Bridgecraft GE3911R Strat Copy

Enough, already.
Even if you're a 1st year rookie just tryin' to hack his or her way through the rudiments of guitar, you already know what this is.
You'd be hard pressed to find a cheaper strat copy anywhere on the planet, so you know this thing had to be birthed across the pond in that mastercraft land of everything copied - China.
If there's one thing above all else that will break someone's will to learn to play guitar it's trying to learn to play guitar on a cheap piece of crap. Ask any instructor. More aspiring students are lost, broken and never return to playing having been barn soured with mom or dad's vision of a "starter" guitar.
Let's make no bones about it. This IS a starter guitar. If you can gut your way through this thing and go on to become an accomplished player then the rock and roll gods be smilin' down upon ye. Yar.
But what if you are a devilish, devious SOB with something much more sinister in mind. Like a mod. A master mod. A quality mod.
Let's buy one and see.
No, let's buy 3.
One in ash.
One in blue.
One in pink.
Now let's get down to business...............

The ash strat copy is the lightest. Why? Because it doesn't have any paint on it. Like all the Bridgecrafts I've seen, this one comes with a common 3 ply pickguard in white and the standard S/S/S set-up.
Gut it.
Scour the websites day and night and low and behold, sure as the world, a rookie newbie seller mis-labels an unmarked Fender 3 pickup, 3 pot kit that I manage to win for $38 bucks and $7 more for shipping.
I get it in hand and have my luthier ohm it up and he clicks on Fender's website. Ohms out perfectly to Fender's matched vintage hot noiseless strat set with marked 250k CTS pots already in with the kit. Even I am stunned.
Heavy duty 5 way switch for $5 bucks.
Satin Sperzels for $38 plus $7 shipping.
Super Slinky 10's for $8 bucks.
Bone nut = supplied by luthier.

The necks and headstocks on these things are not sealed - and they need to be. Seal and varnish yours or changes in humidity and temperature will take its toll on your neck. While you're at it, take some super-fine sandpaper and sand that bigass scrolled "B" off the headstock and seal/varnish over that, too. It'll look better and more custom, too.
I turned the whole kit-n-kaboodle over to my luthier, who sits on the right hand of the almighty rock an' roll gawd hisself, and had him work his magic.
After putting everything back together again with a craftsmanship and skill I can only marvel at - so many folks think they're just oh so good with a soldering gun and a phillips - and having him set and dress the frets, intonation and action - it was time to see if we could burn up the sky.

My luthier, Tony - I've talked about him several times before on other HC reviews that I've written, is, what - 54 years old now, I reckon, and started playin' when he was 13. He owns over 200 of his own personal guitars, none of which are for sale. Six of them hang on the wall of his shop, visable when you walk through the door. Three of those are CBS era USA vintage Stratocasters.
Tony ain't shy about tellin' you if he don't like somethin' about your guitar, or maybe even the whole damn guitar itself. Maybe its owner, too.
So it was with some trepidation that I took him this cheapass Chinese not-genuine strat copy kinda expecting Tony to light me up about bringing him in such a cheap piece of junk to work on.
We have a ritual, me an' Tony. When I come in, he shows me everything what's been done, explains how its been done, and then why its been done. Helps with the sticker shock.
Then he'll sit down on his piano bench, plug up the guitar into his ancient Roland amp, and let 'er rip.
Now, I ain't gonna try to explain to you what this guitar sounded like. I'm just gonna tell you what Tony said when he quit playin' it.
About 10 minutes later.
After he had already played it several other times throughout the day.
Just for the pure fun of it.
Here's what Tony said;
"This guitar is what any strat tries to sound like".
"What any strat wants to sound like".
"What any strat SHOULD sound like".
"Not only is it light enough to gig with all night long without wearing your back out, but if your car was to break down on the way home after the gig, you could sling the thing over your shoulder and tote it home without even breaking a sweat".

With Tony, I got all the customer support I need.

So - how much? For a quality, no nonsense mod of this ash Bridgecraft = $345.00. That price includes the guitar.
Laughing?
Because I coulda bought a ........... what? For $345.00?
Well, my DR-880 says I ended up with a contender - and not a pretender.
A respected Strat lead player with a local "name" group, gigging through a set with it, asked me how much my Warmoth set me back.............
The blue Bridgecraft is currently under the knife right now, loaded up with a custom blue pearloid pickguard, DiMarzio neck and mid pups taken from a Music Man Axis, with an FS-1 DiMarzio in the bridge. Wiring harness courtesy of Fender. Schaller tuners. Bone nut.
The pink one I'll mod up in time for Christmas and give as a gift to my daughter. Rio Grande pups up and down and we'll go from there..........
So there you have it.
No, it ain't a Masterbuilt. Or a Suhr.
But it'll hunt like one.........................

No clue of the year on this thing, or where it was made. I'm going to guess overseas. It's your standard Strat copy: SSS, 21-fret maple neck with rosewood fretboard, tremolo, nice sunburst finish, crummy plastic tuners. Came with a cheap gig bag. Low score because there isn't really anything special about it.

Well, it sounds like a Strat. Really. Considering the price, you would think it's a noisy, microphonic mess... but I was surprised. The pickups sound very good. Running this straight into my Fender Super Champ XD, the guitar can get those glassy clean tones that most normal Strats can get. I was actually pretty surprised. The pickups are a little on the weak side, but the tone is there.

Here's where you can tell that I paid what I paid for this thing. The body is Basswood and is extremely light. Conversely, it's also incredibly easy to ding the finish.

The action was WAY high out of the box, and the wood seems pretty susceptible to the elements; not too long after purchase, the neck warped to the point where it's bowing severely and the tremolo claw screws slipped out slightly, causing the bridge to tilt forward from the string tension. I don't think it's possible to fix the tremolo claw, so I just shoved a wood block in the cavity. I rarely use the whammy bar anyway.

The tuning machines are crap. Plastic. There is no excuse for strings just completely slipping out of tune at random. Then again... this was a super-cheap guitar.

All things considered, I have played worse guitars that Guitar Center was trying to sell for $500. Still, could be better.

Now, having said all that I have said about this guitar, I wouldn't really depend on it at all. I have some mods planned: new neck, new tuners, maybe a new bridge. Probably going to re-wire the thing too. After that, it might be a decent player. As-is, with the horribly bowing neck and crummy tuners, it's not going anywhere beyond my apartment.

I have a good idea that this "company" is 150 child laborers and ten mercenaries carrying AK-47s.

Been playing 11 years. Have a Telecaster & a Japanese LP Junior copy, and have owned some cheap Epiphones, Strats, and Duo-Sonics in the past.

For $65 (that's right $65 DOLLARS) you can't find a better guitar. Read that sentence carefully. You ARE getting a $65 dollar guitar. It plays. It is functional. Is comparable to, say, a Squier Affinity Strat? No, it's not quite as good. But the thing still works.

Basically it's a great guitar for modding. And it's DIRT F!@$ING CHEAP. I wouldn't have one as my main guitar, but if your 8 year old is whining for a guitar and you're strapped for cash, head over to the flea market and pick one up. (That's where I found this one!)

I went onto eBay and I ended up buying this as my first guitar. It has lasted for about one and a half years now, and it sounds great. It came with 2 tone knobs and 1 vaolume knob, and the pickups are 'Strat style, but they don't sound like a 'Strat. I play Heavy Metal(hardcore, grindcore, Christiancore) and that is about it. It is still the only guitar I own, but it is pretty good.

This guitar is great for Metal and hard rock, and it even sounds good clean. With a Boss DS-1 Distortion pedal, it sounds like you could use it as a recording guitar. It can be pretty loud, or quiet, whatever you need.

If you play with alot of distortion(which i do), it sounds pretty good. But, if you play any higher than the 12th fret, it won't hold the note for that long, and it just buzzes out.

The strap buttons will jiggle and wiggle and unsrwew themselves, and after they fall out, they can't be fixed, only replaced. I put a new pickgaurd on it and it looks pretty cool, but now the tone and volume knobs wiggle around. I wouldn't use it for a gig, but I'm going to have to untill I get a new guitar.

I got this guitar off ebay thinking it would not even be playable but I was strangely captured by this guitar's unique sound. The body is made out of basswood (this is the main reason for it's sound), when you pick it up your immediately surprised by how light it is. Feels like it ways about 2 lbs.

Also, I would like to mention, even though the construction is not completely accurate, they definitely payed attention to a lot of little details in the construction of the guitar. The poles on the pickups are placed slightly different on each pickup to make sure they line up perfectly under the strings (due to how the strings come closer together from the bridge to the neck). Also, the strap buttons are the best ever, much more effective than normal fender or gibson strap buttons.

one complaint, the tremolo arm sits a little too high for my tastes (making it hard to play while you're holding the arm). so I just use another one from another strat copy that I have.

If you want a guitar that sounds like a strat do not get this guitar (duh). If you want something that sounds cool and unique than this is a cheap and fun option. The sound on this guitar reminds me a lot of the cheap guitars of yesteryear. On the neck position it sounds a lot like a Danelectro U1, and on the bridge position it sounds a lot like jack white's Airline (throw a Big Muff pedal in there to nail that white stripes sound). The sound overall is very mid-rangey and probably comparable to other guitars with basswood bodies (like those classic Ibanez guitars that metal dudes play).

