Cheapest body with nice kit?

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Bergs2

Strat-Talk Member
Dec 18, 2022
24
UK
anyone done this?

Given the strat is wonderfully modular, and you can easily whip out the pick guard pots & pick ups, i was thinking of doing an experiment.

I have a nice loaded pickguard winging its way to me, and was thinking about setting it up on the cheapest strat body i can find - somthing like this to try to see quite how much tone is in the wood.... vs. the hardwear & hands.

What has partly inspired this is I bought a kit bass for my youngest (thinking it would be like the sh*t I had to learn on back in the eighties) - and you know what? its really pretty good and was less than a hundred quid (bucks).

So - my question to you builders is: Has anyone done a cheapy body with nice hardware & PU's? What did it sound like?

I've got a proper bug on this at the moment, as i've been chopping around a set of Vintage 60's style from a late nineties tribute series hendrix strat - with a set of Custom SD Voodoo clones.... quite the revalation as to how much is in the pick up.

My loose review on that front is here if anyone is interested...

On the build side - what other low cost options are available? there is obviously a shed load on the 'bay - but it quite appeals getting something off the shelf that it really doesnt matter what i do finish-wise.

Cheers guys,

Bergs


'79 & a JB humbucker
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Lateralu_s

Lateralu_s

Strat-O-Master
Dec 22, 2021
805
262/414
Years ago my friend did one with some finished body off of fleabay that he got for 60 bucks.. used a cheap neck with some loaded EJ pickguard.. thing sounded phenomenal. ymwv with your build but it is very doable just not at 2008 pricing lol

Now it's been passed onto his kids school for the music program.
 
Tsjackson

Tsjackson

Senior Stratmaster
Mar 15, 2016
1,797
UK
I’ve not really bought many new off the shelf bodies, I guess it depends on what you class as cheap. I got a full nitro finished ash body for £90 off eBay.
Alegree sells very reasonably priced bodies and everything. I think a lot of what is sold in the U.K. that would be considered cheap is still actually fair quality.

To get what i imagine your actually after, which I’m guessing is a ‘bad’ body (not made from real wood) your probably better off looking for the 90s squier bodies that were made of MDF, and I think some were made from ply.

I’ve had a Japanese squier with an MDF body and it didn’t sound bad. But I can see what your trying to do.

Also if you go for squier you shouldn’t have any (many) compatibility issues

Good luck!
 
B

Bergs2

Strat-Talk Member
Dec 18, 2022
24
UK
Wasn't thinking quite as 'bad' as a slab of MDF 😂 but that may be a good extreme to go to 👍

maybe just something like this:

is that a solid body? can't really tell from the pics

might just buy that actually if it stays sub £50.... 😁
 
wooders

wooders

Senior Stratmaster
Silver Member
Nov 19, 2021
2,542
Kent
I'd have no problems buying a cheap body for a build.
Bought a Squier standard Tele body with Kluson compensated bridge for my most recent. Little bit dinged and scratched, under £50, pleased as punch with the build.
I think the cheap ones at G4M are thinner. Check thickness for trem compatibility.
 
Tsjackson

Tsjackson

Senior Stratmaster
Mar 15, 2016
1,797
UK
Bergs2 said:
Wasn't thinking quite as 'bad' as a slab of MDF 😂 but that may be a good extreme to go to 👍

maybe just something like this:

is that a solid body? can't really tell from the pics

might just buy that actually if it stays sub £50.... 😁
Click to expand...
yeah I guess it depends on what your after for cheap, in my mind anything under £100 for a new finished guitar body is cheap.

But a lot of them are still made of alder/poplar/basswood etc etc woods that have been used for guitars of all price points by many makers worldwide.

Big money tends to be attached to a brand, obviously there will potentially be compatibility issues with cheap no brand bodies but at the end of the day it is generally 2 - 3 bits of wood glued together and CNC machined and then painted. Same as any off the shelf fender guitar.

