I think I fell in love tonight - With a Squire Japanese Strat

83 blazer

83 blazer

Well-Known Member
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Band practice tonight for a gig on Saturday night. I had my Gibson SG Special Faded which I haven’t played in a while. Since I bought my Boss Katana 50 18 months ago I haven’t even turned on my Vox AC15 but I’ve been watching videos lately of people using them so I decided that I would practice with it tonight and gig with it on the weekend.
Got to our practice space, in a high school music room, set up my gear and noticed that my top E string kept losing tuning. After several attempts, the string parted ways with the ball end and being without any new strings I was in need of another guitar.
Hanging on the wall was a white Japanese Squire Strat which is noticed a couple of weeks ago. Tuned it up plugged it in and began to jam our set list.
What a revelation! The guitar played amazing and sounded incredible old strings and all.
The combination of the AC15 and the Strat was great and towards the end of the night, one of the band came over and said to me “I don’t know if I should say this, but that guitar sounds way better than your SG!” Worst part is, he was totally right. Now all I have to do is convince the school that they want to sell it to me (for a reasonable price) so they can buy a new guitar instead of hanging on to that ‘old’ one :ROFLMAO:
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9512194B-84E9-4D56-9BB5-61DAB92D3D62.jpeg3E8E8180-6209-44E4-878C-7AA95DC038A2.jpeg9512194B-84E9-4D56-9BB5-61DAB92D3D62.jpeg
 
83 blazer said:
Band practice tonight for a gig on Saturday night. I had my Gibson SG Special Faded which I haven’t played in a while. Since I bought my Boss Katana 50 18 months ago I haven’t even turned on my Vox AC15 but I’ve been watching videos lately of people using them so I decided that I would practice with it tonight and gig with it on the weekend.
Got to our practice space, in a high school music room, set up my gear and noticed that my top E string kept losing tuning. After several attempts, the string parted ways with the ball end and being without any new strings I was in need of another guitar.
Hanging on the wall was a white Japanese Squire Strat which is noticed a couple of weeks ago. Tuned it up plugged it in and began to jam our set list.
What a revelation! The guitar played amazing and sounded incredible old strings and all.
The combination of the AC15 and the Strat was great and towards the end of the night, one of the band came over and said to me “I don’t know if I should say this, but that guitar sounds way better than your SG!” Worst part is, he was totally right. Now all I have to do is convince the school that they want to sell it to me (for a reasonable price) so they can buy a new guitar instead of hanging on to that ‘old’ one :ROFLMAO:
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That looks like a squire standard, they have the same body width as an American 06442A39-FEFF-417E-BB5D-A22612CA5C21.jpeg
 
Mitch Pearrow SJMP said:
The photo I just posted is a squire standard, I know the top of the head stock is not in the pic, but it has the same decal as the one you posted
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Nice looking Strat. The black looks really nice.
The white one I played had bare wood on the back of the neck and was really light. Serial number seems to suggest 1993/94 year of manufacture from what I can see on the ‘net, but I’m not really sure?
I’m pretty sure that after this evening I’ll be playing my Japanese Ibanez Blazer on saturday night, not my SG and I’ll be using my AC15, not my Katana (I really like the Katana, but it doesn’t sound like my Vox!
B13135A4-989B-4F03-86D4-93B16A485CC9.jpegBCE4FA5D-2F88-4C5B-B01A-C34DC336528D.jpeg
 
83 blazer said:
Nice looking Strat. The black looks really nice.
The white one I played had bare wood on the back of the neck and was really light. Serial number seems to suggest 1993/94 year of manufacture from what I can see on the ‘net, but I’m not really sure?
I’m pretty sure that after this evening I’ll be playing my Japanese Ibanez Blazer on saturday night, not my SG and I’ll be using my AC15, not my Katana (I really like the Katana, but it doesn’t sound like my Vox!
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Good looking axe right there
 
It could be partly because a Strat is so different from the SG you're accustomed to. You may find using the Blazer is a breath of fresh air for your tone - along with the Vox of course. Sometimes it's a good idea to switch things around, shake your sound up a bit. (Over the years I've found that if I feel blocked writing a song or a solo part, picking up a different guitar often will inspire a whole set of new ideas.)

