The Other Project: Dragon Guitar

Here's why I bought a couple of superstrats. The Gitano is the one with the bad trem...but flamed maple over alder. Brand new, so paint is flawless.



Tone is acceptable, and I can always swap pickups now or in the future. But the trem is awful.

Then I accidentally got a Squier Stagemaster:




The blue is a little more electric, but no flame, and a bunch of scratches. I'm assuming the trem is a little better, but not sure because I haven't strung it up yet (missing the bridge lock blocks). And for what it's worth, I prefer an H/S/S w/ a 5-way much more than an H/H with a 3-way like the Gitano.

Thoughts? Advice?

Brainfertilizer wrote:
Then I accidentally got a Squier Stagemaster:

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I will demonstrate, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that this Squier Stagemaster, surreptitiously and in a most cunning of manners, appeared in Mr. Fertilizer's bedroom one morning.

Sadly, my client is now facing harrowing moral dilemmas regarding the consequences of his misfortune. :farao:

You've got 2 bodies and 2 necks, so change the trems, change the pick-ups and you're good to go, no?

beavis wrote:

Brainfertilizer wrote:
Then I accidentally got a Squier Stagemaster:

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I will demonstrate, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that this Squier Stagemaster, surreptitiously and in a most cunning of manners, appeared in Mr. Fertilizer's bedroom one morning.

Sadly, my client is now facing harrowing moral dilemmas regarding the consequences of his misfortune. :farao:

You've got 2 bodies and 2 necks, so change the trems, change the pick-ups and you're good to go, no?

No, just one neck.
And I'm not in love with either guitar so much by itself. The loser of this contest gets sold, probably for not much.

Any opinions on which one the neck looks better with? Anyone?

The story of the "accident" is the story of eBay: People seemed to like the Squier Stagemasters, so I put what I thought was a low-ball offer in. But it ended up winning about $40 below my lowball bid!

If you like the H S S config, then go with the Squire. You'll play the guitar for the sound and feel beyond the looks.

Through a tiger stripe on that Squire, would look cool.

The Chad wrote:If you like the H S S config, then go with the Squire. You'll play the guitar for the sound and feel beyond the looks.

Through a tiger stripe on that Squire, would look cool.

I agree.

And what are you going to do with the squier neck? That inverted headstock looks cool.

The Chad wrote:If you like the H S S config, then go with the Squire. You'll play the guitar for the sound and feel beyond the looks.

Through a tiger stripe on that Squire, would look cool.

I think I agree.
Plus, less worry about swapping out a trem...Gitano seems to be one of those Chinese companies that takes all the cheapest steps possible to look like a quality guitar, but cuts cost corners every way conceivable. I was hoping that the solid Alder body would be a good base to start on...and it might be. The fret edges are actually pretty smooth, for example. But I'm not sure if stripping it down to the body and rebuilding is within my skill level as a newbie.
Then again, it was cheap enough, why not learn with it?

beavis wrote:

The Chad wrote:If you like the H S S config, then go with the Squire. You'll play the guitar for the sound and feel beyond the looks.

Through a tiger stripe on that Squire, would look cool.

I agree.

And what are you going to do with the squier neck? That inverted headstock looks cool.

I agree with you. I'll put the dragon neck on the Squier...if the paint bothers me too much, I'll repaint it at some point in the future (after learning on the Applause body).

I'd probably just sell the Squier neck on eBay. I don't have any other 24-fret bodies I'd want to put it on, and the color on the headstock would make it even less flexible...unless I stripped it. Do you want it for $40?

Brainfertilizer wrote:

beavis wrote:

The Chad wrote:If you like the H S S config, then go with the Squire. You'll play the guitar for the sound and feel beyond the looks.

Through a tiger stripe on that Squire, would look cool.

I agree.

And what are you going to do with the squier neck? That inverted headstock looks cool.

I agree with you. I'll put the dragon neck on the Squier...if the paint bothers me too much, I'll repaint it at some point in the future (after learning on the Applause body).

I'd probably just sell the Squier neck on eBay. I don't have any other 24-fret bodies I'd want to put it on, and the color on the headstock would make it even less flexible...unless I stripped it. Do you want it for $40?

Wouldn't mind it actually but I'm too far away (Switzerland), the shipping costs would kill the deal. Anyway, you might find it comes in handy, sounds to me like you've got quite a lot of material to work on, you never know. Plus, might be a fine neck, maybe a nice candidate for a full scallop?

beavis wrote:

Brainfertilizer wrote:

beavis wrote:

The Chad wrote:If you like the H S S config, then go with the Squire. You'll play the guitar for the sound and feel beyond the looks.

Through a tiger stripe on that Squire, would look cool.

I agree.

And what are you going to do with the squier neck? That inverted headstock looks cool.

I agree with you. I'll put the dragon neck on the Squier...if the paint bothers me too much, I'll repaint it at some point in the future (after learning on the Applause body).

I'd probably just sell the Squier neck on eBay. I don't have any other 24-fret bodies I'd want to put it on, and the color on the headstock would make it even less flexible...unless I stripped it. Do you want it for $40?

Wouldn't mind it actually but I'm too far away (Switzerland), the shipping costs would kill the deal. Anyway, you might find it comes in handy, sounds to me like you've got quite a lot of material to work on, you never know. Plus, might be a fine neck, maybe a nice candidate for a full scallop?

Cool...after posting the offer, I thought of something I might want to do with it...strip off the blue paint (and the Squier name), and it could look cool on the Gitano body...
So I think you're right: I'll hold on to it, and eventually I'll find a use for it.