Buying Fender Strats

[ChanMin]

ive bought stuff from Musicians friend and elderly...etc , these guy do not ship to SG unless u have a Vpost a/c. i usually get people to handcarry back for me.. or bring it back myself.

the prices you pay there are really alot cheaper.

Example: Fender limited edition Cypress mica - USD$1499 ( about 2.3k )
Swee lee is selling the normal JM strat at around $3k+


Ive bought one RG from Swee lee...thats like... 6 -7 years ago... and another Ibanez euphoria acoustic 2 yrs back during the sale...dont need to waste any more money on their overpriced stuff, either buy during sale or dun buy... not to mention "some" of their staff are real dicks.

 

[ctho]

ive bought stuff from Musicians friend and elderly...etc , these guy do not ship to SG unless u have a Vpost a/c. i usually get people to handcarry back for me.. or bring it back myself.

the prices you pay there are really alot cheaper.

Example: Fender limited edition Cypress mica - USD$1499 ( about 2.3k )
Swee lee is selling the normal JM strat at around $3k+


Ive bought one RG from Swee lee...thats like... 6 -7 years ago... and another Ibanez euphoria acoustic 2 yrs back during the sale...dont need to waste any more money on their overpriced stuff, either buy during sale or dun buy... not to mention "some" of their staff are real dicks.

This is good advise. I will keep that in mind. I'm still trying to get people to bring it back from US for me.

Thanks man.

 

[stratman]

Buying online

I bought a Strat highway one from Sweetwater (it's the only strat, apart from one of the custom shop models, that comes standard with jumbo frets) - v good service, arrived v quickly and even with the courier fee it was considerably cheaper than swee lee - swee lee seem to take the catalogue US$ price and double it to get the S$ price. Even assuming they'd give a discount on that for cash, sweetwater was still several hundred dollars cheaper.

Another poster is correct though - it would be best to be able to try out the guitar before u buy and have someone to take it to if it goes wrong.

On the other hand (and this is why I bought online) - guitars are fairly low tech, there's not a lot top go wrong, and any piece that does go wrong can be easily replaced - it's not like a piece of fragile electronics kit that could arrive broken and then your only option is to send it straight back.

 

[ctho]

guys, how about buying from HK? Like from big music stores like Tom Lee, do they carry MIA fenders? Their pricing ok? It will be easy for me to get people to bring back for me if it is HK.

Any experiences in that?

CT.

 

[Whitestrat]

On the other hand (and this is why I bought online) - guitars are fairly low tech, there's not a lot top go wrong, and any piece that does go wrong can be easily replaced - it's not like a piece of fragile electronics kit that could arrive broken and then your only option is to send it straight back..

That's provided you are prepared to bear with the hassle and wait of shipping back, correspondence and money.

I'm not.

That's why I never buy anything blind.:mrgreen:

 

[ChanMin]

i think this is ... purely based on luck.

ive bought 2 guitars off ebay till date... i wont have any problems with buying online as long as the seller sends me the required proof and pictures etc...

things that COULD have been overlooked via pictures are:

1) fret problems
2) neck cracks
3) electronics kaput

im honestly only afraid of the fret problems... as refrets cost a bomb here. hairline cracks are also very dangerous as they could worsen without a proper fix. Good high quality photos do help.

electronic problems are the easiest to fix...
i bought off ebay this ergo instruments (now hanging at guitar connection) Full maple 7 stringer. the Blue leds Died within 5mins of me unpacking the guitar. i went straight to the nearby guitar centre, borrowed a soldering iron, 4cm of solder... and VIOLA! its still lighting up brightly till today!!

 

[monk]

strats

yeah think it's really based on luck man .............................
luckkk .. however, usually can refund but the shipping costs are quite dear innit

and chanmin, totally freaking agree w/ you bout the swee lee sales man
u noe what one of them told me? use water to clean maple neck
u noe how dumb is that? totally unprofessional and irresposible way of tellig people things

 

[Whitestrat]

i bought off ebay this ergo instruments (now hanging at guitar connection) Full maple 7 stringer. the Blue leds Died within 5mins of me unpacking the guitar. i went straight to the nearby guitar centre, borrowed a soldering iron, 4cm of solder... and VIOLA! its still lighting up brightly till today!!

It's sitting in Kelvin's shop... That's yours???

 

[ChanMin]

haha... yea.. eh that axe is quite killer man .. handmade by a warrior guitar employee

 

[zac89]

hmm i'll be heading to KL soon, are there any shops there that carry MIA strats? i'm totally with the folks that say MIA stuff here are way expensive.

 

[Whitestrat]

haha... yea.. eh that axe is quite killer man .. handmade by a warrior guitar employee

Its heavy... don't like the neck though... WAY too thin... whahaha... but the lights are killer...:mrgreen: