Product: Crafter Cruiser ST120
Price Paid: 80
Submitted
02/26/2007
at
07:31am
by
James Graham
Features
:
8
This is a Crafter Cruiser 120 .
It's a red Stratocaster copy. Synchronised tremolo copy,Rosewood fretboard. Well everything is copied from a Fender, even the headstock is reasonably Fender shaped.
From 10 feet away it kinda resembles Mark Knopfler or Hank Marvins guitar.
I suspect that the pickups are ceramic Bar, although they are very decent sounding.
Note: This guitar was bought by my mates young Daughter - none of his
family play and I'm having this guitar in for set-up.
She bought it at Cash-Generators and got quite lucky with this individual unit. With these units I would say play the individual thing or take your local friendly guitarist with you, or you may likely end up with a dog.
Sound
:
8
Depite being a very standard el-cheapo It sound solidly good, and, has a range of straty type sounds. I've used it through a cheap solid state AXL amp and a korg AX100g,lwhere it sound fine. It has some 50/60 cycle hum ,more noticeable in the middle only and bridge only settings. The tone controls work quite well,no pickups are microphonic and the switch is quiet. It's a lot better than some low end Squiers and Kramers in that respect.
Action, Fit, & Finish
:
8
Poor Standard setup with the tremolo dived right forward and the action a mite too high. This was soon sorted.
Once it was set-up the neck profile impressed me, the frets are small in both height and wibth,but, seem well profiled and it doesnt fret out anywhere - although the frets hadnt been adeqautely polished and bend were, initially, very grating.
It's a very light guitar and is probably basswood ,may be ply.
Nut seems cut ok. After a day or so playing in, set-up for action and intonation, it's turning into a likable little beast.
Tuners seem good, and it stays in tune well. I hestitate to use the tremelo on anything "less " than a Pacifica. Dont trust that.
It has good sustain for a Strat copy.
Here the rub as it came it was so rough that they couldn 't get the wee bugger to hold tune, I've had cheap tele-copies that would do that fine.
If you're a kid and want to buy a guitar without having anything done, look elsewhere as the standard "setup" would be 4/10. It was barely playable for me, with Extra-light strings on it. A beginner would be frustrated by it. After a setup it's an 8/10.
The neck back shape is very good and medium sized, not a lollypop-stick [AKA Ibanez],it also has some nice figuring for a bit of a bonus.
Reliability/Durability
:
No Opinion
Paint seems good, otherwise my crystal ball remains stubbornly mute on the subject. Hardware seems adequate though.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
No idea at all.
Overall Rating
:
8
4 as it came.
8 after a set-up and axe wax one of the better sounding standard cheap Strat copies i've used. Plays fine too.
Just to let you know i'm 40 and have been playing on and of since i was 12. I have Gibson, Yamaha, Vox ,Epiphone gear and cheapo Sg and Tele copies. I've gone through a GAS "explosion" in the last few years, having owned Squier, Kramer andother cheapo off brand Strat copies, I can confidently say this is better than most at this price, although it's certainly not THE best guitar at ??80.
That would probably be the Dean Evo Xm or AXL telecaster copy.
This thing is so good after a tweak that I'll be thinking about getting one myself. Ceratinly not at all bad for recording and general messing about. You dont feel like you have to change the pickups or hardware. No duff frets. All round very good for the price.
I suspect that the quality of these will vary a LOT , so be cagey choosing one. The girl got lucky it's good un.
