Strat SE

3 Chord Hippie · 12-13-2009, 05:04 PM

Well this guitar comes from a players pack, but I just got the guitar at GC for $49.00. It plays like a dream after a little fret work and intonation. The pickups are a little thin, but not bad. It has the full size body a big plus for me. It has the small headstock also a plus as I just like the look. Not a big fann of the boat paddle headstock (not that there's anything wrong with them, just a personal preference). The shell pickguard and backplate are stunning very sixities. There's not much information about them available. So any input would be great. Most of what I found out is from the Start-Talk post I made a few days ago. It goes to band practice today for the first time, that will be a true test (the drummer hates my Epi Les Paul Studio, so she will be brutally honest). I think the player packs are a great idea for beginners and some pearls can be found in these oysters (I think this is one).

Jimi Hendrix · 12-13-2009, 05:09 PM

Pics man, we need pics!

Squier?!? · 12-13-2009, 06:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jimi Hendrix

Pics man, we need pics!

Totally.

I don't know anything more than you do,
Hippie, but i do know that i'd like to snatch
up one of those Burst models eventually.

Did you get them to break up the
pack for you to get that for $49?
Or did they have the spare axe
laying around for sale by itself?

Hard to believe GC would've split up the
pack to sell the guitar for so cheap!

Great score, man...

Squirr · 12-13-2009, 08:17 PM

Oh yes, pics please!

I'm a bit confused about those starter-packs.

As stated, there's little info to be found. Is it a Bullet? Or is it an Affinity? Or a completely different instrument? When You say it's a full size body, are You then reffering to thickness? Have You managed to figure out what the body wood is?

I've also seen another starter-pack recently, with even more mysterious content, including a "Fender Starcaster" guitar. What's that, a Fender? A Squier? Or is it some kind of Squinder?

3 Chord Hippie · 12-14-2009, 12:12 AM

This was a used item, but in very nice shape. The body is listed as agathis or basswood depending on article. The body size is thickness. It's official the drummer says the Les Paul has retired. The Strat has to keeping coming to practice. I can't wait for my new Deluxe in Daphne Blue that's on order, about 11 more weeks arrggghhh.

5thumbs · 12-20-2009, 11:41 AM

I need a deal like that one. Now im on the hunt!

mjpgolf1 · 12-20-2009, 03:22 PM

Nice score man! I actually just modded and refinished one of those. Very solid guitars. Good size and weight and a really great place to start modding away. It is more inline with my Fender MIM strat than my affinity or bullets that I have had (dimension wise). Enjoy it!!

jrich99 · 12-21-2009, 05:12 PM

Great deal! I hope I will come across something like that some day!

D.Allen · 01-14-2010, 12:59 AM

It look like the CV 60's I just got!

YeahDoIt · 01-14-2010, 01:16 PM

3 Chord Hippie, that is a beautiful guitar. I suspect you got a great deal on it.

peskypesky · 01-14-2010, 04:46 PM

does look like a sweet guitar for a crazy price.

Guitaripper · 01-26-2010, 07:23 PM

Sweet, I need a burst too, always was my favorite!

Rockin Johny · 01-27-2010, 10:12 AM

I just picked up an SE as well for $75...this is brand new with the wrap still on the pick guards. It is a nice piece. I am just debating whether or not to put in a GFS loaded pickguard...maybe a HH setup for something different.

From wat I have found out about these SE's they look pretty good.

A post at a different site says FDP - Forum that the SE is:

"...upgraded version of the Affinity Strat Pack they sell. (Very basic with good necks but a lot more chintze) The Affinity pack gets you the small neck and thinner body for beginners. The SE however gets you pretty much a "Standard Strat" with a regular size Strat Body and a "C" shaped , small headstock 21 fret neck."

I also checked with a contact at Fender and was told that these are modified/upgraded Affinity's. Using the Standard's body and different necks.

John

Stratatattat · 02-09-2010, 10:52 PM

i just gotta se on a trade and i'll be dropping a HH set up in it. love that dual humbucker sound...

kevinpaul · 02-22-2010, 04:45 AM

I buy alot of stuff from GC. 2 of my guitars came from GC. They were used, and worth a lot more than I paid. Like cars, guitars drop in price as soon as you go out the door. Let the new buyer take the beating, and save 50% or more.

Duo Gent · 02-22-2010, 08:10 PM

That's a screamin' good deal!

eric93 · 04-15-2010, 01:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 3 Chord Hippie

This was a used item, but in very nice shape. The body is listed as agathis or basswood depending on article. The body size is thickness. It's official the drummer says the Les Paul has retired. The Strat has to keeping coming to practice. I can't wait for my new Deluxe in Daphne Blue that's on order, about 11 more weeks arrggghhh.

Love your axe, i have the exact model & colour, it's agathis... my next will be a PRS SE when i go out to Korea.

Robbmonster · 04-18-2010, 09:12 AM

I bought one of the strats from the SE-100 strat pak a few months ago for a David Gilmour Strat project.

The guitar was super-light, and sounded great, but the frets were way too high and the action had to be set so high that it was only really good for slide.

