Here’s a Full Review I did of the guitar if you guys are interested. 
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If nothing else, I had no idea “blonde” on these Squiers was a see-through finish. Nice review; now I might have to pull the trigger on one of these sooner rather than later…
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I like this guitar so much, I was thinking about getting the Blonde one also. So I was looking for the white pickup Blonde yesterday and I am noticing Sweetwater nor Musicians Friend are carrying them now… Just the Sunburst in that model… This model here is Vintage White and Black. So maybe the Vintage Blonde is going to be discontinued? It’s still on the Fender site. Yeah, it’s hard to tell the Blonde is See-thru online, it looks solid but it isn’t.
I didn’t really realize that this color scheme is like a Blackmore… So that’s pretty cool. These pickups sound pretty good. Nice n duck quacky.
Edit Update: So yeah, I am looking this morning and the Vintage Blonde is gone I think… Damn. I found this link, Sweetwater says it’s no longer available. Good, I didn’t need to buy another one… this takes the temptation away.
Perfect guitar for what? I play a lot of different styles so I need a perfect tele style, a perfect strat style, and a perfect Les Paul style.
Recently I built a tele from a USACG swamp ash body and cheap Mighty Mite neck. I put Fishman Fluence Greg Koch pickups in it. Those really make the guitar. For the body finish I used inexpensive Rit blue dye and put 2 very thin coats of nitrocellulose. I scuffed up the back of the neck with 40 grit sand paper so that it feels raw and non-sticky and then put a very thin coat of nitro on it. I leveled the frets with Wudtone’s fret leveling system. It plays beautifully and because of the thin coats I can feel the wood and grain. I can’t say enough about the Fishman Fluence pickups. I don’t think I could be happier with this guitar. You can build a dream guitar.
Now onto the strat … I’ll be using Wudtone’s bridge and Fishman Fluence strat pickups to start. Maybe I’ll build a body and neck. Maybe I’ll buy them. It should be fun.
!
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Perfect for EVERYTHING. Looks, looks on stage, feel, comfort… I look at the guitar as a extension of myself. Subconsciously I feel very uncomfortable playing a guitar that isn’t me on stage, it’s a feeling of being “FAKE”. It’s like what Andy Wood was saying… You get out of your comfort zone and you don’t play as good, or feel as good about what you are doing. I wouldn’t get caught dead on stage with some guitars. But for some reason being in my underwear doesn’t bother me. I’m serious about the guitar shit man. I have a lot of firewood guitars right now, but it’s the closest I can get to what I want until I can afford better. I wish I still had my 2 Yngwie strats that I toured with when I played for Rob. But I lost everything a few years ago. I know, boo hoo.
My only complaint with those 2 Strats I had was they were a little over 8lbs, and I’d rather not use scalloped necks anymore. But I felt like me 100% on stage. I was a bad MF when I was 22 man. In my mind anyway. 
I don’t need different style guitars, I can play everything I want to play on a Stratocaster. Does Vai need variety? does Yngwie? did SRV? does Nuno? does Slash? does Paul Gilbert? and on… and on… and on…
That’s a sweet ass Tele man, looks pretty cool. And you know, looking at this thread again last night, I think @Drew 's post about building my own through Warmoth might be a real good idea. I have 70’s Stratocaster logos Drew . I can do that s*** up for sure… I need the CBS fathead neck with 6000’s… C shaped… '68-'71 dimension correct.
I think 70’s Stratocaster Bodies are bigger than normal Strat bodies also… I’m not 100% sure on this, but I need a dimension correct 4-bolt 70’s body… circa '68-'71. And I need to know what weight body I need to make the entire guitar 7lbs or less when completed. That is MY comfort guitar. 68-71 Fender Stratocaster with 6000’s.
Later guys, good ideas.
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I think it must have been '91 or so.
I visited a NAMM in Frankfurt, when I held an accoustic Sandberg in my hands.
I’m not even sure if it’s the bass Sandberg we know today, the booth was pretty small so probably it was just a small manufacturer with the same name.
But that piece of wood is probably my understanding of perfect, at least for an accoustic.
It felt just perfect in the hand was easy to play and the strings held the tone to 100% of my imagination how an accoustic should do that. And what I found very impressing, when strumming it felt like it was built for that and when playing scales exactly the same. I even walked around a little to check that.
Unfortunately it was mroe than 8000$, and I was fresh to the University and had to share my Fiat Panda with 4 tall guys, (that were all totally wanked 
) to be able to pay the trip.
