I didn't need another strat. But for $120 described as in "great condition" on GC used, and just had to check it out. It arrived yesterday and it was a mixed bag (spoiler, it's great).
It didn't have its trem arm, so I had to search what I had that fits. Found one. I tuned up and tried the guitar out. The action was horrible and the trem wasn't working well - super stiff (almost as if blocked), and the pickups were way too high. Setup time.
On the bench, the first thing I notice is the saddles are as low on the bridge as they can be. I've never seen that before, but it struck me very wrong. The fulcrum screws on the other hand were almost 1/4" too high! I guess someone decided to set the string heights using those, LOL. I took the back cover off to see 5 springs and the claw was really screwed in tight. I flipped it back over to see the bridge actually tilted back quite a way because of the fulcrum screw heights. I guess previous owner wanted to block the trem and didn't know how, so did this crazy thing.
I took off the string tension, reduced the spring count to 3, and backed the claw off to a reasonable starting point. I lowered the fulcrum screws to where they would float the trem about 3/32 above the top. The strings were now bottoming out on the pickup poles. Heh, half done, I guess. I set the height of each saddle to about right for the radius, then lowered the pickups a bit. Then I lubed the nut and had a couple rounds of adjusting the claw, saddles, and pickup heights.
Almost suddenly, the trem was floating really well, the action was great, and it sounded awesome, even staying in tune very well. I notice the staggered pole pickups don't look like SX or Squier, they're something else but sound great. They reveal every minute detail with full, round, glassy tones.This thing is playing and sounding as good as any of my real strats. I couldn't be happier. So I took some cleaner to it, and even found what I thought was a dent in the top was just some yuck that cleaned right off. The guitar looks far better with just a wipe down.
I don't know why I've been so lucky with bargain guitars lately, but I have no complaints. For $120 I stole this thing. I'm going to find a better arm for this guitar and give it a case because it's staying and in fact, I like it more than the MIM strats... it's up there with the USA and Japan strats for tone and feel.
So it's an SX neck on (I think) a Squier body and the pickups are something else, but they're wonderful. I don't really want to open it up to see more because it has no other reason to undergo surgery. Guitars like this are the best reason I watch GC Used. One more note on that trem. I don't know anyone else's perspective, but to me the 2 point trems with knife edges are just so much smoother and more stable and easier to set up than the 6 screw trems, there's no contest. They even float easily.
