my one & only guitar is a Squier starter Strat. I'll shortly be getting a new guitar. With that being said, should I keep the strat & modify it or sell/trade it toward my new guitar (potentially Am. Standard Strat or Tele) . Opinions from ALL viewers are appreciated. Thankyou

MOD!!!

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I LIKE PIE!!!!!

IF I DO SOMETHING STUPID,DON'T SAY A WORD...

I'll tell you the path that I'm on and add what I do to the guitars.

I bought an affinity strat to try out a stratocaster for little money (used from craigslist). I then removed the strings, tightened the output jack, pulled the trem springs tight, cleaned the entire guitar and restrung, using graphite on the nut and saddles and vasoline under the trees and stretched the strings. Tuned, tweeked the neck for proper relief, adjusted the saddles and intonated the guitar. It played 1,000,000% better. I've played it for about a month and got to like it. But the pickups are dreadful. Fine as a guitar that works. So it's now sold awaiting pickup to another person from Craigslist, doubling my initial investment.

So tonight, I picked up a Mexican fat strat off craigslist (can you tell that I live on craigslist). Great deal as it came with a small amp and the seller had lost the cord and the amp (I had a cord) crackled like crazy. Pretty much got the amp for free and a discount on the guitar since he wouldn't sell just the guitar. Brought it home and pretty much went through the same thing. Plays great. Pickups are waaaay better. By the time I sell the amp, I'll have only put $200 to that guitar.

So for a small increase in money, I picked up a low risk guitar to try that if I decide to go ahead and get that American standard that's used at my local guitar center, I'll know what to expect and won't spend lots of money on something that I might hate.


I have another guitar (not a Fender) that I heavily modded. I mean putting in a belly contour and forearm contour, repainting, clearcoating and doing a faux binding on to refinishing the neck (with tru-oil.....bare wood feel), completely different pickups on a new pickguard all rewired, noise cancelling circuit, different switch. So what I'm left with is essentially a $700 guitar that I'd only be able to sell for maybe $450- $500. I'll never get my money back on it. That's how modded guitars usually go.

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2002 mim Telecaster
Jimmie Vaughan Stratocaster
Mexican HSS Stratocaster
6 non-fender guitars
2 kids (not for sale)
1 wife (uh....no comment)

Mhmm. Interesting.

Thank you . Your opinion will be heavily considered when I make my final decision .

Keep the squier for modding and learning to mod purposes. That way you'll gain confidence to work on your MIA Strat when you need to. Some of the squiers can end up sounding pretty amazing too. Just my .02¢

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"I like the way he puts Yngwie J. Malmsteen on his album covers. You know,....so you don't confuse him with all the other Yngwie Malmsteens in the business"


2008 Fender MIM Stratocaster
2010 Epiphone Masterbilt
2009 Fender Super Champ XD

+1

That's the tack I'd take as well.

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

Agreed....Keep the Squier and get a strat...You'll regret it if you dont...

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Agreed all around...keep the squire and mod it. In my experience....two guitars are always better than just one and three is even better yet.......you can keep going with this.

You can't beat having a guitar that you can mod and work on youself, not to mention having a back up guitar in case the unthinkable were to happen to the new one....vice versa.

It's like having two wives. It offers redundancy. When one kicks you out you'll always have a place to go. But, the best thing about the guitars is they'll never talk back.

The first thing you should learn to do is how to set up a guitar.Strats are more challenging than others , but once you learn to do it , you wont be at the mercy of a guitar tech.Its really hard to communicate to someone how you want the action.

personally i could never give sell my first guitar. also no offense it is a starter model so you may not get alot off of a trade.

Lol set ups are easy. The only thing I can't do is wiring -_-

Wiring is a breeze unless you're using a honking Weller Soldering GUN cuz that's all you have. HAHA. Two settings with the trigger....burn and TORCH! Have to have a light touch on some things.

I learned the hard way that you will always live to regret getting rid of a guitar or gear unless it's a useless pig of a piece of garbage.Keep the Squier for modding as you would get diddly squat for it on a trade as well a Squier set up right makes a fine base that could have the makings of a great home project build that you could be proud of as your own special model crafted and modded to your own tastes..

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.