If the integrity of the guitar is sound. I'd focus on tuners and pickups first.

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What possiby could go wrong?

But do start looking at parts - like @studmissile said, first tuners and pickups - at least to set the bar against which to decide to upgrade or not?

@NorioDS Is it just tone that prevents you from picking the guitar up? Is it a fun guitar to play?

studmissile to be honest I don’t think it’s ever even had a setup.

I stopped playing it the moment I got my Ibanez RG470. I might’ve picked it up a few times but probably wasn’t trying "strat" friendly riffs on it

So I don’t even remember its tone. I’ve just kept it all these years because of the sentimental value but it feels silly keeping it and not playing it.

Is the neck comfortable to play? No nasty fret edges? Is the action too high? Fret Buzz? If you've never really connected with it as a playable guitar, it unfortunately might not be?

As Studmissile indicates. If you find the guitar playable (fits well, feels OK, plays lekker) and only hate the sound, it is worth it to work on it. After you have exhausted all the options of pickup height, action, volume-tone settings.

If you do decide to work on it, start with fine-tuning the setup. Fit/make a bone nut.
One needs to know what pots, capacitors and pickup type is in it, might be easy to start with re-wiring to a different 5 position switch option and tone control options, with smaller capacitors. If the pots are small, go CTS Log pots all round. Treble bleed (Kinman type) on the Volume pot, tone pot for the Neck and Middle pickups, and a tone pot for the Bridge. You could look at the posts I made on my Korean Squire Strat.

studmissile Is the neck comfortable to play? No nasty fret edges? Is the action too high? Fret Buzz? If you've never really connected with it as a playable guitar, it unfortunately might not be?

All great questions. I need to take her for a spin. I don't remember at all. I think the jack was a bit scratchy but that's usually not too serious.

modulator might be easy to start with re-wiring to a different 5 position switch option and tone control options, with smaller capacitors. If the pots are small, go CTS Log pots all round. Treble bleed (Kinman type) on the Volume pot, tone pot for the Neck and Middle pickups, and a tone pot for the Bridge. You could look at the posts I made on my Korean Squire Strat.

This was Greek to me

I've just assumed it's a rubbish guitar because that's what I've heard (and vaguely remember). But it could just be that I was after a fatter sound and now, a more mature version of me might be open to some single coil sounds.

I'll take all my guitars out today and hopefully take this one for a spin and come back with some notes on it.

Thanks all!

I did a very similar thing to this on my first electric a couple of years ago.
I replaced the turners and dropped in a completely wired scratch plate.
The tuners were pretty generic but a lot better than the previous set. The scratch plate was from a 90s MIJ strat and sounds great. I got both from SAMIS and picked them up for a song.

... now that I think about it I might have replaced the bridge too... but apparently I'm getting old because I can't quite remember.

Yeti That's cool! What did it set you back for the tuners and scratch plate?

A fully wired scratch plate, if it comes in the right colour, might be a fun way for me to upgrade the look of the guitar at the same time. It's an awful blue with a plain white scratchplate. Black might look a bit edgier and suit me better.

Yeti That's great!

I suppose that once I know what I want, I'll know what to look for. Right now, it's all completely undefined.

"Shoot for nothing, hit nothing."

Ok so the frets need some filing down!

Tone sounds ok through my bass amp. Haven’t tested on my BR-600 coz its batteries are flat. And the micro terror is being packed up to sell.

Main thing I noticed is scratchy sounds from switching pickups. I think it’s just rust or similar. A slap gets it working again.

More pics coming

Taking it apart was super easy! Makes me feel confident that I can swap out some parts. I’d prefer to avoid soldering if I can though. Zero experience and no tools.

studmissile

After a bit of Googling, damn, it looks like it could’ve been built in Japan! Nagoya is on the neck plate and it’s a city in Japan.

Maybe I have a half decent strat copy on my hands?!

Here’s the tuners:

Well I’ll be!

Could be a sweet guitar. You'd want to focus on the integrity of the neck first. Pro setup and fret dress. If the guitar plays well after that, replace the tuners with vintage kluson style six in line to cover the old holes from original tuners. Nut still looks new. Pretty sure that's basswood. I'd just hardtail it rather than mess around with tremolo system,

Ideally you'd want to sit and play if for a while, even unplugged to see if you connect with it? If after a month you enjoy it drop in some vintage tone riders. That switch is Japanese. You'll find it in MIJ Fenders and MIJ Tokais.

Nice guitar. Some switch cleaner into the switch and pots, and see.

I would upgrade to CTS Log pots, and a new 5 way switch like I did on my Squier Strat. If the switch fits the cavity depth.

The tuners, if they are sloppy, service them? You can bend the bracket ears holding the knob shaft a bit (small hammer and pin punch), clean the gears and posts, the head bushes, and lightly add Vaseline to the gears. Save a lot of money, which you can spend later, if you absolutely cannot live with these tuners anymore.
The pickups, I see the height adjusters screw through the baseplate? Is it possible to remove those metal baseplates at all? Will make a difference to the tone. I would be tempted to remove the plates. Different opinions on what they do, but with them you should expect a "harder" sound? A smoother, "wider", lower power sound without? The ceramic magnets are not optimal, but do have tonal influences beyond the normal "they are harsh" thing. I enjoy the sound from those in my Squier Strat, even though I would like to upgrade just to hear if the upgrade is "better". Not soon. I'm afraid I might prefer the ""wider" mellower sound of the standard pickups, and all the work would be wasted. This is where wired pickguards come in. Hmm, could do it that way...

You can worry about the trem block later, but it does make a difference! But not the commercial price difference. If you do not mind a bit of boer maak 'n plan backyard DIY on it, fit longer screws holding it to the bridge plate, and tap those into a piece of flatbar, fastening the flatbar edge-on behind the trem block, to add mass. Another, simpler, better(?) option is to screw a plate directly to the trem block, drill two holes through the casting between the strings, tap the "mass" block and screw it vas.
Although block material is said to have an influence on the sound, extra mass is what works, I would think. Decide on how loose you want that trem plate to be on the guitar, many pointers and ideas on the internet about those six screws...

While you are at it, shield the cavities, and add aluminium foil all over the bottom of the scratch plate.

Only spend dollops of money if you find the guitar playable and comfortable to play. Huge difference between these and an Ibanez RG, neck-wise. As such, I need to rid myself of a rather nice Washburn, on which I had many years of quality fun, just because the neck does not fit my fingers quite right. The string spacing is the same as another guitar I play on, without a problem, but somehow, my fingers has to struggle to fit. It has always been like that, I blamed it on the narrower nut width, but much later, closer investigation revealed the string spacing is fine. That guitar has a super action, but very low output single coils. The neck pickup does make a very nice sound, though. I have never had it open to investigate, and with the playing problem, will not do so. What, with the Ibanez's around, why bother? The Squier Strat is a different matter - it plays. I do hope your guitar is worth it as well. Set up well, it might be a wonderful guitar to play with.