A new Strat. A few months ago

Inspector #20 said:
Look at the returns section in this image. Zoom in on the orange lables. "SW" is a return from Sweetwater.

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Holy feces!
 
SG John said:
For years, I have lusted after a two tone '54-'56 style Strat with a maple fingerboard. Originals were out of the question. I have not liked anything I've seen in the Player or Vintera series, and the only offerings that remotely sparked my interest were Squires, and they were also out of the question for me. I did see a few used anniversary models on Craigslist, but they were too far away to check out.

A couple of years ago, Fender put out yet another Eric Johnson model that really tickled my fancy. It was modeled after Eric's original '54 Strat named Virginia that had been bastardized, because Fender was looking for some guitars that could be part of a "Stories" series. His guitar definitely fit into the story part.

I had been looking around the local shops to try to play one. I was always checking everyone's websites to see if anyone had one in stock. It almost seemed to be a story that the guitar model actually existed. Finally, this past June, Sweet H2O got four in stock. Since you get to choose your actual guitar, I went for the one that looked like it was a one piece body, and it just happened to be a full two pounds lighter than any of the others. So, I pulled the proverbial trigger and bought it.

I found it to be quite nice out of the box. The fretwork is amazing. It's actually finished, and done well. Unlike the Player Series Strats that tried slashing my fingers with the sharp fret ends. It played well, and did basically everything a new guitar should. I love the chunky V shaped neck. The Sassafras body does appear to be one piece. I can't find a seam anywhere. And it is pretty light, at 7 lb. 13 oz. I played it quite a bit at home, and also at Tom's the past few weeks. Now that I've played it at loud volumes, I have to say it is a really nice guitar. The neck feels nice with the slightly meaty V shape and the 12" radius fingerboard. I guess during a fret job, Eric wanted the fingerboard made like his SG and ES-335. They bill the guitar as "The Gibson Player's Fender." I can see why. The neck and middle pickups sound great. I'm not really use to the "out of phase" wiring when you use those two together, but that's the "Eric" sound. The DiMarzio HS-2 with half the stack wired in the bridge position sounds real good. It could be a bit louder, but I have not touched the guitar for adjustments. I've just been playing it, trying to get use to it.

Now that I've had it a few months, I'm glad I bought it. Especially since I've played it loudly, and it fits right into the way I sound and play. Even Tom and Ritchie thought it sounded really good, and Tom has seen me go through years of trying to make a Strat work for us.


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Excellent score sir! I would bet you will be happy with it for many years to come! Love the finish!
 
Inspector #20 said:
I'm very pleased - yet surprised - you got a good one. Like the Tom Petty song, 'You Got Lucky.'

Its 100% luck of the draw. Do not expect SG John's results to be the norm. The EJ and YJM's are sometimes almost unbelievably flawed.

I was assigned to the EJ Special Projects Line. For every good one, i failed several that were totally junk.

Most of the EJ Strats are Made In California from 70% or more imported parts. Here's where you gotta really pay attention to the American Flag label.

This is a Made in California from Chinese parts model: (Yes, this is a Telecaster, but the flag decal is the same)

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If the American Flag sticker doesn't have the "Made in USA" logo, then its essentially an import assembled in California.

Most EJ's i inspected were Assembled in California models (later production run) and the very early units were 'USA' models.

This is typical with Fender. A new guitar will come out as USA for the first part of the run, then quietly switch to an imported parts model with the sticker being the only clue.

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Note the EJ certificate does not say "Made in USA." This is so one certificate can be used with multiple models. Saves printing costs.

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Also, keep in mind that i was only inspecting 10 units out of every 100 on average, unless reject rates exceeded 75%.

Look at the returns section in this image. Zoom in on the orange lables. "SW" is a return from Sweetwater.

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Seeing all that rejected inventory has me wondering at what point, cheep labor in China is past the point of diminishing return? Is the cost of production that low, and the mark up that high, that they can destroy resources like that? Think of how much wood, fabric, copper wire, plastic, and other materials are on those shelves. Those are trees that will take years to regrow. What gets done with all of that? Do they salvage the cases? Try to fix the details that cause them to fail. Keep whatever is good whether it's pickups, necks, or bodies? Is that what places like Stratosphere will buy, and then resell what's sellable?

Seems like such a waste to make it cheep, instead of correct.
 
SG John said:
Seeing all that rejected inventory has me wondering at what point, cheep labor in China is past the point of diminishing return? Is the cost of production that low, and the mark up that high, that they can destroy resources like that. Think of how much wood, fabric, copper wire, plastic, and other materials are on those shelves. Those are trees that will take years to regrow. What gets done with all of that? Do they salvage the cases? Try to fix the details that cause them to fail. Keep whatever is good whether it's pickups, necks, or bodies? Is that what places like Stratosphere will buy, and then resell what's sellable?

Seems like such a waste to make it cheep, instead of correct.
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I agree. The markup is almost staggering.

On the lower end guitars, they are simply processed as 'RTV' or Return to Vendor. Most of these models (we are told) eventually make it onto the black market as all the major Chinese firms have Ali Express stores. They either repair and sell, or part out (like Stratosphere) and there are several Chinese guitar factories with e-bay stores.

The better guitars are stripped for parts, the parts are catalogged and used to fix other similar models.

Bodies and necks are generally destroyed.
 
Sorry for the necro-post. A couple of weeks ago, I decided to at least see how this Strat sounds through my Matamp because it's the easiest to access. I've been playing it along side my ES-335 and Flying V just to see how it would do chasing particular sounds that I like. When I got home from Vermont this evening, I decided to plug in for a while. I do have to say that the neck and middle pickups on this guitar are awesome. Even better than that at times. With the Matamp and Hiwatt cabinet, sometimes using the Drybell Engine, I have been able to get really clean notes that seem to sustain forever. In the same manner that a Les Paul or ES-335 could hold a note forever until it blooms into a sonic overload of the senses. It seems to do it well. I got one from a good day of the week.


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SG John said:
Sorry for the necro-post. A couple of weeks ago, I decided to at least see how this Strat sounds through my Matamp because it's the easiest to access. I've been playing it along side my ES-335 and Flying V just to see how it would do chasing particular sounds that I like. When I got home from Vermont this evening, I decided to plug in for a while. I do have to say that the neck and middle pickups on this guitar are awesome. Even better than that at times. With the Matamp and Hiwatt cabinet, sometimes using the Drybell Engine, I have been able to get really clean notes that seem to sustain forever. In the same manner that a Les Paul or ES-335 could hold a note forever until it blooms into a sonic overload of the senses. It seems to do it well. I got one from a good day of the week.


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Cool beans. And for my tastes and what I play. I’d concur with middle and neck pups as my favorites to use…. Or both at same time.
 
Inspector #20 said:
You should try middle and neck out of phase...
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That is how this guitar is set up. Those two pickups have the same polarity, and do not hum cancer each other when selecting the two pickups. It does the Peter Green thing pretty good, and of course the Eric Johnson sound. It also cuts the volume when using that position. I try it every now and then thinking about how to use it for stuff I like to play.
 
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