Rob DiStefano
Active Member
... we (or at least I) new thee oh so well.
It appears that gone are the days of the MF bargain Bullets that sold for $150 but were on sale about once a month $120 - recently the ticket's been upped to $180.
Now, some will call these junker bottom feeders, but not I, as long as they're the MII (Indonesian) versions. I've had at least a dozen, probably closer to double that, in both Strat and Tele flavors. I'd buy them on sale, and on arrival I wouldn't even bother tuning up and testing out, I'd totally dismantle everything screwed down, pulled all apart, and closely examined. Excellent necks and bodies, really good polyU or acrylic finishes, decent components, a good setup and there it is, perfect for a newbie.
But why stop there? The platform is quite good, so for a bit of modding and a few bucks, I'd turn them into workhorses for both amateur and pro. The quickee mod is to replace all electronics - pickups, switch, pots and jack. One pro customer, a columnist for Premier Guitar Mag, used a few of these for cable channel sound bytes for shows such as Duck Dynasty and Pawn Stars ... there were others, but I forget the names, I'm old, I have CRS at times.
Stealthing a Bullet became kinda fun - just buff off the headstock Squier logo, mod it with all new electronics and do a good setup, leave it out in the shop on a stand and get comments from customers. Customers would play it and offer good comments and then be quite surprised when I told them of the platform's origins. Most were sold off inside a week, right on the spot after playing. Good, or even great, doesn't need to require purchasing via taking out a loan or on installments.
So, what makes a "good guitar"?
Here's my prioritized list, see if you can identify ...
1. Playability - no matter how great the tone or how cool it looks, if it won't play well for you, it's useless.
2. Sound/Tone - for an electric guitar at gigging and recording levels, it's all about the player's brain and fingers and then the pickups and what they feed onboard and all the stuff offboard. At living room playing levels, there is no question that going into clean amplification will allow the amalgam of the guitar add to the tone, mostly heard via resonant wood.
3. Aesthetics - size, shape, color, bling, etc - totally subjective.
4. Money - does buying "pro guitar" really mean taking out a loan?
Are havin' fun, yet?
It appears that gone are the days of the MF bargain Bullets that sold for $150 but were on sale about once a month $120 - recently the ticket's been upped to $180.
Now, some will call these junker bottom feeders, but not I, as long as they're the MII (Indonesian) versions. I've had at least a dozen, probably closer to double that, in both Strat and Tele flavors. I'd buy them on sale, and on arrival I wouldn't even bother tuning up and testing out, I'd totally dismantle everything screwed down, pulled all apart, and closely examined. Excellent necks and bodies, really good polyU or acrylic finishes, decent components, a good setup and there it is, perfect for a newbie.
But why stop there? The platform is quite good, so for a bit of modding and a few bucks, I'd turn them into workhorses for both amateur and pro. The quickee mod is to replace all electronics - pickups, switch, pots and jack. One pro customer, a columnist for Premier Guitar Mag, used a few of these for cable channel sound bytes for shows such as Duck Dynasty and Pawn Stars ... there were others, but I forget the names, I'm old, I have CRS at times.
Stealthing a Bullet became kinda fun - just buff off the headstock Squier logo, mod it with all new electronics and do a good setup, leave it out in the shop on a stand and get comments from customers. Customers would play it and offer good comments and then be quite surprised when I told them of the platform's origins. Most were sold off inside a week, right on the spot after playing. Good, or even great, doesn't need to require purchasing via taking out a loan or on installments.
So, what makes a "good guitar"?
Here's my prioritized list, see if you can identify ...
1. Playability - no matter how great the tone or how cool it looks, if it won't play well for you, it's useless.
2. Sound/Tone - for an electric guitar at gigging and recording levels, it's all about the player's brain and fingers and then the pickups and what they feed onboard and all the stuff offboard. At living room playing levels, there is no question that going into clean amplification will allow the amalgam of the guitar add to the tone, mostly heard via resonant wood.
3. Aesthetics - size, shape, color, bling, etc - totally subjective.
4. Money - does buying "pro guitar" really mean taking out a loan?
Are havin' fun, yet?
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