If you really want to see what top shelf hardware is like on something is what most would consider cheap (as in bad or poor quality) then something like MDF or ply or even something someone on eBay has made out of old reclaimed pallet wood or whatever is going to be the way to do it that won’t just be like using a standard strat body.

Alternatively you could use a wood that fender rarely use, and also can get cheap. Mahogany I think is quite rare for a strat, or oak or pine although I think they’ve started using pine again a bit more.

Be good to hear and see progress, did you win that squier body?
 
B

Bergs2

Strat-Talk Member
Dec 18, 2022
24
UK
Nah - sniped at the last.

was gonna get that and put a 1/2 decent neck on it

back to the search....
 
Tsjackson

Tsjackson

Senior Stratmaster
Mar 15, 2016
1,797
UK
Bergs2 said:
how about this?

80 notes for an 'as new' body.... anyone know of the sellers? they seem to do a range
Click to expand...
That’s where I got the nitro body from, I thought the one I had was great, I never actually ended up using it for anything but I dry fitted hardware and a neck to it and it seemed to fit ok. That seems like a good buy… oh wait I get it!
 
Believer7713

Believer7713

The Pink Bunnyman Phranknstein
Silver Member
Dec 27, 2016
19,691
KC
This body is from a 1996 Squier The Bullet Series Strat. Considered to be the cheapest strat shaped junk that Squier made in the nineties I used some blocks of white pine to fill it in before routing it for the Floyd then did a room of file work to make it more comfortable.
It's cheap both in material and in that it was thrown in with another basket case guitar I bought (so it was free). I also bought the nice Bootstrap pickups from a member here. The bridge is a Floyd Rose Special that I took out of another strat and the neck was given to me because it had a problem with the locking nut shelf. The custom paint job is also my work and the paint is bl normally about $125/qt (also got the hook up from a guy at a body shop) not including the cost of the clear coat ($150-ish/gal)
In the end, my $1200 strat cost me about $80. It sounds pretty great too.
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Really, most of my work is done with the cheapest parts and materials I can find. Add some good parts and time and you can make a really nice playing and sounding guitar.
This started as a Starcaster by Fender Walmart starter pack guitar.
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When i was done with it, I almost didn't want to give it to my customer it sounded so good and played that nice.
 
B

Butcher_my_axe

Strat-Talker
Jun 8, 2022
180
Australia
Bergs2 said:
So - my question to you builders is: Has anyone done a cheapy body with nice hardware & PU's? What did it sound like?
Click to expand...
I hear no considerable difference between different types of wood in guitar bodies as opposed to other factors such as different pickups, pickup positioning, and speakers. Sometimes a bit of extra effort is needed to get the hardware to fit in cheaper bodies, however sound-wise it's all relatively similar.

I have used similar priced poplar bodies on Aliexpress, and I also suspect the more expensive alder bodies through there are from the same factory as the ones sold via Stratosphere.

Just to hone in the point: My first guitar was a CIC Legend s-type with a 40mm/1.5" plywood body. The ceramic pickups were a bit screechy (though I have now swapped with neodymium bar magnets giving a more bell-like chime with slighted boosted lows). I loaded it with a DiMarzio PAF Pro and Liquifire, and boy did that guitar started to growl and rock. I also have it a crack installing a hard-mounted licenced Floyd Rose copy, however plywood was a bit too soft to make it reliable.

Fight me, tonewood PRS fanboys...
 
Butcher of Strats

Butcher of Strats

Most Honored Senior Member
Feb 28, 2022
5,359
Maine
Bergs2 said:
So i've got a couple built up - my problem is the weight!

thinking of popping it some ballast - need to get ther weigth up by a good couple of punds minimum

Think those bodies must be balsa wood or something!?!?!
😂 😂 😂
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Paulownia is a common asian wood used for guitar bodies that is ultralight and also very soft, so it dings and dents easily, plus screws hold poorly, they strip out the soft wood.
You can reinforce the screw threads wih some glue.
How is the ballast working out?
5 pounds is very light, but some of us old guys love that because we are all busted up and in pain!
 
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