Me Kit...

Spyke

Very, VERY, standard Squire Strat. Keen to do some personalizing on it in the future.
Bought it new in 2001 from Sam Ash in Orlando, Fl. (amazing selection, i drove through 4 times before actually deciding on what i was going to get)
Resting on my Leem GA-8240RC.

My Yamaha FX-350 semi

My Aria acoustic (yes, i know... it's missing a 'e'. I don't play it much)

JoeyBones

Have you picked up any issues with your strat ? Where was it made ? The one I had was from Indonesia and is still going strong.

Spyke

Mine's also an Indo Strat. Can't say i've had any real problems with it. Holds it's tuning well, seems sturdy and a fair deal heavier than some other Strat reps (SantaFe, Academy etc.)

I do get the feeling I'd get a better sound if spent time setting it up and replaced the pickups.

Garth-S

I like the look of the maple neck on the strat, I wanna get one for mine. Just upgraded my Indonesian Squire strat, got all stainless steel screws, mother of pearl scratchplate, fender vintage noiseless pickups, and a switch that turns the bridge pickup on and off, it sounds SO sweet now. Also bought mine in '01 but its an '00 model, still going strong ?

JoeyBones

The US Highway 1 that I had was the same, black Select Alder body with a maple neck.

Spyke checkout www.billlawrence.com. His pickups are awesome value for money. We manage to get a wide range of tones from this strat and they are absolutely noiseless.

Spyke

Thanks for the link -

@ Garth S - i took a look at your thread on that and i'm mightily impressed with what you've done. My amp need some work (or a replacement) before i start seriously considering upgrading the pickups. No point in having a great sounding axe and playing it through a toss amp...

Spyke

JoeyBones wrote Spyke checkout www.billlawrence.com. His pickups are awesome value for money. We manage to get a wide range of tones from this strat and they are absolutely noiseless.

What are we talking about, money wise? And which ones did you get? By the looks of things there's two variations to go for.

JoeyBones

Here's what I ordered :

Item Price: $148.50 USD
Order Description: L-280S Neck/Middle and the L-290SL-Bridge, white covers

Spyke

JoeyBones wrote Here's what I ordered :

Item Price: $148.50 USD
Order Description: L-280S Neck/Middle and the L-290SL-Bridge, white covers

And you'd recommend it?

That really isn't bad money at all - hmmm... ??? the gears start turning... ;D

Garth-S

No point in having a great sounding axe and playing it through a toss amp...

I agree 100% Spyke. The Roland Cubes are pretty good imo, but others may beg to differ. Nothing beats a solid valve amp though ?

JoeyBones

And you'd recommend it?

That really isn't bad money at all - hmmm... ??? the gears start turning... ;D

I'm no tone expert, but the friend I sold it to is a really good guitarist and he is seriously impressed by these. He's other guitars are an 87' Les paul studio and an Ibanez Jem and he rates this guitar right up there in terms of tone and versatility.

At the end of the day, it's up to your personal taste. I'll see if I can get him to record some sound clips.

Spyke

Garth S wrote
No point in having a great sounding axe and playing it through a toss amp...
I agree 100% Spyke. The Roland Cubes are pretty good imo, but others may beg to differ. Nothing beats a solid valve amp though ?

I'm considering a Cube but not sure if it'll have the volume i have now... The Leem is pretty loud.
I'll troll around and see if i can play on one. Seems to be in my price bracket at the moment

JoeyBones

How much do you want to spend on an amp ?

Spyke

At the moment, nothing really. Got some other things to sort out first.

But i think about R1700 - R2000 will be my range.

NorioDS

Spyke, cubes are awesome. You get such a wide variety of sounds for such a little amount of money. And they are damn loud too! Very impressive amps indeed.

I've got a cube 30 and it's served me well. When I need to crank it, it performs but I wouldn't gig with it ?

They are serious value for money.