Best Strat type guitar £400 budget

[w oxo cube]

Hi I'm looking to to pick up a strat style guitar with a budget of around £400 give or take.

Due to being an electronic music type I've not really kept up with guitar tech for the last 20 years. The last I heard Japanese manufacturing was equal to US and you could get a very nice instrument for much less.

With that in mind and in deference to your superior knowledge, which guitars should I be looking at.

Best

[Drew Stephenson]

At that price there are plenty of good options from the likes of Squier, Yamaha, Harley Benton (Thomann's own brand), Ibanez, and probably half a dozen others as well.
You've probably got to work hard to get something bad really.

[Sam Spoons]

You won't get a new Japanese made guitar for £400 these days* but my goto electric is a bitsa Strat I built a few years ago from with Korean Squier neck and, mostly, Chinese parts. I'd suggest either a used Squier Strat or, if you are happy with a SuperStrat style, a Yamaha Pacifica. In both cases avoid the very cheapest Chinese or Indonesian built instruments (Squier Affinity or the 'Strat') as QC is variable to say the least but better Chinese built instruments are pretty good.

If you definitely want new then the Vintage brand guitars (Vintage V6 is their Stratalike) from John Hornby-Skewes are generally pretty decent and are within budget.

* Early '70s Japanese guitars were often pretty poor too so don't be tempted by a very old Japanese instrument unless you are confident you can weed out the duff ones.

[Wonks]

Unless you buy used, you are unlikely to get even a soft case/gig bag with it at that price, certainly not a hard case. If it’s home use only, that may not be an issue, but budget for one if you need. one. You may well get a discounted one with the guitar.

You could almost certainly pick up a used Mexican Fender Strat for £400, but the quality levels between the lower priced Mexicans and the upper level Squiers are rather blurred.

Are you an experienced player and so know what you want/like if you play it?

[zenguitar]

With guitars it is always best to play before you buy. And no matter how good quality control gets, no two pieces of wood are the same.

Best put aside an afternoon to spend in a well stocked shop and play all the Strats in budget until you find one you connect with. Don't worry too much about set-up, that's easily tweaked and the shop might agree to set it up for you to close the sale. So err towards the guitar that sounds best when you play.

And make sure you play them unplugged first. The better it sounds unplugged, the more likely it is to sound good plugged in.

Andy

[Wonks]

And any need for an amp, or is it for use with a computer, audio interface and amp software?

[Agharta]

The Fret-King Corona SP is worth a look due to them sometimes being available a lot below list on ebay and direct with some retailers.

[S2]

Something a little different but how about one of the Sire guitar range. I've not played one but I play a Sire bass (fretless) and it's easily better than my Fender Jazz Mexican and far nicer to play. Once the fretted ones come back in stock at Andertons I shall buy one.

I've just looked and the guitars are £499 so maybe a stretch but perhaps go and try one out.

[tomas_man]

You light want to check out Révélation Guitars, a company funded by Alan Entwstile, really Nice mics and body. I dont know the strat modèles but I owe anotjer model and I must have paid it around 400 Euros in France.

[DC-Choppah]

I would get a used, Peavey Falcon (an American made guitar) for a Strat at your price.

Here is an example.
https://reverb.com/item/36550819-usa-pe ... yle-guitar

This is a legit instrument, and does what a Strat does. Very well made, and very much sought after on the market. Surely you can find one to try.

I confess I sold mine when I found out how much it was worth. It had gone up in value. So I bought a real American Fender Strat instead.

[John Egan]

Hi I'm looking to to pick up a strat style guitar with a budget of around £400 give or take.

Have a look at the G&L Tribute Strats. They are good value and Guitar Guitar have some in their clearance section.
Regards, John

[Murray B]

I've not got a lot to add to all the previous advice and you should be able to find a really nice guitar for the money, especially if you are going second hand.

I suppose factors to consider are:

How long do you want to spend looking...finding the right guitar can take a while in the second hand market.

Are you budgeting for a set up from a luthier (almost always worth it)?

Do you want something that will keep it's value?

Fender's tend to hold their value better than some other manufactures if you are buying new. However this fact is a bonus if you are buying other makes second hand. You'd get one of the really fancy Yamaha Pacifica's (6 series) for your budget second hand for example.

