Splattercasters anyone?

[The-Ox]

anyone know much about Splattercasters? I know they're Mexican built, does that really have any bearing when compared to an American model?

[AndyTravis]

They were a factory special run - no 2 the same.

They were as I recall just Mexican standard strats with a fancy paint job. Great workhorse guitars.

[The-Ox]

cheers man, I've seen one for £599, worth the money? In terms of quality that is, not paintjob. Is this what a good Mexican strat is worth?

[AndyTravis]

[quote name='The-Ox' timestamp='1451406309' post='2940235']
cheers man, I've seen one for £599, worth the money? In terms of quality that is, not paintjob. Is this what a good Mexican strat is worth?
[/quote]

£599?!

I recall mexi strats being £279 when this was out and these were £449 - we reduced them to £299 by the end, think it was about 2004...

£599 is very very optimistic...

[AndyTravis]

If you want value for money - I'd look at the Mexican classic series 60's or 50's strat. Look the business and you'll get one used for about £300.

[RhysP]

[quote name='The-Ox' timestamp='1451406309' post='2940235']
cheers man, I've seen one for £599, worth the money? In terms of quality that is, not paintjob. Is this what a good Mexican strat is worth?
[/quote]

You can get a Mexican Strat for a lot less than that.
Quality, like all things Fender, is variable. A good Mexican Fender will be a very good instrument.

[The-Ox]

thanks for the heads up regarding the price! Saved me there. Is it possible to buy a normal strat and then get a paintjob on it? So my workings are this (speculative figures)

Mexican Splattercaster for sale: £599
Normal Mexican Strat: £300
Decent Fender (better than Mexican Splattercaster): £450 roughly?

so with these rough (and probably wrong) calculations, I could get a better instrument that's cheaper than the splattercaster, and then get the paintjob to take it up to roughly £600 if that makes sense? (going by the logic that a £599 splattercaster is the same quality as a £300 normal paint job strat)

I'm using words like better, good and decent rather loosely here - but my point is that a £599 splattercaster worth the same as a £300 mexican, so by buying a slightly 'better' fender for around £450/£500, I can get the paintjob myself, hence a 'better' instrument with my preferred paintjob?

Edited December 29, 2015 by The-Ox

[AndyTravis]

You could get a mid 90's American standard strat for about £450/£500 - I had a black 96 and a sunburst 97 both of which were perfectly good and solid guitars.

Sold the black one for £500 and traded the 97 with a value of £450

[The-Ox]

cheers mate! Seems like £400 is a good bet for a solid guitar

[RhysP]

[quote name='The-Ox' timestamp='1451432281' post='2940517']
cheers mate! Seems like £400 is a good bet for a solid guitar
[/quote]

You'll be very lucky to find a US or Japanese Fender Strat for £400.

"Decent fender" is a difficult one - don't assume spending more money will automatically get you a better guitar where Fenders are concerned.
Personally if I was looking for a decent Fender where good quality was pretty much assured I'd only look at Japanese ones.

[The-Ox]

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1451481226' post='2940808']
You'll be very lucky to find a US or Japanese Fender Strat for £400.

"Decent fender" is a difficult one - don't assume spending more money will automatically get you a better guitar where Fenders are concerned.
Personally if I was looking for a decent Fender where good quality was pretty much assured I'd only look at Japanese ones.
[/quote]

thanks mate, will scour the market and any 2nd hand ones properly

[Bassman Sam]

I picked up my Crafted in Japan '62 RI for 460 quid off of Ebay. Lovely guitar at a good price.