Why So Few Import Hardtail Strats Out There?

[toomanycats]

I'm talking used, at pawn shops, on craigslist, yard sales, etc, out in the wild.

I'm posing the question because it seems counter intuitive that I come across more used import Strat copies with a tremolo vs those that are hardtails. I frequently see all kinds of Squier Affintys, SEs, Standards, and Bullets (many other off brands) with trems, but hardly ever a hardtail.

From a manufacturing point of view a hardtail has to be less expensive to produce, with less routing to the body required, fewer pieces of hardware, and less assembly.

Given that lower priced import guitars are targeted towards beginners, it also seems like common sense that an instrument that is easier to set up and keep in tune, as hardtails certainly are, would be more appealing to that demographic.

Theoretically, it should be easy to pick up a full sized hardtail import from a pawn shop for around $50. But this is simply not the case.

Perhaps there's some factor other than common sense at play here. Is it simply the desire of newbies to have a "whammy bar" to wank on that's behind this?

I'm itching to make a clone of Billy Gibbon's 55 "La Grange" Stratocaster and I'm frustrated at not having found my cheap hardtail yet.

[glasshand]

You would think so, but I guess that having a tremolo is so essential to Strat-ness that people think there's something wrong if it isn't there. When I was looking around, I seriously considered just buying a body and making the whole thing from scratch.

[ID10t]

I think you both hit it with the feeling that a strat has to have a wiggle stick. If I knew then, blah blah, I would have decked mine 20 years ago.
Then also... assembly line. Retooling equipment and humans to change from a trem to a hardtail may cost more time and money than just giving everyone a wiggly. Dollars chasing dimes.

[mickey]

I have two Strat (style) guitars. One a Strat, the other an SX. Both hardtail.

[toomanycats]

I have two Strat (style) guitars. One a Strat, the other an SX. Both hardtail.

AfterMod1.JPG

Goldie6.JPG

I do occasionally run across SX Strat style guitars, though like with other brands, it's always a tremolo equipped model and not a hardtail.

The other problem with the SX brand in particular, and I'm sure you fellas have noticed this too, is that used ones are always priced more expensive than what Kurt sells them for new. It defeats the whole purpose of buying used.

[mickey]

I paid exactly the same for the two guitars pictured above.
The SX $99 was the going price when I bought mine.
The Fender I bought off CL for $99. Seems the guy who was selling it loaned his EX-brother-in-law $99 to buy it.
The Ex-brother-in-law never repaid the loan, so he re-possessed it & offered it on CL.

[uwmcscott]

I think in general it's hard to find almost anything these days of the great supply chain disruption. I would guess that since even in good times hardtail strats are less common, that now they would be even harder to find.

[mozz]

Not as common because the first ones had the tremolo bar and that's what everyone expects to see.

Building a hardtail as we speak. Gonna be a 9-10lb tank. 3-p90's.

[Mossman]

The trem has become so identified as part of a Strat's "standard equipment" by the masses that even I've fallen victim to it. I don't have much use for a vibrato, myself, but still I had the bodies for both of the Strats I built routed for one. Partly because I live by the maxim: "it's better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it", and partly because a Strat without a trem just didn't seem right to me.

Despite the fact that import guitars have gained a greater appreciation from the broader guitar-buying public, their primary market is still kids and beginners. And what kid would want a guitar that's universally known for having a trem, but doesn't have one? Back in the day, the "budget" or "student" guitars were identifiable because they usually only had one pickup, and neither myself, nor any kid I knew wanted the "one-pickup-guitar". Similarly, if I played guitar instead of bass when I was a teenager, and I got a Strat that didn't have a trem on it (because that's how all the "beginner" guitars are), that probably would have felt just as stigmatic.

It might cost a little more to install a vibrato, but I don't think they'd sell many Strats without one.

