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At that price i'd look for a used PRS Custom 22.
But if you want a strat, you could get a brilliant one for about half that cost.
Full disclaimer I have a few really nice guitars and mostly just play my MIM strat.

I was in the same position a few years ago. I played loads of strats in Denmark street and I personally didn't find any major improvements after the 1k mark. Best I played was an av hot rod thing, it was lovely.

In the end I went for an American special strat and its perfect, I can take it to any gig and it does its job superbly. Moral of the story is to try a load out and see what works best for you. You might love the 2k blooze machines or a scabby second hand avri might be the best thing since toast.

You could get two really nice, high end Strats for that? Or two very good ones that do different jerbs? Or go el Classico and get Strat and Tele.

Do an parts-Strat. Mine cost me <£600 and is the best guitar I've ever had in my hands. Anyone who has played it has loved it.

That price includes a pricy set of Bareknuckle pups, and all the mojo arrow inducing features you would expect, such as Nitro something or other and licensed parts. Put the best parts I could find for the money and still costs less than an American standard and is every bit as good as the £1000+ AVRI Strats they sell.

I feel like a G&L will be amazing, despite the ugly headstock.

What about a Corgan strat?

Check out an Eric Johnson signature Strat if you can. I don't think they're routed for 'buckers, but it's the only Fender Strat I'd actually pay top dollar for. The body is just sooo comfy, and it's also nitro. Some other neat features, like the headstock has staggered tuners so it doesn't need a string tree. I don't know if I'd pay full price, but used they aren't bad.

Edit: They also come in a plethora of colors and some even have bound rosewood necks.

http://reverb.com/item/3120556-fender- ... emist-teal

Honestly though I'd recommend just building a Carvin Bolt to your exact specs...if they ship to the UK. Can't remember. I have a Bolt neck on my #1 Strat and it's fantastic.

Rhys is in the states now shipping shouldn't be an issue

any advice or information i could give you on custom shop strats, just let me know. Over the past couple of years i've played/owned quite a few and currently own a couple of the heavy relic 60/63 stratocaster. I've got one thats proper old school style (small frets, 7.5 radius, three way switch) and one that has a flatter 12mm radius and a shaped heel for better fret access.

Progrockabuse wrote:any advice or information i could give you on custom shop strats, just let me know. Over the past couple of years i've played/owned quite a few and currently own a couple of the heavy relic 60/63 stratocaster. I've got one thats proper old school style (small frets, 7.5 radius, three way switch) and one that has a flatter 12mm radius and a shaped heel for better fret access.

i played one at Jackson Music Centre just like this. custom shop, all fake beat up sherwood green. that guitar had the best fucking balance i have ever seen. i don't know how to describe it, it wasnt too heavy, didn't feel to light like a toy, it sat perfect with a strap on your shoulder. i don't even remember how it played, but the fucking thing felt like it was built for me.

but it was a fucking strat. like a 2700 strat. it had one too many pickups and looked like a strat. so i put it back. fuckin thing was so nice though.

There's a couple of Squier Affinity HSS strats which look really nice, you might not want those if you don't want a basswood body, and the neck is satin finish so you probably don't want that, but then again maybe you want those bodies because you never said what you wanted in a body wood.

Best would be a USA Custom Guitars neck, you can choose all the neck dimensions and even have it finished, Musikraft necks are nice too, or even Warmoth but they have some weird options you may not want. A finished body wouldn't cost that much either and there are quite a few companies which offer all kinds of options for bodies, and even with expensive pickups you can put something really nice together for less than half your budget,

But you have to know exactly what you want.

lol buy this

Fakir Mustache wrote:Best would be a USA Custom Guitars neck, you can choose all the neck dimensions and even have it finished, Musikraft necks are nice too, or even Warmoth but they have some weird options you may not want. A finished body wouldn't cost that much either and there are quite a few companies which offer all kinds of options for bodies, and even with expensive pickups you can put something really nice together for less than half your budget,

But you have to know exactly what you want.

The most narrow nut you can order from USA Custom is 1.65" ... No Jag-Stang necks

G&L custom shop kicks ass (even though the headstock is shit). The only electric I have currently is a G&L carved top/humbucker tele. I have owned a custom shop G&L strat AND tele as well as a Fedenr Custom shop strat at one point or another. All great choices.

I'd say when you are ready to buy just check all the local used places/craigslist/etc. For the money you are talking you should be able to pick up a killer strat AND tele and have coin left for setup and some small mods if needed.

Others to check out. Suhr.

My guitarist has an American elite strat and a suhr strat (as well as a shit one of other guitars) and he plays the Fender on our gigs because the pickups are abit hotter and fit our sound better, but damned if that Suhr doesn't play better than any strat I have ever played...

