NGD

[WhiskeyJack]

This is also my first upload to youtube so please go easy on me if i did it wrong?

Apologies upfront to any and all strat guys that may get triggered by the following content.

[BBvideo=560,315]https://youtu.be/cUvX76PMD98[/BBvideo]

As the title of the video states I can't think of a better place to pick up my first ever stratocaster. The local landfill!! I'll be a strat guy if the strat is free, and comes with a great story like finding it at the fucking dump! The guys at the dump said a young lady dropped it off along with a few computer monitors, a video game console and some boxes of stuff she threw in the garbage bins minutes before i got there. So either shes leaving town really fast and couldn't be bothered to rehome the stuff or some guy really pissed her off, we had a chuckle about that.

It does work! I plugged it in and noise comes out. The input jack needs a bit of work, definitely needs a neck adjustment and/ or possibly some fret work not sure. I am going to take the strings off and have a look at all the guts sometime tomorrow. Maybe it just needs a saddle adjustment? Regardless there is some definite strings buzz and some deadfrets. But other than that i see nothing wrong with it. Nothing i can't pick away at myself.

Maybe because i am not out anything this can be my experiment guitar? i'll try my luck at flipping the nut and stringing it up properly and try to relearn all the lefty chording the right way up? Maybe i'll just fix it up and sell it? Maybe some mutt pups? I dunno? Skys the limit really.

I sort of rambled through that video and i will have to allow for a few clarifications. I was coming down off of the high of a free guitar

• They wouldn't allow me to take photos within the dump because of a bad press kind of thing. I get it. There is no real need of anyone taking pics in the dump.

• "The perfect picture for a joke" I meant meme. It was literally that guitar leaned up against a table full of old electronics, tv's computer monitors they had set aside for sorting through. A strat against that backdrop paints a pretty funny picture to me. I was laughing really hard. I may be alone in that.

• The paper work i had to fill out was just stating that i was removing items from the landfill for recycle and it removes any liability from the dump for anything bad that may occur from me removing it. A few signatures and off i went.

• The guitar is in fact not candy apple red and i feel like a tool for thinking so, but it is close enough to my bass color that could be family? Sort of.

A few more pics. [mention]muttley[/mention] Do your professional eyes see anything sticking out like a sore thumb?







Not the same color.



Happy Saturday Rebels.

[Armistice]

Ha ha - excellent score WJ!

[ocnor]

Nice! I used to have an American Standard Strat that looked just like that.

[WhiskeyJack]

Nice! I used to have an American Standard Strat that looked just like that.

I think this is a few steps down quality wise from an American Standard lol!

[JD01]

haha, cool. That's a lucky find!

[muttley]

Looks good man. The main thing that separates a Squire from the real deal is the hardware. If she holds tune the rest is just in the setup and upgrading any parts that niggle you. That looks like a good guitar to acquire some basic guitar setup skilz.. Good find and a cool story.

[Greg_L]

Haha that's hilarious. That had to be a pissed of ex-girlfriend kind of thing. Had to be. Unless the truss rod is broken or something you can fix it up easy.

And the new dog is looking good. How's he doing?

[WhiskeyJack]

Looks good man. The main thing that separates a Squire from the real deal is the hardware. If she holds tune the rest is just in the setup and upgrading any parts that niggle you. That looks like a good guitar to acquire some basic guitar setup skilz.. Good find and a cool story.

Thanks man good to know. I'll take the steps to get it playable as is and go from there. I think it might also be pretty thirsty. It is really really dry here in alberta and there is a pretty generous layer of dust and grime built up on top of the nut so i suspect it has been on display more than it has been played. My wife reminded me one of my nieces was looking for a starter guitar too so this may end up being perfect for that.

Haha that's hilarious. That had to be a pissed of ex-girlfriend kind of thing. Had to be. Unless the truss rod is broken or something you can fix it up easy.

And the new dog is looking good. How's he doing?

It's very funny. I love it. Jeeze i never even considered the truss rod being broken. It is plausible for sure! How would i know for sure or check that out?

