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Retail Price: 99.99 USD
Price Paid: 75.00 USD
Upgrades after purchase: 60.00 USD
Pros:
- finish is perfect
- no fret sprout
- incredible value and quality for $100.00
- built to modify
Cons
- stock tuners not the best
- can't put your hands on one as this is only available on the internet
Purchased this guitar after seeing many reviews as I wanted an inexpensive guitar I could travel with and experiment with to increase my skills and u derstanding in guitar maintenance. This was money well spent in my opinion. Out of the box this guitar was setup fairly well and all it needed was a new set of strings and to be tuned. I purchased this to experiment with and upgrade but before doing anything to it I decided to keep it stock and see how I liked it. Overall I was impressed and if it had been my goal just to purchase an affordable guitar it would have been a perfect purchase. If you are reading this and your purpose is to buy an affordable and playable instrument then you may want to take a look at this before heading to the guitar store.
As I mentioned above I also wanted to learn a bit more about guitar maintenance so I decided to make a couple upgrades which improved the quality.
1. Changed the tuners: Standard tuners were ok but wanted something more stable. Bought some locking tuners ($20.00) online that required no new drilling. Just dropped them in, tightened with a socket wrench and screwed them into the existing holes. This took less than half an hour and I am not someone you would describe as "handy". The tremolo block on the bridge is relatively light (as is the case for most budget strat clones so that would be another option for upgrading especially if you use the tremolo arm (whammy bar). [br][br]
2. Loaded pickguard upgrade ($40.00). This requires 3 wires to be soldered. Two for the jack and one on the tremolo claw. Also required some minor filing for the pickguard but it was very close to a straight drop in. A bit more advanced than changing the tuners but with YouTube and patience it is certainly doable. Also, if you are looking for a project guitar this one has a bathtub cavity so any pickup combination on your pickguard will work.
To summarize, out of the box, this guitar is a great option if you are just starting out or want a second guitar. It can be had for $100.00 or less. If you are looking for something that you can experiment with (like me) it also provides a great platform to use as a starting point. For a few $$$ more you can personalize it.