We Tried To "Custom Shop" The Cheapest Fender Strat
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- Опубліковано 12 вер 2022
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We tried to upgrade Fender's cheapest Mexican Stratocaster to see how close we could get to a real custom shop level of quality, thanks to @righteousguitars2548 for helping us out with today's video.
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So basically most of the initial issue (the high action) was just a truss rod adjustment. You liked the initial tones so you tossed away all the pickups and all the electronics. I'd love to see what it looks like with a 5 minute truss rod adjustment, setting the intonation, adjusting the saddles, adjusting the nut if needed, adjusting the pickup heights to optimize the tone. I'd bet it would be a really nice guitar right then and there.
I dunno man I’m constantly swapping parts on my violin (sarcasm). I agree, as a reformed modder, if you don’t like the guitar after a proper set up you won’t ever like it no matter what you do. I find the opposite to be true, if you like a guitar why mess with it other than as an experiment or time vacuum.
I say buy a performer and have a top notch set up on it .
Yep, and blows past the initial ~$800-$850 ballpark upgrades by $1,000,... The stock electronics were doable as they were.
Truss rod adjustments are for proper neck relief, not action.
Look it up.
Yeah the other pickups were better the truth shall set us free
What I heard is that this is a pretty darn good Strat that just needed a thorough setup. If your biggest beef is that the truss rod needs adjusted and the fret ends need attention, you're doing pretty well
You've heard very true things my friend
Fret end dressing is not hard you just need the right kind of file. Truss rods are easy as well. There are plenty of good videos on how to do both.
yes but not the point
I did that with a $65 pawn shop - a Chinese Squire - I changed all of the electronics, Switchcraft jack, Fender Fat 50's pickups, a new switch and improved the grounds and shielding. I played it professionally for 10 years. Still have it - it plays well and sounds awesome!
That would’ve been a great UA-cam review. You should’ve made a video of your squire and get a lot of satisfaction for the money.
I did the same with my recently
i did the same with a full body squier se strat. new pots, seymour duncan humbuckers, redid ground and shielding, and finally just swapped in an ‘84-‘87 MIJ fender strat neck and it’s absolutely perfect for me.
and nobody will steal it for the Squier badging 😅
@@jonnyz5772
😂 Poor people's camouflage, make it look cheaper than it really is.
I literally do this with every guitar I buy. Not only do you save money, it’s really a great way to feel connected to your instrument. The more time and effort you put in, the more you really feel connected to your guitar, and for me, that’s been really important in making me want to play
Totally agree. It's like caring for your baby.
@@stijn5843 wait you swap out your baby parts?
Yeah, i've got a beautiful cherry burst les paul, a hss "black beauty" strat and a cheap hsh guitar that i modded to hell, guess wich one i play the most?
While I do not do this to every guitar that I buy I do mod some of them. My Fender Stratocaster is a perfect example. I modded the crap out of it since 2009 and will continue to until either I run out of ideas or get it perfect to me. Despite owning several guitars I mostly play my Stratocaster. My Strat is my baby!
This is a real effect, and has been studied extensively by Daniel Ariely. People value things a lot more when they build, modify, or do something to them. In other words, they feel more connected to items that they put creative effort into. Which means that modders are really onto something.
The better comparison would be to which Fender Strat can you buy off the shelf new for $1900 and how does it compare to the upgraded Squier. I'd love to see this dollar to dollar. Keep up the great work, Rhett!
I would guess that the $1900 strat would be a better choice
It's a upgraded Fender Player Serie MIM. Not a Squier.
@@slimturnpike
If they had done this to a Squire, there would be no contest. But they did this to a Fender MIM Player Stratocaster, so the contest is a bit closer. I would say, after all that work, this guitar would be better than a 1900 dollar Fender Stratocaster. This will have better fret work, this will have better pickups and wiring, this will have a better feeling neck.. In every way that actually matters to a person who plays, this guitar would beat out the American Professional II series that sells for around 1900 dollars ish.
There has been quite some videos about that. Depending on author, the results were mixed. Mostly they say, it kinda sounds similar, but in hand and the player experience is still cheap guitar.
@@lfaf9509 totally agree. This thing has the fret work of a custom guitar, those guitars cost 5000. This things action and playability are where all that money is saved. You WILL not find a guitar this playable for less than 2000. you just will not. Or, if someone says they know of a guitar, with custom shop level fretwork, and all that, let us know, so we can buy them.
I liked the sound of the original pickups. I think it would have been a fairer examination if they did a full setup before modding to see how it could have sounded. Then change it all out and see what is gained.
@@srubberalittle I agree. I didn't like the new pickups. Ask a guitar shop should you buy the expensive instrument or just do some very basic filing and pickup changes. It's actually really easy to change pickups and rewire with push pull etc. I did it on a guitar I built. The power of google really helped. I don't think you should consider the resale value. It would have been a better comparison to itemize the total cost as I expect the labour would be very high and something you could do yourself. It's not rocket science.
yep didn't like new pups
Exactly.
@Ralph Reilly Some years ago l installed some Lollar Specials in an 87 Strat and it totally transformed an already great sounding guitar into something absolutely stunning. I did renew all the electronics in that guitar and gave it proper shielding, but it proved that the right pickup can have a huge bearing on tone.
probably very little gain if he'd done that
Scotchbrite pad (pack of 3) = $3
Emory boards (pack of 25) = $2
Took an Epiphone Les Paul and buffed the neck to a dull satin using the scotchbright bads and sanded the finger board edge slightly and rolled the fret edges using a few emory boards. Set it up and with $5 and a couple of hours, had it playing as well as my Gibson SG.
You hit that nail right on the head. I tell my kids "What would Eddie do?" Eddie Van Hallen would have done this all day long. Nothing wrong with being more like Eddie!
I plan to do the same with mine as well
Facts
that’s how it’s done man. i’ve done the same with my affinity stratocaster, though i had to do some more extensive work on the fret ends cause they were pretty rough. after that, i swapped out the tuners with wilkinson vintage ones and made sure the nut slots are saddles were well lubricated. aside from the bridge pickup sounding a bit shrill, it’s my go to guitar most days. the trem stays in tune beautifully and the neck pickup sounds insanely smooth for what it is
Use vinyl wrap is better, reversible
Ben is the greatest. He talked me out of a guitar that they sell as not suitable for my use, and told me to look elsewhere for what he thought was a better idea. In the end, I believe he was correct. I am a fan for life.