Quick google search found this one:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Yamaha-PACIFICA-PAC604-Electric-Guitar/154218805410?hash=item23e82838a2%3Ag%3AvGkAAOSwfw5fw8R3&LH_ItemCondition=4

Trouble is there is too much choice - but the higher end Yamaha's are pretty much universally recognised as being great guitars that offered really good value for money when they were new.

If you haven't guessed it already I used to have a guitar acquisition problem which I have now mostly left behind me, however it's fun to revisit it vicariously through your post.

[Wonks]

Is there a particular reason you said 'Strat-type'? Do you particularly want a Strat, or is it single coils or the general shape you are after, or maybe a lighter weight than compared to say a Les Paul style, or a mixture of some of those?

Do you know enough to expand the requirements a bit, for as you can see, there's a very wide range of options available at the moment with just 'Strat-like'?

[w oxo cube]

Thanks folks plenty of great advice to help steer me through the valleys of the strat.

Is there a particular reason you said 'Strat-type'? Do you particularly want a Strat, or is it single coils or the general shape you are after, or maybe a lighter weight than compared to say a Les Paul style, or a mixture of some of those?

Do you know enough to expand the requirements a bit, for as you can see, there's a very wide range of options available at the moment with just 'Strat-like'?

I'm looking at a strat as the type of music for my new project is disco/funk and will be 95% chugging rhythm style. The clean, single coil neck pickup sound kinda screams strat. I would defo take it to be professionally set up to get the action super low.

I remember playing a Ernie Ball Music Man Silhouette in my teens and that guitar is about as close as it comes to being perfect as it get for me. However the long suffering Mrs Cube would not agree with these expensive and nostalgic sentiments.

[Kwackman]

I remember playing a Ernie Ball Music Man Silhouette in my teens and that guitar is about as close as it comes to being perfect as it get for me.

What about the Stirling guitars.. eg
https://www.andertons.co.uk/brands/musi ... mint-green

[Wonks]

Sterling do a standard scale (25.5") SSS configuration Cutlass (that Andertons one is the short scale variant), so if you can find somewhere selling them nearby, it's definitely worth a try as the Sterlings I've tried are great value guitars.

https://intl.sterlingbymusicman.com/col ... 3456851016

https://www.pmtonline.co.uk/sterling-by ... coal-frost

[w oxo cube]

Hmmmmm interesting - right on budget as well.

Do you reckon these are in the same league as the higher end Yamaha Pacifica's?

[Macca_25387]

Squier Classic Vibe strats are excellent guitars for the money.

[Wonks]

Hmmmmm interesting - right on budget as well.

Do you reckon these are in the same league as the higher end Yamaha Pacifica's?

Probably not, at least not without a pickup swap, but a pickup swap can be relatively cheap these days. But a new Pacifica 612VII is £700, as opposed to a new £380 Sterling, so you'd expect some difference! You have to move to a used guitar in order to realise a lower price and the better quality. But even then, I once sat down and played through the full range of Fender Strats in Guitar Village, from Mexican to custom shop, and both myself and my friend much preferred the Korean-Made Lite Ash Strat to any other apart from the Custom shop guitars. (I since bought a used Lite Ash Tele and it's really nice). That was priced at about the same as the higher-end Mexicans and well below the cheapest US model. So price isn't always a reliable guide as to how much you'll like a guitar.

Also remember that specs and detailing levels change all the time. Current upper-level Squiers are about as good as they've ever been, and will be almost certainly better than similar models from 10 years ago. Not to say that the old ones are bad , but that if you try a current model and then find an older version of it, it may well feel and sound like a quite different guitar in terms of neck specs and pickups fitted.

And what sounds like a good guitar on paper may simply not work for you because the neck's too wide or too thin or too fat or its the wrong profile. So you really need to get out there and try some guitars, which is certainly very hard to do at the moment.

What would be the guitar stores that are fairly local to you?

[Murray B]

Sorry I can't help with the comparison with Sterling and Yamaha Strat-a-likes

I've got a Pacifica 302 and it's a very well made guitar and has a nice sound but needs a proper set up to really come to life (I only acquired it recently and lockdowns have got in the way of getting this sorted.)

I've never played a Sterling, I have 3 Musicman's and these are simply stunning but not the same as the Sterlings perhaps - although the Sterlings get good reviews.

