Am I Stupid or just Ignorant

[jimbojo]

So, I scored an MIK Strat a couple weeks ago in a package deal, I really liked the neck but the tuners were cheap and the body was ...gasp...plywood. So I took it apart and have been looking for a replacement body. Well the serch hasn't been so good so I put the axe back together with some new vintage tuners and new strings. Well, I plugged it in to may amp just to make sure it played good enough to throw on the bay and.....man I like the way it sounds. Even with the ceramic pups it is not as bright as I would have expected, the neck is really nice, could use bigger frets, but kinda wide shallow C, not sure what the radius is but it is a more flat and wide than my Squier Standard. So go ahead and flame me if you want, but I kinda like this plywood axe

[horax]

If it sounds good and feels good, that's all that matters.

[peskypesky]

if it plays well and sounds good but has Squier on the headstock then it's no good.

[jimbojo]

Originally Posted by peskypesky

if it plays well and sounds good but has Squier on the headstock then it's no good.

hahahaha, I knew there was something throwing me off. I tell you though the neck has a nice vintage tint going on, the nobs a aged, all natural I'm sure. The only issue is I told my wife I'd sell it. Hmmmm, I dont think the market is very good right now for Korean Strats, "it just wouldn't sell honey...hehehehe.

[peskypesky]

Originally Posted by jimbojo

hahahaha, I knew there was something throwing me off. I tell you though the neck has a nice vintage tint going on, the nobs a aged, all natural I'm sure. The only issue is I told my wife I'd sell it. Hmmmm, I dont think the market is very good right now for Korean Strats, "it just wouldn't sell honey...hehehehe.

maybe its actually a MIA Fender and someone just swapped decals?

[jimbojo]

Originally Posted by peskypesky

maybe its actually a MIA Fender and someone just swapped decals?

hahaha, now you're killin me.....ROFLMAO!!!!

[YeahDoIt]

I go by how the guitar sounds now. That looks a very nice instrument, Jimbojo. I wasn't even thinking plywood until you mentioned it.

[pictoratus]

I suspect the 'plywood' issue is often more psychological than aural. Some people think "Oh, it's plywood, it's bad!" without really listening to the guitar.


Interesting enough some very well known and respected guitar models are 'plywood'. Ok, so Gibson calls them 'laminates'. It's still plywood!

[squierjosh]

I've had two MIK Strats and both have been decent players. I really like the maple neck on one. Don't worry about the "plywood" body...it's still wood after all. A good bridge, decent pickups, and a playable neck go a long way.

Originally Posted by jimbojo

hahahaha, I knew there was something throwing me off. I tell you though the neck has a nice vintage tint going on, the nobs a aged, all natural I'm sure. The only issue is I told my wife I'd sell it. Hmmmm, I dont think the market is very good right now for Korean Strats, "it just wouldn't sell honey...hehehehe.

[houseguitarshop]

plywood bodies were used on korea guitars built in three different places,

the one you have was made at the cort factory, C stands for Cort, and the N stands for Ninetys and the next number is the year, so your guitar is 1992 made in korea at cort.

IMO the plywood does matter,

IMO alot of the tone comes from the neck and body. the plywood guitars I have owned have all sounded muddy, somewhat hollow, and dull

IMO a noticeable difference can be herd when played side by side to a solid body unplugged

I think these korean made squier guitars the V, VN, S, C, and CN serial numbers, were the guitars that gave squier a bad rep to the general public.

at the time squier offerd two models as an upgrade to the squier line around 1992 that were made in japan instead of korea, the waynes world squier and the silver series squier.

anyways, some people mod them up and end up with great guitars, so Its all about preference.

[jimbojo]

Originally Posted by houseguitarshop

plywood bodies were used on korea guitars built in three different places,

the one you have was made at the cort factory, C stands for Cort, and the N stands for Ninetys and the next number is the year, so your guitar is 1992 made in korea at cort.

IMO the plywood does matter,

IMO alot of the tone comes from the neck and body. the plywood guitars I have owned have all sounded muddy, somewhat hollow, and dull

IMO a noticeable difference can be herd when played side by side to a solid body unplugged

I think these korean made squier guitars the V, VN, S, C, and CN serial numbers, were the guitars that gave squier a bad rep to the general public.

at the time squier offerd two models as an upgrade to the squier line around 1992 that were made in japan instead of korea, the waynes world squier and the silver series squier.

anyways, some people mod them up and end up with great guitars, so Its all about preference.