I did this with a 1985 MIJ Fender Squire Strat. Over 37 years it's had every pickup made except a "filtertron" installed in it. Now it has Fender CS "TX. Spcl's". I rolled the fretboard edges on the 2nd re-fret with Jumbo fretwire. It's a nice touch. Always a "Bone" nut, upgraded pots, switches, & Jack's. Everyone has to remember I bought this guitar from a highschool friend, who owned it for 3 months, for $100.00 Yes, a $100.00. I will never get rid of this guitar, because now, after 37 years & all of the work done to it, it finally plays & sounds like a dream! Especially in the 4th pickup switch position! SPANKY!!!
Spanky?
Actually, I don't remember when you bought the guitar. A friend of mine bought a MIJ Strat for a stage back-up the same year and it sounded not bad just out of the box. It had a fat neck that I would compare to the Custom Shop, Custom Deluxe models from 2012 or so. The tremolo bridge wore out (stripped threads) but was easily replaced. Great value.
Some food for thought. About 7 months ago I purchased an Indonesian made PRS SE Custom 24 for $850. I was blown away by how great this guitar looked, played and sounded right out of the box. Fret work was good except it needed a little leveling at the high end. Board edges was actually rolled nicely and IMHO there is something special going on with these pick ups. Very open and nice clarity. Took it to my local guru, he leveled the frets and did a setup for $100. I added some locking tuners for another $100. So now I have a fantastic guitar that plays and sound great for under $1100. I rarely pick up my 2 Gibby Les Pauls or Fender Tele Elite. You can get the S2 version for $1800 or the USA Core version for around 4K. Now I'm sure both those guitars are better than my cheaper model, but I can't imagine being 2 or 3 times the price better. Very happy with my $1100 guitar.
they're doing great things at the SE factory in Indonesia. PRS just put out a factory tour video on YT...pretty awesome.
Prs se are a lot of value for the money!
I just picked up an older Korean made PRS SE, quick shine job on the frets, cleaned the fretboard, and it plays extremely nice...$400 used.
@@perniciousreaper4393 we
Had an elite Tele (lefty). It would be rare as rockinghorse droppings now. (An 83, I think it was). I dig getting sweeties from cheapies, these days.
I have a player strat I bought a few years ago and it still sounds and plays great! I upgraded the saddles, the nut, and the tuners, and did a level and crown and it feels great! I kept the stock pickups because they sound good to me. Player Strats are an excellent deal no matter what level you're at.
Totally agree!
I really do like the way they set up the guitar. The wiring was clean AF, and I liked the neck treatment. The mint green looks sleek too.
Many of Rhett's comments in the "after" review are simple things that should be taken care of by a good set-up. No guitar can be blamed for not being set-up properly straight out of the shipping box. Temperature variations, humidity, and other environmental factors during shipping from factory to store can take a factory set-up guitar to an unplayable state. A good guitar store should perform a proper set-up before they ever place it in a customers hands.
Check the truss rod and intonation minimum.
Yes. And I agree, most dealers who are any good offer complimentary setups on all guitars they sell
Coastal climes are severe on guitars. (It’s not the tuners, it’s not the saddle, it’s the climate, stupid).
Tricky one?...Keep them in a case, (with some humectant/moisture absorber, maybe?) it’s not such an issue, at higher altitudes.
The fact he said that he couldn't play it as a beginner's guitar and have fun when it's an intermediate one at minimum had me eye rolling. This guitar is now $850 at MSRP with recent inflation. My guy has been playing too many expensive Les Paul reissues. Lol
Keep in mind that in the 1919$ is included the hours of work. With basic knowledge and practice you can do that too, I did the same on a Mexican strat, I basically replaced everything, neck included, and it plays like a dream, and it feels like a more personal guitar, I've put some sweat into it and it only cost me 400 to upgrade it fully. I think at least a good setup and footwork is a need for a guitar and it's not very hard to do well
That's exactly how I do the up grades, as well, and I always put roller saddles in the trem. It'll stay in tune better, and for sure up grade the nut to brass or bone, brass being my fave. The price comes in in the range you quoted as well.
Fancy footwork? :D
why dont you made a warmoth if you only left the body already?
@@bluematrix5001 well cause I like to actually make the different parts, so I get pieces of wood and craft the neck and stuff. The body needs routing which is a bit scary, I've done it before but I don't feel comfortable doing it. And this strat I'm talking about was my first guitar, I didn't want to get rid of it.
Best to do it yourself. It’s wood and wires. Like, it’s more fun, to go fast on a slow motorbike, than go slow, on a fast one.
(Don’t nip your fingers though, wear gloves. Safety first!).
There is huge ‘hidden’ value in have a guitar that you created yourself and love and just never sell.
Absolutely! I am constantly shifting and trading guitars, but the one I'll never part with is my partscaster strat that started as a squier. All together there's like maybe $600 worth of stuff there, but its MY guitar
Totally agree Russ. I like doing this with squiers & epiphones. New tuners; bridge; electronics and pickups and then do some setup and neck work (roll edges of fingerboards and sand the gloss back). Done 3 strats, 1 tele, 2 Les Pauls and 1SG and despite having genuine fenders and gibsons the self-modded versions have that extra something that probably comes from the care and attention I put into them + I’m not as bothered if they get a dink in them.
This is such a good concept. I've always wanted to see a video like this. Nice work gents!
Cool idea, so much of the value comes in doing the work yourself (short term and long term). I really enjoy making the improvements to my guitars myself and feeling/hearing them.
Nice work, thanks to all those involved!
Coolest thing about fenders is being able to do all of this ourselves.
Yes and that's quite important because the labor cost here vastly outweighs the parts cost. So if you're not afraid of doing these kind of things the upgrade will be much cheaper. Or you can start with a slightly more expensive guitar and get to the same final price, but with a better guitar.
Fenders is like the GM of guitars. You can buy OE(M) parts, replicas, mods, etc for stuff that's been around for 50 years.
The worst thing about Fenders is that you HAVE to do this yourself to make it worth the retail price. The fretwork on the average Fender is shameful.
@@benjaminnavarro865 how much are you looking at for labor per hour?
