Any Strat experts out there? I need some buying advice. Don't delay, time running out.

Got a lot minute meet for this one and I'm short on the Stratocaster learning curve. Maybe you can advise me?

Fender Stratocaster 1993-94 Mexico production with fender bag and whammy bar. Has some dings on the neck. Supposed to have three DiMarzzio single coils installed and has been refretted with Stainless steel. Buyer wants Foe Fitty.

I've read the 91 and 92 MIM strats were relatively poor examples with not so good PUPs and poor fitting neck cavities, but this one should be just at the turn around for production quality for Made in Mexico.

Anything else I need to be looking for?

Thanks in advance for any input.

 

Yeah, not a bad price. I’d rather pay 400, but the upgrades if they’re legit make 450 fair.

 

Standard procedure for me, but yeah I might want to take a tool to see if the trussed turns at all.

 

driving north for the meet to check it out right now. That’s the reason for the last minute thread to gain knowledge.

 

Driving home right now with interesting story to share. Stay tuned!

 

I just got back and after I left the meet...I wanted to say that it was worth the trip, but after that dangerous ass drive back in the rain and all the wrecks, I almost had, I don’t really think it was.

I learned two important thing from the trip:

1. A laundromat is a great place for a used guitar sale meet.

2. I WANT A BLUE STRAT WITH A MAPLE NECK AND PEARLOID PICKGUARD!!!

That’s definitely the combo for me. I like it so much more than the surf green strat I was shopping for yesterday and fortunately was foiled in getting. (See my next thread for that story.) The guitar I saw today had a fine looking neck, It played great, felt great, was set up great and sounded great, but not for Fough Fiddy. Knowing that it was a ’93 marked neck it could have been the tail end of the initial bad stuff coming out of Mexico in the early 91 - ’93 period or could possibly have been part of the good production that began in late ’94. Well the significant gap to the body on either side of the neck meant it was the tail end of the bad stuff and that killed it for me. The widespread dings in the body didn’t help either. No real wood showing, but there were more than I cared to even count. I'm not into the relic thing. I likes me some new looking guitars.

I’m sure it would’ve been a fine beater for someone, but I don’t do beaters. I might…MIGHT have given him sub $300 for it, but he wouldn’t have taken it and I didn’t haggle with him at all. I just told him I can’t do it. He said that when he marks it available again there would be all sorts of people trying to buy it and I said “Do it.” I was actually the 2nd buyer to turn it down. The story with the first guy was that he decided he wanted something with a Floyd Rose. This after 2 days of meeting him to buy. Hmmmm.

I could’ve asked about the gap before hand, but the seller wasn’t always very forthcoming about my pointed questions about the guitar’s condition. In our commo thread there were a lot of vague answers and some just ignored. From the pics it was obvious that the neck had damage to the headstock and he owned up to dings on the back of the neck that you couldn’t see in the pics after I asked, but my questions about the body were met with responses like “It’s a player man, not a collector.” Also, it urns out he didn’t really know that it had been refretted with stainless steel frets he just thinks it was. The frets could have been stainless and they looked pretty bright to me, but he was just guessing and I don’t really know what stainless frets look like. It probably had upgraded PUPs, but after seeing the guitar and knowing how much the seller had avoided telling me I was like sorry for taking your time, bye & GLWS!

I knew I was rolling the dice going up there, but if it had worked out it would’ve been a deal. Gotta take some shots in this game.

Oh and see...I CAN QUIT WHENEVER I WANT!!! LOL

 

Nope, passed on it. See the story above.

Yeah I saw that Tuxedo in Conyers, but I have a thing with strats that look like "Oh here's this cool guitar and MnuhH THERE! we stuck a big piece of raw wood on it. It's always bothered me. The neck and the body need a color combo that blend well, so lighter colors on the body that are closer to the tone of the wood on the neck work best for me. Buttercream, White, Gold, Blue, Daphne, surf green for Maple necks and whatever for rosewood necks. I don't really like rosewood neck strats for the color combo issues.