I hear ya, and I have allways felt the same way about ply bodies. Actually I was kind of an Ash snob for a while. But, as I play a few more of these Squiers, with Agathis, Basswood, etc, I think how many people shoot those down, even though when I play them I don't hear a major difference. I need to AB it agaionst my standard strat, but just from what I was hearing through the amp it didn't sound bad, it wasn't really muddy, but I would say it was a little darker, but in a good way. Whith everything involved in the sonic chain of an electric guitar rig, how big is percentage of tone that comes from the wood of the body. I mean you have the neck, the pick ups, the switches, pots (500 or 250) and caps, the strings, then the amps, effects, speakers, there is so much that impacts the over all tone. Some of the strats I've played are almost too bright in the bridge position, IMO. So really, court is still out on this guitar, but I have to say it is not at all as bad as what I expected.

[softwarejanitor]

Originally Posted by jimbojo

So, I scored an MIK Strat a couple weeks ago in a package deal, I really liked the neck but the tuners were cheap and the body was ...gasp...plywood. So I took it apart and have been looking for a replacement body. Well the serch hasn't been so good so I put the axe back together with some new vintage tuners and new strings. Well, I plugged it in to may amp just to make sure it played good enough to throw on the bay and.....man I like the way it sounds. Even with the ceramic pups it is not as bright as I would have expected, the neck is really nice, could use bigger frets, but kinda wide shallow C, not sure what the radius is but it is a more flat and wide than my Squier Standard. So go ahead and flame me if you want, but I kinda like this plywood axe

I've got a Cord made CN4 (1994) that looked very similar to your CN2 (1992) when I got it. The one I got also sounded pretty good even with the stock single coils, but I "Gilmourized" mine with a black pickguard, a GFS MIM/Import vintage style upgrade trem, Wilkinson vintage Kluson style tuners, a set of GFS Premium Texas Stagger Alnico pickups and a GFS electronics upgrade kit + a 0.47uf Sprague Orange Drop cap. I also got a shortened trem bar. With the mods it sounds even better. It is hard to believe it is a plywood body because even unplugged it sounds as good if not better than a lot of solid wood Strats I've played.

I actually have another black Strat body I picked up recently that I've thought about swapping into it because it is solid wood (looks like poplar or maybe ash), but it sounds go good I'm not sure I want to mess with it...

[softwarejanitor]

Originally Posted by peskypesky

if it plays well and sounds good but has Squier on the headstock then it's no good.

That's basically how the resale market is around here. Definitely something that I like to take advantage of...

[houseguitarshop]

Originally Posted by softwarejanitor

That's basically how the resale market is around here. Definitely something that I like to take advantage of...

o yeah, have to know your models and years of production though, some squiers are definitely better than others,

in general people sell squiers all over the map,

most used squiers are listed around $100 regardless of the year or model simply because the "average seller" doesn't know much about guitars.

other people think they have a fender because the headstock says by fender and try to sell a $60 strat pack for $350. haha or a bullet that sells for $119 new they try to sell for $150. haha

some people know what they have and sell the squier for the original list price or more than the original price if it is a vintage japan or korea made guitar, or a desired model.

I agree, if you do the homework, there can be some really great deal on the used guitar market

[jimbojo]

Originally Posted by softwarejanitor

I've got a Cord made CN4 (1994) that looked very similar to your CN2 (1992) when I got it. The one I got also sounded pretty good even with the stock single coils, but I "Gilmourized" mine with a black pickguard, a GFS MIM/Import vintage style upgrade trem, Wilkinson vintage Kluson style tuners, a set of GFS Premium Texas Stagger Alnico pickups and a GFS electronics upgrade kit + a 0.47uf Sprague Orange Drop cap. I also got a shortened trem bar. With the mods it sounds even better. It is hard to believe it is a plywood body because even unplugged it sounds as good if not better than a lot of solid wood Strats I've played.

I actually have another black Strat body I picked up recently that I've thought about swapping into it because it is solid wood (looks like poplar or maybe ash), but it sounds go good I'm not sure I want to mess with it...

Thats cool, my whole idea with the neck was to do a "Blackie", so when I put it back to gether, I'm like, uhh "Blackie". So I may just keep this a while, I allready upgraded the tuner's, I may do a GFS set and upgrade the pot's, but the switch is solid and not one of the new cheapies. The bridge is actually pretty heavy, but I may do that to, if I end up keeping her.

[peskypesky]

Originally Posted by softwarejanitor

That's basically how the resale market is around here. Definitely something that I like to take advantage of...

i'm heading down to Texas on Friday for nine days. I'll be in San Antonio, Austin and McAllen. I'm going to be in serious trouble if i hit the pawn shops or CL.