@@edmondlau511 I don't think I have any figure for that but parts are generally not that expensive. Pickups are the most expensive ones you can change and a decent pack is in the 100-300 range. Good tuners in 50-100. Electronics is cheap, nuts are cheap. A bridge/tremolo can be a bit expensive depending on its type but you can see that replacing all of that probably costs around 300 to 600. And you can do it one at a time if you don't have the ful budget upfront. Doing it piece by piece with a professionnal will cost you much more in the end solely because of the time spend opening/closing the guitar.
Man Righteous is one hell of a guitar shop! I can only hope some day a shop like this pops up in my city. We are stuck with guitar centers ughhhh.... Ben you are the man! I love your shop and your service in all these videos. Best guitar shop on you tube by far! Keep em coming!
There are a few Guitar Centers that have great techs. I’ve let my local guitar center do all my set ups, and custom work for 5 years now. Their tech is a freakn wizard. Just depends on management and how picky they are about who they hire. Luckily, my Guitar Center is top notch.
From the start, the guitar they upgraded is a professional level instrument. The hardware on the MIM guitars is excellent. As for the neck setup, fret polishing, etc, most of that can be done at home with a few basic tools. Replacing the pickups is a matter of taste: the original pickups on these guitar sound great already. The final price of can be a lot lower depending how much (or little) work you're willing to do yourself.
Great video again. Keep them coming! Thanks.
I "custom shopped" my Epiphone Les Paul. New Pickups, Duesenberg Les trem, Roller bridge, Locking tuners etc. Yes the investment was way higher than the guitar, but in the End, after playing it for some time, I think i've build myself a real player here. Stays in tune like a champ, and sounds just great. Even if I went for a more expensive Base guitar, I would have to make at least some of these Upgrades too. Maybe not the pickups, but the rest feels mandatory. And in the End it's also a Style thing. That's now My Guitar, und not something off shelf.
Now this plays nice straight off the box!
I got my mex strat with antiquity pickups, s1 switch, blend pot, trebble boost pot, super switch, locking tuners with only the bridge and nut original. Plays like a complete charm and top custom axe!
I did the same. Bought a Mex Strat (mine has a unique colour you can't get on American ones) and basically changed everything on it besides pots, switch and nut for my part. Got a nice set up from my luthier. Now I have a 100% unique guitar that plays crazy good and is 100% custom to my cosmetic and sound taste. Cost less than 2k total.
@@BabTheBabs mine summed up in around 1100-1200 bucks and is nicer than many American made top strats I have tried :)
Ben is always sensational in every video. So knowledgeable and seems like such a chill dude.
Dude, the MIM wiring is BRUTAL! (Not to mention the fretwork)
Should’ve started with a Squier Classic Vibes.
Also, I hope the first step was to use a feeler gauge and check each fret individually for proper seating (or else the Plek job is a waste of $)
Using a MIM is within the realm of doable, but a great idea nonetheless Want a challenge? I'd love to see you guys do this same thing with a Squier -- think it can be done?! Make a custom shop level Squier, and you guys will be heroes to people having to always sit in the cheap seats!
I'd love to see this same thing done with an Epiphone too!
Great vid!
There are endless videos of Squiers being upgraded. It’s getting boring at this point
@@PapaKiloProductions This is not just upgrading I'm talking about. The idea is to make it as close to custom shop level as possible. We aren't just talking a pickup swap. That's much harder to achieve on a Squier than a MIM Fender, and would be much more impressive if they could accomplish such a feat while seeing if it's more cost effective or ends up not being worth the bother as compared to the MIM Fender "custom shop" level guitar they made in this vid. I've never seen anyone make any such video.
@@LouSpowells I was thinking of using a new Squier, but a pawn shop one would add to the level of difficulty if it's in really crusty shape!
Probably *almost* doable with a Classic Vibe. Can’t do it with a Bullet though, those things are unplayable period
@@PapaKiloProductions agreed. Every single guitar player is aware of the value of a classic vibe. It’s been beat to death. I’d rather do exactly what was shown here and get mim fender to upgrade. Not even a difficult decision honestly. I like Squier classic vibe, but I’d go with MIM Fender all day, every day.
That's how I did it with my Epi Les Paul Custom. Bought it when I was 15 for 550 euros. Couple of years later put some seymour duncan SH18s in them. Then later redid the frets (stainless steel) and nut. I was never going to sell it. Now it plays and sounds great. It's no Gibson, but it's well played in and still reliable after many sweaty gigs.
Modding cheapies is a ton of fun! Plus, they make great road axes.
I have to say, I've plenty if guitars and have owned many Fender Strats. The Mexican Player series are great for the money and mine have never had the issues this had our of the box. So either standards are changing in QC or I've been lucky. Because I can't claim the American feels any better holding them side by side. Both sounds great too.
I’ve always felt this as well
"let's play it without touching it"
😂 I knew this guy was good but I didn't know he was that damn good.
I recently did a blind Strat test before buying the winner at a large guitar store. They set 4 similar guitars up in a sound room with the same amp. I played them all without know any makes. I walked away with a Godin Session HT in matt black. Love it. The competitors were an American Strat, a Squier Strat, a PRS Silver Sky and a Godin Session. A True unbiased choice.
It's possible they did a proper setup on the Godin just to move it.
Was Godin the cheapest of the bunch?
Good pickups and a comfortable neck are always good upgrades! Good luck with the contest all!
I like how original your video ideas are. Always interesting!
A comfortable neck makes or breaks a guitar for me. Really impressed it didn't cost more. It's barely more expensive than an American Professional II. Someone is going to be very happy with it.
My favorite number one guitar is the Squier Stratocaster that I had a custom built Warmoth neck put on. Added some new pick ups and it’s absolutely amazing. Nothing like any other guitar I’ve ever played or heard. And it didn’t cost that much.
I bet that thing is sick😁🤟
I love how the guitar turned out. It is exactly like I would have it done If I had the money. Superb inside and out.
I *really* enjoyed this video. I always like your videos, Rhett, but this may have been my favorite. It makes me want to start working on some of my guitars, and see what improvements I can make. I also really appreciated the focus on cost, so I can decide which improvements would give me bang for my buck. Thank you!
At $265 (according to the give away page), the fret work plus $40 for rolled fretboard edges seem like beneficial and reasonable ways to improve a Mexi Strat. But if you don't like the pickups and electronics, that additional $500 puts you into crazy territory. The nut is a great upgrade too, but $150 is a lot for the benefits it will provide.
