EXPERIMENT--WILL I GET CHUMPED???

[winston]

My first impression is that it looks pretty good. However, it looks to me like the headstock is a wee bit elongated. The body appears to be pretty much spot on. Again just based on this photo, the pick guard screws do not seem to be located in the appropriate position for a copy of a Fender USA guitar. More detailed pics of course will tell the tale.

Does the bridge have vintage style saddles on it and is it a two piece bridge?

Btw the LP style cases that I purchase cost me more than 3 times what you paid for the Strat copy. The deluxe ones that I buy are not run of the mill. They are embossed with my logo. They are a top quality guitar case................ and yes they do have that nice new case smell (just in case you were wondering)

[libratune]

Looks pretty good to me on the art work/coloring when compared to the original. I would say the yellow is an interesting variation, as the guard is so white its more interesting to have a light color not white for contrast on the guitar. Pretty good deal for a replica, all things considered . . .

original

Pro Replica - Guitarattack

[electrofaro]

Huge headstock! I love huge headstocks on Fenders (never got why they put just a stump on most Teles).

So, how does the weight compare to a real one. When can we expect youtube demo of the sound it produces?

[jingle_jangle]

That's a "transitional" headstock, between the pre-CBS and the yooj CBS ones that came later. That's right--YOOJ. The '69 CBS headstock on the lefty Hendrix is a full 7 3/4" from nut to tip.

Good eye, Brian. The headstock is a full 1/2" longer than my reference 2007 Mary Kaye 50th anniversary. So it's a '65 headstock, but '69 length.

Werner, the '69 lefty has the honkin' gigantic HS: No delicacy there.



The Monterey's HS looks awkward to me. The body outline is very close, just eyeballing it. The tummy cut and arm bevel are both harder and less elegant than the MK. Pickguard is an 11-screw, but 2 of them are in the wrong place. Body edge radius is a bit sharper than Fender's--10mm as opposed to 7/16. The difference is detectable.

The bridge is a hybrid--2 piece bridge with cast saddles. String spacing is 2 3/16"

Anyway, let's talk about the good stuff, first.

The Monterey did have a hard case, contained within that foam sarcophagus. And as you would expect, the foam stuck to the case vinyl in a zillion places. (A diaper dampened with urethane reducer cleaned it up in 10 minutes or so). Here's Dexter the Psycho Crack House Dog with the case:



The case isn't the expected square one, but an hourglass-shaped one with "Fender" embossed on the cover in 5" high script:



The case, for $32.00 extra, ain't bad. The lining is thick, case itself is thicker chipboard, and the Tolex covering it is nice quality. The fake aligator edging around the perimeter is very cheap looking, though. Latches and hinges are good grade for China. Handle is vinyl, one-piece, molded to look like a leather-wrapped cord handle. It's soft, large and comfy.

Here's the guitar in the case. It fits snugly.





Let's keep on about the good stuff, although I'm sure most of you are beginning to spot some of the discrepancies between this and the $14K custom shop item.

Weight is a bit lighter than the MK. 7.9 for the Monterey, 8.5 for the American-made MK.

Scale length is spot-on, and location of neck with reference to the body and neck pocket is accurate, too, as are pickup locations and controls and jack. Both necks are 1 5/8" at the nut, but the Monterey is 1/32" wider at the heel, so any stock replacement neck will be a loose fit into this body.

Now, about those graphics...

[winston]

It's Interesting that they used yellow as a background rather than white. As I suspected it's a more modern style bridge. I am not an expert on the graphics but they appear to represent the original quite well.

[godber]

...Let's keep on about the good stuff, although I'm sure most of you are beginning to spot some of the discrepancies between this and the $14K custom shop item...

[deaconblues]

Supporting the builders of fake Rickenbackers = bad...

...but supporting builders of fake Fenders = ok?

[rkbsound]

Supporting the builders of fake Rickenbackers = bad...

...but supporting builders of fake Fenders = ok?

Well, the seller also sells plenty of fake Rickenbackers, and uses the name directly.

If they are selling Fender "style" guitars with Fender logos, and they are not manufactured by Fender and do not have permission from Fender....

[marc61]

I recently bought a bargain used Strat on eBay. It was listed as a "custom shop" Strat, but of course, it wasn't a Fender Custom Shop ($5400.00) item. Instead, it was a Parts-O-Caster built from Squier and American Fender parts to replicate a '69 Jimi Hendrix guitar: Oly White with parchment guard, American CS '69 pickups, white knobs. The headstock has the "Stratocaster Fender" decal, not the mirror image one. I got it for less than $300.00.