I've played a couple of the classic vibes and they were very good, well made, good hardware / pickups and play well out of the box - you've just got to work out if the fretboard radius works for you - some of the models are a bit too tight for me as they are vintage spec.

As Andy / Wonks said earlier there's no substitute for getting your hands round some guitars. I spent about 20 years searching for the perfect telecaster for me and it turns out it was actually a P90 equipped Musicman Axis Sport.

Given the current situation this isn't as easy as it would be in normal times. Perhaps if your local guitar shop / music shop does no quibble returns you can play one for a couple of days while you are working it out.

[ore_terra]

Squier Classic Vibe series. excellent value.

[w oxo cube]

Also remember that specs and detailing levels change all the time. Current upper-level Squiers are about as good as they've ever been, and will be almost certainly better than similar models from 10 years ago. Not to say that the old ones are bad , but that if you try a current model and then find an older version of it, it may well feel and sound like a quite different guitar in terms of neck specs and pickups fitted.

Cheers Folks

Yeah there is such variance in guitars from different eras, this is one of the reasons I asked the question as I'm not sufficiently in the know with this sort of thing. Too many years playing with drum machines and synths.

And what sounds like a good guitar on paper may simply not work for you because the neck's too wide or too thin or too fat or its the wrong profile. So you really need to get out there and try some guitars, which is certainly very hard to do at the moment.

Absolutely, I really need to play a few, and find out what works best for me. I have a Fender Esprit which I've had for nearly 30 years and the range of tones I can get from that is incredible. I don't really want to mess about with the action too much as I'm used to how it feels, but it's perhaps a little high for the disco rhythm stuff. That's the plan with the Strat to get the action right down specifically for rhythm playing.

What would be the guitar stores that are fairly local to you?

I'm in Edinburgh the biggest shop now is guitar guitar which appears to be very well stocked.

[w oxo cube]

Sorry I can't help with the comparison with Sterling and Yamaha Strat-a-likes

I've got a Pacifica 302 and it's a very well made guitar and has a nice sound but needs a proper set up to really come to life (I only acquired it recently and lockdowns have got in the way of getting this sorted.)

I've never played a Sterling, I have 3 Musicman's and these are simply stunning but not the same as the Sterlings perhaps - although the Sterlings get good reviews.

I've played a couple of the classic vibes and they were very good, well made, good hardware / pickups and play well out of the box - you've just got to work out if the fretboard radius works for you - some of the models are a bit too tight for me as they are vintage spec.

As Andy / Wonks said earlier there's no substitute for getting your hands round some guitars. I spent about 20 years searching for the perfect telecaster for me and it turns out it was actually a P90 equipped Musicman Axis Sport.

Given the current situation this isn't as easy as it would be in normal times. Perhaps if your local guitar shop / music shop does no quibble returns you can play one for a couple of days while you are working it out.

Oh man that Musicmann was the nicest guitar I've ever played, It pretty much played itself, so easy was it.

I've a good few idea's to be looking at and as Wonks said, price is not a reliable indicator of how well a guitar suits. But It's good to narrow things down a touch as there as so many. The Sterling would be a good place to start my investigations, if it feels nice then perhaps look at some different pick ups. The Yammy's as well sound interesting but that's the 2nd hand market which isn't ideal at present. Still, next year....

[Murray B]

Oh man that Musicmann was the nicest guitar I've ever played, It pretty much played itself, so easy was it.

They are something special - it's the neck I think.

But with a good set up nearly all the guitars in your price range can become very nice guitars to play. Especially of you follow Andy's advice a few posts back and pick one that has a nice acoustic sound and resonance.

PS I think a Strat is a good choice for playing funk - I use mine for a Jazz Funk thing I do. Of course you could probably do it on anything and there will be a million exceptions to the rule.

Somewhere on YouTube is a film about Nile Rogers trying to get another Strat made like his one from the early days of his playing and how much of a struggle it was, not all Strats are created equal it seems.

[Funkyflash5]

I'll throw in the G&L Tribute Legacy as an option in budget and available at guitar guitar. G&L is on my short list if/when another guitar comes home, and the Tribute models I've played have always impressed. And I'll also agree that the offerings from Sterling are worth pursuing.