Will the "headcap" Squier Classic Vibe Strats be future collectibles?
I was at Guitar Center the other day and noticed one of these deep-discounted all the way down to $299 - which strongly indicates we won't be seeing these models again any time soon, if ever.
The Squier Classic Vibe Series guitars have been around a while (since 2012 if I remember correctly). You can still get the ever popular CV Stratocaster and the CV Telecaster easily.
During this run of guitars there have been a few special editions, namely the ones with matching headcap color. The '50s CV Stratocaster with a color called Sherwood Green, and the '60s CV Stratocaster with a color called Burgundy Mist.
What's the difference between '50s and '60s CV Strats? The '50s has a 1-piece maple neck, pickups that have alnico 3 magnets and a 1-ply white pick guard. The '60s has a neck with rosewood fingerboard, pickups with alnico 5 magnets and a 3-ply white-black-white pick guard.
Yes, these guitars will easily be future collectibles
It will only take a few years before either of these two Strats ramp up in value. These guitars are a genuine example of "don't know what you got until it's gone".
Classic Vibe is the best series of electrics that Squier makes, so the build quality is there. These guitars aren't toys and are right up there with Mexico build Fenders (some say they're even better).
If you want one of these, grab one now before they're gone forever
There's the possibility that after 2017 and early 2018, these headcap-matched color guitars won't be returning. So at the time I write this in late December 2017, I'd say grab one right now if you like it.
Guitar Center has deep-discounted the guitar to $299. If you can't get one there, try these searches:
One of the ugliest Stratocasters ever made
Stratocasters look terrible in green, and that brings us to talking about a rather disgusting guitar.
Green, as I've mentioned before, is an awful color for an electric guitar. Very few electrics get green right. One of the very few greens that actually looks good is Gretsch Cadillac Green, which is quite the swanky look. But on the Stratocaster, green does not work. Never has and never will.
With that being said, the 1989 Fender Stratocaster Eric Clapton Artist Series guitar in a finish called 7UP Green exists. The color is basically Candy Apple Green.
I remember this guitar back in the day when it was new. Some guitars look bad in photos but great in person. But this guitar has the exact opposite effect. It looks worse in person.
"It doesn't look bad to me", you may say when you look at it. You would be wrong.
Now to be clear, this is not a Forest Green, nor a British Racing Green, nor is it one of the nicer darker metallic greens you see on some cars. Nope. This is a candy color. As in the type of paint used on cheap bicycles and carnival rides.
There are some Stratocaster lovers that question why Fender doesn't release this as a standard color. The answer to that is simple. It's ugly.
Also bear in mind that the vast majority of other guitar makers avoid green on solid-body electrics like the plague because they too know how ugly it is.
Did Clapton himself ever dare play this ugly Strat in public?
Unfortunately, yes he did for a very brief period of time. And when he did, he wore a purple suit to go with it during one of his performances. I am not kidding. He complemented his nasty looking guitar with a purple suit along with a green shirt! He must have raided The Joker's closet that day. I guess Clapton figured if he's going to play a butt-ugly guitar, he might as well dress in a butt-ugly suit to go with it.
As far as I can tell, it was only in 1989 that Clapton was actually seen playing a 7UP Green Strat. After that he was mainly seen playing Pewter or Black Strats instead (his signature guitar was and still is available in several colors and those were two also offered at the time).
Quick facts about this particular guitar
This is the era when upper-end Strats were outfitted with Lace Sensor pickups with active electronics (meaning the guitar needs a battery, which by the way is very annoying to get to and replace) and TBX tone control. As far as the rest of the guitar is concerned, it's basically 1950s specifications for neck (save for the fact it has 22 frets) and body.
Is 7UP Green the rarest of the 1988 and 1989 Clapton Strats? Yes, it is. It's been said that only 1 out of every 2,000 Clapton Strats made at this time came in this color...
...and I know why. Fender Custom Shop must have known right away how ugly this guitar was once they saw it completed.
Supposedly, Clapton wanted this color, so I can imagine how this was handled at FCS. "Sure, Eric, we'll make a guitar in this color for you." After that conversation with Eric, the shop manager says to the team, "Wow, this thing is ugly. Okay, we'll make it, but be sure to make it in the lowest production number possible because NOBODY is going to want this thing."
Worth owning?
Only if you have a very big attachment to sparkly green, because it's really not a good guitar.
This Strat doesn't serve the player well because it has one of the worst possible configurations. You've got '50s neck and body paired with late '80s tech, which means a buzzy neck with pickups that have way too much output mated to a noisy preamp and overblown treble with the TBX. Not a good combination.
When looking at it strictly as a collector's piece, this is a hard sell due to the fugly color. Yes, it's rare. But it is a "signature" model and not significant in the guitar world. A 7UP Green EC Strat is nowhere near as valuable as Eric's "Blackie" Strat and never will be.
Ugliest Fender guitar ever made?
Maybe not the ugliest Fender guitar, but definitely one of the ugliest Artist Series guitars. There have been some serious Artist guitar stinkers out of FCS over the years, and the EC Artist in 7UP Green would definitely be in the top 5 (maybe I should make a list?)
How to score good guitar parts cheap
I've said before that buying any guitar "with upgrades" isn't necessarily the way to go. However, there is one instance where it is an advantage...
...and that's when buying a guitar for parts rather than for the guitar itself.
When I searched for a parts guitar before writing this, I found one selling for $279 with free shipping. Cheap. But this is what it has in it:
- Grover locking tuners
- DiMarzio Area T neck pickup
- DiMarzio Area T Hot bridge pickup
- Gotoh bridge with intonated brass saddles
- Bourns 500K potentiometers
- Oak Grigsby 3-way switch
- Switchcraft output jack
- Hard case
Now when you put all those parts and accessories together were you to buy them separate, the value of all that is...
