ShortScale.org

Rhysyrhys wrote: I played:

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

Wow, I own this same guitar. That's an (American) Standard model made from '83-'84, possibly to the point where Fender quit USA production while transitioning to the new owners. They get a bad rap because they're not like a "real" Strat, often seen as a poor quality downgrade, but I don't think so. If the trem arm was wobbly, it's not due to the design. More likely the trem arm wasn't original, or the holding piece needs some adjustment. IMO one of the best Strat trems Fender ever put out, aside from the fact that you can't make adjustments without removing the pickguard. IIRC it was designed by Schaller (or perhaps Kahler) and made in Germany. A big downside though is that the saddles are prone to rust and can't be easily replaced given the symmetrical design. Oh, and I believe the tuning heads are the same as MIJ Strats from that time. That, or they're also Schaller. Anyhow, it's a fantastic and underrated guitar.

I really liked it - I was really put off at first because it was just so strange (and I hadn't played an electric for a good while, I'm feeling that I might have to purchase a beater first to get my hands back into shape before shelling out $$$) but after while I got into that guitar in a serious way. Nicest playing strat I've played in the price range so far and I've had a bit of a Jimmy around on a few American standards down the road in Haight district.

Oh also, that guitar store (shoppe) has the ES-135 that the dude from Cold War Kids played in one of the videos for their songs back in the 00s - $1295 - looked beautiful not a dent on it. Barg, I might drunk purchase it if it's there in a few months time. Tiny weenie bit of a fanboi of the first album of theirs.

Rhysyrhys wrote: I played:

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

Stuart from Mogwai plays one of these.

I've heard good things about Caveman but have never gone. Now I gotta check it out!

Question about G&L custom shop: they don't do shortscales, do they?

Hope all goes well with your final selection, Rhys.


If shipping wasn't a pain I'd try to hook you up with a used Moollon S-Classic, the most red-ocean'd boutique-grade guitar model here on the peninsula. No lie, for the equivalent of $850 you can get pre-CBS-spec alloys, 20-layers of nitrocellulose lacquer, and Mr. Park's amazing 1959-spec pickups, and many of them are nicely checked right out of the shop...

ultratwin wrote:Hope all goes well with your final selection, Rhys.


If shipping wasn't a pain I'd try to hook you up with a used Moollon S-Classic, the most red-ocean'd boutique-grade guitar model here on the peninsula. No lie, for the equivalent of $850 you can get pre-CBS-spec alloys, 20-layers of nitrocellulose lacquer, and Mr. Park's amazing 1959-spec pickups, and many of them are nicely checked right out of the shop...

► Show Spoiler

Both of these gorgeous Sonic Blue S-Classics just sold for $750 last weekend, gone within 24 hours each. Timing was pure coincidence, as they were from two different sellers.






Just like Tim Lefebvre's #1 P-Classic IV, they'll green up nicely with a little time and oxidation, like this one sold a few months back.

I watched a couple of YouTube vids on the moollon strats and I've been lusting after a set of mr parks pickups.

Aye Progster, they're the real deal And it seems to be all about the '59s, which we get regular requests for (even as independent sets), with hardly a word about the '64s or '69s since 2013 or so. And although Moollon basses will hover around $1200 on the used market, the fact that there are so many S-Classics and T-Classics around also means they can be found for less than half of what they go/went for new, making it all a fairly pretty fluid market at the moment.

On a related note, this past August we got hooked up with one of the nicest, most sincere dudes we've ever communicated with in the industry, Mr. Steele himself. A promo shot was sent for reference, and soon Mr. Park was building an S-Classic halfway between OTM and LPB to match the flashy satin. And ba-boom, suddenly there it was on the tube.

Was eying that guitar up on Jools last week... couldn't work out what make it was.

My Strat buying days are over. The 79 anniversary one I got is perfect. Apparently they built them to the old specs (it was the first ever reissue type guitar Fender ever made). It's heavier than my 62 RI bot not obscenely so.

If you get the chance to get one of those I'd highly recommend it. It's way above the standard 70s Strat build wise but still in the same price range. 4 bolt neck too.

dezb1 wrote:Was eying that guitar up on Jools last week... couldn't work out what make it was.

+1

Hehe easy to forget that us guitarists' eyeballs tend to veer towards the headstock of an otherwise commonplace guitar shape. Here's the above EOTS S-Classic after getting strung up sometime in mid September.




Alas, the Moollon headstock bump isn't always visible from afar...

My MJT says hello.

benecol wrote:My MJT says hello.

Nice

I love that guitar.

So do I. A strat with a fat neck is an amazing, hilarious thing.

Sexy color combo at work with that maple neck, good stuff indeed.

The Strat that turned me - Greco, 1977. It's a humble thing but oh my god.

Well page three of this thread has been near pornographic (living up to it's name - Sensible chortle gif). I really adore the tortoise on LPB/Sherwood/British Racing Green combo.

Ultra! Thems some tasty tasty Stratocasters. I will definitely visit Korea in next few years (my StarCraft 2 obsession is too great, I want to make a pilgrimage to Gangnam-gu to the AfreecaTV studios to watch a tournament session and eat the burgers that the commentators rave on about). Being a Brit you kinda forget how MASSIVE the Pacific is