine with handwound Klein 65's. Beautiful to look at too.

I highly recommend this guitar.