I seem to be posting a lot of new threads these days... apologies for that! :oops:
anyway, on to the matter at hand...
I badly need a strat and tele- I just plain can't really get those type of tones accurately enough without that style of a guitar.... :(
Unfortunately, I'm in the unenviable position of needing them enough to totally GAS over them when I don't have them (i.e. like now), but not needing them enough to want to spend an absolute fortune on them either, and equally well, I don't want it to be total cheap cr@p either.... and the problem is compounded with my retarded nut width problem, the vast majority of cheap-ish copies have a too-small nut width. :( (for anyone who doesn't know, it needs to be at least 43mm/ 1 11/16")
I've recently come across some Agiles on the net which are actually the right nut width (which is what got me started thinking about this in the first place)! There was a strat at $260, and a tele at $400. However, I'm not certain they'll even ship to Northern Ireland, and if they do, customs (close to 25% :() and shipping (liable to be over $100) will very quickly bring up the price, and I'm a bit wary, to be honest- I've heard both good and bad things about them. (
http://www.rondomusic.net/st802w.html and
http://www.rondomusic.net/tc1000wad.html for anyone who wants them).
Anyway, finally the penny dropped! Fender Highway Ones!
The obvious sensible choice in my situation, the Mexican Fenders (or G&L versions), had always been out because of the nut width, but I'd completely forgotten about the Highway Ones.
There'd be a lot less risk in these- I could try them first at home, and then order from
http://www.Thomann.de , who conveniently have really cheap prices, free postage, and I wouldn't be charged customs either (the EU is good for something other than corruption after all!). Also, I could order them separately, as postage is free for everything over 200 euro, so in the unlikely event of Thomann being cr@p, I'd only be out the cash for one of the guitars, minimising the risk/financial loss.
Here's a timely link to said Fenders:
http://www.fender.com/products/search.php?partno=0111160304 and
http://www.fender.com/products/search.php?partno=0111260304I guess my question is, what do you guys think of them? Are they any good? Overpriced? A cheaped-out attempt to con people into thinking they're getting a bone-fide USA guitar?
Or are they actually what I'm hoping, a good no-nonsense, no-frills guitar that has cut costs in the parts that don't really matter, like the finish, providing a gig-bag instead of a hard case, and a pretty poor choice of colours?
Pickups don't matter overly, I'd switch them eventually anyway.
and I'll try it myself first, don't worry!
Thanks for your help.
:drink: