Chandler Spitfire

This is a 1997 (3/97 neck date) made in the USA Chandler Spitfire. They are sometimes called 12XX Model or the Pathocaster. They were made from 1995 to 2000. It's esentially a hande made 60's Stratocaster copy with some modern improvements.

She has a beutiful maple neck with a big slab rosewood fret board and 22 medium jumbo frets. The headstock is the Chandler modification from the Fender trademark. I really dig their headstock. I also really dig the feel of this neck. It has a graphite nut. It's essentially a 60's fender neck with a better radius for string bending.

I believe it is a a two piece light ash body that is finished in a 2-tone sunburst. The finish was beutiful at one time. The standard finish on this guitar is natural. Someone paid extra for the sunburst. She has been dropped a few times and is chipped, scratched, and dented. She still plays great. Oh well I guess people now pay extra for relic guitars.

This guitar was set up in the typical Strat style with a 5-way switch. When I got her she was setup with non original H/S/H pickups. I replaced the pickups with some Seymour Duncan single coils in the neck and middle and a Twang Banger single coil (Tele style in a strat pickup)in the bridge. I'd like to get a set of Chandler Super 60's down the road.

It has a vintage Strat tremolo with a big old vintage style steel block and bent saddles. I keep my Strat bridges set screwed down so they can only go one way.

The tuners are a vintage Kluson style that stay in tune very well.

I play rock and blues. Right now I love my Tech 21 Trademark amp. It has an analog emulation of a Mesa Boogie, a Marshall, and a Fender. This sounds like a Strat plain and simple. It has all the pro's and cons of a good strat.

I have no idea how the factory set this up. It was shipped to me in a lamp box full of foam peanuts. The action and intonation were perfect after I changed the strings.

This is a player's guitar. This axe has been through hell and still has a lot of jamming left in her. Everyone needs a backup guitar when they gig. Broken strings happen.

Chandler answered my email questions in a few days. The guy who's initials are on the neck actually answered my questions.

This is a used axe. I'm sure there is no warranty.

I've been playing over 30 years. This is the second Chandler Spitfire I've owned and I've long regretted selling the first one. I really want a Futurama.

Essentially a strat copy with slightly hotter pickups. Includes vintage-style tremolo, 3 single-coils and vintage-type tuners. Came with a free hardshell case. Control layout as on a standard strat.

Sound-wise it's a killer strat for half the price of an American Fender. I use it with a Rivera amp and this works out beautifully. Sounds great for Blues, Country and Rock. Heavy Metal players might find it a wee bit noisy in the "in-between" pickup positions. Stellar clean sounds. If you want a cost-effective strat-type guitar, look no further!

I actually had to change the neck on the guitar, but this was arranged by the dealer at no cost on my part - I said I would buy it if they fixed/changed the neck which had been damaged during transport. They did and I've never had any problems with it.

You can jump up and down on it. Solid as a rock!

I have no complaints about the customer support. Nice, friendly and competent staff.

I've been playing for 13 years and this is the best guitar I've owned so far. As i mentioned earlier I use the guitar with a Rivera M60 amp, and I think that the combination is wonderful. If it got stolen I would probably get another one just like it. Excellent sound and very nice feel to the neck, although the vintage-type neck has so much curvature (7" radius I think) that it has to be set up properly to play well when you bend the strings. It blows all similarly priced strats and strat copies out of the water.