L3F1 MUSIC

Strat Bridge

Is Buying A Guitar From A Pawn Shop A Good Idea?

There is something about pawn shops. In fact, some people recorded whole albums about them. As a man, I think it's the smell. Seriously. Next time you walk past a pawn shop, walk in and take a big huge sniff. It's the smell of a potential bargain, a possible rip off. Pawn shop hunting is the modern day civilised hunting expedition.

On a recent hunting trip I managed to trap a PRS SE Single Cut Soap bar Model. It's an SE, so it's a Korean model. I had a look online and it lists for about 700 pounds, so it's still a bargain.
Basically, I was looking for a cheap guitar case at the pawn brokers because I'm one case short these days, and as I was leaving I saw it in the window. I came home, asked the better half if I can get guitar number seven and she said ok, because she knows how much I want a PRS, and [suck up mode] because she is the most lovely person in the word [/suck up mode].
I went back up to the pawn broker, and asked for a play. It was awful. Absolutely unplayable. He said he had it in there for a while and that it had been reduced because for some reason he can't sell it. All the problem was is that the bass side of the bridge was WAAAYYY to low. I pulled out a ten cent coin, four turns of the bridge bolt, BINGO, perfect playability.
Yeah, the tone control will likely need replacing, but big whoop. It sounds beautiful, even with the dead strings on it. I even got him to throw in a case for $0. Bargain and a half.

How much I hear you all ask?

$499 Australian Dollars. Go do the math! I can't wait to finish paying this off in the next few weeks and going wild. It just seems to be that every guitar I want is falling right in front of me. I few months ago, I was really wanting an S-S-S Strat. Then I get a phone call from someone I had not seen in two years offering me her partner's guitar that he does not play. It was an S-S-S Strat. $100 later and it was mine. Now I get the PRS I've been wanting for years.

So here are my rules for pawn shop guitaring.

1. Never impulse buy
You see something you like, don't just grab it and run (unless you think you can get away without getting caught). Play the guitar for a while. Put it down and come back in the next few days. See if it still feels the same and has the same appeal as that initial reaction. The last thing that you want to do is to buy a guitar that you loved at the time only to take back to the same pawn shop a few weeks later.

2. Have a goal
This follows on from tip number one. Have a goal as to what type of guitar you are after. By that I mean you should a clear definition of what you want to buy. This will help you avoid the impulse buy, and focus your attention so you don't get distracted by all the shiny things in the shop. Going back to my PRS example, I've been looking for a nice guitar with soap bar style pickups now to round out my collection. I wasn't necessarily after a PRS, but that came as a giant bonus. It was the only guitar that had the features I was after, and as such was the only guitar I picked up and tried. Don't by a guitar that you don't need, unless of course it is something exceptional.

3. Play with the knobs and know how a guitar works
The ones on the guitar you dirty fiends. Turn all the knobs, waggle the lead, and flick all the switches. Make sure they all work, and if not, have a rough idea if you can fix it yourself or how much it may cost you. You don't want to spend $100 on a guitar and then have to do $300 worth of work on it. The PRS has a busted tone pot, and I can most likely fix that myself, and at worse, I no someone who will fix it for a few beers. You also need to know a little about the setup of guitars. The PRS again is a great example. The strings were to low, and after looking down the neck I could tell the issue was just the bridge height. Simple things like that can get you a bargain. This guitar had been ignored my who knows how many people before me because they did not know how to correct that simple problem. A little knowledge is your friend here.

4. Try some different amps
This is very important. The person running the pawn shop will always plug you into a small Fender combo and crank the reverb. I honestly think that those small combos were designed by Fender exclusively for the pawn shop industry because they make every guitar sound great. So try the guitar with that crappy 15W no name amp as well. It will give you a much better idea on the true sound quality.

5. Don't pay for the case
From my experience, the person who pawns off any decent guitar will have had it in a case, and the case will likely be out the back of the shop. Ask about the case, ask if it is included in the price, and if not ask why not. 75% you'll get the case for free, 20% heavily discounted, and the remaining 5% involves you walking out of the store. They want the sale just a bad as you want to buy the guitar so let them chase you.
Well, I've got a few weeks until I get my new pawn shop beauty. I'll make sure to let you know how she settles in. Till next time...

About the Author

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Electric Guitar Strat Bridge and Floyd Rose?

I noticed on my Fender Strat if you bend two strings or more at a time some of the other strings kinda out of tune a tiny bit and then once I've stopped bending it's back to normal again, happens with my mates Ibanez with a floyd rose, just wondering if this is normal?

Yes it is normal. Since your bridge is on springs which balance the tension of the strings, if you bend a string (increasing the tension) the bridge rocks forward, which makes the other strings go flat. Bending a string is like putting a tiny amount of pressure on the whammy bar basically. This is totally normal, and happens on any tremolo-equipped guitar. Some people set their tremolo flush with the top of the guitar, and increase spring tension to allow them to keep this from happening, others use various spring devices to reduce it.

Strat Bridge
Slide Strat w/ Trilogy Bridge + Middle Gibson Humbucker

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STRAT NICE: STRAT NICE $16.39 STRAT NICE: STRAT NICE

Squier Bullet Strat With Tremolo $119.99 Squier Bullet Strat With Tremolo Our Bullet Strat with tremolo is a simple, affordable and practical guitar designed for beginners and students. A perfect choice for a first guitar no matter who you are or what style of music you want to learn. Welcome to the Fender® family! Specifications: Model Name Bullet® Strat® with Tremolo Model Number 031-0001-(Color #) Series Bullet Series Colors (504) Daphne Blue, (506) Black, (532) Brown Sunburst, (540) Fiesta Red, (570) Pink, (580) Arctic White, (Polyurethane Finish) Body Basswood (42mm) Neck Maple Fingerboard Rosewood 9.5" Radius (241mm) No. of Frets 21 Medium Jumbo Pickups 3 Single-Coil Strat Pickups Controls Master Volume, Tone, Tone Pickup Switching 5-Position Blade: Position 1. Bridge Pickup Position 2. Bridge and Middle Pickup Position 3. Middle Pickup Position 4. Middle and Neck Pickup Position 5. Neck Pickup Bridge Synchronous Tremolo with Cast Saddles Machine Heads Covered Tuners Hardware Chrome Pickguard 1-Ply White Scale Length 25.5" (648 mm) Width at Nut 1.625" (41 mm) Unique Features Slim (42mm) Body Profile, Traditional Strat® Headstock Shape, White Dot Position Inlays Strings Fender Super 250L, (.009 to .042) Nickel Plated Steel p/n 073-0250-003 Accessories None Introduced 9/2007 Get Your Squier Bullet Strat With Tremolo Today!

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Blues Fest
The 20th annual New York State Blues Festival kicks off on Friday, July 8, at 5 p.m. with rides, games, food, beer and of course music, running through late Sunday, July 10. The Inner Harbor, located at the intersection of West Kirkpatrick and Solar streets, will have two stages facing each other across the grass, parallel to the dock and water.

Strat Bridge