Guitars... what you've got / what you want

^ I mean, I endorse this 1000%.

I’ve been flip-flopping between using my 350 clone + Kinman P90 vs. my partscaster with the three Jaguar pickups and the heavy maple neck. The latter is easier to play (I love the natural finish on the neck, feels like a violin), but the sound of that P90 is just impossible to beat. It’s in my top five fave pieces of gear of all time, it sounds absolutely amazing

fgti, do you happen to have a sample of it sounding amazing? genuinely curious.

mkkkk and that guild are super nice looking guitars. also excited to see ums bass when its done!

just got a text from the builder - my guitar is done! he's going to keep it another week, he says he likes to see how it reacts to string tension and he keeps tweaking the setup while it settles in, but should be able to get it next weekend :)

here it is

https://i.postimg.cc/xCnKVyqY/bass.jpg

@ Steve Shasta, I'll make a video this weekend!

wow, I'm honored! 👀👀

Gorgeous bass ums

ums that looks so nice man

damn ums that is stunning

Just as a heads up: Fender currently has a Black Friday sale on Sherwood Green Paranormal Jazzmaster XIIs for $328.99. Total steal if you ask me

Fiesta Red is $314.99 and looks nicer imho.

Just wish they had a floating trem.

Man, they are hard to keep in tune with a hardtail already. There's a reason 12s don't have trems!

yeah no

https://i.imgur.com/YVo9ANk.png

LOL. I got to play one of BJM's Vox Ultrasonic XIIs in the 1990s and the trem was completely ridiculous but when I realized that DUH if you just tuned everything to one note you could really have fun with one. If you do pull the black friday trigger on a Paranormal JM XII check out the threads on /r/offset from folks who have modded them. You can make something really cool out of them.

Yeah I mean I know a few crazy folk do it, it’s more that it needs too much finesse and attention for mass production. The tuners on the Squier are pretty flimsy but the real issue is binding in the nut - I am pretty good at setup but I can’t keep mine stable whereas my hardtail six strings stay in tune for years (literally in some cases).

Pardon my ignorance but does ‘paranormal’ refer to some technical aspect of those guitars?

It's a Fender marketing gimmick about releasing some Frankenstein guitars (offsets with Tele electronics, Teles set up like Les Pauls, and so on). They've been doing it for several years and I haven't seen one yet I'd actually buy.

I have an Offset Telecaster and a Jazzmaster XII from the Paranormal series and both are stellar builds, with cheap-ish hardware and pickups. But the necks and the finishes are absolutely top line.

I really don't need it, but the Offset Telecaster with a jazzmaster pickup in the neck, grey with matching headstock is only $315 right now...

an offset telecaster with jazzmaster pickup in the neck u say

https://i.imgur.com/8fXAVZK.jpeg

Rather tasty

Sicccck

My favorite Frankenfender is still the Parallel Universe Jazz Tele — T body with JM pickups and vibrato, sounds and looks great in a deeply Fendery way, could 100% picture a very serious player having one as their main instrument. But I can see why they focused that kind of concept into the Squier line, where the Paranormals can sit at a nice intersection of relatively affordable, relatively well-made, and fun/novel. (My Cyclone could probably use a pickup upgrade, but even that might ruin what's already a lovably scrappy feel.)

had the chance to play this new offset tele for a couple of hours now and i'm really impressed - fit and finish is great, especially considering it was £300, and it's feather-light compared to my strat and lp

the neck is noticeably slimline, which is taking a bit of adjusting to, but it feels really nice under the fingers

it's got push-pull pots for series/parallel and phase switching, but the middle position sound is where it really excels - the tele and jm pickups together have a very sweet and balanced tone that's not quite like anything else i've played before, it's gorgeous

still waiting for a Fender 6 string bass in 12 string version !

The neck would need to be made of Kevlar, surely

I think Fender’s parallel universe line is an answer to the popularity of parts guitars and small builders making such instruments.

I only have parts caster guitars at this point myself. Mine are more fender bodies with Gibson style pickups.

i'm contemplating fixing up my first guitar, a squire strat, for my kids to learn on. i don't want to go overboard but it needs to be painted, needs a new pick guard and bridge, and i wouldn't mind replacing the pickups. does this sound like a terrible idea considering they go for like $150 new?