Action is not the best in the world, I have played strat copies that are better (johnson) but it's still probably better than a lot of squires. The paint job is fine. What you can't tell in the picture online is that the edges of the guitar aren't as rounded off as a real strat it's more tele style. Which again, I think just gives it it's own unique style.

will this guitar withstand live playing? Who cares! at this price you can go ahead and smash it and get a new one.

dunno.

Like I said before if you are looking for something that sounds like a strat you will be disappointed. If you already have a nice strat or are just looking for a cool sounding guitar, this is cheap option.

Also be aware of the scam the eBay dudes are pulling. Yes, it is listed as $19.99 but the shipping ends up being about $55. Obviously what they're doing is the guitar costs $55 and you are just bidding on the shipping. Luckily for us, they have absolutely flooded ebay with these things so you can safely bid and you will always win.

COME WITH EVERY THING A BIGGINER OR AN OLD PRO NEEDS! There are several optins available, including a tiger stripe if you want (overboard I say). This is what I got for my $35: transparent red 21 fret stat copy with an S/S/S configuration, fully adjustable tremolo bridge, fully adjustible truss rod, rosewood fret board, 5 way switch, bone nut, gippy strap locks, and 2 tone knobs and 1 volume knob. It also came with a nice adjustible strap, extra high E string, 2 different hex wrenches (for bridge and truss rod), tremolo(whammy) bar, pick(crappy), 3ft cable, and a plastic canvace gig bag with one about 15x11 pocket. Passive elctronics. Made in Mexico or China I think. Medium Jumbo frets(smooth), unpolished but sanded maple neck(great buy), and 3 ply pickguard.

I play blues, blues rock, hard rock, grunge, numetal, and pretty much anything else in between. Guitar can achive a great delta blues/ texas blues tone, then go to middle position and you can get a great clen alternative tone (nirvana, incubus, etc), and the bridge position is a little too week for my taste (i would replace that with a rail pickup, like a Dimarzio Tone Zone). A effects or distortion and there is a plethera of tona at your fingertips, very nice guitar and comes the way it is with a load of great tone.

Finish is perfect and contour is great for sitting or standing. It came with the action allmost perfect for lite strings like ernie ball super slinky lites or regulars, but since I like a hearty tone I use Ernie Ball 10-52's or Skinny Bottom Heavy Top. This give low strings of 12 scale strings, and the highs of 10s, great, everybody uses them, Kurt Cobain(Nirvana) to Adam Jones(TOOL). So when I switched it to my prefered strings it had a too high action and horrible intonation, I lowered the action and adjusted intonation in a matter of a half hour and it played smooth and like a charm. Now the grain in the fretboard is medium so you can feel it very much at first. If you use lemon oil or olive oil on the board, rub it in the fret board and wipe it of let it soakin for abot 4 hours or over nite, and vuala the board plays like a charm. Over all you should do this anyway with a rosewood or ebony fretboard, so do so before you place on your new strings every time. Beside those issues it's a jewel.

I give a nine, the bridge it comes with is better than any of the fenders, great tremolo, and the springs are tight enough to ensure that it doesnt detune every ten seconds(detuning typical of strats). The switching is seamless no "drop out" when switching, allowing a quick pickup change during a chord ou solo etc. The wood is solid, yet light, doesnt dent easy. The only negative would be that the tuners aren't all that great and the intonation isn't the best when you first get it, both can easily repared, the intonation can be fixed uusing hex wrenches on bridge, saddles, and truss rod. Over all you can fix most issues in under a half hour. Deffinatly useable at any size venue or gig and makes a great main axe or backup, could last forever under proper treatment.

The company, Bridgecraft, doesnt have any contact info, but I haven't had any problems.

This is a fantastic guitar for the money. As long as you know how to set a guitar up, you should be fine. I'm a straticaster lover for life and I bought this guitar so I could create a project for a crapy guitar that I'd switch pickups on it and have a road ready guitar I would be less worried abot. Now that I have it I like the pickups and the transparent paint job I got is spectacular, so I am more afraid that this one's gonna show blemishes than my custom real strat. Solid body, light, but not crapy basswood. I highly recomend anyone new or old purchace it. Plays like a $350 strat for a tenth of the price. Pictures are available of it if you e-mail me, I am still blown away that this is a competition to my Custom Strat and JagStang, great guitar.

GE3912R strat copy with just a "B" on the headstock written in a fancy script font. A very cheap strat copy with more squared edges not rounded like a tradtional strat shape. There is an actual wedge shape cut out of the solid wood body instead of a nicely rounded ergonomic contour where you forearm rests against the guitar. Unfinished neck, high action, usable tuners, strap, bag, allen wrench, 1/4 inch cord, pick and a extra string low E. It's lightweight and looks cheap. Sort of a kids toy/ beginner guitar crossover.