I replaced the electronics and pickguard with a loaded pickguard from guitar fetish (but NOT gfs pickups). Worth noting that the stock ceramic bar pickups sounded better than the AlNiCo 3's I replaced them with.

In the end, I realised that I would still need to sink way more money into the guitar to get it to the point where I was happy with it. I wasn't prepared to spend more, so I got it in decent working order, and sold it.

Here's some pics. The first pic is before I installed the new pickguard properly and remived the plastic film. The second pic is how the guitar looked at the time I sold it.

marcostrat63 · 05-05-2010, 10:03 PM

Cool - I am actually working on a similar project. I have an SE Squier, black and white, that I scored for 30 bucks (with a Squire sp10 amp!). I bought a black pearloid pickguard, black knobs and covers, black trem plate, and black input jack, and installed my MIM pickups, pots and new Fender selector switch. Will post pics when its done.

marcostrat63 · 05-05-2010, 10:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robbmonster

I bought one of the strats from the SE-100 strat pak a few months ago for a David Gilmour Strat project.

The guitar was super-light, and sounded great, but the frets were way too high and the action had to be set so high that it was only really good for slide.

I replaced the electronics and pickguard with a loaded pickguard from guitar fetish (but NOT gfs pickups). Worth noting that the stock ceramic bar pickups sounded better than the AlNiCo 3's I replaced them with.

In the end, I realised that I would still need to sink way more money into the guitar to get it to the point where I was happy with it. I wasn't prepared to spend more, so I got it in decent working order, and sold it.

Here's some pics. The first pic is before I installed the new pickguard properly and remived the plastic film. The second pic is how the guitar looked at the time I sold it.

where did you find the pickguard?

Robbmonster · 05-06-2010, 01:08 AM

It's from guitarfetish, but they did specify, that it did NOT contain GFS pickups.

http://store.guitarfetish.com/wipi.html

This is the exact one I bought

http://store.guitarfetish.com/alpiprgu70tu.html

It was great quality, and fit perfectly, but it just turned out the pickups were just to damn quiet for me.

softwarejanitor · 05-06-2010, 01:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robbmonster

It's from guitarfetish, but they did specify, that it did NOT contain GFS pickups.

http://store.guitarfetish.com/wipi.html

This is the exact one I bought

http://store.guitarfetish.com/alpiprgu70tu.html

It was great quality, and fit perfectly, but it just turned out the pickups were just to damn quiet for me.

That pickguard looks just like the setup on my 70s Fender Stratocaster. Unfortunately someone years ago rattle-can sprayed the body blue, but I've been thinking about stripping it and repainting it. I was leaning towards the original color (whatever it was, I think possibly white), but I might go black with it for the Gilmour-ish look.

edandis · 05-06-2010, 07:43 AM

HNGD Hippie.

I'm with you on that one. I really like my CB standard strat, but I hate that huge headstock. I wish they would make them like the Bullets.

pictoratus · 05-06-2010, 08:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robbmonster

It's from guitarfetish, but they did specify, that it did NOT contain GFS pickups.

http://store.guitarfetish.com/wipi.html

This is the exact one I bought

http://store.guitarfetish.com/alpiprgu70tu.html

It was great quality, and fit perfectly, but it just turned out the pickups were just to damn quiet for me.

How was the quality on the pots, switches, etc? Were they an upgrade over the stock parts?

Robbmonster · 05-06-2010, 10:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pictoratus

How was the quality on the pots, switches, etc? Were they an upgrade over the stock parts?

To tell the truth, I really didn't hang on to the guitar long enough to make a great assessment. I do remember that the switch felt cheapish - I like solid, definitive clicks when I move it - but they did the job. The pots were pretty good, audio taper, I think.

That said, I really didn't have the guitar very long, no more than a couple of days before I decided to part with it.

pictoratus · 05-06-2010, 10:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robbmonster

To tell the truth, I really didn't hang on to the guitar long enough to make a great assessment. I do remember that the switch felt cheapish - I like solid, definitive clicks when I move it - but they did the job. The pots were pretty good, audio taper, I think.

That said, I really didn't have the guitar very long, no more than a couple of days before I decided to part with it.

Thanks.

adamjn · 05-07-2010, 03:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robbmonster

I bought one of the strats from the SE-100 strat pak a few months ago for a David Gilmour Strat project.

The guitar was super-light, and sounded great, but the frets were way too high and the action had to be set so high that it was only really good for slide.

I replaced the electronics and pickguard with a loaded pickguard from guitar fetish (but NOT gfs pickups). Worth noting that the stock ceramic bar pickups sounded better than the AlNiCo 3's I replaced them with.

In the end, I realised that I would still need to sink way more money into the guitar to get it to the point where I was happy with it. I wasn't prepared to spend more, so I got it in decent working order, and sold it.

Here's some pics. The first pic is before I installed the new pickguard properly and remived the plastic film. The second pic is how the guitar looked at the time I sold it.

Too bad it didn't sound or play well--that is such a great looking guitar!!

Robbmonster · 05-07-2010, 11:20 AM

Thanks for that. The top pic was when it still had plastic on the pickguard and no oil on the fretboard.

