Cheap craftman strat, Giovanni pickups? More?

IbanezFreak

IbanezFreak

New member
Hey guys i've got a rough budget of 500 dollars. I'm thinking of strats now...i freaking love them! After my friend got his fender, i knew i had to have one of my own...

So i've seen the Smash strat copies, and the craftsman guitars...well i prefer craftsman strats because their in alder...smash are in basswood...I know basswood is not THAT bad, but i would prefer Craftsman because their the inhouse brand of cm and should technically be cheaper, since it doesn't really have a brand name..

What do you guys think of the ST120?
st120-hb_med.jpg


Anyways, do you guys think its worth it to get such a cheap strat (i would expect it to play like a decent guitar like 600bucks kind o' guitar) and get giovanni pickups (95 bucks only! And they have had extremely good reviews from west forums!) ?

Thats like 300 bucks...another 200 for two pedals..probably a nice distortion and delay...Have my eyes fixed on Joyo OCD and Biyang AD-8 (both from standard value).. Has anyone tried these? Any opinions?

Thanks guys!
 
hmm but my amp is a little weak on the distortion...so a distortion pedal would be a must?

I don't think i would want to spend all 500 bucks on a guitar...300 actually, and the rest for some oomph to my tone...i mean, won't the craftsman or smash be comparable to a 500 dollar guitar already?
 
hmm.. for 300 eh... budget a lil tough but not impossible, what amp is it?

if diy, bridge alone can cost up to 150.. even more for the 'better' ones.. hehe

but still imho, if got 500 to spend do give a thought abt getting a better strat instead of sub 300 ones.

:)
 
^exactly. :D
Get a good one instead upgrading here and there. The upgrades might not even be to your liking. Up your budget a little, get yourself a used Fender Strat. You want distortion? Can. The Danelectro Cool Cat Transparent Overdrive (ffantastic reviews!) can boost your amp distortion, or you can get a Danelectro Cool Cat Distortion. 40 bucks each. Cheap enough? And they aren't crap pedals either. One is a Timmy clone, the other is a Marshall-in-a-box.
 
ok ok actually i won't mind diying...the amp i currently have is a kustom tube one...not that bad actually..distortion is muddy though, but cleans are pretty squeaky nice

But where can i get my body and neck? I think davis sells if i remember, but are they of good quality? Where else can i get them? Best around 250 for body and neck

100 bucks for pickups (giovani 95 bucks) Hardware, i think standard value has some nice winkin stuff... (65 bridge and 45 tuners 100bucks total)

plus 50 for paint, wiring...i think just nice...

hmm but where to get cheap and good quality body plus neck? I want to custom my paint job :)
 
oh but most importantly, would my diy strat be much better (quality/ tone/ playability ) as compared to an upgraded entry level strat like what i had in mind?
 
Default

oh but most importantly, would my diy strat be much better (quality/ tone/ playability ) as compared to an upgraded entry level strat like what i had in mind?
Click to expand...


I dont think so, if you go out and get cheaper parts and assemble it yourself it would not be as good as having a factory made guitar with the same cheap parts. It is also going to be expensive getting equipment for a first time build assuming you dont have the tools at home already.

Craftsmans guitars are not that bad either in terms of workmanship i find. I bought a telecaster for my friend last year and it really plays quite well.

For the strats though, it seems like the bridge is really stiff to perform tremolo vibratos. It could be a fixed bridge stratocaster but why would they attach a tremolo bar then hahah

You could change out for new tuners and new bridge etc but different guitars may have different routing issues etc for the fixing of the bridge and that done by a Luther would be expensive.

Maybe you could look into getting a secondhand strat you like and perform new mods on it, like changing the pickup output jack etc and also setting it up yourself.

All the best for your new strat !!
 
IbanezFreak said:
But where can i get my body and neck? I think davis sells if i remember, but are they of good quality? Where else can i get them? Best around 250 for body and neck

100 bucks for pickups (giovani 95 bucks) Hardware, i think standard value has some nice winkin stuff... (65 bridge and 45 tuners 100bucks total)

plus 50 for paint, wiring...i think just nice...

hmm but where to get cheap and good quality body plus neck? I want to custom my paint job :)
Click to expand...

Cheap and good does not apply often to guitar woods IMHO. Warmoth charges about USD250 for a spec'd out neck. At the same time, their painted bodies go for what, 400USD? If you want a Partscaster, don't go for the cheapest stuff. Be willing to spend money. Honestly, with your budget, you may not even get an entry level body and neck and even if you, you are just getting the same thing if you were to buy the cheap Strat.

50 bucks for a paint job? No way, man. Custom job too? In your dreams. Gr3y charged about SGD$220 for a normal paint job.

And you are missing other stuff like parts (pickguard, pots, jacks, strap buttons) and installation charges (drilling, etc). And these are just going to add up to your costs.

tl:dr Stick with the cheap Strat if you don't have a big enough budget.
 
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lol ^paint job as in i'll do it on my own? diy means do it yourself, doesn't it? So why send it for stuff? I've always found sending for setups and this and that a waste of money..My guitar, i touch it,

Anyways, i just went down to both sv and citymusic...both smash and craftsman guitars are really really good. Sv store had the best tone..maybe because i had a nice distortion pedal plus delay pedal plugged through a tube amp...while for citymusic i had the craftsman strat plugged through a tiny spider amp..pretty decent too though

Joyo OCD was really really good...Nice, smooth creamy distortion..heavy stuff too..And baby booms delay was also pretty good..

Would still get the Craftsman...cheaper.. :P

But i'll still swap out the bridge and maybe tuners...pickups maybe, the stock ones seem pretty nice. Honestly, i'm really really amazed..Can't wait to get my stuff from all the shops :)
 
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Good move by going for test drive, the kustom tube is in one of my favourite list..
Can connect ext. speaker right? so can invest in better cab, nice cleans and pedal friendly too

:p
 
hey dude...you have a kustom tube amp? Actually mines a friend's friends amp..hahah :P

Mines the combo 12A...Powered by celestion.. do you have the same model?
 
yeah the smash s100 ani

I've already seen all :D hahha but i'm pretty firm on getting the craftsman...seriously good stuff! Swing and smash are at the same level..but i just want a different body wood guitar..
 
i think its better to get a guitar on the market rather than diy if you have no experience.
i have a squire, i think it really great! i think its quite decent for its price.
 
I also got a few Squiers.. some I like and some and I like more.. hehe
talking about small amp, what you all think about fender Champion 600?

:p
 
SA got Champion? SL list it at $642, what is the store price actually?
Marshall 15CDR, I presume? Can get quite nice rocking tones at low volumes.
Optional: Boost the 25Frontman w/ better speakers for eg. Eminence, etc. and go boomz!

:p
 
SA currently don't carry Champion. But after they move house maybe got more space, can request?
MG15FX, but i don't use much of the efx (distort and reverb only). The rest... bleh. Davis had sale end of last year, so...
But SA's sale was Frontman 15R for 150, should've waiting!
Cannot laaa, already the 15 quite loud! I use slightly more than half the vol. only.
 
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