I just wanted a cheap strat copy to mess around with some blues/ swing on a intermediate hobby level. My son has a Vox pathfinder amp I'm using and a Danelectro PB&J delay. The sound of this guitar is usable in a couple on the pickup positions. The neck pickup is Hot and will take a bit of time getting used to. The next position and the middle pickup are more usable for blues with a decent low end tone that isn't muddy. Bridge pickup is far too bright for my needs.
High string height out of the box but with a few adjustments I was able to find a height I could live with. Not super low though as fret buzz does happen as others have mentioned.

The finsh on mine is silver and I can see scratches under the clearcoat. It's not a nice classy silver it looks cheap. I'll get rid of the standard 3 ply white pickguard and replace it with tortoise shell. I dressed up the plain headstock with a couple of decals that matched the insignia that was on the guitar. I found the unfinished neck to look and feel too dry. I gave it a couple of coats of clear highgloss stain to bring out the grain and give it a more finished look and feel.

Time will tell but I don't expect much for the price I paid.

Drop shipped, nobody to contact

It is what it is,
I read in the the reviews that other Bridgecraft owners were saying that "considering the price it was a decent playable guitar". So I bid on one through The Fret Shop on ebay. Starting bid of 24.99 so I placed a bid for that amount and was usually outbid within 24hrs. I have always suspected colusion for this type of ebay selling. I'd place another lowball bid for the another one and would be outbid again. I tried this a few times and was very surprised to see I had actually won the ebay auction for this guitar. $24.99 Though the seller did not actully list this as a Bridgecraft it was written on the headstock of the guitars in his ebay ad. The ad showed a typical strat shape copy but what I received was not. My guitar was packed and labeled as a GE3912R I'm not sure this is a fair review for the GE3911R but for anyone else out there thinking of getting one of these from The Fret Shop I'd recommend you try to find another source.
If you pay 10 dollars for a diamond ring chances are you've getting a diamond ring thats worth 10 bucks.

This guitar has a beautiful paintjob and hasn't chipped off the 9 months I've had it. The neck is nice and comfortable to play on and nice small frets. It has 21 frets and doesn't flaw any bit. It also has the classic strat's 4 knobs and a 5 way pick up switch.

I mainly play hard rock music(Zeppelin, System of a down, Guns N' Roses, Pink Floyd, etc.) and it has a nice crunchy tone to it. It gives off nice pinch harmonics and will give off a quiet tone for songs like Stairway to heaven.

The action was perfect for me, it played nice power chords. But it did have a bit of buzzing, I slapped on heavy gauge strings and I'm going to find out how to rasie the action and it'll be fine after. The pick ups were set perfectly and all work great. The bridge is in good condition and hasn't done any damage yet.

Never gig without a back up
I have not have any expierence gigging, but soon enough I will. This guitar is a reliable guitar and I would never thinking of it dying on me. The hardware will last a while. It's put together nicely. The strap buttons came loose a few times but it was all good since I fixed them up.

Haha, it's too cheap. If you break it, just buy another!

This was my second guitar and I love it since my first guitar was really bad. I've been playing for about 13 months now. And if it got lost or something, yes I would buy another. This guitar is great and the guitar for me.

Finish : Colorful. However, not without some very small imperfections
But, consider the price.
The body is a very lightweight basswood. Not a laminate body.
The same body thickness of a Fender Squier Strat.
The neck has a standard, 21-fret fretboard. Fretwires are nicely dressed.
Pickups : Polepieces are correctly spce for their position.
Love the sound of these single coils. More bass fequency response
than a standard Fender pickup. ( And, Iv'e used Fender Custom Shop
pickups).

As 've said earlir, the pickups sound great. Properly spaced polepieces.
They are a little quieter that a standard single coil pickup.
I play with a Crate amp. These should sound fine with any moderately sized amp.

The action and tonality seemed to be setup out of the box.
The selector switch is not noisy.
This a very playable guitar. A comfortable C contoured neck.
Sealed, die cast tuners don't seem to have any tuning probles.

This guitar might withstand long-term live playing. I don't do this.
Would certinly be a good backup guitar.
The total quality fo this guitar is no worse than a Fender Squier.
And, I prefer playing the Bridgecraft.

I really doubt that there is any customer support for this guitar.
The retailer might offer a warranty.
Considering the cost of the guitar,
I don't have any complaints.

I have been playing since the late 60s. I have many Strats and
and various other guitars.
If the guitar was lost or stolen, I might replace it with
another Bridgecraft.

I personally think this guitar has a great sound for the price.
It has NO NOISE what so ever. I was very impressed with that alone. I play a lot of classic Rock and Country. The sound was Great for this.

I had to set the guitar up for myself, was not set at all from the factory. HOWEVER, NO GUITAR DOES! I have always had to set my guitars up to suit me.
The guitar had no flaws, and was a Beauty.

I would not use it on a GIG without a Backup.
However, the guitar stays in tune nicely.
I just prefer to stay with my old reliable on a GIG.