I'm 71 and have never owned a store bought guitar. I do however build my own from scratch as a hobby. Some of my home builds play as good as or better than a PRS SE my friend in a band plays stated. I do not sell my builds, I collect them as player guitars. Practice makes perfection as I only use the best parts I can be it pick-ups or tuners, old fashioned wiring etc. You did to the player strat what I do to my own. I'm proud of my guitars too! They're on FB page in my pictures. Just subscribed today to your channel. Loved the work done to improve that player!
I'll wash your car for one of your builds.......
Nice work! The guitar looks great!
What Ben was saying towards the end there was spot on. I've been playing acoustic for a few years and wanted to get into electric, but I don't have the money. Just a couple days ago I bought a 2010 'Starcaster by Fender' for next to nothing. It is known for being the cheapest guitar associated with the Fender brand, but it's a Strat. While I learn the instrument, I can make adjustments and modifications that make it sound and feel like an expensive guitar. Slowly I can upgrade it to build the guitar I really wanted to buy, one component at a time. And eventually I'll pair it with a nice expensive amp.
The guitar store in my relatively small city takes every guitar (over, say, $500), adjusts action, intonation, nut, and dresses the frets - BEFORE putting it on the shelf. It makes a difference across the board but especially with cheap guitars.
Man, that’s awesome. Can’t imagine it makes sense labor cost wise, but it really is great for the buyer.
@@jooyoonchung3593 Walk into any Guitar Center and imagine what they're paying in "labor costs" for employees to play the instruments off the wall and talk, and have customers almost always be disappointed in the setup of the instruments
Interesting video, I've played about 30 strats in the last 2 weeks while shopping for one(pro2, hybrid ii, jv, traditional ii, player), ranging from second hand Japan to new USA, none of the new ones really jumped out at me. I played about 6 different player series from Mexico and some played nicer than others. There was one particular silver player that I liked more than the pro 2's, I tried a bunch of second hand MIJ ones too which where pretty nice. Hands down best strat I've played of that 30 was a 1986 squire that had insanely low action and fast neck (obviously been set up very well). That squire is now my benchmark to judge all strats against. After watching this video I definitely will make an effort to try a custom shop. (update. I since asked the play the best custom shop strat in the store. It was aesthetically amazing, there was not a single thing that needed fixing or changing, the fret work was pretty special, but it wasn't faster or more playable in any particular way to me)
I agree with Ben, I own 2 workhorses about 1K each (platform guitars and pickups I bought used) and meticulous work (time). In my case I personally do the job just for fun and sound, but investing money in tools,and skill takes time. Excellent videos.
What I liked about the whole concept was the sharing of why each step was taken and what it was going to, hopefully, produce. Definitely a quality guitar "shop" and a great guy to show the processes. He'd be great at having a mod show like they do with cars. Maybe get artists to come on and play the end results. I guess more people are into cars than guitars, but I'd watch it faithfully. You definitely played better with the post upgrade guitar, btw. Great video.
I have a handful of cheap gtrs that I totally mod to have laying around as options in the studio. Totally worth it. Specially if you buy the gtr used to start with and do the work yourself.
Cool vid!
Dan, studio or home, I totally agree!
Very interesting! I absolutely love my made in Mexico strat. It’s completely stock but has been professionally set up. It really does make all the difference. Great video! Thanks for sharing! Hopefully I win this one and can happily place next to my sienna burst plus top hss. 🤘 😎
What an absolutely fantastic video! Exactly the info I wanted. Cheers Rhett!
Great video. Helpful to see what you can do to improve your own guitar. Thanks
I would of liked to see a blind test between this and the custom shop
Yeah exactly. Apart from the weight this probably played better. I actually preferred the original pickups as well.
I liked the original pickups more. But the frets and action is much better for sure after the optimization
Yeah I honestly thought the pickups were not worth it lol
All this guitar needed was a clean up on the frets. I’d put staggered tuners on and get rid of the string trees. Sanding the neck and rolling the edges are optional. The pickups were better stock.
I didn’t have a problem with stock pickups either! I think maybe at home or recording the new pickups might show their character more, but in a live mix I doubt anyone will notice.
@@misterknightowlandco Right? Take that $800 and slam a roasted maple warmoth neck on it 10-16" compound fretboard radius, take the additional $300 and have a party lol.
Watching a guy take a razor blade to the fretboard of a brand new strat was cringe too.
@@sumgui6010 completely agree. I’ve never in my life seen anyone razor blade a fingerboard before. If you like smooth sanded necks just a piece of really low grit sandpaper, pretend your jerking the guitar off and you’ll get the same effect. The one time I did it I didn’t even bother oiling it afterwards. Still feels great 7 years later. People place way too much stock into their gear in general, but this modding stuff can be stupid. When you mod a house you add value. When you mod a car, you add value, but when you mod a guitar and can’t get it back to original then you kill the value. Go figure. Mexican strats are typically fine as they are. I’ve never picked one up new in a store where anything more than a truss rod adjustment, intonation check and new strings didn’t fix.
I think that is absolutely worth doing especially over time to a guitar you love. Great video!!!
Great video! Really cool guitar. Good luck to everyone who entered!
A week ago a friend of mine saved up some 5k to buy a customshop fender. At the shop there were 5 cs fenders and one secondhand 1976 fender mocha with big headstock. It, the 76 was naturally reliced and felt better and sounded better than all the cs fenders. The 76 was all original except for the 3 way switch which was replaced with a 5 way. To be honest I never played a cs before and was actually disappointed because I expected something special for the 4300+ euros CS fenders. Maybe my expectations were too high, my friend also really preffered the 76 which was 1000 euros less expensive...yes, I use the word expensive and not cheaper. My conclusion for that day is that the CS failed to truely experience an old fender by making a new fender old.
There's no getting around the age of the wood.
Some of those 70’s were dogs (cbs quality control?). Nothing a good luthier, (and some tuners and pickups, saddles, bridges and a nut couldn’t fix?). May need a refret, somewhere along the line too?. Like I said elsewhere, a classic vibe squier, is about $600? (Not cheap for a squier), I’ve fiddled with good L series (downside up), but if you can’t make a squier sound good, the guitars not the issue. (Not had much to do with mex fenders for a while, but they seemed fine to me).
