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Old Fernandes Revivals are usually well priced, or used Fender Japans. I personally like ESP Seymour Duncans, especially the DS-185/200 level, you can also find some good Bacchus deals around the place if you are patient.

It all depends on what you're looking for I guess.
 
Hard to answer that one as it depends largely on what's available where you are. I assume you want a classic, vintage style Strat? Vintage trem, 3 single coils, 7.25" radius fretboard, vintage type frets?

Personally I would go for something MIJ in the 1980s. Springy, Goldstar, Silver Star, depending on your preference. Fernandes made some decent Strats too (well I think Tokai made some of them!), & the Grecos are reputed to be good too, though I haven't tried one.

The 80s MIJ Fenders could be good too, but i think the ones that were sold in the UK tended to be the cheaper, basswood bodied models.

Finally, although they're newer (around 2000), if a nitro finish matters to you, & you don't mind a neck on the chunky side, one of the Bacchus Vintage series would be worth serious consideration.

If you want a flatter board (9.5") & larger frets, lots of people love the US Standard Strats, though personally I find them a little sterile.

Good luck!

Mike
 
Almost forgot, if you can live with the ugly decal, the ESP 400 Series were pretty authentic vintage Strats, easily as good as the comparable Tokais, but less well known.
 
depends on what attributes you prefer in a Strat; vintage appointments, or non vintage appointments.

take for instance 'board radius & fret size; there's a lot of (different) stuff out there .........................
 
Sorry guys, guess I was a little too vague, but that was kinda my main idea - to get your thoughts on what is the best value, regardless of style, age, etc. in a strat that's avilable today. I wanted to leave it wide open to interpretation to hear what various people would come up with and it's been great to hear your thoughts! I expected to hear about Springys of course, and Goldies. But the prop for Fernandes was a surprise, as well as the ESP. I haven't seen many Bacchus available recently although there is a EC model on Yahoo Japan right now starting at (if I remember correctly) about 63,000 yen. Fender Japan seems to be readily available but most older ones I've seen are listed as alder/basswood bodies- even the sellers don't know what they are. So dunno about rolling the dice on those. And the JV's are just getting way too pricey for me right now.

Personally, I really don't like the look of the large headstocks on the '70s style. My ideal would be something with a decent sized neck, vintage styling, and three single coils.

I've got a cheaper Bacchus right now and the more I play it, I feel myself liking the strat more and my LP, SG, and ES less. Hmmm, wasn't it you, MIJ, that said the strat is the best guitar design ever? Dunno what it is about my cheap Bacchus, but my amp loves it. As of right now, I'm looking at a Fender Japan ST57-VSP or ST62-VSP. But I'm trying to convince the wife for a little weekend getaway to Tokyo, you know, 'cause it's close and all :wink: . I won't go guitar slumming too much :wink: :wink: :lol: . Anyways, there's a good chance I'll be moving back to Canada this summer so I want to make one last trip to Tokyo and make it count.

Any more thoughts on your strats of choice, best bank-for-buck in the $1000 range would be greatly appreciated!

Jason
 
Big Willie Style said:
Hmmm, wasn't it you, MIJ, that said the strat is the best guitar design ever?

Or was it me? :wink: Hardly a controversial statement, surely? 8)
 
stratman323 said:
Big Willie Style said:
Hmmm, wasn't it you, MIJ, that said the strat is the best guitar design ever?

Or was it me? :wink: Hardly a controversial statement, surely? 8)


Try it on the Les Paul forum and see how controversial they think it is :D
 
JohnA said:
http://www.tokaiforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=15401 8)

Hey John, I saw that already. While it looks great and I'd like to help a brother out by dealing with you, I'm hoping to cut out the shipping costs and duties by picking it up in Japan. I've got tons of air miles and can get a free ticket for my trip. Good luck with the sale though! :D

Jason
 
Big Willie Style said:
JohnA said:
http://www.tokaiforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=15401 8)

Hey John, I saw that already. While it looks great and I'd like to help a brother out by dealing with you, I'm hoping to cut out the shipping costs and duties by picking it up in Japan. I've got tons of air miles and can get a free ticket for my trip. Good luck with the sale though! :D

Jason

No problem :wink: You just want a shopping holiday in Tokyo :D
 
Big Willie Style said:
I haven't seen many Bacchus available recently although there is a EC model on Yahoo Japan right now starting at (if I remember correctly) about 63,000 yen.