I personally have dealt directly with Bridgecraft.
Some of the sales reps are good people, and are willing to help. However there are others that are a pain in the BUTT.

overall, dollar for dollar, this is as good, or better than most of the strat knock-offs I have played.

Classic style 70's/80's strat
The standard strat features with basswood body white 3 ply pickgrd
3 highly responsive single coils all putting out at ABOUT 6 k ohms
sealed die cast tuners

The tones are nice and bassy with a nicely defined treble. Mid tones are smooth and vocal like. Pretty impressive for being a basswood strat, one of my favorite tone woods. It can get on the verge of muddy but this is easily countered by adjusting the pickups. Harmonics give great squeal too. You can get a nice watery, bubbly tone out of it. It sounds hollow without actually losing any spectrum of the bass, mid or treble tones.
A very sweet tone..it's a nice stratocaster at a very nice price.

Like any good stratocaster, it covers any style of music and even though these are single coils, they deliver metal tones and impressively raunchy harmonics.
You can play both metal lead and rhythm in the bridge position.

Impressively quiet single coils as well. If you aren't running any monitors/tele's or aren't too close to a source of 60 cycle hum, they're as quiet as a mouse.

Rather impressive for the cost. The action needed set but you can get it pretty close without fretting out or buzzing. The finish makes it look like a more expensive instrument than it is. By simply showing the wood grain rather than hiding it with some colored plastic paint, it gives the guitar a classy look. It's also cool to watch the bass wood darken in grain since this instrument was so freshly built. I doubt it's still curing but just naturally agin. This is the nature of basswood, a wood who's fibers are rather large and fluffy. Which is why it's nice and light weight too, feels like a good draft could sweep it into the air.
The hardware is solid but I suspect the bridge won't last too long if you use it frequently. These old school classic strat trems rarely do unless you spend the bucks for one. The saddle shape and design make it a bit difficult to get the action as low as it should be as well. They are the design that dip down just behind where the string sets over top of them. This type of saddle is inferior. The uniform ones are MUCH better.

NEVER GIG WITHOUT A BACKUP!
I would trust it not to crap out on me. The people wiring these should be given a metal! I would expect the hardware and electronics to last long term but if you're going to use that trem bar a lot, I think you will eventually deteriorate the bridge.

It's a lighter body and neck but it should hold up

Great guitar for the money. Won't exactly rival a Jackson, Fender or Ibanez but at the same time it can definitely hold it's own against those guitars.
Only improvement it could use is the better bridge saddles or maybe even one of those 2 point trems but for this money that's gotta be asking too much I am certain.
I would buy this guitar again without hesitation. At this cost you might as well pick up a few of them if you know how to do some basic work to your instruments. This is the ultiamte student priced guitar that a teach could properly set up/mod then sell to students for easily $150. It's a life long keeper so for this kinda money it's actually foolish not to get one for your own use or otherwise.

Standard Strat copy, SSS, vintage trem, sealed tuners, basswood body, maple neck, rosewood fretboard. Came with a Gigbag, strap, really large pick, extra e string, trussrod & trem wrenches.

surprisingly, it sounds like a strat. bright but not harsh, nice bottom end, near perfect strat tone in middle pup position. suits my not so clean blues style well. nice distinct sounding chords, lead notes sound sharp & bright with that spanky, glassy single coil sound. I'm playing this through a fender g-dec and a seymour duncan 84-40 60 watt tube combo. basically, on amp settings where a humbucker equipped guitar (like a les paul)would produce a medium dist. sound, this guitar will produce a lighter distortion, just under the radar like a strat should. output level was higher than a lot of strats i've played. excellent sustain. I like this guitar for cleaner sounds, up to santana-ish distortion levels. i'd never use this for heavy distortion, I prefer the sound of humbuckers and a hard tail for that kind of stuff.

this guitar took quite a bit of setup to suit my tastes, the action was set way too high for me, when i lowered it to a reasonable level, there was a lot of frett buzz and i couldn't intonate it properly at that point. a 1/4 turn of the truss rod fixed all that up. pickups were very high, causing that hollow, bottley kind of tone. after setting those to low for neck & middle, and medium for the bridge, it sounds surprisngly like a strat!
Finish is a cool transparent purple, it had one very minor flaw on the back of the body. everything fits together well.
This guitar is extremely light, like 5-6 lbs total. it is very well balanced, making it comfortable to play. i was very surprised at the tone and sustain of this thing considering the light weight. string alignement was dead on. shockingly, the tuners are smooth & stay in tune.
I wouldn't recommend playing this guitar straight out of the box, but after setting it up and putting some fresh strings on it, it's a keeper.

i would use this as a backup for gig purposes, i suppose. the finish & hardware is better than i was expecting, particularly the tuners. i would replace the strap buttons with strap locks for any gigging guitar.

oh please, it's so cheap you'd just buy another if it broke.

