The Bassist and Guitarist thread

[Drago]

I've also got a CV Bass IV. Its impeccably finished.

 

[Rhythm Thief]

This is going to sound really daft, but are there any other fans of the early Encore guitars and basses here? These fall firmly into the "if you know, you know" category and are proper quality instruments. My two are an Indian-built Strat copy from the mid-1980s, built in the same factory as the Fender licenced Sunn Mustangs, and a mid-1990s Precision bass copy, likewise built in India. Both are great players. I had to level and crown the frets (any guitar can benefit from this) and change the pickups on the Strat (which meant changing the pickguard as the original pickups were very slightly undersized), but it's become my main gigging Strat and I'd have to think very hard before "upgrading" it. Oh, and it cost me all of £40, plus the time spent fitting the pickups from my bits box. I think the bass, which is absolutely standard, was £140. Honestly, if you can find one of these, snap it up.

 

[DRM]

This is going to sound really daft, but are there any other fans of the early Encore guitars and basses here? These fall firmly into the "if you know, you know" category and are proper quality instruments. My two are an Indian-built Strat copy from the mid-1980s, built in the same factory as the Fender licenced Sunn Mustangs, and a mid-1990s Precision bass copy, likewise built in India. Both are great players. I had to level and crown the frets (any guitar can benefit from this) and change the pickups on the Strat (which meant changing the pickguard as the original pickups were very slightly undersized), but it's become my main gigging Strat and I'd have to think very hard before "upgrading" it. Oh, and it cost me all of £40, plus the time spent fitting the pickups from my bits box. I think the bass, which is absolutely standard, was £140. Honestly, if you can find one of these, snap it up.

That's the beauty of a Strat, or Tele style guitar, there are so many reasonably priced upgrades, you can turn a nice guitar, into one hell of a guitar

 

[Drago]

This is going to sound really daft, but are there any other fans of the early Encore guitars and basses here? These fall firmly into the "if you know, you know" category and are proper quality instruments. My two are an Indian-built Strat copy from the mid-1980s, built in the same factory as the Fender licenced Sunn Mustangs, and a mid-1990s Precision bass copy, likewise built in India. Both are great players. I had to level and crown the frets (any guitar can benefit from this) and change the pickups on the Strat (which meant changing the pickguard as the original pickups were very slightly undersized), but it's become my main gigging Strat and I'd have to think very hard before "upgrading" it. Oh, and it cost me all of £40, plus the time spent fitting the pickups from my bits box. I think the bass, which is absolutely standard, was £140. Honestly, if you can find one of these, snap it up.

Some of them had the laminated ply bodies.

Much disdain for being cheap...but such construction more often than not gives a really nice sounding instrument.

Same with Basswood, frowned upon as a cheap option but is actually one of the best tonewoods out there.

As you day, if you know you know.

 

[Rhythm Thief]

That's the beauty of a Strat, or Tele style guitar, there are so many reasonably priced upgrades, you can turn a nice guitar, into one hell of a guitar

Yeah. Basically, every Strat or Tele is a chopping board on a stick, and any of them can be amazing with a little work.

 

[Rhythm Thief]

Some of them had the laminated ply bodies.

Much disdain for being cheap...but such construction more often than not gives a really nice sounding instrument.

Same with Basswood, frowned upon as a cheap option but is actually one of the best tonewoods out there.

As you day, if you know you know.

Indeed. The thing people overlook is that the first Fenders were cheap instruments made out of what was basically the cheapest wood Leo could find. Let's not pretend he wouldn't have used basswood or poplar if it had been available cheaply. To my mind, the very idea of spending big on a Strat or Tele type instrument is baffling: if you can live without the name on the headstock and have some modding and setup skills, so many of the cheaper copies can be made into great guitars

 

[Rhythm Thief]

I should add, with absolutely no disrespect intended to anyone who likes their Custom Shop Fender!

 

[Drago]

Indeed. The thing people overlook is that the first Fenders were cheap instruments made out of what was basically the cheapest wood Leo could find. Let's not pretend he wouldn't have used basswood or poplar if it had been available cheaply. To my mind, the very idea of spending big on a Strat or Tele type instrument is baffling: if you can live without the name on the headstock and have some modding and setup skills, so many of the cheaper copies can be made into great guitars

Leo was a terrible penny pincher. When the company took off and first moved to bigger premises he rolled up the old lino and took it with him, and thats (allegedly) what the "clay" fret markers were made from for many years.

He didnt even fit truss rods to early instruments, although he quickly had to row back on that.

The law of diminishing returns quickly kicks in at around the grand mark, and by £2.5k the correlation between price and "quality" has broken down entirely and above that youre paying for the name of the Luthier etc rather than any improvement in finish, materials or playability.

 

[raleighnut]

This is going to sound really daft, but are there any other fans of the early Encore guitars and basses here? These fall firmly into the "if you know, you know" category and are proper quality instruments. My two are an Indian-built Strat copy from the mid-1980s, built in the same factory as the Fender licenced Sunn Mustangs, and a mid-1990s Precision bass copy, likewise built in India. Both are great players. I had to level and crown the frets (any guitar can benefit from this) and change the pickups on the Strat (which meant changing the pickguard as the original pickups were very slightly undersized), but it's become my main gigging Strat and I'd have to think very hard before "upgrading" it. Oh, and it cost me all of £40, plus the time spent fitting the pickups from my bits box. I think the bass, which is absolutely standard, was £140. Honestly, if you can find one of these, snap it up.

Mate of mine had not an Encore but a Tokai Strat, 1970's made in japan and the story/legend goes that Fender sent the specs to them to build a Squier version but the price was too high but Tokai built em anyway with their own name on em. Reckoned to be better than the CBS strats being knocked out by Fender at the time

 

[DRM]

Mate of mine had not an Encore but a Tokai Strat, 1970's made in japan and the story/legend goes that Fender sent the specs to them to build a Squier version but the price was too high but Tokai built em anyway with their own name on em. Reckoned to be better than the CBS strats being knocked out by Fender at the time

This is the weird thing, CBS era Fenders were said to be rubbish, so everyone wanted a pre-CBS era instrument, so prices went up for these used guitars, now late 60's to 70's Fenders are "Vintage" with a stupid price to match, yet they were supposedly crap, it makes no sense, the only thing wrong with a Squier Classic Vibe in many peoples eyes is it doesn't say Fender on the headstock, yet it punches way above it's price point, and on paper makes more sense than the new Fender Standard range

 

[Rhythm Thief]

Classic Vibes are great instruments, full stop.

 

[Rhythm Thief]

Mate of mine had not an Encore but a Tokai Strat, 1970's made in japan and the story/legend goes that Fender sent the specs to them to build a Squier version but the price was too high but Tokai built em anyway with their own name on em. Reckoned to be better than the CBS strats being knocked out by Fender at the time

There are a few stories like that. The Korean-built Squire "Pro Tone" Strats and Teles were pulled from production after one year because they were showing up the Fenders.

 

[Drago]

In terms of finish my Classic Vibes are an easy match for my Fender Player series basses. Impeccably assembled.

 

[winjim]

None of my favourite music was made on a £10k custom shop master built signature series made in America road worn reliced Stratocaster.

 

[craigwend]