NGD: Fiesta Red Classic 50's Strat

I've always been a huge fan of the Classic 50's Teles and have owned a few over the years. My current Partscaster Tele has a Classic 50's neck on it, and it's my favorite Tele neck.

Picked up this really nice 2011 Classic Series Strat the other day. Guitar is 100% original and stock and has never been messed with. Never been much of a Strat guy, but for $400 I'd be a moron to not buy it.

Strings are old as heck, but I still sounds great. Unlike the Classic Series 50's Teles, the pickups on this guitar don't sound horrible. The guitar is in desperate need of a set up and the strings are really old.

I've been told the Fiesta Red is a somewhat rare color in this series. Red has never been my favorite color for a guitar, but this one is growing on me.

 

Actually, the action was not bad. Sometimes the camera angle can be misleading and make it look like the action is higher than it is. The high E was the only string that was really high, but after I set the guitar up I actually had to raise the other strings.

It needed a little less relief (dialed it in to 0.010") and I floated the tremolo, threw on some fresh strings and dialed it in to where I like it and then fine-tuned the intonation (6/64" on the low E, 4.5-5/64" on the high E). I play a lot of country, bend a lot and play pedal steel licks, etc. and low action just sucks and sucks the life out of guitars. Nut slots are all fine. As far as a clean and polish it's actually really clean and in great shape. Remember it's nearly 10 years old, it's not a brand new guitar. Frets are smooth with no fret wear or grime/tarnish and overall the guitar is in great shape. The strings were nasty, and that was about it.

If that guitar looks dirty to you (aside form the strings) I think this is why I stopped selling guitars online on Reverb! So many people out there with ridiculously unreasonable expectations and would flip out if there was an eyelash on the guitar and would cry that the eyelash wasn't included in the description and demand a refund, etc.! I though this guitar is pretty stunning and in pretty amazing shape and super clean.