Sometimes you will see me assemble a new guitar in a video from parts. Here is the explanation as to what is going on.
There are companies that have agreements with the manufacturers where they take the guitars that are blemished or returns as faulty. They repair most of the guitars and mark them as used on the headstock per the agreement with the manufacturer. They do this because once repaired if they were not marked in this manner, they are most of the time in such great condition that they could be passed as new. An unscrupulous seller could benefit greatly from this. Some of the guitars cannot be repaired. In this case the companies either stockpile the parts and use them in future repairs or they sell them in auctions on eBay.
When they sell them on eBay you can pick up a neck, body, and loaded pickguard for a fraction of what it would cost to buy the new version of the guitar.
In this case I did just that. I purchased the main components from auctions for a much lower cost of me buying the fully assembled guitar in new condition and in most cases what a used version would cost. I get a new guitar with all matching parts and get the fun of putting it together. Some folks scoff at getting b-grade or parts like this instead of a fully assembled guitar. This makes me happy because it means there are more parts available for me.
My all-time favorite guitar is the ‘70s Style Stratocasters with large headstocks with a natural body. I own about ten of these in total. I have mainly USA models with a couple Japanese manufactured. As of now I also own a Squier version. I really enjoy my Classic Vibe Telecasters so much that I thought it was time to get a Stratocaster to see if they were comparable.
A new version of the Squier Classic Vibe ‘70s Stratocaster in Natural goes for around $429.
Fender marketing materials describe the guitar as:
A tip of the hat to the large-headstock Strat® models produced in the 1970s, the Classic Vibe '70s Stratocaster creates incredible tone courtesy of a trio of Fender-Designed alnico single-coil pickups.
The specifications I pulled from Fender are:
Body Material Soft Maple
Body Finish Gloss Polyurethane
Neck Material Maple
Neck Finish Tinted Gloss Urethane
Neck Shape "C" Shape
Scale Length 25.5" (64.77 cm)
Fingerboard Material Indian Laurel
Neck Radius 9.5" (241 mm)
Number of Frets 21
Fret Size Narrow Tall
Nut Material Bone
Nut Width 1.650" (42 mm)
Pickups Fender® Designed Alnico Single-Coil
I found that she is comparable to the Classic Vibe Telecasters in quality and ease of play.
Observations
I like the sound coming out of the guitar. Unless something fails, I will stick with the pickups and electronics that came with the guitar. Although, this is a wonderful modding platform for just about anything.
The frets are a little rough. I would smooth out the frets.
The bridge is a little rough and the trem block is tiny. I most likely will stick a MIM bridge in this guitar.
I love the tuners and would leave them alone.
I did in this video replace the black trem cover with a tortoise shell cover, so it matches the pickguard.
Even at the $429 price this guitar is very much a value and would make most folks happy.