I've been playing for 25 years, and did audio qc for an amp company for 10 years. IMO these are great times to be a player. if you know how to set up a guitar properly, there are amazing values coming over from asia nowadays. i've owned (and own) many guitars, at one time i had a seventies american fender strat, and while that guitar felt (a lot) more solid and played well, this axe actually is much less noisy and sounds more like i expect a strat to sound! i've spent a lot more on a lot less, that's for sure.

It's a classic styled strat
Basswood body
rosewood fingerboard
3 ply white pickguard
S-S-S pickup configuration
sealed die cast tuners
classic style fulcrum tremolo

The sound is astounding for this money.
Very SRV-ish but more versatile and modern.
It has that cheapy guitar string buzz on the higher frets when you get the action down to a useable level but these guitars still sound really great. The harmonic squeal these pickups deliver makes the guitar worth the investment. They're actually really quiet if you're not near a source of 60 cycle hum like a TV/monitor. in fact, they are as quiet as any good, high output humbucker. They give a very blubbery sound that is just in the realm of muddy but it really works. You can get a nice metal stratocaster tone out of these guitars. It's definitely due to the basswood body and the pickups.
I'd say it's just about as good as any quality strat out there because it will handle any style of music. After I scallop the fretwire and set the action again, the level of buzz should be close to eliminated or at least heftily mellowed.

The bridge pickup is nice and raunchy, well balanced output and no lack of balls. The mid is also well balanced and gives useable tones with a nice vocal like midrange. The neck pickup sounds great but not quite my taste and a can get a bit muddy. They aren't high output but are VERY responsive to touch techniques and have that Tex Mex sound at about a 6 k output.

It would get an 8 if not for the string buzz. I also really like the sound and even weight of this basswood.
It could use a more classic voiced strat style pickup in the neck though. Bottly, plunky and hollow sounding. Without that, the strat "quak" sound means little to me. A strat neck pickup needs to be all bass and treble with the mids scooped out. For this cash though, that's asking too much. At the same time, it holds it's own against most stock strats. Installing a 1 meg volume pot may very well sharpen the tones and ditch the mud, this often works with many pickups....

The finish is gorgeous and the strings are properly centered over the fretboard. The wood grain looks beautiful so the color stain finishes should look outstanding. Since tone woods seem to grow in every region of the world, it's understandable how these guitars are so well priced. There must be 50 different types of maples, rosewoods and basswoods out there.

The bridges are good but not great, I credit some of the buzz to the bridge. Denser and purer metals mean better string stability and vibration transfer. If the strings buzz, thats generally a sign that the vibration isn't transmiting into the body of the guitar as much as it needs to and it's staying in the strings which is why they are buzzing.
If you are a heavy trem user and set the springs loose so the bridge isn't flush and you can get forward and backward trem use, I'm certain you'll eventually bust out the thredding for the trem bar. No big deal with how cheap you can get quality Korean replacement parts but it does seem bound to happen.

Never gig without a back up.
It's reliable and durable, who ever wires these is very skilled with a soldering iron. It would definitely stand some serious abuse before crapping out on you. As I said, the bridges could be better but they aren't bad, just not great or better than average.

great customer support

I'd buy one of these again.
If I were going to build a frankenstein strat, these are worth the cost alone for the quality of the body and the pickups that come installed. Even the tuners are good quality. I wouldn't want to rely on it if I were a regular performer without replacing the bridge, be a real kick in the nuts for it to bust out on you in the middle of a song. It does have that cheapy guitar string buzz too and not everyone knows how to eliminate it or at least minimize it so that is another set back.

The appearance is very professional and eye catching though. It looks like an expensive show piece unless you start inspecting it like most us pros do. The sound is incredibly pleasing and the only thing I would change on it as mentioned already is the bridge. For the price though, you might as well snag one in every color. Spend about an hour scalloping the fretwire, maybe thin out the neck thickness then set the action..maybe stick in a 1 meg volume pot and you've got a pretty damn nice instrument to play.

If you love stratocasters and tend to frankenstein them, this is a great buy even if you decide not to frank' it.

G.Burton who? Another generic copy made in China. The ad said it
was a Bridgecraft (another who?) but this was sent instead.
2006 Model. 22 frets. Hollowbody made of basswood. Generic
humbucker pickups. Neck is maple with rosewood fingerboard.
Has two volume controls & switches for bass,treble &
rhythm/solo.
Short scale 31" typical of this style of copy bass. Accessories
included were a thin gig bag,pick,cord (useless) and strap.

I'm using mine through a Behringer BX300 amp.The bass is pretty
noisy,in particular when the rhythm/solo switch is pushed to
solo be prepared for a thunderstorm.
For 60s pop/rock I think the sound works well and has more
punch than I expected.