This was a good lesson. Custom shop is for people with $, who think they're getting a better fender. They're not. They're just getting a prettier one. Without a second thought I would have taken the '76 for that kind of money. Anything that isn't a vintage Fender I will never pay over $650 for. Period. Otherwise I stick to MIM's and mod the shit out of them so I can end up with an old sounding Strat for right around $1000. $5K for a new guitar is friggin ridiculous. I'd never pay that for any axe. One shouldn't spend over $1000 on an axe ever imho.
I’ve played 3 CS Fenders. 2 Strats and 1 Tele. None of them were worth the price. Not even close!
I’ve played hundreds of MIM Fenders that played much, MUCH better!
I've got a cheap '96 Squier Strat made in China, one of the very early Affinity series (no Affinity logo but just says Strat on the decal). The difference you can make to a cheap guitar like that just by changing the pots, switch, jack, wiring and the capacitor is absolutely huge. 500K pots and bad cap values are standard on a lot of cheap Strats and mean the tone controls barely work except at the extreme edges. My other Strat is also a Squier, from the Protone series, and even that much higher end guitar had cheap rubbish pots, jacks and switch in it.
Bottom line (IMO), make sure you replace the electronics and try the guitar again before you even consider splashing out on new pickups. Shielding with kitchen foil on the back of the scratchplate and in the cavity also makes a huge difference with background noise, again IMO.
I bought a new Squire bass without even plugging it in to change the pickups etc. I got it home and played it for about month then concluded there was nothing wrong with it! It was a perfectly good guitar and any expensive 'improvements' would just be lost in the mix. I barely own a guitar that still has it's original pickups, so this came as a pleasant surprise.
I did this fairly recently with one of those $100.00 Squire Strats from Guitar Center from about 20 years ago. Transformed it. Upgraded tuners, better electronics. New bone nut, and roller bridge. Spent some real time doing a full fret job. I have some nice guitars, but this one plays sooo nice. I'm surprised at how much I've been playing it vs the others.
I probably just got lucky with the set up, not having a fancy fretboard scanner. I did take some light bow out of the neck by tightening the truss rod, but this was all done by eye and feel. I'm no professional player, but as far as I can tell it is now flawless.
Informative. I've been playing now for 50
Years. Owned a few music store's, worked on my share of guitars also. I've had top end brands but around 10-12 years ago
I finally realized that the Neck on an Electric is #1 priority for the pros.
Everything else is subjective.
I've been rolling the fretboard, rounding the frets on all my electric s. But there is one other thing I do that y'all left out.
Up untill 2017, when " Real Rosewood"
Plank's were used (NOT PAU FERRO OR INDIAN LAUREL 😡👎👎👎)
I would specially Treat the The Rosewood
Board with baby oil, let settle then wipe,
Then melt candle wax over the whole fretboard, rub wax in pore's of the wood, take off using a guitar pick, then clean real good, then last baby oil treatment,
Let dry, wipe down and fellas, that neck'll
Feel and play so good it'll make a train take a dirt road. BTY, I "Exclusively" play and seek out old Squire Affinity Teles and Strats. Nice necks with medium frets for smaller to medium sized hands. And what is it with these guitar manufacturers putting "JUMBO FRETS" On all their instruments. Like Jaco stated:
Frets are like Speed Bumps!
ESP/LTD Are notorious for this crime.
Anyhow.... Don't Fret and Happy Playing
Ps I always use lemon oil on my boards. So is it imperative to use baby oil? Just wondering.
Plays guitar flawlessly and produces a good sound* 'ugh, this guitar is really difficult to play...'
When I was 13 I went to a guitar shop to buy my first acoustic guitar. I chose a 100$ ibanez acoustic. Thee seller tuned it and played it a bit for me to hear how it sounds. He played it flawlessly and I was sold. With time I figured out that the guitar was actually pretty bad, with action high enough to induce vertigo. Point is, an experienced player will make any guitar sound good
All that means is that he’s a good musician, not that the guitar wasn’t difficult to play or needed work.
It's b ecoming clear that more and more people are being born without a sense of humour
@@jasonl1942 eh, some days I read it as humour, some days it gets read as sarcasm 😅
@@TudorCarare it was a little from column a, and a little of column b. :)
Absolutely loved this video. Great content. That's typically what I do to guitars when I pick one up.
I've got this exact MIM Strat, 2020 model. I'm not going to add anything profound, but I am impressed with how good that mint guard looks on this.
Those prices are outrageous! When did guitars start costing twice what they should? Or am I just way behind the times?
Everything costs more these days. The price for the work he did blew my mind. Way overpriced imo. "The Legacy" rules btw. Your best song, imo.
Guitars are way cheaper in real terms now. You'd pay current custom shop prices for the cheapest Fender back in the 60s. They've only got cheaper.
It's the Biden Inflation reduction act. LoL
The price is freakN OUTRAGEOUS!!!
@@johnsmith-ug5tp You can probably thank both of them for that.
They have ALWAYS cost twice...or thrice, what they should. Mix in over paid boomer goofs, wall street speculators, and antique furniture dealers.......and behold the travesty before you! Fascinating to observe however.
Considering the total cost, you are getting some really nice upgrades and a really nice guitar for less than a Fender USA equivalent. Custom Shop is a tough comparison - those are hand-crafted guitars from end-to-end - but I think it is comparable to a Fender USA production model. One additional thing you could have done for a small incremental cost is put Fender locking tuners on it - that would really make it close to a Fender USA model overall - and still be cheaper.
A big difference, though, is resell value. An American strat retains a huge percentage of its value on the second hand market. An $800 Mexican strat with $900 worth of mods won't sell for anywhere near $1700 on the second hand market. I'd guess you'd maybe get $1000 for it if you are lucky.
So this is a great way to have high quality guitars if you are going to keep the guitars forever. If you are the type that churns through guitars regularly (I'm not this type, but many are) then this probably isn't the smartest option.
@@Hahnsoulo I am not buying guitars based on resale value - that's for Gibson people. I am hoping to play them until the fretboard falls off. This is a good way of getting a higher quality instrument for less money than you would have to pay Fender upfront. Resale is not part of the equation here.
As someone that bought a player series strat a year ago and no sense of what is "good" vs what is "bad", this video really helped me focus on where I can spend money on it for improvements! First course of action -- fret board!