It really was an attractive guitar, but these projects sometimes just don't work out.

adamjn · 05-07-2010, 02:45 PM

That's really too bad. Now that I think of it, though, I've had students whose guitars came from the strat packs and I remember them as being pretty nice guitars, provided you do a little setup work. Hmmmm.....

softwarejanitor · 05-07-2010, 03:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by adamjn

That's really too bad. Now that I think of it, though, I've had students whose guitars came from the strat packs and I remember them as being pretty nice guitars, provided you do a little setup work. Hmmmm.....

I just put in a set of GFS Lil' Killer pickups and a Wilkinson trem in my 2000 China Squier Strat SE... Wow... what a difference. It wasn't bad before, but had the typical kinda thin import Strat sound. With the upgraded pickups and solid steel trem block it really sounds great now. I also upgraded the tuners with the Gotoh-style lockers that GFS sells (which went in with no drilling or reaming) and I've got a set of roller string trees coming from GFS. I'm planning to put a graphite nut in it too, and debating on whether to order GFS's complete electronics upgrade kit to replace the dime size 500k pots, cheap switch jack and cap with some good ones.

softwarejanitor · 05-07-2010, 03:11 PM

I guess some people might think I'm crazy putting $170 worth of parts into upgrading a guitar I paid less than $100 for... But I think the end result plays and sounds like a guitar that cost a lot more than $300... It doesn't even look 1/2 bad.

squierjosh · 05-07-2010, 03:37 PM

I agree. Of course, resale value will probably never be there for modded Squiers. If anyone worries about that kind of thing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by softwarejanitor

I guess some people might think I'm crazy putting $170 worth of parts into upgrading a guitar I paid less than $100 for... But I think the end result plays and sounds like a guitar that cost a lot more than $300... It doesn't even look 1/2 bad.

softwarejanitor · 05-07-2010, 03:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by squierjosh

I agree. Of course, resale value will probably never be there for modded Squiers. If anyone worries about that kind of thing.

Resale probably isn't going to be there any time soon if you buy and mod a MIM Strat or even an American Standard. Maybe 20 years down the road. It isn't really a concern to me. I didn't build it to try to flip it for a profit or anything. If I really got desperate for $$$, I could probably get more for the pieces if I parted it out than as a complete guitar.

pictoratus · 05-07-2010, 08:27 PM

Old cliche but still valid:

Sometimes it's not the destination but the journey that makes it all worthwhile.

edandis · 05-08-2010, 09:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pictoratus

Old cliche but still valid:

Sometimes it's not the destination but the journey that makes it all worthwhile.

So true.

I don't think anyone mods a Squier with the intention of selling it for a profit.

Do they?

marcostrat63 · 05-08-2010, 12:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by edandis

So true.

I don't think anyone mods a Squier with the intention of selling it for a profit.

Do they?

I never intended to, however, I modded a korean squier that I picked up for 75 bucks, electronics didnt work - (input jack was completely disconnected....), bought a new jack, pickguard and selector switch. My bandmate heard it and immediately offered me 200 for it. I gave it to him for 125...so technically I put 25 into it, and made a 25 dollar profit!

Robbmonster · 05-08-2010, 01:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by adamjn

That's really too bad. Now that I think of it, though, I've had students whose guitars came from the strat packs and I remember them as being pretty nice guitars, provided you do a little setup work. Hmmmm.....

Yeah, in the case of mine, if would have been okay after a bit of adjustment. Unfortunately, the adjustments were a major fret filing and replacing the pickups and I couldn't justify spending more money on it.

Robbmonster · 05-08-2010, 01:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by edandis

So true.

I don't think anyone mods a Squier with the intention of selling it for a profit.

Do they?

I have bought, modded, and sold several Squiers over the past couple of years and have never even come close to turning a profit.

I have my keeper guitars, some that I thought were keepers but the situation changed, and some that I buy for projects with no idea what will happen after they are complete.

But it's surprising to me how often the outcome is different to the original intent.

I have had keepers that I have parted with, projects that I have hated, and others that I have loved, even guitars that feel and sound great one day but are horrible the next.

marcostrat63 · 05-09-2010, 06:21 PM

Just upgraded with Fender selector switch, 250k pots, MIM pups, Black Pearloid pickguard, and black covers and knobs. Sounds pretty awesome for a Squier SE. Picked up this guitar for cheap, and had some fun with it.
Before and after pics.

Darth Distortion · 08-29-2010, 03:23 AM

3 Chord hippie, nice axe. They are a great guitar if you can find one. it is a Squier Standard Strat for intent and purpose.

Rockin Johny
I like the white pearl, maybe just go with SCN pups.

Squiir - The Starcaster is basically a Fender tagged version of the SE. My Lady has one, and it sounded fine. I put in an EMG Active loaded pickguard, and it sounds like my Korean Strat. They are Agathis, with Squier electronics. They had Fender Strat headstocks and skunkstripes on the necks, but the newest versions reaching the stores no longer have the skunkstripe and have a new style "arrowhead" headstock. If you can find one of the 2007-2009 Starcasters - grab it. it is a nice Strat.