So it seems that couple of minutes is all I got from that beauty 
For electric, I doubt that I can experience the same there’s so many things on the way to the ear after the signal leaving the instrument, I’d simply wouldn’t get in mind that it’s just the instrument producing the sound.
So if it plays well and stays in tune, I’m fine wtih that … which might be a pretty personal and limited view.
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Yeah man. Build it. There are so many great YouTube tutorials if you get stuck on something. I keep hearing these bullshit news stories that guitars are dead because the big names are doing enough sales, but I don’t think that’s it at all. I think in-the-know guitarists are buying custom guitars from luthiers (many of whom charge very fair prices) or making their own.
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Exactly man, I’m gonna build my own.
I think what is going on right now is similar to the early 80’s when Japan was making better stratocasters than the USA. It seems to me like Indonesia has pride and something to prove. A lot of these import guitars are comparable in quality. Price? Way lower.
On youtube, I had a guy with a fat headstock American Special comment that he sold his Squier Vintage Modified for $ to buy the Am spl… He said he liked the Squier better, and the stock duncans sound so much better than the USA texas specials… Those duncans in them Squiers got tone to the MF bone man. It’s harmonics and single coil duck quacks everywhere. Bring a stock US strat to a jam and I’ll BBQ that ass with a $300 Squier. You gotta spend $1600+ to get a good USA Fender these days.
When I go to Guitar Center… I see a bunch of heavy, low QC, POS with $1000 price tags on them. THAT is probably when people are building their own. When these company’s stop building POS their sales will go up.
Man, I bought a 6lb American Standard Strat brand new in 1997… That was the highest quality MF strat I’ve ever seen. WHY DID I SELL IT!!!
@theGuyFromGermany I know what you’re saying. I have a Tayler Swift signature acoustic because it sounded better than every acoustic in the store… I won’t play that guitar live though. Every once in a decade I grab a guitar I can’t live without… I DO NOT let it leave my hand and immediately go put it on layaway if I don’t have all the cash. One time a MF grabbed a guitar I was gonna buy because of what I was playing on it… because I gave it a good demo for him. Pissed me off… I never sit s*** I’m gonna buy down until I’ve either paid for it, or layaway. Buahahaha.
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Yeah life’s a bitch and than you die … of course after paying 
Anyway when I think back the best moment I ever had on guitar was with the worst instrument I ever owned.
I palyed in an accoustic guitar duo at that time, and I bought an accoustic with an eq that you could plug … if I remember right it was about 300$ and had a green sunburst … man hell of an ‘instrument’.
Ok back to topic, in summer we got the car of my friends (the other guitar) parents and went down to the meditarean sea.
On our first night we got drunk and went down to the beach and there was some pretty strong wind from africa (I think it’s called Mistral) … that was cool alone, the wind is pretty warm and you could feel tiny sand grains on your skin, and at that time I had hair way down my shoulders that was flying around.
Anyway at a point we realized that the wind was strong enough to let the strings ring when you held the guitar right, and that was simply great. Just worked for open chords but pure magic … let it ring forever.
I don’t know probably alcohol did his part either, but for sure that was my best performance ever, and I can guarantee, it was not produced by that cheap chinese ‘I don’t even know if it was real wood’ thing
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Funny you mention an acoustic guitar, I had a similar experience with a cheap guitar that was brilliant, it was falling apart, little did I know then one could fix the old glue that had gotten brittle, ended up busting it nirvana style while very drunk one night, the folly of youth has no bounds.
I’ve been through so many guitars since my first MIM strat 20 years ago, Lentz carve top croyden, grosh electra jets, vigier excalibures, telecasters, even build a few of my own, but I finally hit a home run with my current YJM. So I’m a strat guy after all.
That old MIM strat barely has any frets left, I can play quicker on it than my YJM, I though I’d get it scalloped but on second thoughts all it needs is a refret with 6000 wire and new tuners. Years ago I modded it with a callaham bridge and some Lindy Fraliin Vintage Hots, one of the best sounding strats I’ve heard, feels like home for sure, that old black poly body is checked and chipped like a vintage nitro body.
BTW the YJM has one thing no other Fender strat to my knowledge has, machined lock nuts for neck mounts, supposed to transfer energy most efficiently. The only mods I did to it were put on Raw Vintage springs and saddles. Also the no load low-friction pots are perfect, the bridge tone pot has a noticeable high-friction to it and is notched wide open, makes perfect sense to me that way, tiny thing but so unique and perfect.
