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I had submitted a posting months ago regarding my modded Wesley Jazzmaster/Strat
guitar, which is basically identical to the "Stagg". I suspect both are made in
the same factory, just wearing slightly different headstock shapes, and
different brand-name appliques.
As Paul says, they're quite well made for the money. In fact, a dealer in New
York is advertising the Stagg M350 (the guitar we're discussing) for $179.00
plus if your order totals $200.00 or more, FREE SHIPPING.
These guitars are acceptable and playable AS-IS, even for an intermediate (35
years playing, in my case) guitarist. However, with a few mods and upgrades,
you can transform it into a force to be reckoned with, even by custom shop
Fenders!
1. In the case of my Wesley (the same as the Stagg), I replaced original
p'ups with Japanese Strat Vintage R/I p'ups, added a 3rd control pot, all 3 pots
now CTS vintage-type 250K pots, replaced the cheap 5 position switch with a CTS
3-position, doing a dirt-simple re-wiring, causing the guitar to function like a
Les Paul as far as the p'up switch and main volume knob. Middle Volume knob is
now Volume control for the Middle p'up, thereby allowing EVERY conceivable p'up
combination, and the Tone pot is now Master Tone for all 3 p'ups. Replaced the
factory output jack with a solid Switchcraft jack also. Since I did the work
myself, cost is just parts, which totalled about $80.00 including the p'ups, for
the electronic mods.
2. The tuning machines are cheapo imitation Kluson, and begged for
replacement. I had to re-drill the holes in the headstock to accomodate the
"real" Klusons, but other than that, about as simple as mods get. Total cost
$40.00
3. The final mod is optional as to the guitarist. I happen to prefer the
sound and resonance added by using the Solid Cold-Forged Steel trem block sold
by Callaham, This requires changing to a Mexi-Strat Standard bridge assembly,
since the mounting-screw holes are the same spacing as with the factory bridge.
You end up with a more stable bridge, noticeably greater natural sustain,
slightly more enhanced note separation, plus this is the original Leo Fender
1954 design for bridge and block. Total cost $100.00.
This guitar comes from the factory with a solid Alder body, NOT basswood, NOT
agathis, NOT poplar, and definitely NOT laminate! Necks are solid maple with
Rosewood fingerboards. The finishes look gorgeous, and are competitive with
factory-made US Fenders.
By doing the above modifications, even if you do them all, you have the
end-product being a damned fine electric guitar, with excellent tone and
sustain, with solid tuning stability, IMHO comparable with the US-made Fenders,
but fully modded and upgraded, still totalling about the street price of a
dead-stock Mexi-Strat. $399.00.
Validation for this guitar as modded, came from the other members of my band,
a trad-surf band who strive for an authentic First-Gen sound and feel in our
recordings. In my collection, I've got original "L" series J/M's and Jag's, AV
R/I's of the same, Mosrites, Mosrite copies, Dano's, Gretshes, etc., etc. When I
first brought this Wesley/Stagg modified guitar out at one of our rehearsals,
last year, (I have used this guitar heavily in gigs since then) and started
playing, the smiles on the rest of the band members' faces were unmistakable!
Our 2nd-Rhythm guitarist gave me the money to order him one of these, that
SAME day! Our drummer, who's been an avid surf music fan for over 35 years,
told me, this is one of the sweetest surf guitars he's ever heard.
Six months down the line, I'm loving how excellent this guitar continues to be
for a grand-total cost to me of just $400.00!!
Bruce D
Paul Fritz <> wrote:
Richard,
The Stagg JM¹s basically a copy strat with JM-style
body...long scale, 3 single coils, solid, reasonable hardware. It played
well and seemed like a good candidate for modding. Any guitar you get in
this price range is going to need a little tweaking.
I ultimately traded for a new 24² scale Jagmaster (Jag neck/body, strat
trem, double Seymour Duncan designed humbuckers), tagged at $249. I put
extra trem springs on and set it up with 56-15 flatwounds and it sounds
quite good, certainly a nice partner to my Jaguar.
Paul
On 1/9/06 10:22 AM, Richardwrote:
> That Stagg Jazzmaster clone actually looks pretty
> cool. Has anybody ever tried one of those? I assume
> that they're UK cheapies as well.
>
> Richard
>
> --- Cajuna Gabensma <> wrote:
>
>> > This Stagg guitsr looks similar:
>> >
>> >
> GUITAR_W0QQitemZ7380227640QQcategoryZ68176QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>
>
>
>
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Paul Fritz
Guitarist
Kelp
Santa Barbara Surf Music
www.kelpsurfband.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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