Author Topic: best Strat for £300 ??? (Read 5232 times)

HTH AMPS · « **on:** January 11, 2008, 06:54:00 PM »

A guy at work wants to buy a Strat to learn on and has a £300 budget.

I'm not a Strat guy, so I've no idea on what would be the best Strat for that price. When I say Strat, I dont mean 'Superstrat'.

Anyone?

:twisted:

WezV · « **Reply #1 on:** January 11, 2008, 07:20:28 PM »

I usually try to disuade learners from strats. It makes no sense to me that they are still the most popular model for learners... having a trem on a first guitarseems illogical to me

having said that i dont think you can beat yamaha pacificas for value for money. 112's are under £200 and very much strat like. 412 and 612 are less strat like but great guitars and still in budget.

they are a great base for modding as well

Ted · « **Reply #2 on:** January 11, 2008, 07:25:42 PM »

Pacifica is the best value for money.

Also you can pick up a second hand one for less on ebay.

Henk · « **Reply #3 on:** January 11, 2008, 07:38:21 PM »

If you want a more vintage feel strat i would say early mexican strat used, pro tone korean squier, E series (or earlier) MIJ strat or a Blade strat. Or look for an allparts(fender official replacement bodies/necks) seller and try to get one together from parts which should work IMO for around 300 pounds i think.

Scotty477 · « **Reply #4 on:** January 11, 2008, 07:48:00 PM »

I'm assuming you mean a Fender Strat?

You wont get a new one for £300 but a decent Mexican one should be available second hand for around that price.

Bear in mind though that he will need other things to go with it, which will bump up the price. I'm talking about everything from an amp, strap, tuner etc.

To be fair I would go for the advice WesV gave. A Yamaha Pacifica 412 is a great guitar to start with and be got new for £200, leaving spare for a practice amp and other things.

dave_mc · « **Reply #5 on:** January 11, 2008, 08:21:44 PM »

i'd say second-hand MIJ tokai, out of what i've tried. i've seen them here for £250, which is pretty decent. shame the colour was horrible, or i'd have had it. :lol:

i realise you said "no superstrat", but what does that mean? no locking trem (presumably)? No bridge humbucker (i'm guessing so)? only 21 frets?

etc.

of course if he's only starting there's a good chance he doesn't know...

Gizmo · « **Reply #6 on:** January 11, 2008, 08:43:03 PM »

mexican strats are £300 new! any colour. as a first guitar its nice to have a new one that you can call yours and youve broken in. you'd get alot for £300 second hand though. I assume the £300 doesnt include an amp?

HTH AMPS · « **Reply #7 on:** January 11, 2008, 09:18:20 PM »

Doesn't have to be a Fender, in fact I'd say to stay away from Fender as he'll get a better guitar for the money if he stays away from the 'name'.

Tokai seems like a good place to start.

By Superstrats, I mean bridge humbuckers, downsized bodies etc... He wants a vintage type of Strat straight-up for Hendrix & Knopfler noodlings.

£300 doesn't include an amp, he's got another £100 for the amp - can't go wrong with a Line6 Spider for that kind of cash.

8)

MDV · « **Reply #8 on:** January 11, 2008, 09:31:40 PM »

With a 400 budget I'd halve it between the guitar and amp, tbh.

I dont really have any advice for the guitar though. I will say that I had a similar quest to get a cheap strat, but the money I wanted to spend was lower and I ended up with a Westfield, which, despite its obvious and fairly numerous flaws is a goiod guitar in a lot of ways that count: well enough put together, good acoustic tone, good pickups for the price point, around £100: I got it for 50. Flaws include poorly matched multi-piece body, pretty lousy frets (at least level, but rough), cr@p nut, slack feeling, quite unstable tuners. All to be expected for a very cheap guitar and tolerable or fixable.

I may have lucked out though. I dont know what the overall quality of westfield is.

hunter · « **Reply #9 on:** January 11, 2008, 11:01:07 PM »

Blade, they are awesome for the money and have a twist with that active preamp!

Scotty477 · « **Reply #10 on:** January 12, 2008, 01:30:22 AM »

How about a Vintage AV6?

Theyve been getting high praise in guitar mags for build quality and tone and are designed by Trev Wilkinson. Slightly over £300 but looking good for the money.

http://www.guitarampkeyboard.com/en/72470

Henk · « **Reply #11 on:** January 12, 2008, 10:24:52 AM »

As a different consideration, how about getting a used but decent korean strat which is checked on playability for around 100 pounds and order a set of BKP's and pots right away?

If i think back the best motivation in the beginning is getting a decent sound, at least this way you can manage that and the BKP's will stick and he can put them in a better guitar after a couple of years.

At least i think this would be the best value for money for a starter.

+1 on the spider, pretty complete/versatile package and sounds OK which is remarkable for a cheap amp IMO.

Will · « **Reply #12 on:** January 12, 2008, 11:07:28 AM »

When I had my first guitar and amp, I never plugged in because the sound between them just wasn't any good, personally I would spend more on a guitar and then buy a decent amp later when you know if its what you want to do

jibidy · « **Reply #13 on:** January 12, 2008, 02:06:37 PM »

Fender mexicans are supposed to be quite good. you can usually find them for around the 300 mark

Pierre · « **Reply #14 on:** January 12, 2008, 06:04:52 PM »

I seriously can not find anything wrong at all with the Mexican Fenders. They could cost 50 quid more and still be well worth it. All I've played were resonant, very well built with solid Strat tone. Say what you want those are great guitars.

Also what's wrong with a trem for a beginner? My first guitar had a Floyd, took it apart as soon as I got it to figure it out and it's never bothered me since. Trems are easy to setup. Now to use that's another problem. But the advantage with Strats with the vintage trem is that you can screw it down all the way and effectively end up with a hardtail.