New Mexican Stratocasters

[S. Cane]

I can understand the love for the vintage specs, especially if the guitar in question is old indeed.

My point is that some of the modern series can be very good and even more practical, playwise.

[Don]

I don't need my Strat to be completely vintage style, but I just sold my Music Man Cutlass RS HSS because the built in buffer reacted to my Fulltone '69 Pedal really weirdly. It responded to OD pedals very differently to my other guitars as well. I considered replacing the electronics, but it seemed like a shame to do that to such a nice guitar, plus I realized that I was just trying to make it more similar to my more vintage style Strat. So I sold it to someone who appreciated it for what it is.

[ch willie]

Ever since Epiphone got their house in order and I got my hand-carved Chinese Eastman, I couldn't care less about country of origin. I bought a Mexican Martin 12 string about 3 years ago, and it's got a great sound to it.
OA knows his tool and knows what's what. I wonder if that was just a bad batch of Players? I have a Player body on one of my Strats, one with the 94 AmStd neck and Seymour Duncan pups. It sounds great and plays great. I've seen praise for the Players elsewhere. On the other hand, I got that AmPro II Strat, and it's one of the sweetest sounding Strats I've ever played. It's very different from the other one, and yet, I'm glad to have both. QC is top notch on those. Amazing how Straty they can be but still sound so different. When the AmStds were around in the 90s, people were pissed about the swimming pool routs. I've found that in the last few years, I've gotten away from a purest mentality about guitars. I love my Gibsons and Fenders, but if a cheap Indonesian Strat with the decal declaring "RotoRooter" were on the headstock, I'd gladly play it. I think of the absurd chase after someone else's sound, when it's in the language of what they play, the phrasing, the unique emphasis. That's often not imitable. And why would you ever want to sound like anyone else but yourself, expressed in your own language--unless of course you're playing in a note-for-note cover band. Nothing wrong with that. Just making a point.

[Offshore Angler]

My personal experience is that most low-cost region guitars these days are extremely playable and remarkably consistent. Where they do fall short is the cheap electronics and tuners. They are plenty adequate for the typical hobbyist who buys them. The chinks in their armor is that the cheap tuners and jacks, switches, pots, etc., don't hold up to the rigors a working guitar is subject to. Everyone goes gaga over pickups but in reality they don't matter as much as most cork-sniffers would lead you to believe. Pickups are not magic. Given the same magnets, wire size and number of turns they all act the same.

Back int the old days they were hand-wound and yeah, there were differences. But in today's world with automatic winding - trust me, they're all the same. Today you can give me a pickup, I can determine the Br of the magnet, it's chemistry, the wire diameter and count the turns and reproduce it.

The actual wood and paint on all but the cheapest guitars is generally quite good.

My #1 as many people have seen, is a totally clapped-out Carvin bolt that I probably couldn't sell for $200, but it performs night after night and sits in the guitar rack right next to my R9, Pelham Blue Studio and my Heritage and/or PRS John Mayer's. Sometimes my Mexican Tele with SD Antiquities makes an appearance too.

Yamaha guitars are so undervalued it's almost a crime.

Like the man said, "Just dig what you dig. Dig?" Any guitar that brings its owner or an audience joy is a worthy instrument.

Anyway, that's my opinion.

Chuck

[ch willie]

Totally agree with you, Chuck.