It's a lefty, strung righty, and I'm doing some upgrades. It was built out of used parts, so there's wear, but no phony "relicking" (note spelling...). When I got it I restrung it with Ernie Ball .010" Clapton round wounds, and did a thorough setup including neck shim and blueprinting the vibrato. I replaced the Asian cast saddles with some nice old aftermarket solid brass ones, put a gennie '69 neck plate and replaced the Squier tuning machines with genuine Fender "F" lefties.

It plays and sounds the best out of all 4 of my Strats. All in, with neckplate, strings, and tuners, I'm into it for about $450.00. Not bad, and it looks the part.

Just wanted to get back to this guitar for a sec...

So the neck was Squier and the body American? Just asking because my fav P bass right now has what ppl have told me is a Squier neck (decal is replaced with Made in USA). The body stripped and oiled (no comments from the peanut gallery please ) and I replaced the stock junk bridge with a premium one. With it's tortoise guard...the sound, look, and feel are winners. Strange how these part instruments come together

other question (due to my ignorance) Blueprinting the vibrato? I'm not familiar with that.

[jingle_jangle]

Supporting the builders of fake Rickenbackers = bad...

...but supporting builders of fake Fenders = ok?

That's right--my conscience is clear on this count. I'm not aware of any IP protection involving Fender Strats. And as far as my research indicates, the Jimi artwork has not been copyrighted, either. You'll note that my Dick Dale replica wasn't built by Fender, either. The Surf Green '58 replica is a Chinese body--accurate right down to the color, radii, and pickguard screw holes--coupled with an American Strat stuffed guard and a Mighty Mite neck, which I built in an evening, also with a clear conscience. The white lefty is another Parts-O-Caster with all sorts of parts bin stuff.

As far as the seller selling counterfeit Ricks, I did not and would not purchase or promote those.

[jingle_jangle]

I recently bought a bargain used Strat on eBay. It was listed as a "custom shop" Strat, but of course, it wasn't a Fender Custom Shop ($5400.00) item. Instead, it was a Parts-O-Caster built from Squier and American Fender parts to replicate a '69 Jimi Hendrix guitar: Oly White with parchment guard, American CS '69 pickups, white knobs. The headstock has the "Stratocaster Fender" decal, not the mirror image one. I got it for less than $300.00.

It's a lefty, strung righty, and I'm doing some upgrades. It was built out of used parts, so there's wear, but no phony "relicking" (note spelling...). When I got it I restrung it with Ernie Ball .010" Clapton round wounds, and did a thorough setup including neck shim and blueprinting the vibrato. I replaced the Asian cast saddles with some nice old aftermarket solid brass ones, put a gennie '69 neck plate and replaced the Squier tuning machines with genuine Fender "F" lefties.

It plays and sounds the best out of all 4 of my Strats. All in, with neckplate, strings, and tuners, I'm into it for about $450.00. Not bad, and it looks the part.

Just wanted to get back to this guitar for a sec...

So the neck was Squier and the body American? Just asking because my fav P bass right now has what ppl have told me is a Squier neck (decal is replaced with Made in USA). The body stripped and oiled (no comments from the peanut gallery please ) and I replaced the stock junk bridge with a premium one. With it's tortoise guard...the sound, look, and feel are winners. Strange how these part instruments come together

other question (due to my ignorance) Blueprinting the vibrato? I'm not familiar with that.

The neck and body are both Squier on the white one. Pickups and guard are American. Vibrato Asian to my eyes, though threading for the arm is factory 10-32, so maybe it's American. Saddles, as I indicated, are aftermarket brass (old!) and could be either Fender or another manufacturer. There were lots of people making them in the '70s, apparently.

The appeal of Parts-O-Casters (and not just of the Strat configuration!) is in their variety of style, era, and price range, not to mention their intended kit-type ease of assembly. You can build them cheap, or build them premium ( you can get a new licensed neck from Warmoth or Mighty Mite or any number of licensees, for less than $160.00; if you want pedigree, an American "Custom Shop" neck for $850.00 (!) or even a vintage '60s neck for $3500.00 if that floats your boat.

Your $300.00 bass illustrates the point, as does the Surf Green '58 replica above, which is the best-playing and strongest-sounding of the 5 in the photo, and cost a tad under $525.00 all in, much of that being the premium birdseye maple neck.

Blueprinting the vibrato, in the case of the white lefty, consisted of disassembling the saddles and replacing the height and intonation screws and springs and elongating the six fulcrum screw holes to ease the action somewhat. The fulcrum screws were replaced with Fender parts. Other things can be done to upgrade these, as you can imagine.