Get ready for this...
...about $415.
That's just the parts and case if all bought new, without the guitar.
Yes, it's true that desoldering the pickups and deconstructing the guitar is necessary just to get all the parts out of it. But the point is that all that stuff is acquired for about $135 less than if bought new outright.
Why is the guitar selling low when the total value of the parts should make it higher?
Two reasons.
First, any guitar "upgraded" with parts that it didn't have when sold new means it's non-original. And non-original means devalued.
Second, the fact the parts are in use means every single thing in the guitar is technically used, even if it was installed yesterday. That's another devaluation.
Seeking out specific parts? You may get lucky with "upgraded" guitars
Try a search for "guitar with upgrades" and see what you find. You might be able to score some real good parts and/or accessories far cheaper than if you bought new.
What not to buy in bulk for guitar
Certain things are okay to buy in bulk for guitar while others aren't.
I've personally made the mistake before of overbuying certain things while I ultimately had to throw out what I bought, which meant wasted money.
Generally speaking, the question to ask yourself whenever buying anything in bulk for guitar is: Will this still be useful in 3 months? If the answer is no, don't buy it.
For example, buying picks in bulk is fine because they pretty much last forever. Buying 9-volt batteries in bulk (for pedal effects and such) is also fine because those have a shelf life that lasts for years.
This is the stuff to avoid buying in bulk:
Guitar strings
Even with all the corrosion-resistant technology out there, coated strings from Elixir and so on, buying strings in bulk is usually a bad idea.
Generally speaking, the maximum amount of sets you should buy for any one guitar is a three pack, and that's presuming you go through a set of strings per month.
Buying in bulk, such as D'Addario EXL110-10P (10 sets of strings) is only advisable if you own multiple guitars and plan on going through all 10 sets in less than 90 days. After 90 days, don't be surprised if you see rust on the plain (as in unwound) strings fresh out of the pack.
Potentiometers
It's very easy to buy these things in bulk because they're cheap. Heck, you can get 25 of these things for under 30 bucks.
Now I know some of you will read that and think, "Ooh! Nice! I'm buying a bunch!" Whoa there, Tex. You don't need 25 frickin' potentiometers. In fact, you don't even need 10. Do you run a guitar repair shop? Didn't think so. Only buy what you need.
Glue
If you work on guitars at all, you're going to be using glue at some point. You may see Starbond bulk glue sets and may want one.
For this one I'd say yes, buy a set - but only the set you need. From that link you'll see there's all sorts of different thicknesses, grades and colors to choose from.
It's too easy to just keeping buying set after set after set of this stuff. Before you know it, all of a sudden you realize you've spent over 200 bucks. On frickin' glue.
Study what kind of glue you need for your guitar repair work and get the right set the first time.
Casio B650WD review
This is the spiritual successor to the A158, and most likely the last of my F-91W type style Casio watch purchases.
Originally, there was the F-91W, released in 1991. After that came the A158 which uses the same module as the F-91W. After a few years the F105W and A168 are released with the better "ElectroLuminescent" night light (Casio's version of Indiglo.) Fast-forward several more years later and the F108 model is released, which is similar to the F-91W, but with modernized larger display, thicker digit segments and while having an LED night light is much better than the original.
Fast-forward again to 2017 and two new models appear. The W217H and very recently at the time I write this the B650WD.
The W217H and B650WD are the only models released that are what I consider to be true spiritual successors to the F-91W and A158. Both have identical functionality and similar styling that made the '90s originals so good to begin with.
Complaints
The metal bracelet on the B650WD is a hair-puller, and the light button is a bit stiff.
Those are the only two complaints I have. And I can eliminate one of those complaints just by getting a W217H model, should I choose to get one later.
Compliments
Face is very easy to read.
Night light is vastly superior to the F-91W/A158. While not EL, the amber light easily lights up the entire display for really easy night reading.
Full 20-second alarm is carried over from the original F-91W/A158. Most Casio digital timepieces only have a 10-second alarm.
Beep tone is about the same volume as the F-91W/A158. It can be heard without a problem.
Buttons are larger compared to the '90s originals and easier to press.
Case is slightly heavier but fits much better on the wrist. The larger design allows the watch to lay more flatly, which is a very welcome thing. The lugs are also angled downward which further helps the watch to have such a great fit.
Overall design is more clean. Compared to the A158, several printed words have been removed. "LITHIUM" is gone, "12-24H" is gone and "WR" is gone. Two printed words have been added, "ILLUMINATOR" and "5 BAR" at the bottom, but done so in a way that if I didn't tell you about them, you probably wouldn't even have noticed (that's a good thing.)
Has a battery life claimed to be 7 years.
Better than the original?
Technically, yes, the B650WD is better than the A158...
...but the A158 still has something the B650WD doesn't have, and that's nostalgia factor.
The F-91W and A158 have a design that's almost 27 years old. I'm happy Casio still makes these watches and honestly hope they never stop making them.
I'd say just own both since they're cheap enough.
Unintentional '80s nostalgia
An unintentional peculiarity about the B650WD and only that model is that it looks something straight out of the early '80s. More specifically, "what people thought was a futuristic look in the 1980s."
A futuristic '80s appearance is basically an industrial design that's square, silver and shiny. And that's exactly what the B650WD is.
When I catch a reflection of me wearing this watch in a mirror, I genuinely do get that future-'80s style vibe from it.
Is this good? Yes, absolutely. Most inexpensive (and even a few expensive) digital watches have terrible "gamer" styling while the B650WD is much more elegant in its look.
For a cheap digital, the B650WD model might arguably be the best looking you can get for the price. I'm happy to own mine.