That would be a pretty nice Strat I'd say, and you might get it for close to that price - it failed to sell at 80k. Only crap thing about it is the blasted Fender logo some bright spark thought to put on it, but that could be changed pretty easily. You'd need some help from a Japanese person to speak to Deviser and get the proper logo, which they should give you in order to return their product to it's proper state.

The Clapton Relic 57 Blackie Strat was a pretty limited model, so it's also a bit rarer than the regular Bacchus Strats, Yuta pickups, slightly V shaped neck profile, Gotoh steel block trem, definitely a proper Strat!

Good price I reckon, and would come in just over your budget with the fees and shipping. I would have already bid on it if I had the money and hadn't recently got a Momose Strat. :D

*Edit - Just saw the bit about your Air Miles - you can get Rinkya to deliver it to your hotel or maybe pick it up from them, they will keep stuff for up to a month in the warehouse, probably longer if you arrange it with them (and pay a bit).
 
marcusnieman said:
Fender Road Worn Strats are pretty good for right about $1000

Shame they use nitro on the body but poly on the neck. Big mistake, IMHO.
 
stratman323 said:
marcusnieman said:
Fender Road Worn Strats are pretty good for right about $1000

Shame they use nitro on the body but poly on the neck. Big mistake, IMHO.

Well, guess it's better than an all poly guitar - they really do play nicely. I like the 60's version in white:

http://www.strumentiemusica.it/images/0131010305_xl.jpg
 
marcusnieman said:
Well, guess it's better than an all poly guitar - they really do play nicely. I like the 60's version in white:

http://www.strumentiemusica.it/images/0131010305_xl.jpg

Is it? I think guitars should be either poly or nitro, not some ******* mix of the two!

I like this '64 copy in white (and it's blue-ish sister). :wink:

IMG_2992.jpg
 
MIJvintage said:
RyanC said:
Very nice Mike. I'm thinking 2010 may be the year of the strat! :p


that would be great; I have a few nice ones to unload ...........


AFA the Bacchus EC Strats, they are just like the BST-SRVs, in so far as there are older ones with very early serial numbers & then there are later ones, with very late serial numbers.
As with the SRV models, the older ECs will likely have the Alnico Special pickups & the later ones having the Yutas.

AFA Strats in general, I have yet to locate a Bacchus BST Vintage Series Strat that wasn't a 'good one' & I cannot say that for any other brand that I have any personal experience with.
I know I am not the only one here that has mentioned the consistency of the Bacchus brand.
Just something to keep in mind ................

AFA Strats in general, I prefer rosewood 'boards; I like maple but rosewood is the shizzle 8) .................
 
I still say Seymour Duncan, like this:

http://www.digimart.net/inst_detail.do?instrument_id=DS00647016

Right on $1020. Should come with a 2-piece body, steel trem block, nitro finish, US electrics, SD Alnico Pro II pickups. My DS-185 has a quartersawn neck also. Kicks all kinds of a$$ over a Fender Japan VSP... they are nice, but my Duncan is on a different level.

Have fun looking. I dream of one day being able to get to Tokyo with some cash in my pocket. My wife also dreams of it, it's called a nightmare :D .
 
youami said:
...I dream of one day being able to get to Tokyo with some cash in my pocket. My wife also dreams of it, it's called a nightmare :D .

This! :D

I also think the Duncans look great - 40 to 50k yen gets you the 90/100 model Strats, and 60 to 70k is where the flash ones start. They're made by ESP. I nearly had a DS-200, it just didn't work out in the end.
 
Personally I think with all the hype about the 80's tokai's, greco's, and Fender JV's those have become way over priced.

As a few others have mentioned, used hand made Bacchus, and Seymour Duncans (when they pop up) are much better deals in my opinion. You get just as good quality wood if not better..nitro or oil finishes on the bacchus and ultra thin nitro on the SD's.

And if you up your budget a little more you start getting into used Van Zandt and Navigator/High end seymour duncan pro series...which I seriously doubt any tokai greco or JV would be better.

I think many westerners into these guitars ignore many of the "current" brands. Fine with me. Keeps the prices lower.
 

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