Love this, I have been doing this for years. A used MiM, New pickups, New nut, CTS pots. I was buying used MiM for $300 or less and the end result was never over $600. The beauty of used is you pick the best of the best or return it for $20 ( GC deal)
This is exactly why brands like Suhr do so well. Almost every upgrade you would want to do to an “off the shelf” fender. Okay it might be a little more than buying a stock fender and doing the work yourself. But it’s not too far away, and certainly less than a custom shop fender!
If you start from a Squier classic vibe you can save 500 already without any mod. And you get a proper body and neck to start with. Not having bone nuts on a Player for 850 it is sad. MIM used be around 500 new not a long time ago. Prices went up like hell without any real improvement.. and that it is not just inflation, it is agressive pricing strategies.
yah i bought my MIM For under 500 back in 2008. now i’m 30 and i still have it and thinking about showing her some love
i stopped buying fender (even though they’re hot due to social media)
you just don’t get as much from fender as you do other brands. i play an ibanez THBB10 and it’s def my favorite guitar ever
full scale, locking tuners, roasted maple neck and a tremolo bridge that doesn’t go outta tune or constantly needs adjusting.
Tusq is better than bone
i agree! no reason to pick MIM over high end squier now except the logo 🙄
@@elliottsmith10 Gretch is my favourite these days. Still got my 97 MIM Tele that I got fun under 500 back in 98
Another great video Rhett! I totally upgraded every bit of electronics EXCEPT pickups on a used Squier CV Telecaster. Bought the guitar for $340 and added about $70 worth of wire, switches, jack, etc. Even though I have a couple of US guitars, Strat and G&L, but the Classic Vibe is my #1. I bought a new Seymour Duncan single coil to swap the bridge out but am reconsidering as the changes I already made turned a decent guitar into a fantastic guitar.
I did something similar to a Squier Deluxe Strat a few years ago to bring it close to Player grade. New electronics, new Texas Special pick-ups, leveled-crowned-dressed the frets, upgraded brass-block 2-point Tremolo bridge, low friction string trees and saddles.
It cost me several hundred dollars more than if I had bought a new MIM Fender Player. AND it still wouldn't stay in tune.
I put the original Squier parts back in it and sold it for half of what I originally paid for it new.
Lesson Learned!
Might not have played that great out of the box but it sounded pretty good 👍
I don't see the logic of buying a guitar with the expectation that you're going to sell, unless you're a collector, in which case you're not going to buy this guitar in the first place. I've had ~20 guitars, and still have 4. Of the 16 I sold, 2-3 got me more than I paid, 5-6 were within $100 of what I paid, 1-2 sold for more than $200 less than I paid and the rest were within $200 of what I paid. I look at the resale "loss" as a rental fee to determine if I could bond with the guitar. BTW, the guitars were G&Ls, Fenders, Godin, and Gibson.
@@johnsmith-ug5tp I think this is a not-so-subtle effort to disparage lower cost approaches to getting a great instrument. Neither my Strat nor my two Gibsons had such great resale value; I think it's just assumed that they do. Also, I think Rhett has a bias towards big brands and, of course, a music store is going to push products that provide more profit - all else being equal. That's why you have to take these videos with a grain of salt.
@@mikeaustin4138 This is what happens when they become commodities instead of tools. The whole point of having a guitar is to produce music with it. We get caught up in the flipper madness and the Wall Street mentality over devices that were intended to create art that stirs people's souls. But now the idea is to go on the internet every 2 hours and say "whats it worth?" "when can I sell it ?" Why not just play the stock market instead?
Most of the people who think in terms of commodities will probably not want to keep a good one if they get one because they'll be trying to get more Federal Reserve green inflationary cabbage fiat monopoly toilet paper for it and then it's on to the next flip, and the next one and the next one etc. You'd think that at some point, somebody might stop and actually play music on one of these trophies, but probably not. The bottom line is calling and it's screaming mighty loud.
........no wonder soulless techno robot music is taking over. Our way of life will permit nothing else.
@@mikeaustin4138 The "bias towards big brands" seems accurate. The argument by the end of the video was that the investment is bad and that the custom shop has better wood. Not sure what that means. If you like the guitar and it plays well then you have a solid instrument.
Great playing on that middle pickup, sweet sounds indeed.
The main difference between players like you and me is
Everything!
You took it out of the box, played it, and I said, sounds great!!
I would have been interested in some numbers about right out of the box action and neck relief. What was your starting point? Then where did you finish up? That sort of thing is good to know for us learners. If you do this again, can you include that?
Looks like that info's in the Plek scan, and I presume the winner would get a copy of that. But yeah, some numbers on string height would be helpful.
@@TranscendentBen Yes, we did get a graphical representation, and Ben did talk a bit about it. But I'd like specifics. It's helpful to me in learning to keep my own guitars well set up.
You can see the action details if you skip to the plek screen. Action was 2.21mm on the 12th fret. Yes, quite high
Great work on this, and on that Strat! It seems close to the Player Plus series Strats that came out a little while ago. How would you say it compares to those at $1,129?
I learned to set up my guitars and they all feel and sound pretty great!
I picked up a Player plus top aged cherry HSS strat a couple of years ago and really like the guitar and pickups. I had a professional setup done on it and the luthier installed a Graphtec nut and lowered the action significantly. I installed locking tuners and a Graphtec string tree. My next project is going to be filing the fret ends. With a little bit of work these are really great guitars.
The Fender Mexico Standard has actually come up to a really good level today from 2017. They actually even has the old American standard bridge in it. Tried many many of these and you could maybe ask more from the set up, but otherwise I can gig professionally with these with no problem at all.
A lesson i learned only when i bought my 3rd guitar: Buy it 2nd hand from a luthier rather than new from a wholesaler. A luthier will have set it up perfect for you, and you might have saved some bucks as well.
Did the same thing years ago and there is a difference even with top notch components. It comes down to the quality of the wood used. 👍🏼
That finished Strat would be just fine for me! I also agree with all others that the original guitar would have been just fine with a proper set up. I'm sure all would sound great.
Very curious to pair this against an American pro 2. Costs less, in total, and in theory, would come out of the box closer to this thing. Plus better hardware, and neck
I got an American Pro II two years ago. Just needed a set up to suit my playing style. $1600 with a case and done.
I recently had my Fender Player Series Strat plek'd at Righteous Guitars as well, and it made a massive difference. I shopped around first to find the lightest, best sounding player series I could find, then the plek was the icing on the cake. It plays better than many of my more expensive guitars. Totally worth it from a playing perspective.
