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Thank you very much for the feedback guys! I appreciate it and will-do on the advice given. I think you're right on the soldering--and I'm guessing he did something funky on his tone control wire-to-selector decision-making as well. This is quite surprising, as one would normally expect to receive great service in Japan in such a situation.
I use the pencil graphite trick on my acoustic nut to good effect, but have not used it on the electric yet, as it is still on its first set of strings. Before purchase, it had 9's and upon purchase, I had them replace them with 10's and do a setup (-Am thinking of going with 11's and another setup for tone and tuning benefits though, as the resistance of the 10's isn't a problem on bends etc.).
Although this is my first electric, I knew about the good reputation of MIJ Strats (and particularly the 80's Strats. Aren't those supposed to be the best years for MIJ?) and did some research on Gold Lace Sensors vs. standard before buying. Also, someone at a different store showed me the same model new in a Fender Japan catalog and it was selling for $1200. At $490, I figured I was getting a good deal, even if I had a few "learning experiences" like the current situation. I've learned a lot in the first month!
-Still...MIJ Strats are everywhere here, so finding another for a trade-in would be easy. Given that I would go with another MIJ Strat and finding one (but with different pickups perhaps) would be easy, do you guys still say I should keep the one I have and work with it?
What are your thoughts on the Fender Gold Lace Sensor pickups? The shop manager said that those were better than the current MIJ Standard Strat pickups, which is partially why my used guitar cost the same as a new MIJ Standard Strat. I have researched the Laces vs. standard, but would love to hear feedback from plays who have actually played both on various amps. I have not played mine on an amp yet (-Just on my TASCAM and Vox AC30 amPlug. The store manager did a live amp demo of my guitar for me before purchase and they sounded rockin'!).
I go back and forth on the metallic gold color. Historically, I have never bought anything in gold, being a silver person, but something about this guitar grabbed me. I looked at the "quirky" color as a positive in that few others would likely have it. -Still, I go back and forth...
Another FYI--I was 90% sure I was going to buy a similarly priced LP going into my testing phase, but ended up liking the sound of the Strats better. I don't know why, as I'd done a lot of listening via Youtube and usually liked the LP. Upon actually playing though, the Strat sound seems more interesting to me and I liked the feel of the guitar--particularly the one I got.
Last FYI for now, when testing for purchase, I actually used my TASCAM GT-R1, rather than a real amp, as I didn't know anything about amps at the time and it allowed me to record the sounds and listen to them at home later to compare (with effects on or off). That's probably not a good way to test, but I thought it would serve as a good control and there seemed to always be people in the stores wailing with distortion, making me wonder how they could even hear the tone properly on the guitars they were testing with so much conflicting background noise.
I'm learning a lot and lots to learn!
All the best,
Chordial
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