One of my favorite guitars is my Fender ShowMaster. It is a 24 fret strat with a set neck and Semour Duncan pickups. This is one incredible guitar! Its like the rolls royce of stratocastors with these top end features. It is the only strat made with a set neck, and one of very few that have 24 frets. These guitars are sleepers, not many people even know they exist and they are without a doubt one of the hottest deals on a superb Fender Stratocastor.

The Semour Duncans in mine are both full sized humbuckers. The bridge pickup is a Semour Duncan Pearly Gates and the neck pickup is similar to a good PAF. The neck plays incredibly smooth and fast. Bends are easy even for this long scale guitar. The rosewood fret board is beautiful and a joy to play on. The over all finish of the guitar is nothing less than stunning. The wood grain on the top is a real eye catcher. Everyone that has seen this guitar have complimented it on its beauty.

Keep your eye on these, right now you can pick one up fairly cheap, but once more people catch on these will take off in price. After all where else can you find a set neck, 24 fret real fender strat with real Semour Duncans for under $500? I think these blow away any of the american made strats and I’ve tried quite a few. The Fender ShowMaster is a guitar worthy of owning and playing. Check one out at any local music store and see for yourself.

About 8 months ago I picked up a butterscotch blonde tele after looking over the selection available. This one by far had the best wood grain, feel and the nicest neck. The neck is maple and you can see very cool wood grain that is really going to stand out as this neck ages. The guitar itself is light and well balanced either on a strap or on your knee.

The stock pickups I felt were very weak on this tele, so I’ve ordered some upgrades. I ordered from GFS and got a set of Fatbody Alnico pickups with oversized pole pieces. This should be a good blues and rock combination. I’m looking forward to trying them out on my tube amps. I’ve got a vintage Fender Champ with a new Weber Alnico speaker in it that I’m going to test these pickups with. With a little luck I’ll find myself in blues heaven playing this setup.

The guitar stock played well and had a good acoustic tone, combined with the incredible wood grain and beautiful butterscotch finish I couldn’t pass it up. I’d love to have another one just like it but in clear cobalt blue. I knew when I bought this guitar that I’d be getting upgrades to get the best possible tone from it. So far I’ve only spent about $70 and I’ve got two incredible pickups going in the tele.

I figured starting with the pickups would give me the most bang for my buck in tone. I’m also going to upgrade the nut and the bridge at some point soon. I used to think that you needed a heavy guitar for good sustain, but this guitar has proven me wrong. It sings with sutain even with the weak pickups, I know once they are upgraded this guitar is going to be a tone monster.

I picked up one of the ‘51 modified tele’s a while back and I have to say it is one of my favorite guitars to play. Out of the box it had a beautiful vintage sunburst finish and a good feel to it. I spent a few days making adjustments, a little here, little there until I got the setup exactly where I wanted it. I adjusted the intonation and played all night. I found myself loving the guitar more and more by the minute. The stock pickups were decent, the humbucker at the bridge really has some bite and growl to it and the neck pickup has a decent bluesy tone. I ordered a new GFS Alnico Strat pickup for the neck and I’m still trying to decide which pickup I want for the bridge.

The guitar plays incredibly. The neck was well finished and the frets poilished with no over hanging sharp points. What really amazed me was the incredible wood grain in the body and in the neck. The guitar is light weight and balances well on a strap or on your knee. The feel when playing is very comfortable, like an old friend. Even though this is one of the lowest priced guitars I’ve bought it plays like one of my best. I absolutely love this guitar and would love to get a couple more and set them up with different pickup combinations.