Still, once in a while you find an instrument that really speaks to you - sounds great and just feels really good to play. Classic example of serendipity to encounter one through circumstance like that - as if the Universe put it into your hands. Definitely worth trying to score that one IMO.

Regardless of brand, occasionally a particular guitar is just special somehow. And it doesn't hurt that that one probably sees a lot of use. Some say it's unscientific but I think guitars feel and sound better when they're being played regularly.

In my experience the build quality on MIJ guitars has been consistently excellent. The Japanese know what it takes, and they take care to do it right.
 
Nice!
That is a nice surprise!
Generally, I don't like surprises; they are usually bad news, example:

Surprise!
The refrigerator has just sh*t the bed!
See what I mean?

What brand of string had the ball pull out?
I have only had that happen with D'Addario XL, which I am still using up what I have but have re-stocked elsewhere.

How do you inquire about using a high school music room for rehearsal space?
I pay enough in bloody property taxes; should be able to use the facility on off- hours.
 
jtcnj said:
Nice!
That is a nice surprise!
Generally, I don't like surprises; they are usually bad news, example:

Surprise!
The refrigerator has just sh*t the bed!
See what I mean?

What brand of string had the ball pull out?
I have only had that happen with D'Addario XL, which I am still using up what I have but have re-stocked elsewhere.

How do you inquire about using a high school music room for rehearsal space?
I pay enough in bloody property taxes; should be able to use the facility on off- hours.
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Funnily enough D’Addario XL is what is on that SG. All I’ve used for a couple of years now. First string failure I’ve had in years that I didn’t realise what was happening at first. Was a time when high e breakages were a pretty common occurrence, but not these days. I’ll be giving something else a go for sure.

It helps that it is a private school and that one of the band is a teacher there so we are very lucky to have access to the space. It makes band practice much more cost effective.
 
Nice looking guitar. Don’t have experience with a Japanese Squire. But I did a set-up job on a Japanese Fender Strat for my son and it was a solid guitar. Kinda wished it was mine.
 
83 blazer said:
Band practice tonight for a gig on Saturday night. I had my Gibson SG Special Faded which I haven’t played in a while. Since I bought my Boss Katana 50 18 months ago I haven’t even turned on my Vox AC15 but I’ve been watching videos lately of people using them so I decided that I would practice with it tonight and gig with it on the weekend.
Got to our practice space, in a high school music room, set up my gear and noticed that my top E string kept losing tuning. After several attempts, the string parted ways with the ball end and being without any new strings I was in need of another guitar.
Hanging on the wall was a white Japanese Squire Strat which is noticed a couple of weeks ago. Tuned it up plugged it in and began to jam our set list.
What a revelation! The guitar played amazing and sounded incredible old strings and all.
The combination of the AC15 and the Strat was great and towards the end of the night, one of the band came over and said to me “I don’t know if I should say this, but that guitar sounds way better than your SG!” Worst part is, he was totally right. Now all I have to do is convince the school that they want to sell it to me (for a reasonable price) so they can buy a new guitar instead of hanging on to that ‘old’ one :ROFLMAO:
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I have the MIK Squirecaster - a 1987 - I've had since new in '88. Good guitar. I put twin Gibson humbuckers in it to play Mojave Wasteland Weekend 2018, just so I didn't expose a Gibson to that sandy, hot environment.

It could never replace my Gibson's for feel...although it doesn't sound bad.

Here's a text I got from my singer:

"+1♤♤♤9074980: Well my tone junkie friend . The double neck and strat both sounded equally awesome. However, Your Les Paul sounded the best. It's always the best sounding guitar.. it's the guitar everyone always wants to know about."
 
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