Do your kids really need those upgrades for learning purposes?

If working on it sounds like fun to you, rather than a chore, why not? Do it for the satisfaction. Peeling/chipping off the poly shell may be messy and annoying, and I wouldn't expect to be able to do a slick factory-style finish, but whatever you end up with will feel special. I did this with a Mexican Tele, a can of chalk paint, and some wipe-on finish, and I feel happy every time I look at the thing.

i guess in my mind i'm like, it would be super cool to fix this up and make it sound better than it ever did! but i'm also cool with just painting it and never playing it again

so i need to reconcile the fact that this is not worth fixing up super nicely

I mean, is it easy / comfortable to play? If not, then sure, no point upgrading something that'll still feel bad in your hands. But if feels nice to play and just has cheap hardware, that's kind of the perfect candidate for replacing things. "Sound better" is simple and "look better" is doable, but "feel better" can get out of DIY territory real fast.

The neck is the decider. If it’s great, do what needs doing (except don’t strip the body, you will never get as good a surface for your new topcoat if you do that). If it’s average, move it on to someone who likes it and put the money toward something genuinely better.

That’s good advice. In fact now that I think about it, this might have been the one my dad smashed during a fight and then later fixed

I upgraded my Squier strat. They have some advantages, they are comfortable and lightweight guitars.
I actually put a real vintage Fender pickup in the neck position (1956 Duo Sonic). It sounds great.
Once you have a decent quality nut and pickups and the bridge is in good shape it will probably sound good.

I have a fender bullet strat I like a lot though the high e string is a bit high action for some reason - and it was only 180$

ok i'm having the hardest time figuring out what kind of squier i have on my hands. when i bought it used for $50 in 1991 or so, it was yellow, black headstock, black locking nut, two humbucker pickups, pickup switch, one volume knob and one tone knob. also, it plugs in on the side of the guitar, not by the knobs. it was made in japan and the serial number starts with A which should put it around '85/'86 but i cannot find anything that looks like it on the web. any good guitar sleuths out there?

ok figured it. it's the ST-335 1985 Contemporary Series: https://reverb.com/item/41431931-squier-boxer-stratocaster-hh-st-335-1985-contemporary-series-vintage-white-fender-japan-mij-rosewood

Boxer serieswas actually reissued in the last few years.

Japanese Squires are fairly popular used guitars.

Chuck Prophet has played one of those Teles for decades.

You got it. I had a Fender ST555 from that series which had a wonderful neck but I wasn’t a fan of the pickups. The A and E serials generally had wonderful necks, a few have passed through my hands (and several have stayed).

And yeah the JV, SQ and early 80s Squires follow a trajectory from “exceptional” coasting down to “lovely”. The later Silver series feel a little less bespoke. And recently the Classic Vibe and Paranormal Squiers from Indonesia and China have lifted back up to that level, pretty much.

any painting advice? found some online store called stewmac that is leading me to guitar lacquer, but also telling me i need a special sealer (i assume i can use any primer here) and like 4 cans of clear coat. i'm not necessarily against this, i want it to look nice, but open to other options

I don't think you need 4 cans of clear coat. The more you have on, the more you can buff the guitar without sanding through to the colour coat. But I don't think you need 4 cans. I don't remember how many I used but I don't think it was 4 anyway.

What condition is the original finish in? If there are any gouges in it, you need to fill them up before you spray over it, as they will surely show through.

With grain filler, that is

I took original finish was taken off a long time ago and threw a coat of primer. I’ve refinished plenty of wood furniture so I guess I’ll continue as I would with regular paint. Never worked with lacquer before

You can just use a krylon type spray can, or nitro if you prefer, but try to mist it on evenly to get a wet coat without dripping. Helps if you float the can in warm to hot water for 5 minutes before using, and shake for a long time, like a minute. I usually hang bodies using a wire coat hanger from a string between trees or poles in a sheltered area.

After painting to a good surface leave it to dry for like a month or so, to really go hard. Then you can wet sand up to 2000 grit to get it smooth. After that you can clear coat, or even polish the colour coat if that looks good - I usually use an auto buffer which works pretty well.

Preciate it!