The whole act of building a parts guitar is no different from that of modding a Rickenbacker, except that the parts are smaller and much cheaper, and it's much easier, as Fender intended for their own philosophy of interchangeability and ease of assembly. However, to me, Fenders and Rickenbackers are at different ends of the spectrum in s many ways: Fenders being basic "kit" guitars and Rickenbackers requiring substantial skill to build and maintain. (I recall this being the topic of some of my very earliest posts back in late 2004.)

Note that, when the factor of skill and "eye" are introduced into the Fender equation(as in their "Masterbuilt" CS instruments), the price goes sky-high. Skilled labor costs money, and the hype of the Custom Shop allows Fender to charge a premium for these instruments that (in my opinion) far exceeds their intrinsic value.

Yes, hype. Original Monterey Strats, built with all made in U.S.A. parts, hand-painted and assembled with aluminum flight case (with Surf Green plush lining!), semi-HSC white fringed suede Gig Bag, and all the certificates and case candy, sold in the $12K range when new, I believe. They've held their value on the collector market, apparently. I found all this out when researching this cheap replica, in the last few days, between placing my order and receiving the guitar 93 hours later. Most would point out that no new bolt-together guitar is worth that sort of value intrinsically, and they'd be right.

The difference between actual value of a Masterbuilt limited-edition guitar and perceived value, is taken up by the pumped-up marketing prose, collector's cachet, and all the accessorization (known to car salesmen as "pack"--the stuff that's added to bump the sticker price, which is not controlled by the consumer).

[paologregorio]

If the Custom Shop really wants to be authentic, they'll ship the Monterey Strat with a can of Ronsonal and a Zippo in the accessory pouch.

[jingle_jangle]

Frank Zippo Zappa owned it and he passed it on to Dweezil, who now has it.

[8mileshigher]

If the Custom Shop really wants to be authentic, they'll ship the Monterey Strat with a can of Ronsonal and a Zippo in the accessory pouch.

[jingle_jangle]

I've also read that Dweezil owns the so-called "Miami" sunburst Strat, which was also torched and had much of its finish burned off, a few weeks after Monterey.

Does Dweezil have both? Or is there some confusion over this?

OK, back to the Chinese replica. How about some nitpicking?

We can start with the backplate. In typical Chinese style, the mounting screw pattern is symmetrical, the string holes do not line up with the holes in the mass block, and the plate is injection-molded and textured. Basically, this is a Chinese replacement part with the Monterey logos hot-stamped on it.



The actual $15-or-so-K FCS plate has the asymmetric screw pattern, is smooth, shiny and thin, being router-cut from a single piece of 1/16" ABS. The holes line up. The logos appear to be hot-stamped, as well, at least from photos.



Next, the neck plate. The Chinese replica has a laser-engraved portrait of Jimi, and the plate is (typical for China) set into a black injection-molded polyethylene shock gasket. You will nearly always see these on Chinese bolt-neck guitars to prevent neck pocket splitting in transit. I remove them right away, though the plate is of a thinner gauge than a genuine Fender plate.



The original guitar carried a 1965 "L" serial number. The FCS item has a laser-engraved line portrait of Jimi and no other legend (pun intended). No shock gasket; thicker metal gauge.



Yes, the Chinese guitar is too yellowed: it should be off-white, not "harngelb",

Sharp-eyed viewers will also note that the Chinese have done this backwards. Jimi started with a Fiesta Red guitar and a can of cheap white spray enamel, then added the graphics on top of the white and red; the Chinese factory started with a white guitar, then Tampo-printed the graphics over the white and sprayed red tint over both white and graphics, turning the blue areas of Jimi's graphic into a sort of muddy olive color.

Chinese:



FCS (look at the blue detail around the output jack on both photos):



The Chinese factory apparently made their Tampo separations from a color print of the FCS item, and then attempted to color-correct. This explains the blurry, muddy "Hendrix Burning" label, which is actually printed under the varnish on the Chinese version"



The original 1997 FCS label (which emulates a backstage pass, contains the serial number of the guitar, and is actually pasted onto the finish):



See how crisp the lettering and photo are? Of course, Jimi's original Strat had no such label, and because of this, the label has taken a lot of criticism.

The FCS logo on the back of the headstock is laughable on the Chinese knockoff. It's got the edition number wrong (175; the correct number is 210) and some gibberish "DE2171", which I think is due to a blurry photo being the source of the copy. The silk-screening is way too heavy, as well:



The original FCS imprint:



One more thing (and really odd, since every vibrato tip I've seen from China is really close to the Fender item in shape): The vibrato tip is WAAAY off:



To be continued as time permits!