Stoffeltoo wrote: If the guitar leaps at you with a telepathic high pitched "Buy Me!"
Go for it. There is nothing as good as holding a dream guitar while playing no matter how it sounds. Its your dream do it. Such an itch does not come often and if you have the funds why not?
I still believe that better gear builds confidence and it will stand you good for the future.

Instead of a strat why not a tele? bit more oomph in the tone.

My six strings worth

My opinion strat beats tele any day ? but let's not start that now.

Stoffeltoo wrote: Its your dream do it. Such an itch does not come often and if you have the funds why not?

I dunno whatcha smokin but I need sum of it. I get the same itch about every seven days, for a week, and it only goes away for a fortnight after a purchase.

Price check in the Fender isle ..... American standards now retail for 28 k plus minus, 18k with a nice discount is around the out e door price... Is it worth it, no not really as others have mentioned buy second hand.

I reckon with a RG470 and GT10 you should be getting decent tone...give the strings a change, make sure the lectrics are alright ,set it up and tweek....the rg470 is no slouch built in Japan Fuji plant if I remember correctly...maybe change the pups and experiment. But that's my 2 cents

or Tokai Springy?

+1 on the pupgrade for Jap Ibanezes, the guit is good enough to earn good pups and the stock pups are bad enough to want replacement.

IceCreamMan wrote: Price check in the Fender isle ..... American standards now retail for 28 k plus minus, 18k with a nice discount is around the out e door price... Is it worth it, no not really as others have mentioned buy second hand.

I reckon with a RG470 and GT10 you should be getting decent tone...give the strings a change, make sure the lectrics are alright ,set it up and tweek....the rg470 is no slouch built in Japan Fuji plant if I remember correctly...maybe change the pups and experiment. But that's my 2 cents

I saw one tagged yesterday at 18000, sorry I didn't know the actual retail price.

I don't mean to hijack this thread, but does anyone know why Fender stuff in South Africa is so much more expensive than other brands?

Stoffeltoo wrote: If the guitar leaps at you with a telepathic high pitched "Buy Me!"
Go for it. There is nothing as good as holding a dream guitar while playing no matter how it sounds. Its your dream do it. Such an itch does not come often and if you have the funds why not?
I still believe that better gear builds confidence and it will stand you good for the future.

Instead of a strat why not a tele? bit more oomph in the tone.

My six strings worth

I fully agree. If it is your dream guitar and you can afford it, GO FOR IT!.

Well, Strats are great and all that (play one myself a lot of the time). Then again, so's an RG - even battered and beaten...

However, A strat will never be "much warmer, richer and smoother" than an HSH Ibby. Not by my understanding of those words. If you'd said "more dynamic, articulate, percussive, resonant and brighter" the answer would be a resounding "yes". Or if you'd asked the same question of a hollowbody archtop...

I wonder - Have you plugged into a nice valve amp yet?

Sure, there's room to improve on the RG's pickups (true of most guitars these days), but the stockers aren't bad. The US Standard Strat is a great guitar, but a Mex Strat isn't bad either and the price differential is large - for many of us, it's worth paying the premium for a better guitar. But I wouldn't blow 12K (second hand) on a US Strat unless I was sure that I wanted a Strat in the first place. I'd probably pony up 5K or so for a (also S/H) Mex model to dip my toes in the Strat pond before plunging into the deep waters...

I'd rather just buy a Prestige Ibanez model and upgrade the pickups,that way you'd still have change to take the missus out for a lekker dinner. ?

There are some questions that have obvious answers;
"Honey do I look fat?" NO
"Do I look ok in this?" YES
"Should I buy a Fender?" YES

You can run this over a million ways in your head, be sensible like some of these posts, but if you buy one you gel with it's a great thing. If you don't like it after a while at least it should be easier to sell off again.

There are so many options for strats though so take your time with the purchase. Necks, pups, bridges etc all make a big difference to the playing experience.

The thing is... If you have fallen out of love with a piece of gear, especially your guitar, then its unlikely that you will enjoy playing on it. It will just feel and sound wrong. What I would recommend is sell the ibby or put it in the closet and go out to a few stores...
Take your GT10 and have them hook you up with a few strats they have. Try every model from the squiers, classic vibes, MIM's and MIA's. Thats going to give you an idea of whether you like a strat. Buy the guitar and go home and have a good time.

Playing guitar should be fun and doing it on your dream guitar will likely be a hell of a good time!

redant wrote:
Again - I'm looking for a smoother / fat lead sound. The Dimarzios I've got on there was good for that edgy rock riffs back in the day. But I am not crazy about the sound now.

Could you name an artist as an example of the tone you want?

redant wrote:
Again - I'm looking for a smoother / fat lead sound. The Dimarzios I've got on there was good for that edgy rock riffs back in the day. But I am not crazy about the sound now.

Smoother, fat lead sound? Sound like a Les Paul to me! ?

Johnny B wrote:

redant wrote:
Again - I'm looking for a smoother / fat lead sound. The Dimarzios I've got on there was good for that edgy rock riffs back in the day. But I am not crazy about the sound now.