The RV saddles added volume and clarity to the tone quite remarkably, I changed them one at a time using the same strings, was surprised at how a little thing like that could impact the tone positively as much as they did. No affiliation btw. The springs I’ve known add a bit of stratty air and nice feel to a floating strat bridge.
The only thing left to do is change the block to a callaham, fender is just awful on this department, the trem arm knocks into the guitar cable, I like my trem set up almost parallel to the strings provided the clearance at the angle is just right.
Also the new SD pickups are too tall to flush the middle pickup to the pick guard, mine’s in a steep angle flush on the high E side.
Wish I could get another YJM with fraliins, that would make them the perfect duo for me. No worries about the YJM sig on the headstock here, I’m definitely a fan.
These days I’m really happy with my charvel st dimas pro mod 1. Got it on ebay for £440, then had to spend £110 or so to repair pickup wirings, switches and level a couple of frets (I should really learn how to do it to save some dosh), and now it plays great! Looks like this:
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Those newer San Dimas models are fantastic bang for your buck, especially on the used market. I had a Mexican one that was a ton of fun to play, the previous owner had blocked the trem and installed a D-Tuna on it. Used it on a few tours. It was the guitar that made me fall in love in Floyd Rose bridges, in fact.
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Ok, so I did a little tone “shoot out” between a Chinese Yngwie Strat, and a Squier Vintage Modified with Duncan Designed pickups. I didn’t have my rosewood board Vintage Modified with me, so I used the one with the Indian Laurel fingerboard. The rosewood sounds better than the Indian Laurel. Oh well. I used the rosewood VM on my Yngwie live stream… That b**** was on fire.
Do they make both Chinese and American Yngwie Signature Strats complete with a scalloped fretboard? I’ve never seriously looked into them so I don’t know. I would have thought they were all American made. Thank you.
Regarding the question, I have an ESP M-!! Deluxe Custom with a maple fretboard. I like that guitar a lot and I’d say it’s close to “perfect” for me. I also like the Fender Heavy Metal Strats they made in the late 80s and early 90s. They’re called Heavy Metal Strats and for those unfamiliar with them, they’re quite different from the standard Strat. A few obvious differences are the Kahler locking tremolo, the almost flat 24 fretboard (if I remember correctly it’s a 17 inch radius), and the combination of 2 single coil pickups and one humbucking pickup. I have several and they’re pretty close to perfect. My favorite is the one that’s burgundy with marbling.
The Chinese ones are counterfeits and technically illegal. The real ones are all American made. The Chinese ones are hit and miss as well, some are really poorly built.
Yeah, all of the Yngwie Strats have scalloped fingerboards. The Chinese Yngwies are copies. Technically they are counterfeits yes. Illegal to sell. Not own. The ones I have are real decent for cheap guitars. I was grumpy by the end of the video. Because I have better sounding guitars.
I have seen those HM Strats before. I don’t think I ever played one. The 2 types of guitars I really like are 70’s style Stratocasters and Kramers. I don’t really play anything else. Some are better than others no matter what model you play.
I’ve found out that I hate the way Indian Laurel fingerboards sound… From the previous Squier video I shared. So I did a follow up video using a rosewood board Vintage Modified. Other than fingerboard and color, they are the same guitar.
Here is the rosewood against the Chender Chyngwie
Last one, I had to do it guys. Catering to the YouTube view analytics . Playing firewood. I’ll have a real guitar again someday.
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Did you ever try a Strandberg guitar ? For some reason the ergonomic design (super lightweight, rests naturally on left or right knee) and their Endureneck were totally natural to me. I own a Boden 7-string and I play it 95% of the time over my other guitars. The neck profile and aesthetic design may not be for everyone, but I’d definitely test it if you come across one.
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Cool man, yeah, I’ll try any new guitar I see at a store or something. Unfortunately, There are a lot of guitars I’ve never seen or played. Strandberg, Suhr, Kiesel… that stuff is all out of my price range at the moment anyway. Suhr and Kiesel are bad about always having that middle position single coil there, right in the way of the pick. A strat is the only guitar I will tolerate that with, because I can lower it all the way flush to the guard.
In all honesty, The perfect humbucking guitar for me is probably a 2 humbucker prestige Ibanez. There’s no way these hype companies like Suhr and Kiesel can play better than a prestige. So why pay them more? F’ em.
If you see me with one of these, grab the suhr and kiesel and run for cover 