String action wasn't too bad but I adjusted mine to kill some slight
fret buzz. Solo pickup near the bridge was way too high for my
liking so was lowered. Overall finish is about what one would
expect for an instrument in this price range. Not too great but I
have seen alot worse on even higher priced imports.

I'm a hobbyist who has never gigged so cannot say if it would survive
gigging but most likely would not. Hardware is fair/ok and the finish
appears ok but not real dureable.

Bought off eBay cheap so didn't think or worry about
warranty.

I'm only gotten back into playing in the last six months after being
away for many years.I always wanted to try a Beatle Bass but didn't won't to lay out 2K for a Hofner.
There's better copy Beatle Basses out there (Rogue,Jay Turser)
that I will most likely consider buying in the future. I do like
the fast action of the neck and the light weight of the instrument.
Compared to other basses it weighs in like balsa wood.
As much as anything it was an impulse buy (isn't eBay great for
that sort of thing?)and with the low price I really cannot
complain.
It's now sporting a union jack flag decal in between the pickups
which is only fitting considering who made the original so famous.

This was my first guitar, bought in early november of 2K5. Judging from the way they are sold it is probably made the same year or just before. It's made in china I think 21 jumbo frets, rosewood fretboard, satin finished maple neck (very fast)three generic fender-lookin single coils. Its got a floating bridge, plastic nut, came with really lousy strings when I bought it it included a gig bag (ripped at the handle the first day) a disgraceful cord, a pick so thick I use it to scrape paint now, a strap , a wammy bar, and one extra e string. The tuners are chrome (not chrome plated plastic) and despite their obvious cheapness seem to hold the tune. I have to tune it every other day or so and its usually just a little flat on all six strings. I'm not good enough to understand intonation yet so I can't speak to that. The Strap buttons are metal, big enough so I've never dropped it hanging around the apartment blasting out noise.

This is a Strat copy, not a squier copy so the headstock is not palm sized and the neck just below the headstock is big enough so you can actually play individual strings. My brother plays a squier strat and hates how tiny the neck is at the first and second fret. This plays easier than a squier strat does for a person of normal proportions.

The finish is a metallic pink with a white pickguard and chrome jack.

It has what you need to get started without any problems and more than you'd expect for such an outrageously low price.

Music style - I don't really have one yet, I've been leaning towards blues stuff but I also like playing punky chords progressions. I'm using a Jay Turser classic 25 - which I'm told is a great amp and I've found that to be the case - When I first started I didn't know how to play with the gain and the overdrive so I just played it straight up with no distortion. Like that I found the neck pickup real harpy almost too bright - you can't really pick out the higher strings and they don't play loud, the bass is very pronounced, it has great sustain and just keeps humming this harp sound. The middle pickup is pretty even if uninspired with no effects and the bottom pickup rocks. Real twangy rock sound. between it and the middle pickup is my favorite toggle on this thing.

When I figured out distortion I found where this little pos really shines. On the middle or bottom pickup its noisy and raw sounding. It just feels like its rocking.

This guitar seems about 10 times more versitile than my roommate's Jackson which only has one sound. With effects this thing can bounce around to whatever you're thinking about at the moment.

Like I said, this was my first guitar and I had it delivered to my folks house. When I got it and pulled it out of the box I was first surprised that it was so light. Not cheap light but just not heavy at all. Lighter than that Jackson or the Squier (the latter by a ton). I don't know if the pups were adjusted - they worked. The action was in the perfect spot, I haven't touched it and I try to get my other guitars to match it now. The frets don't buz except when you really blast an open low e then sometimes it jangles against the fret but you really gotta bend that thing when you hit it.

To be honest I haven't noticed any flaws at all in the finish or fit. Everything's where it should be and everything stays there. The pots still have some of the plastic backing stuck to them and are set higher than a strats, the plastic topper on the pickup selector is also of a more translucent, lower end variety.Overall I'm very happy.

Lots of questions here beyond my scope. Would it withstand live playing - definitely, you can hack this thing and it'll be okay - possibly because I still think its not made of wood but rather some resin or something, I'm telling you I drilled a peephole in the back and got about a quarter of an inch in and the material was still grey and plasticky. No complaints though, I'm not expecting a mahogany slab for what I paid. The finish seems bomber, hasn't chipped or scratched at all and that mongo strat pickguard does all the protecting (the pickguard looks like its made of three layers of plastic).

The strap buttons are big enough that I've never had a problem with it, if you're jumping around the stage though I'd probably get straplocks.

Here's the deal though. For the time and energy it would take you to upgrade this into an okay guitar, you could you know, buy like six of them and just smash one after every set. I'm sure you'd get them for even cheaper if you bought them in bulk.