I read about your job situation, it's non of my business, but as a person who had spent some money on guitars while not working, this is my piece of advice. Don't spend your money on expensive gear till you settled with the job that can pay for it. Your current situation may last longer than you're expecting and you may end up selling $2500 guitar for the half of the price to pay your rent or/and bills. That's my stupid opinion and you can send me wherever you want, because you will be 100% right. If I'm missing something, sorry. "Fuck off dude" is greatly appreciated

To add to Proggy's post, I played the most beautiful custom shop fake beaten up Strat in Hotlanta, think that was about $2,500, 2009 though. Never looked back after getting a MIM Roadworn.

singlepup wrote:

Fakir Mustache wrote:Best would be a USA Custom Guitars neck, you can choose all the neck dimensions and even have it finished, Musikraft necks are nice too, or even Warmoth but they have some weird options you may not want. A finished body wouldn't cost that much either and there are quite a few companies which offer all kinds of options for bodies, and even with expensive pickups you can put something really nice together for less than half your budget,

But you have to know exactly what you want.

The most narrow nut you can order from USA Custom is 1.65" ... No Jag-Stang necks

They do offer 24" scale necks tho.

My strat is a G&L Custom Shop S500 from the 90s. It's amazing. The best part about G&Ls is their secondhand value is much lower than an equivalent model by Fender, I picked up my guitar for around £750.

They feel a lot more modern than Fenders, I think that partly down the neck style and floating bridge.

sunshiner wrote:I read about your job situation, it's non of my business, but as a person who had spent some money on guitars while not working, this is my piece of advice. Don't spend your money on expensive gear till you settled with the job that can pay for it. Your current situation may last longer than you're expecting and you may end up selling $2500 guitar for the half of the price to pay your rent or/and bills. That's my stupid opinion and you can send me wherever you want, because you will be 100% right. If I'm missing something, sorry. "Fuck off dude" is greatly appreciated

No worries man - this will be a purchase a few months from now, I have work lined up. I've got a crappy 12-String to see me through to then. I started asking now because I've been a little out of the guitar buying game, so it's good to do a few months of research and play a good few so I can work out what I like now in 2016.

2500 is my max too, the guitar would need to be completely exceptional. I set the number to 2500 because I personally feel that number represents the highest that someone should pay for a guitar that they are actually going to play a lot and gig with. It's fairly back of the cigarette packet logic, but it was my answer to "What's the highest I would pay for an guitar that would be my workhorse guitar?".

Lots of love for the Highway 1 which is cool, I saw one just up the road from me in Haight - I'll check it out next time I go there and take photos. I do remember that the first ones that came out were more favoured over the "upgraded" ones with the big headstock, but I might be wrong this is something that is in the memory banks from '08-'09 era.

Trying to figure out how I get my hands on something Custom Shop-y is a bit of a problem without a car and I won't get my license for a bit either, so I guess that adventure will come in a few months time - it seems that the closest fender and G&L dealer with custom shop stuff is 45 mins away. @Proggy when I get my hands on something cool I will definitely hit you up

Good to hear the G&L is nice Gabe - S-500s seem to be loved, I am looking forward to playing one at some point, I really want to play a Commanche too - those pickups look nutso.

^ you thought it through, so it's not like one of my "Things will get better when I get this new guitar because I will feel better" decisions. Great, looking forward to see the NGD thread when you get your dream workhorse Strat

Update just in: came back from LA this weekend (sorry Angelitos SSer's were down seeming my missus' Dad before he flew off for business so it was a quick turn around fly - drive - fly, I will try my best to have a beer with you next time ).

I dived into Caveman Music on the way home and was pleasantly surprised to find two interesting Strats there. I wasn't sold on either but was definitely a good range of what is out there to get. Also played a dope Mosrite which made me do teH Keurdtz much to the dismay of the very nice owner.

I played:

This wonderful 70s Strat with a big headstock and lovely clubby thick neck. It was a gas - you could really dig into it. A bit more smokey than I usually like on the tone side of things, the bridge position didn't give the usual brightness I dig. It was quite high output in all positions which I really liked and the swamp ash body was heavy af which was also added cool points IMO. Sound and the finish put together it has a real "don't fuck with me" vibe and certainly did a lot better through a CatalinBread DLS than clean. Great fun all round. 7/10


This wonderfully rare Dan Smith era Stratocaster Maple on Black. Well this guitar was suppperrrr interesting. Firstly there is no trem routing, it's all front mounted. Also wibbly wobbly trem arm (not a fan) and awesome tuning heads that were redesigned for stability. Never seen anything like it before and spent a good 10 minutes just checking out all the bits of it with the guy. It sounded awesome, low to mid output, great 9.5 neck on it that played like a dream. Personal dislikes were that it was a maple board with single coils and Rosewood is more my jam because I feel that it can get a bit snappy otherwise. 7.8/10