Boo is doing really good. He's a pretty happy boy. He's much better in the car than Gilly. Love car rides but doesn't act like a tool. Gilly has anxiety or something and she whines and squaels and does this shriek sound all the time. She also completely loses her shit if she sees a cat, dog or deer. Boo just sits there and watches the world go by. He was down a few more pounds but with the entire month of Feb up here being -30C or less we all put a bunch of weight on. He also had a pretty nasty break out of skin things and lost a bunch of fur in patches. It was something in his last bag of food. We switched to this duck based food and he's on the mend. Basically just farts and sleeps.



There he is with his new favorite thing. We found a set of junior moose antlers on one of our walks and he hasn't stopped chewing it since. It's his outside toy

[muttley]

It is really rare to get a broken rod. I think I've fixed maybe three in the last year. Normally its because the adjustment thread is stripped and even that can be fixed fairly easy. Best way to tell is to try and back it off a quarter turn and see if it moves the neck. If the thread is stripped its usually on the nut so thats just a swap out, if its stripped on the rod sometimes you can back of the nut and put some more washers in there as spacers and get the thing to pull again. Worst case is if you have to pull the rod and thats doable. On that guitar I would just hit up ebay for a second hand neck, they come up here all the time for not much. The down side of the heel adjustment is that you have to take the thing apart to properly adjust it but thats not a big job.

I'm guessing thats a heel adjustment on that so its even easier to fix if its futzed. As I say its really unlikely, I think you have a decent starter Squire there. I have my ancient Japanese Start in the workshop right now for a setup as I want to use it as a tester for some Pickups I'm winding. If I remember I will take some video and pics of my basic set up routine that may be of help to you.

[muttley]

..and my Japanese Strat is Candy apple red and looks a dead match for your bass.. I inherited it from a good friend and band mate that died some years ago so it has some attachment to me.

[musicturtle]

Nice find man. The Stratadumpster

Like Mutt said cool to have a guitar you can learn to tinker with and not worry about messing it up. Although me not knowing what I am doing has never stopped me before.

[liv_rong]

Nice score!

Also you dont sound as Canadian as I imagined.

[Minerman]

Cool Shan!!!
Nothing wrong with a Squire dude, & free is even better...

I used a guitar just like that for drop-d/country songs for a while in the last band I was in...I ended up selling it to a friend for his son, & to fund the tele I mention from time to time...

[muttley]

Cool Shan!!!
Nothing wrong with a Squire dude, & free is even better...

I used a guitar just like that for drop-d/country songs for a while in the last band I was in...I ended up selling it to a friend for his son, & to fund the tele I mention from time to time...

Tele's are awesome.

First mod WJ, you need to saw off that top horn and put that fat ugly headstock on high heat rinse wash....

[muttley]

..and my Japanese Strat is Candy apple red and looks a dead match for your bass.. I inherited it from a good friend and band mate that died some years ago so it has some attachment to me.

I take that back. I haven't opened this case for a number of years. Its definitely Candy Apple Red but not a match for your bass..

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[Tadpui]

Hahaha nice score WJ!

I look forward to the rest of the video series of "Canadians Throw Away The Darndest Things"

[Greg_L]

Guys....this is "candy apple red"


It has to have depth to it.

Red is red.
Candy Apple Red looks like a candy apple.

[muttley]

Fender had candy apple red and fiesta red. Fiesta red is like a chili turd. Everything else is candy apple red. Except Torino red which is often mistaken for candy apple. Most commonly people mistake their metallic red for candy apple. Their Race red just hurt the eyes and their Dekota red was actually brown but thats cos Fender colours have NEVER been consistent with their colours. Its a nightmare when you have to touch in. I mix up to match what is there because....

[Greg_L]

Candy apple red actually looks like a candy apple. Any red that doesn't isn't candy apple red.

[muttley]

Candy apple red actually looks like a candy apple. Any red that doesn't isn't candy apple red.

There is no dead centre for any of the Fender colours, never has been. WJ's has elements of Hot Rod red in it, as does mine. Candy apple red was definitely not a metallic finish. Candy apples are not all the same colour either..

Seriously, mixing colours and matching them is next to impossible. Fender are the worst even now that the tech exists to make it a standard swatch colour, they dont.