Squier NOT for Sale - I've got EGG on my face

[bigoldron]

Never mind!!!


Hey guys! I've got a nice Squier Strat for sale. It's the one I got from Strum. She's got a couple of nicks and some scratches, but she plays pretty good. I've never had a Squier and was impressed with how well it does play. In fact, I had decided to keep it awhile and upgrade her with new pickups and electronics and a little dress up. I did in fact put new CTS 250k pots and a new 5 way switch in her, plus I shielded the cavity and the NEW TORTOISESHELL pickguard with copper foil and grounded everything to a common point. She looks really good with the tortoiseshell pickguard. I even put some new GFS Overwound Alnico pickups in her, but they seemed a little harsh to me, so I put the factory pickups back in.

If she's so sweet, then why am I selling, what other reason would there be, other than I found "the guitar" that I've been looking for. I was in my favorite music store yesterday and they had a MIM Strat that I made the mistake of asking if I could play. Big mistake. You've heard the old saying "melts in your mouth and not in your hands"? Well this one melted into my hands and I was HOOKED. Her siren song was unavoidable. So I've cut a deal with them and I need to move the Squier to help fund this purchase. Of course, I told my wife that this would be the last guitar I'd be buying.

Anyway, I'm asking $125 plus shipping for her. There's a nick the size of a small eraser on the back (see the pics) and a few minor scratches. I've cleaned the neck and treated it with mineral oil. There's no case, but I'll package her well. Here's the pics:













You can barely see where I circled in red the nick in that last picture. One other thing. Strum said whoever had it before him took the Strat logo off the headstock for some strange reason. There is a "Designed and Backed by Fender" on the back of the headstock along with a serial number.

If you have any questions, then don't hesitate to ask. This would be a nice little Christmas present for somebody!

[Duff]

Bigoldron,

That is a nice color white, I'd like to see one like that with the aged yellowish tinted white pearl pickguard.

Is that an Affinity or a Standard and are you throwing in the GFS overwound pups?

Duff

[bigoldron]

Bigoldron,

That is a nice color white, I'd like to see one like that with the aged yellowish tinted white pearl pickguard.

Is that an Affinity or a Standard and are you throwing in the GFS overwound pups?

Duff

Not sure what model it is, Duffy. I'll see if I can tell by the serial number on the Fender site what the model and year it is. The GFS's have already been sent back. They were $47.95 and are the Overwound Alnico Strat Pickups. All I can say is that it's a pretty decent playing Strat copy.

As soon as I found out the other info, I'll post it here.

[Duff]

I think affinities have thinner bodies and maybe different number of frets, but thinner bodies usually if not always, I think.

Duffy

[bigoldron]

I think affinities have thinner bodies and maybe different number of frets, but thinner bodies usually if not always, I think.

Duffy

I haven't figure out the year, but from what I could find on the internet, it's an Affinity series Strat, since it has an "ICxxxxxxxxx" serial number. I wish whoever scratched the logo off had not done that. Oh well.

From what I can tell (I'm not a Fender expert), it's an Affinity and those are going for $169.99 at MF. This one's older and does have a few upgrades, i.e. the copper shielding, CTS 250k pots and of course that beautiful tortoiseshell pickguard. It plays pretty decent.

If you're interested, email me I'll see if we can agree on a price.

[bigoldron]

I'm taking it back on Saturday. I have EGG on my face big time. I made the mistake of NOT playing it plugged in at the store - just went on their word. I got it home, plugged it in and it crackled, hummed and popped whenever you looked cross-eyed at the patch cord. So, I took the jack plate off and the solder joints looked fine. I even wound up pulling the pickguard and there appeared to be no loose wires. I had to take to jack wire loose to even get the pickguard off, and apparently I didn't make a good connection when I resoldered it as there's NO sound now.

PLUS, I didn't think the guitar was as old as it is. According to the kid at the store who owned it, the serial number shows it as being made in 1991.

It played so sweetly unplugged at the store, but temptation is an evil mistress. You'd think at my age, I'd stop being an impulse buyer. Oh well, no biggie. The owner's wife answered when I called and she said no problem. They'd hold the check and I could bring it back in a couple of days.

So all's well that ends well. I felt guilty about turning the Squier I had just gotten, since, to me it plays just as good as the MIM - especially since I shielded it and put new pots in it.

[Ch0jin]

If it feels good to play and has great acoustic properties as you mentioned, why not have a crack it fixing up the electrics? You might find it ends up being nicer than the Squier, and that Fender logo on the headstock helps resale if you decide to sell it.

Thats what I'd do anyway.

[just strum]

If it feels good to play and has great acoustic properties as you mentioned, why not have a crack it fixing up the electrics? You might find it ends up being nicer than the Squier, and that Fender logo on the headstock helps resale if you decide to sell it.

Thats what I'd do anyway.

Maybe that's not a bad idea, if you might get them to reduce the price. I would take it back and demonstrate how it sounds through an amp. Then I would hint that if you weren't paying so much for it, you would consider keeping it and replace the electronics. Come one Ronnie, you are the crowned flipper.

[Duff]

The Fender has no sound, in any switch position, correct?

If so, to me, it sounds like a ground problem. Possibly with the jack ground you mentioned, also you might want to squeeze in the jack thin metal contact piece that contacts the cord plug toward the tip, so that it makes better contact with the jack tip. Scrape off any corrosion on the jack metal contact point.

Sounds like a simple problem, especially if ALL of the pups produce no sound. You should be able to easily track down the problem and with the help of us guys here on the fret get it straightened out.

I would suspect that you will be able to get the Fender for substantially less money, saying that you REALLY want to buy it but that in it's current condition it will cost you around 150 to have a pro tech diagnose, track down and repair the unknown problem. Time is money.

Have your checkbook sticking up out of your shirt pocket where they can see it and suggest a significantly lower amount that you are ready to pay them "right now".

Obviously they want to sell it and probably can't fix it themselves and need money and don't want to have to hold on to the guitar any longer than it takes to get rid of it for whatever they can get.

Why didn't they tell you that it wasn't producing sound? They must have known. If they didn't then they will most probably be wanting to sell it way cheaper and be rid of something that they don't know how to fix.

Then you get a Fender that has "that" feel and we all will help you figure it out. It is a reasonably simple job to diagnose and fix whatever is interfering with the current flow. You can have it up and running with no time involved in it at all. You might have to get a multimeter if you don't have one and then you will have one for lots of different uses. A half way decent one at Lowes is not much money, maybe twenty dollars and it will save you hundreds, maybe thousands and it is a safe way to check for current, determine the ohm rating of pickups, etc.

We will help you if you decide to go this way.

Duffy

Sounds like a fairly "special" guitar.

I just got my old Marshall Valvestate VS30R back for the same price I sold it. It is like 20 years old or something like that and is in mint condition. Sounds better than ever. It was my first nice amp. Sounds better because my playing has greatly progressed. I really love this amp and might put a new speaker in it. 4 ohm speaker though and they are hard to find in ten inch but Jensen has a cheap one, 40, called a MOD 10-50. I'm happy with the stock speaker but think it is worn out but I'm not an amp expert or speaker expert. But I'm willing to put some time, work, and money into figuring out an excellent solution.

Duffy

[just strum]

Ronnie,

You should try this