Hello there prism
this is the strat or afoardable strat thread so i,ll start there.
Affordable guitars worth looking for if its
a strat copy you want would be as follows.
Older Model Fernandes st7, or an st8.
Refer to my earlier post above for the mods, these are the models they made that copied the stratocaster and i think is what led them to re profile all their headstocks in a hurry due to it seems leagle heat.
Its the early "the revival model" i refer too.
This is written on the guitars headstock it says electric sound reasearch group the lettering along with the original custom body decal i feel stired a few along with the guitars to close for comfort similarities of the original stratocasters from the period of the late 50,s to early 60,s.
another guitar to consider which was an earlier version of the above Fernandes, would be the tokai but remember its not every model they made there were only certain early models that were close to the real deal, as i said above the same mods applied here make these guitars very serious players.
these two examples are as close as you will get to a strat for little money, and alot of them were so dam good that with the mods required why would you buy anything more
if its a Gibson styled guitar you want,
Go for epiphone solid bodies from the 60,s or very early 70,s if money is an issue here.
Guitars up to 1969 were us made kalamazoo michigan after 69 they sold out to japan
models listed in order from least to most desirable would be
Epiphone olympic single batwing model.
olympic double.
olympic special similar to a gibson melody maker, double and single cutaway.
Epiphone Coronet batwing model with p90 real cool.
Epiphone Wilshire two mini humbuckers small batwing headstock.
most of them had epiphone vibrolas.
Epiphone Crestwood Custom oval inlays, bound neck some with bigbsy tail piece, some with epiphone tail two mini h/b,s small
batwing similar to the wilshire in a deluxe package.
Then if you get real lucky.
Epiphone Crestwood Deluxe, 3 minis, fully bound, ebony finger board, nice pearl or abalone block inlays, tripple bound headstock with early nickle grover rotomatics.
bigsby b5 tremlo or epiphone tremlo the earlier 60,s models had mostly nickle parts, with some of the later with a mix between nickle and chrome, and then straight out chrome as the series got on in years.
I own a crestwood deluxe myself and could not be happier
all the above guitars range from about 300 and up to 2000 usd for a real nice crestwood deluxe, though you can find the latter cheaper if you look hard.
bang for buck value and quality to boot i dont feel you will get much better in my opionion, most of these guitars were made in the 60,s the exceptions being the fernandes and the tokais which were mid 80,s to the mid 90,s.
You can get maybe a cheaper deal for all the above mentioned if you search hard, and hold your dollars till a nice guitars presents itself for the right money.
All the above guitars in my opionion are highly overlooked by many players and collectors alike, making them a great deal indeed the epiphones essp usualy need a good guitar tech to look them over set them up and your away.
other then what ive mentioned, stratocasters made in japan
or
Fender Custom shop guitars bought secondhand usually from ebay are good value as well.
goodluck on your quest.
Wayne
Melbourne Australia