Smoother, fat lead sound? Sound like a Les Paul to me! ?

Yeah I'm thinking the same thing. Fatter usually goes hand in hand with humbuckers (the tone not the players! ? ) perhaps you're looking for a HSS strat? Otherwise a simple pickup swap in your Ibby may get you there too.

GuitarDoge wrote:

IceCreamMan wrote: Price check in the Fender isle ..... American standards now retail for 28 k plus minus, 18k with a nice discount is around the out e door price... Is it worth it, no not really as others have mentioned buy second hand.

I reckon with a RG470 and GT10 you should be getting decent tone...give the strings a change, make sure the lectrics are alright ,set it up and tweek....the rg470 is no slouch built in Japan Fuji plant if I remember correctly...maybe change the pups and experiment. But that's my 2 cents

I saw one tagged yesterday at 18000, sorry I didn't know the actual retail price.

I don't mean to hijack this thread, but does anyone know why Fender stuff in South Africa is so much more expensive than other brands?

Maybe a highway strat, or second hand American standard. Unfortunately they are now retailing around 25 to 28 for 2012 and up American standards.

As to yr second point this has been discussed previously without a satisfactory answer being proposed thus far. But fender do make sweet products hey

People have proposed a tokai, I third that idea.

IceCreamMan wrote:

GuitarDoge wrote:

IceCreamMan wrote: Price check in the Fender isle ..... American standards now retail for 28 k plus minus, 18k with a nice discount is around the out e door price... Is it worth it, no not really as others have mentioned buy second hand.

I reckon with a RG470 and GT10 you should be getting decent tone...give the strings a change, make sure the lectrics are alright ,set it up and tweek....the rg470 is no slouch built in Japan Fuji plant if I remember correctly...maybe change the pups and experiment. But that's my 2 cents

I saw one tagged yesterday at 18000, sorry I didn't know the actual retail price.

I don't mean to hijack this thread, but does anyone know why Fender stuff in South Africa is so much more expensive than other brands?

Maybe a highway strat, or second hand American standard. Unfortunately they are now retailing around 25 to 28 for 2012 and up American standards.

As to yr second point this has been discussed previously without a satisfactory answer being proposed thus far. But fender do make sweet products hey

People have proposed a tokai, I third that idea.

I definitely saw an HSS american standard tagged at that price. It had no major signs of wear and didn't say seconhand. I just glanced at it quickly so it may have been secondhand or older stock.

I don't understand why gibson's are available for 10-20% higher than the american street price, but fender guitars and amps cost than 50% more in SA.

As for tokais, they are all great value for money.

GuitarDoge wrote:

IceCreamMan wrote:

GuitarDoge wrote:

IceCreamMan wrote: Price check in the Fender isle ..... American standards now retail for 28 k plus minus, 18k with a nice discount is around the out e door price... Is it worth it, no not really as others have mentioned buy second hand.

I reckon with a RG470 and GT10 you should be getting decent tone...give the strings a change, make sure the lectrics are alright ,set it up and tweek....the rg470 is no slouch built in Japan Fuji plant if I remember correctly...maybe change the pups and experiment. But that's my 2 cents

I saw one tagged yesterday at 18000, sorry I didn't know the actual retail price.

I don't mean to hijack this thread, but does anyone know why Fender stuff in South Africa is so much more expensive than other brands?

Maybe a highway strat, or second hand American standard. Unfortunately they are now retailing around 25 to 28 for 2012 and up American standards.

As to yr second point this has been discussed previously without a satisfactory answer being proposed thus far. But fender do make sweet products hey

People have proposed a tokai, I third that idea.

I definitely saw an HSS american standard tagged at that price. It had no major signs of wear and didn't say seconhand. I just glanced at it quickly so it may have been secondhand or older stock.

I don't understand why gibson's are available for 10-20% higher than the american street price, but fender guitars and amps cost than 50% more in SA.

As for tokais, they are all great value for money.

Lots of Tokai supporters on the forum, for good reason!
There really are a million options, but actually you should maybe consider a super strat of some sort?
That way you get the feel of a strat and with some humbuckers you get the thick lead tone you're looking for

What Alan and others have said (re: Mex Strats etc).

If you're really gassing for a US-built Strat, take a look at used Highway One models or - new - the American Specials. I tried one in the LGS t'other day. Not my favourite headstock shape (the big CBS-type one), nor favourite colour combination for a Strat (trans. butterscotch blonde with 3 ply black scratch plate, white p'ups & knobs, maple neck).

One of the most responsive, sweet Strats I've played in a while. Nice enough that I seriously considered trading in mine on it. Luckily for my bank manager, it lasted 3 days on the shelf before a lucky/smart guy snapped it up.

Moral: worry less about colour and model range (Mexican, Japanese or American) than how it sounds, plays and feels in your hands.

Banditman wrote:
Moral: worry less about colour and model range (Mexican, Japanese or American) than how it sounds, plays and feels in your hands.

While I agree that the model range isn't important, colour and looks certainly is. If a person thinks a guitar doesn't look good, then they might lack confidence in playing it. Same thing if a guitar looks really awesome you're bound to have more confidence while playing it IMO.