I have a couple nice guitars I'm considering getting plek'd to see and feel the difference in that service, cost versus what I spend with my tech to get the guitars I have dialed in the same way very curious as to how the plek differs from doing it by hand...I believe in technology...
This is how I shop for guitars as well. Finding one that's acoustically resonant and light with a good feeling neck is all I really care about because everything else can be modded. When the base instrument is right, it's a keeper.
Picking the right components and with attention to details + CS level pickups and a good setup, you can build yourself an outstanding guitar for even less than the high end production models. I’ve assembled a few and kept 2 of them. One HSS with Michael Landau Suhr pickups, another one is an HSH with PAF-like Alnico 2’s and a Seymour Duncan Ssl1 in the middle. The cabling allows a variety of combinations, splits an a switch lets you have the front pickup in every position. The neck is tight grain roasted maple, stainless steel jumbo frets, rosewood board with rounded edges, abalone inlays and luminlay side dots. So there you go... !
Very interesting. Cool to see themm be honest and say that the work won't get the guiitar to custom shop quality. I can see why someone just starting out would be better off saving and upgrading as they go.
I come to a very different conclusion that Rhett Shull did in this video. The question being, can you custom shop the cheapest Fender Strat, is worded a little strange, but it basically means can you upgrade the cheapest Fender Stratocaster to the point that it is just as good as a Custom shop guitar. The answer he came up with is No, but you can end up with a really good guitar. My answer is yes, and in fact you can customize a guitar to be better than a Custom shop. You don't get the resale value, but if you are buying a guitar to sell it, then you don't really have a reason to upgrade it at all. No, you upgrade a guitar to make it better suited for you. If the finish isn't good enough, then you can refinish the guitar just the way you like it, if the pickups are not as good, you can upgrade them, so on and so forth. You can start with a Fender Squire guitar and upgrade it to the point that it is better than what Fender will do in there Custom shop.
Now can you do it for less? You could, if you did some of the work on your own, you could save a lot of money by doing a lot of work in the home. You could sand down the finish to do away with the clear coat on it and then refinish it with what ever type of finish you like. You can reshape the neck to how ever you like, you can even give the guitar a better access cut for the high frets if you want. You can do a lot of stuff at home, you can have a shop do a lot of stuff that you ether don't want to do at home or can't do at home. Now, with all that work, you can come up with a guitar that is better than what you can get or will get from the custom shop, any day of the week.
The only thing you can't do, is make the market recognize that the guitar you upgraded and refinished and did all that work on, is miles better than what Fender Custom shop can do. Even though the guitar can play better, it can sound better, it can even look better, but you can't convince stupid people that all that effort and work made it better, because to foolish folks, the only thing that matters is what the factory did.
I'd love to see how this guitar compares to the Fender American-made models, since with all the upgrades your at pretty much the same price as the Americans
Exactly. I think the real trick would be to buy a used MIM Strat for $500, set it up, maybe replace the pickups and nut yourself and have a killer guitar for a little over $1k.
This is actually more expensive than the American made ones. But you still need to get it set up no matter where it’s from
@@mikepj1025 similar to a $1,999 Clapton signature. Those have an urathane finish. Clapton’s choice pickups are probably cheaper than the Lollars as well.
@@geoffcowan2384 tbh, a lot of used mexican strats from the late 90s up to about when they switched the name to the player series and chnaged the fingerboard material options from maple and rosewood to maple and paul ferro are both less expensive and better instruments due to just a better supply of resources at the time
I have a 2014 American that I bought new; I also bought a brand new MIM ("Player Series") last summer. Both are set up and intonated perfectly. The only mod I made to the MIM is to have the fret ends dressed, and I installed locking tuners. No electronics upgrades. So what do I think? After a year, I prefer playing the $850 MIM over the $1700 American about 90% of the time. It's all subjective of course, but to me, they are so close in every respect (that I care about at least), that it makes me wonder if an American really is worth nearly 2x as much. I've heard - well after I bought it - that Fender really stepped their game up on the MIM's recently.
I’m a lefty and my main guitar is a telecaster. Bought all of the parts individually. MIM black body, Gotoh modern bridge and saddles. MIM Maple neck and added fender locking tuners. Pre-wired control panel from Wainwright Custom Guitars. Fender custom shop Texas special pickups. Took the PU cover off the neck PU and used an open faced cover. Wanted a copper colored pickguard, but being left handed that was impossible to find. Settled for a nice aluminum one.
Put it all together when the last part came in and had it professionally set up.
$987 total. The guitar is perfect in every way. The pickguard and open face bridge PU cover makes it look badass.
A lefty can’t walk into a guitar store and play a telecaster that nice for under $1,600 if there are any lefty guitars to play. I stopped going to music stores because of the lack of options when I go.
Great Job Guys!! BTW That guitars sound RIGHTEOUS!!!
Strats are so simple in concept that I really don't see the downsides of doing something like this. Sure you can pay thousands more to begin with but you're still paying for an alder body and a bolt on maple neck. At least this way you get to mod it to your preference
And you can always refinish it in whatever colour you want personally I do prefer nitro so thats a plus and if you like relics you can get it relic'd and it's STILL cheaper than a custom shop especially if your a handy man and can do it yourself
@@caspay21 but usually you buy without the intent of selling if you have the preconcieved notion of not liking it or if you play it and it's not for you it doesnt matter the price tag of the guitar at that point if your going to sell it in a few years anyway
@@caspay21 @T L Your overall point is correct for people who plan on selling, but these numbers are so hyperbolic lol. They say it's $1600 for this, not $2500. And in my experience, you won't get *less* than the price you paid for a heavily upgraded guitar unless you have sloppy workmanship.
The point stands that this kind of project is best for people who plan on keeping their instruments though.
@@caspay21 you wouldn't get the same money back on many guitars really and if you upgraded it I would just sell as it is really personally or if you really needed the money sell off the parts you bought as upgrades and return it to stock. I have seen refinished strats go for more because the nitro finish alone is desirable, there was a mexican tele refinished at my nearest guitar store chain which is about double the price just because of what the refinish is, I know me and you could argue against it as I too think that's silly but it's just how it is. Btw I do own budget guitars I have an epiphone inspired by j200, tokai breezysound telecaster, epiphone korean les paul (waiting on my noel gallagher riviera epiphone pre order 🙄) whilst owning 1 usa guitar a gibson les paul standard unburst, I just buy what I like the sound of and what feels nice if I'm honest 😂 I'm a music student so for me they are all tools not investments but personally if I could not afford to buy an expensive guitar in the first place I really would just shop round and consider my options and the environment and what the purpose is for having it and how it contributes to my collection...if it doesn't fit the bill then it gets sold.
