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I don't like strats. They look nice enough, but they're boring. But like someone else here said, there's enough varieties out there that there's bound to be one for me.

My business partner texted me a few nights ago.. "dude, I just passed by a pawn shop that had a ton of guitars hanging in the window". That's pretty rare here - most pawn shops here deal only in jewelry and precious metals. It turns out it's a branch from a Florida pawn chain that expanded into our market, and a lot of their gear comes from their Florida stores.

I'm in San Juan for the weekend, I had a few hours to kill yesterday, and I got paid Friday, so I swung by. There were about 30 guitars, a few pedals, two amps, a cab, and some congas of guitars there. Not a lot stood out to me, but three things did. Maybe my hangover was worse than I thought, or maybe I was still drunk from the night before (fucking $1 beer punk shows). But I took all three of them home.

Picked up an 93 black label MIM Squier Strat with a body that's beat within an inch of its life for $50. It's got a maple neck, that's aged nicely, and decent frets, so it's going in the parts bin. The trapezoid tuners are going straight to the trash though. Also, tons of cracks in the finish, so when I have the time, I'm going to strip it and see how the wood is underneath. If it's not broken, it goes in the parts bin too, if it's broken, I've got a luthier friend that'll buy it off of me. The electronics are kinda meh... cheap ceramic pickups, but the pots aren't scratchy and the 5 way switch works.

Picked up a Crate 1x12 cab with a Vintage 30 for $35. Keeping the speaker, gonna use the empty cab as a bookshelf.

They also had a slotted headstock SG bass for way too much money (or not. $1400), but it was interesting.

Anyway, this is the achievement. An immaculate MIM 70s Strat for a pittance. Sounds good, bright and chunky, fat neck. I probably will end up selling this one (a friend of mine already gave me a decent offer for the neck, and selling a loaded strat body isn't easy), but for now, I'm enjoying it. I'll take it apart tomorrow when I'm back home to see what it's got underneath. Oh, and they threw in a free SKB hardcase

Here's the pics:



















**Edit**

Yeah, I still don't like strats. I traded it for an Italia Mondial.

fuck me... I just received a trade offer for an Italia Mondial.

Do I take it? That is the question.

Ooh, well I do like the looks of an Italia Mondial. How much did you buy the Strat for?

daftsupernova wrote:Ooh, well I do like the looks of an Italia Mondial. How much did you buy the Strat for?

Really cheap. $250.

is a mim 70s particularly special or valuable? i can't imagine it's that interesting

i'd at least try out the guys italia

George wrote:is a mim 70s particularly special or valuable? i can't imagine it's that interesting

i'd at least try out the guys italia

yeah, especially for the price he got it at. an italia mondial is like $700 new, so i think he'd be getting the good end of the deal.

I'm gonna take the dog for a walk now, and then take the half hour drive to a shopping center to meet up with the guy and check out the italia.

Don't want any surprises from the dog when I return, either with the strat, or with the italia.

Keep the strat: the 70s Classics are the best MIMs they do, in my opinion, especially the older ones with the U-shaped necks. You lot over there pay a premium for Italias, but importantly: they're shite. The strat will be a much better guitar.

Serial says that Strat's 2004-2005. When did they bring out the 70s classics?

mkt3000 wrote:fuck me... I just received a trade offer for an Italia Mondial.

Do I take it? That is the question.

Take the trade. CBS era strat=crap. 3 screw neckplate=crap. Don't know anything about the Italia, but it will probably be a trade up.

speedfish wrote:Take the trade. CBS era strat=crap. 3 screw neckplate=crap. Don't know anything about the Italia, but it will probably be a trade up.

Worst advice ever: even if it was a strat that was built in the 1970s (which it clearly isn't), you're advising him to trade for a guitar worth about 20% of its value.

Nick, they were making the 70s Classics in 2004.

EDIT: also, that's not the original guard.

benecol wrote:

speedfish wrote:Take the trade. CBS era strat=crap. 3 screw neckplate=crap. Don't know anything about the Italia, but it will probably be a trade up.

Worst advice ever: even if it was a strat that was built in the 1970s (which it clearly isn't), you're advising him to trade for a guitar worth about 20% of its value.

Nick, they were making the 70s Classics in 2004.

EDIT: also, that's not the original guard.

3 screw neckplate=nostalgic repro crap.

what is crap about the 3 screw neckplate?

speedfish wrote:3 screw neckplate=nostalgic repro crap.

*makes mental note to trade 'magic' beans for speedfish's cow*

didn't we just get done having a pour-over about how iconic the strat is? jesus christ.

why the hell would you trade it for this?



NOT ICONIC OR COOL OR SWEET OR PUNGENT OR ANYTHING. IT'S SIMPLY UGLY. TOO MUCH SHIT GOING ON HERE

IMPORTANTLY: it's a fairly pony guitar done up to look like an exciting vintage Italian thing. Eastwood-style bollocks.

I went with my instinct.

The Italia is mine.

I'm with benecol on this one. Italia's look nice but I've never played a good one. The Eastwood comment is spot on - they look the part but play and sound incredibly boring and generic. Perhaps you'll find it works well for you, and at the worst you should be able to make more than your money back selling it.

James wrote:worst you should be able to make more than your money back selling it.

That's why I said 'fuckit' and took the risk.

I think this guitar may have belonged to a friend of mine a while back. There's no Italia dealer here, so it's highly unlikely that it's not his old one. Same color, same model.

He already offered to buy it off of me.

Yeah I remember when Italia launched at musiclive a few years back, I tried the entire range and they weren't impressive. Aren't they half agathis/half plastic top.

If it works for you then cool, but in the UK at least Italia guitars are about a third of the price of the classic series Fenders.