stratocaster

johnboy8

i am thinking of upgrading to a american strat delux hss,has anyone got one,is there much difference in the mexican and american strats(they are twice the price)am i only paying for the name.i dont mind paying a little extra for the guitar(i want to grow old with it)but i dont want to buy it for the sake of it.

Doctor J

The American strats are a big step up from the Mexican models, though for the money, they Japanese ones are probably the best value, not sure if they've got a HSS at the moment though. If you're not pushed on it being brand new, you could get an American model for about the same as a Mexican model from the states, starting with www.chrisguitars.com for a start.

johnboy8

thanks doctor,that sounds great,ihave heard great things about the japanese versions,although i believe they are stopping making them there(because they were trashing the american models)

Doctor J

They're still making them, they're just cutting down on who they ship them to, I don't think they can ship to dealers outside of Japan but the likes of Ishibashi still sell them to individual punters. They've also got a good second hand section. With them and with chrisguitars, factor in shipping of about €100 and then import taxes of about 25% all in. It still works out a lot cheaper than buying here, sadly.

johnboy8

yes the price in ireland is unbelievable.i found thomaan and music store in germany(music store better)they are nearly half the price and free shipping.cant believe anyone buying one in a shop here.

The_g-man

The DH-1 humbucker isn't the best on the am. deluxe strats, I'm still looking into changing the one on mine. There's an all single coil model on adverts at the moment:
http://www.adverts.ie/showproduct.php?product=24142&cat=all
but if you're still set on having the humbucker option, look for the LSR roller nut version:


Didn't seem to be on all the thomann images, worth doublechecking for even if you do go second hand on this, chrisguitars has a jeff beck model up now:

johnboy8

yea i am hearing negative things about the humbucker(although positive notes aswell),i just thought that i would get one to give me a bit more option.also i am hearing great things about this chris guitars site(are they good,any problems shipping to ireland,what about tax,am i better getting it shipped from the sites in germany)thanks.

Doctor J

Chris can be hard to get in touch with, it's a two man operation who are a bit too busy but he's great to deal with if you get a reply.

Johnny Storm

johnboy8 wrote:

,what about tax,...

It's all in the stickies at the top of the page but briefly:
Guitar shipped from any EU country (ie Germany) no extra tax to pay.
Guitar shipped from outside EU (eg USA or Japan) = tax of 25.5%

Also if you cant get Chris's attention keep emailing him every 24 hours (his suggestion) and put in the subject line of your email that you want to buy, not just that you have a question, or else phone him.