u/Puckerfants23

I bought this guitar about 2 years ago when I got back into playing. She’s been my main squeeze even after picking up a couple other guitars. I brought her into a local luthier for a setup and to talk about some options, and he showed me some of his PAF-style hand wound pickups, which just sing, and can also scream. I had him put them in, with push-pull coil splitting, along with a general setup and now it’s even more amazing. Hat tip to an amazing craftsman and artist, John, at Thomas Muse Guitars in Cleveland, who did the work and really put this beauty over the top. I dig the zebra look more than the chrome, and I took off the pick guard and decided I like that look better.

I grew up playing cheap, crappy quality Strats and knockoffs. For general life reasons, I stopped playing for about 10 years or so. I recently started again, and now as a basically grown adult, with basically adult money, I can afford some nice things. Since starting again, I’ve bought a Hagstrom Viking semihollow with Bigsby, a DeArmond archtop hollow jazz box (I don’t play jazz and likely never will, but I’d always wanted a hollow; incidentally it‘s a RAD guitar and way more versatile than I expected it to be.) I also have a Yamaha acoustic. I started to want a single coil solid body to round things out. But because of my history, I wanted anything but a Strat. I tried some Yamahas, some Schecters, a whole bunch of just about everything. Came VERY close to pulling the trigger on a butterscotch Player II Tele. I went and checked out a couple instruments being sold by a private seller, and this Strat was one. Brand new, bought at an estate sale, basically never played, still has original paperwork and even the plastic on the pick guard. Played it and had an epiphany. “Strats aren’t ubiquitous because they’re generic, Self. They’re ubiquitous because they’re about as close as you can get to a perfect guitar.“ $500 out the door, all paperwork, whammy bar (I don’t really use one but it’s nice to have), adjustment tools, even the Fender sticker, plus a bag. It plays so beautifully, sounds good, and even looks amazing. I swapped out the original white pickguard for the tortoiseshell, and here I am. In love. Just wanted to share

I grew up playing cheap, crappy quality Strats and knockoffs. For general life reasons, I stopped playing for about 10 years or so. I recently started again, and now as a basically grown adult, with basically adult money, I can afforded some nice things. Since starting again, I’ve bought a Hagstrom Viking semihollow with Bigsby, a DeArmond archtop hollow jazz box (I don’t play jazz and likely never will, but I’d always wanted a hollow; incidentally it‘s a RAD guitar and way more versatile than I expected it to be.) I also have a Yamaha acoustic. I started to want a single coil to round things out. But because of my history, I wanted anything but a Strat. I tried some Yamahas, some Schecters, a whole bunch of just about everything. Came VERY close to pulling the trigger on a butterscotch Player II Tele (if local laws didn’t require a two-week waiting period between being sold to a store and sold by the store, this post would be very different lol). I went and checked out a couple instruments being sold by a private seller, and this Strat was one. Brand new, basically never played, still has original paperwork and even the plastic on the pick guard. Played it and had an epiphany. “Strats aren’t ubiquitous because they’re generic, Self. They’re ubiquitous because they’re about as close as you can get to a perfect guitar.“ $500 out the door, all paperwork, whammy bar (I don’t really use one but it’s nice to have), adjustment tools, even the Fender sticker, plus a bag. It plays so beautifully, sounds good, and even looks amazing. I swapped out the original white pickguard for the tortoiseshell, and here I am. In love. Just wanted to share.