[ronnx]

About 3 or 4 years ago, the hartail squier strats (top loaders) were quite plentiful on ebay at pretty affordable prices. I bought up 3 or 4 as modding platforms. Perhaps there were many buyers at the time that had the same idea. Of course I haven't looked for that type since.

[honyock]

I built one out of a cheap SX strat, and I've got two with the convertible bridge like Mickey's.

I liked the one I did myself better since I used some maple to plug the hole for the trem and it seemed to make the guitar a lot more resonant when I added the string through.

I had stolen the neck for another guitar and I need to rebuild it. Going to give it to my 7 year old as a 1st guitar. Oddly enough it will likely end up being pink like it was when I first bought it like 9 or 10 years ago...

Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk

[toomanycats]

Not as common because the first ones had the tremolo bar and that's what everyone expects to see.

Building a hardtail as we speak. Gonna be a 9-10lb tank. 3-p90's.


20210802_172959.jpg

Good Lord, that's a gorgeous piece of ash. Is it one piece?

[mozz]

You made me go out to the garage and look. It's 2 piece but i actually had a hard time finding a line. Down near the lower strap button you can see it. He must have used the thinnest band saw blade made to cut these pieces. There are grain lines on the back that swerve up the middle and go back and forth, you have a real hard time telling it was joined together.

Pretty sure it's Northern ash, heavy is not the word. It will put 70's strat's to shame in the weight department. Only body (reverb?) i found that was swimming pool route and hardtail.
With the weight, neck inserts, baseball bat neck & ss frets it should sustain a little under a week.

[slowhand84]

I'm talking used, at pawn shops, on craigslist, yard sales, etc, out in the wild.

I'm posing the question because it seems counter intuitive that I come across more used import Strat copies with a tremolo vs those that are hardtails. I frequently see all kinds of Squier Affintys, SEs, Standards, and Bullets (many other off brands) with trems, but hardly ever a hardtail.

From a manufacturing point of view a hardtail has to be less expensive to produce, with less routing to the body required, fewer pieces of hardware, and less assembly.

Given that lower priced import guitars are targeted towards beginners, it also seems like common sense that an instrument that is easier to set up and keep in tune, as hardtails certainly are, would be more appealing to that demographic.

Theoretically, it should be easy to pick up a full sized hardtail import from a pawn shop for around $50. But this is simply not the case.

Perhaps there's some factor other than common sense at play here. Is it simply the desire of newbies to have a "whammy bar" to wank on that's behind this?

I'm itching to make a clone of Billy Gibbon's 55 "La Grange" Stratocaster and I'm frustrated at not having found my cheap hardtail yet.

Pretty much what everyone else said...it's the same reason you don't see many LPs with a Floyd Rose. Trems are a defining feature for strats and the majority of folks looking at buying a strat don't want a hardtail, which is why you don't see a ton out there.

[ID10t]

I know this isn't used, pawn shop, yard sale... but GC pick of the day. I'm just saying you got some pull or mojo with the universe. Can you ask about when Ibanez RG550 will be in stock?


Bullet Stratocaster Hardtail Limited Edition Electric Guitar: https://guitarcenter.smart.link/0d5tbbr ... -Guitar.gc

[caustic69]

I have two Strat (style) guitars. One a Strat, the other an SX. Both hardtail.

AfterMod1.JPG

Goldie6.JPG

IS this some after market bridge to convert a regular vintage trem strat to a hard tail? Never seen that before. Where do they come from?
Thanks

[mickey]

That is the "Drop Top Convertible" bridge from "Custom Shop Parts" and was the best hardtail bridge for Strats there has ever been.
Unfortunately, Custom Shop Parts went belly up some years ago.

[caustic69]

That is the "Drop Top Convertible" bridge from "Custom Shop Parts" and was the best hardtail bridge for Strats there has ever been.
Unfortunately, Custom Shop Parts went belly up some years ago.

Thanks for the info!, Well that sucks they are no more, would've liked to try one