[nomadh]

Lets assume some people can actually hear a difference between woods. 1st its a very very small difference. 2nd Different doesn't mean better or worse. Any change in the electronics or even a string change will swamp the change in tone any body wood change would make let alone how the neck mates to the body. My only 2 problems I have with ply is why should I put up with it when for the same price I can get solid. And for me any guitar I own is a likely candidate to be stripped to a natural finish so ply won't work for me. As far a tone currently my solid ash strat sounds way worse than my ply tele. But I'm positive the ash prob is the pots or pups not the wood. BTW the ply tele sounds great and its a tobaccoburst and you can't tell its ply by look or sound. I had to take the neck off to even prove it was ply.

[peskypesky]

Originally Posted by nomadh

Lets assume some people can actually hear a difference between woods. 1st its a very very small difference. 2nd Different doesn't mean better or worse. Any change in the electronics or even a string change will swamp the change in tone any body wood change would make let alone how the neck mates to the body. My only 2 problems I have with ply is why should I put up with it when for the same price I can get solid. And for me any guitar I own is a likely candidate to be stripped to a natural finish so ply won't work for me. As far a tone currently my solid ash strat sounds way worse than my ply tele. But I'm positive the ash prob is the pots or pups not the wood. BTW the ply tele sounds great and its a tobaccoburst and you can't tell its ply by look or sound. I had to take the neck off to even prove it was ply.

this is a non-issue but snobs are snobs. its the same attitude that says you can't get a good bottle of wine for less than $100.

[edandis]

I'm willing to bet that if a bottle of wine had a label that said "Squier" then some wine critic will somehow state that it tasted acidy and it was obviously the toxic cork imported from China that had something to do with it.

[softwarejanitor]

Originally Posted by peskypesky

i'm heading down to Texas on Friday for nine days. I'll be in San Antonio, Austin and McAllen. I'm going to be in serious trouble if i hit the pawn shops or CL.

If you hit Austin the Cash America Pawn on South Lamar right by MusicMakers just south of Barton Springs Road is one of the better ones. They generally have quite a few Squiers amongst other guitars, basses amps, etc.

[softwarejanitor]

Originally Posted by houseguitarshop

o yeah, have to know your models and years of production though, some squiers are definitely better than others,

in general people sell squiers all over the map,

most used squiers are listed around $100 regardless of the year or model simply because the "average seller" doesn't know much about guitars.

Many CL sellers can't even tell you which kind of Squier they have. Many of them can barely tell you its a Strat or a Tele or whatever, let alone whether its an Affinity, Standard, Bullet, etc. Or they don't understand that makes a difference... soemtimes you can see the series logo on the headstock in the pics but they don't mention it in the copy. That said, Austin is a huge musician's town, so some of the people do actually know what they've got.

other people think they have a fender because the headstock says by fender and try to sell a $60 strat pack for $350. haha or a bullet that sells for $119 new they try to sell for $150. haha

Yeah, there are always a few like that. But since there are so many for sale locally at any given time, I don't think very many sell at inflated prices just due to buyers price shopping.

some people know what they have and sell the squier for the original list price or more than the original price if it is a vintage japan or korea made guitar, or a desired model.

Yeah, like I said there are enough in the used market (and enough places that sell 'em new like Guitar Center, MusicMakers and a few others) around here and enough people who know what they are doing that I think its harder to get away with scamming people here in Austin.

I agree, if you do the homework, there can be some really great deal on the used guitar market

Absolutely... Nice thing around here is it is often possible to just wait until the overpriced stuff gets re-listed. Often times I think when something doesn't sell people actually google it and figure out what a more realistic price is. Of course there are the people who are patient and waiting for a sucker... There are enough guitars out there that they can just be ignored.

The biggest down side to this issue is that there is a steady enough stream of < $100 Squiers of all types on CL around here that it is pretty near impossible to sell one of the better Squiers or an upgraded one and get a fair price for it.

I'm not really selling though, so I don't care that much.

[peskypesky]

Originally Posted by softwarejanitor

If you hit Austin the Cash America Pawn on South Lamar right by MusicMakers just south of Barton Springs Road is one of the better ones. They generally have quite a few Squiers amongst other guitars, basses amps, etc.

thank you for that tip. i think.

[DreadSi]

I will be driving from Houston to Austin Saturday for a swap meet on 6th street. It's posted in the Austin Craigslist musical instruments section. I'm looking to unload a bunch of stuff and score a footswitch for my Vox amp and any interesting MIJ Fender type products I spot.

[peskypesky]

Originally Posted by DreadSi

I will be driving from Houston to Austin Saturday for a swap meet on 6th street. It's posted in the Austin Craigslist musical instruments section. I'm looking to unload a bunch of stuff and score a footswitch for my Vox amp and any interesting MIJ Fender type products I spot.

never been to a swap meet. but good luck and i hope you go home with something cool. i'll be down in the valley on Saturday.