Theme Park Guitar: Worth Saving? (possible work in progress)

[shoryuXE10]

Hi, all. I think this is my first post here.
This is my "Crafted in China" Stratocaster knockoff that I got from the theme park, Six Flags Over Texas.

Just a bit about this guitar.
As it's a theme park prize, its build is incredibly cheap. The pots make scratching noises when you turn them, and the pickups are very microphonic (I actually find their sound rather interesting, but I still think replacing them would be for the best). The finish has strange streaks that you can only see in certain lights, and a couple of cracks that you can only see from up close.
I did get pretty lucky with this guitar though. Even though it's a cheap guitar, this thing somehow rarely goes out of tune. The body is plywood, and even though it's not that heavy, it's wonderfully resonant, more so than my Mexican built Strat and Tele.
The neck, however, is where everything goes horribly wrong.  The neck woods feel like utter crap, making this guitar overall pretty unpleasant to play. It's also got way too much relief, and I can't fix this because the truss rod is completely jammed.

Thus, I was considering buying some new noiseless Dimarzio pups (Virtual Solo for the bridge, haven't decided on mid or neck yet) and a replacement neck from Warmoth.
I've read in many places, however, that it's near impossible to make a plywood guitar sound good.
So, before I spend $400 fixing up a guitar that's only worth $50 in the first place, I must ask: should I just hang this guitar up on a wall and call it a day, or is this guitar worth saving?

Thanks for reading.  :icon_biggrin:

 

[Cagey]

I wouldn't get too attached to it, but just because it's worthless doesn't mean you can't make improvements. You just have to be careful where you spend your money. In other words, a $400 paint job or a $200 refret would be foolish, but a set of pickups, a good set of locking tuners or a decent bbridge can stay with you when the guitar goes, then those parts can be installed on the next instrument. Unfortunately, none of those things are likely to improve that instrument very much, but you can use it as a parking place for those parts as you gradually collect them. Remember - chance favors the prepared. One of these days when you least expect it, somebody with a real Strat that's seen better days will be willing to give it up for next to nothing, and you'll already have the replacement parts to make it nice.

 

[mayfly]

I'd find a school that you like, paint it in the school colors, then donate it.

May as well have a life somewhere it might do some good.

 

[shoryuXE10]

I wouldn't get too attached to it,

this is actually the bulk of the problem. i tried hard to get this guitar for totally superficial reasons, and every time i see it in my room it still brings a smile to my face. i've always wanted it to be as enjoyable to play as it is to look at. a bit childish maybe, but it's who i am.  :icon_biggrin:

then those parts can be installed on the next instrument.
*snip*
you can use it as a parking place for those parts as you gradually collect them.

you've got a really good point here. i do have a few builds that i'd like to get around to in the future, so it shouldn't be too difficult to find a new home for the electronics if they don't work too well in this guitar. and sometime down the road when i'm able to do a full-blown warmoth build, i could throw the neck onto this one for a few days just to test the water.

so i guess the general consensus around here would be that plywood is just hopeless, huh?  :laughing7:

 

[Cagey]

Well, "hopeless" is probably too strong a word. People make good music using all sorts of instruments, some of them not exactly stellar examples of the state of the art. But, while the body wood of an electric guitar doesn't have as much effect on tone as many would like to give it credit for, there is a limit. With some exceptions, you don't wanna move outside of the solid hardwoods or all bets are off.

Plywood is exceptionally strong for a wood product due to its cross-grained laminations, but it's also more elastic than most solid woods, so it's sonically "dead". Vibrations are absorbed and damped out rather than conducted and/or reflected, even more so as the frequency goes up. So, use it to anchor a vibrating metal string and you can say goodbye to sustain and all those lovely harmonics that make strings sound so good.

Of course, if you're a high-gain speed metal thrash player, then it wouldn't matter. No notes are sustained or allowed to ring and all output is converted to square waves, so given a good neck and some grossly overwound pickups, you're in business  :laughing7:

Before you get too excited, though, you should know that good aftermarket necks tend to follow some tacit "standards" that low-end knockoffs like you have there usually don't. What that means is you may not be able to just bolt a different neck on there and call it a love story. The heel dimensions and/or mounting bolt pattern may not match up, or the bridge could be in the wrong place. If that's the case, then you really start to run into the problems with using a knockoff body. If you have all the tools and skills to make modifications, then you may be fine. Otherwise, skilled labor and tools are expensive and it's often easier/cheaper to buy a body that works than modify one that doesn't. Check eBay. There are hundreds of Fender bodies on there at every price point.

 

[Jumble Jumble]

Nothing wrong with plywood guitars.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7l3yOoasias[/youtube]

That's a plywood Squier Bullet Strat. Go ahead and get your new pickups, and a new neck. You can definitely make it a fun guitar. Although of course if you replace the neck, is it really still the same guitar?

 

[DangerousR6]

Cagey has a good point, making it a resting place for some decent parts. Mayfly does to, somewhere there's a music class in need of a guitar.

Or can just make a good wall hanger, next to rest of Batman collection....