@@jorgemartinez42069 my point exactly
If you can swing it, getting your guitar Plekd is a worthwhile investment. I've had guitars set up by hand by very good, talented luthiers and the Plek job was hands down the way to go. No comparison.
They can’t be that good if it was hands down to the plek. There should be no difference between the two
@@PapaKiloProductions Should
@@jonunderscore Yes, that’s what I said
@@PapaKiloProductions Yes, and I highlighted the operative word
@@jonunderscore Well…thanks
love this project! this is truly a unique guitar now!
I did something kinda similar.
Bought a 2020 Player Strat, sure it needed a setup and fret work, I didn’t have the board rolled but I did have the frets profiled and polished along with the sharp edges filed. Actions and intonation sorted along with fitting some SSL-1s.
Over the next year I changed for locking tuners, TUSQ XL nut and swapped out the electrics for US spec.
I’ve played it a ton and the fret board edges wore themselves which was perhaps the extra thing that was featured in this video.
I love my strat, the journey was a lot of fun, I bought it new for £550 and spent maybe £700 including labour on it, not all at once though.
I think it’s totally worth doing, you learn a lot swapping things out and they guitar will feel more like yours than a very expensive custom shop, not that I wouldn’t turn down the latter if I could afford it.
The video does make one point which is so true, how a guitar plays is so important, always get a guitar setup and some fret board work if you can!
As a welder by trade guitar player by hobby, I’m getting a laugh out of watching people I consider to be guitar snobs attempt to make something they don’t like at least a little closer to their price range.. when 99% of us would take that player strat str8 out of the box and love it because we can’t afford anything more.
We are hobbyists while this is his actual job. I think difference lies in there.
Halalooya brother well spoken. 👌
you make good money as a welder, you could afford a nice guitar if you really wanted one.
@@matthewsharayko7463 you hit the nail on the head and completely missed my point at the same time. Yes, I can afford higher end guitars, that is t the point though. My point is that just because one can afford something doesn’t mean you openly belittle those that cannot, and that is how I take these videos. When you use words like “cheapest” that makes it a belittling statement, especially when it’s a fact that you don’t necessarily get the “highest in quality” with the more expensive price tag
@@damion6877 The Player is the cheapest Fender. That's just a statement of fact. Anything else you want to read into that is completely on you.
Also, I highly doubt "99% of us" would be happy with a stock Player given the robust market for aftermarket upgrades. You might not be into modding and that's fine but don't make assumptions about what others are doing with their instruments and why. For a lot of people, it's almost as big a part of the hobby as playing is.
Really interesting! Been doing something similar to my old 90s Mexican Tele… have replaced the electronics and pickups and it sounds fantastic! Fretboard edge is already pretty well rolled! Just got to get the frets done… they’re pretty worn, so it’ll probably be a refret! Seriously thinking about getting a cheap Squier Strat and doing something similar!
I'm about to do the same. What pickups and electronics did you put in?
I've done it to a 04 squier standard hss strat and I upgraded the bridge with a fender two point American, saddles with roller saddles, I got pickups and wiring from GFS, and new locking tuners and roller string trees, and new graphite nut and it plays and sounds as good as an American strat
@@KarenBasset I used Tonerider Hot Classic pickups… fairly cheap, but very highly regarded and I have to say, it’s a big upgrade! The Tonerider pickers are Alnico III which are quite different to the stock ceramic ones and I’d highly recommend. I replaced the electrics with a pre-wired harness off Reverb (can’t remember what brand / seller) with 250k CTS pots, Oak Grigsby switch etc. Something to watch out for is that the CTS pots were a little larger than the stock ones and the control cavity on the Tele was just a little too tight, but nothing that 5 minutes with a file couldn’t sort out!
I bought a 50:s Roadworn Strat. Really like the feeling of a played guitar and the neck is great. I think that’s a good place to start a strat journey. Not too expensive and feeling good right out of the box. It could however need a little setup, but that’s included in the purchase from my local shop.
I was just thinking of upgrading the old squire starter box guitar I have to see how far it can really go with more love. Yours sounds great!
Me and a buddy played this exact guitar at Righteous two weeks ago. Wether or not it is worth the money is up to the individual, but I sure wouldn’t have minded taking it home. Whatever Ben did to the neck was great. I took home a guitar several times more expensive that day and it did not play like it was thousands more than this one.
Same here. In fact, I almost walked out with this one. Would have if I didn't already have too many at home.
The question I have that I think would be interesting to answer : Is the guitar now equivalent to or better than a 2000k Strat?
Probably not. Any Strat you buy for $2,000,000 would have to be better than the upgrade done here.
@@willer3399 why?
I've picked several $2000 strats off the wall, and only one of them stood out as obviously better than many of the cheapos, unplugged.
I would be willing to bet that you couldn't tell the difference with your own hands, if you couldn't see the label.
@@stevescuba1978 I was making a joke. The OP wrote “2000k.” That’s two million dollars. I’m sure he meant to write either 2000 or 2K. I don’t know of anyone who dropped $2,000,000.00 on the Fender Custom Shop.
I am aware that price is not necessarily an indication of quality. I’ve upgraded inexpensive guitars that are comparable to guitars more expensive than what I paid to make the inexpensive one sound and play better.
I love it! I would recommend that any ( young ) musician watch this episode so, that they can understand that affordable guitars can be slowly upgraded over time. Some "partscasters" play better than some very expensive guitars. Great job ...Love the channel !
How many Pros play "partscasters" during their prime years. 2 that come to mind quickly : Eddie VH and Mick Mars.
The fender/squire Affinity Stratocasters I have checked out from Indonesia are a GreatBuy they have a Smooth feel along the edge of the board & the fret wire. This has been over the last 6 to 10 years on the ones I have tried. Also when I do upgrades on these instruments Regular & Modified Parts have always fit to these as well and as easily to any other Strat costing more. We LOVE Them.