NA.
This is a tool company from california and I think they've even stopped selling this type of guitar in favor of "Crescent" brand guitars now.

I've only been playing since I got this guitar about four months ago. I bought it because my roommate had been given a Jackson electric (no amp) from his brother and I started to enjoy punking around on it. So I bought the cheapest guitar I could find because I was afraid I'd lose interest. I saw this guitar for $5 and bought it instantly, two minutes left on the auction and Pink, because why not, pink's cool. I later found out I could have had any color in the rainbow but I'm happy with what I got. People always prefer to play my axe over my roommates name brand, it sounds good and I'm not afraid to hurt it.

This is an unbelievable value - You can't go out and buy a poster of a fender strat for $5, but you can buy a knockoff copy that you can play.
As this is my first guitar also and because of the price and love of the instrument it has wrought, I have to give this guitar a personal 10 here. Its just such a great way to introduce someone to the guitar. I want to give these away as christmas presents next year.

Very simply if you "wonder" if this is the guitar for you, it probably is. If you know what "intonation" means, it is not.

It's a basic strat copy with 21 frets, a rosewood fingerboard, 3 generic single coil pickups, floating bridge, a whammy bar and all the usual suspects. The one I purchased is transparent red and I believe it's body is made out of basswood. The neck is unfinished maple. The tuners are some generic chrome plated brand. No clue as to the country of origin, but if I had to guess I'd say China.

I play mostly acoustic and the music I play is blues, country, bluegrass and occasionaly some classic rock. As is the sound of this guitar doesn't suit my style, but played through the overdrive setting on my amp it's workable. I should mention that because my main focus is on acoustics, my only amp is a little 10W practice amp. However, I have played this guitar through a friend's Marshall stack and it didn't change my impression of the sound.

I find the bridge pickup to be very bright but not to the point of being tinny, the middle pickup is a little muddy but it has a nice punch on the low end, and the neck pickup is heavy on the low end and is good for rhythm. All in all, it's about what I expect out of a strat copy. Not great but not bloody terrible either. You know, you're not going to get anything real growly out of it but that's to be expected. No doubt some good pickups would greatly improve the sound.

What surprised me the most was how quiet it was for a generic strat copy. A quick look under the pickguard revealed it was well shielded and the electronics were all properly soldered and grounded, which is the opposite of what I expected from such a cheap guitar.

A word about the whammy bar: Remove it. If you use it it will cause this guitar to go out of tune like a mofo. I don't see this as a big problem though because this has been my experience with whammy bars in general.

As can be expected with any guitar, it needed to be set up right out of the box. The action was way too high, but when I lowered it to my liking I got fretbuzz from the 13 fret on down so some filing was in order. The intonation was a little off and needed some adjustments. The biggest problem I had was with the G string being EXTREMELY sharp around the first 5 frets and I had to file the nut a little bit to get it sounding decent.

The finish on this guitar is fantastic and I couldn't find any flaws.

All in all, it was better than I expected for a cheap guitar. If I had no knowledge of basic guitar maintenance, then I would be pretty pissed off. However, if I didn't know how to setup a guitar in the first place I'm not sure I would have much business whining about it.

I don't play live anymore (all work and no play...), but if I did I wouldn't use this on stage.

It seems solid enough, but a minor drop was enough to put a rather larger dent in the body. I think the finish is good enough to withstand the test of time.

The strap buttons are of the non-straplock variety that should be replaced ASAP. There's nothing more embarrassing than jumping around on stage and having your guitar fall right out of your hands, right off the stiage and smash into a hard concrete floor. Basswood isn't a particularly hard wood and such an incident would most likely be the end of this guitar.

As far as the hardware is concerned, the tuners are the only things I wouldn't rely on in the long run. They do keep in tune pretty well, but they're chrome plated plastic and I would fear they'd break.

No clue as to customer support. The company is a tool manufacturer out in California and I think they got into the lowend instrument market on a whim. As such, customer support is probably non existant. Their website is http://www.bridgecraftonline.com, but good luck on finding anything related to your guitar.

I've been playing on and off for 8 years. My collection includes 14 guitars, 9 acoustic, 5 electric. The most expensive electric I own is an Agile Les Paul copy, but my favorite is my Oscar Schmidt sunburst OE30 (I'm in love with it). I don't currently own any guitars that are over $600 because I feel that at a certain point it's less about quality than it is about snob appeal.

With that said, this guitar is on the low end of my collection. It's not bad, and it's on par with some of the low end Squiers and Epiphones I've played. If you're just starting out and need a *very* cheap guitar I think this would work for you if you remember to have it professionally set up. Anyone else should avoid this guitar.

I purchased this off of ebay on a lark just to see if it was rubbish or not. I can honestly say I'm surprised at the quality of it considering the price I paid and what my expectations were - that I'd recieve a non-functional or barely functional guitar. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.