El-Degas 70s strat

It's a '71 El Degas Strat.. Cream finish, Black pickguard. I put on some locking Sperzel's, and am still playing the original '71 pick-ups. It's got a pretty thick neck, one volume, two tones, and 5-way selector. The neck has some fingers diggings, from whoever had it in like the 70's..it's got character.

Sounds incredible. With the 5-way, it's got great tonal range, I use it in balls-to-the-wall rock, but it sounds great clean. Very smooth, vintage sound. I use it through a Hot Rod Deluxe.

My guitar teacher gave it a set up before he sold it to me, for a good price if I do say so myself, considering the quality (He actually wanted to buy it back from me). Zero flaws, only a couple knicks ad bruises, but as I say, it's got character.

I love gigging with this axe. It surpassed my Les Paul as far as stage guitars go. Plays great, never had any problems.. Buy one.

I've been playing for 4 yrs. .....If I somehow lost this guitar i would be devastated. It's the best guitar I own, yet i paid less for it than anything else. The best thing about it is the neck. Don't let the "so-called" crappy brand of Degas scare you, this guitar rocks.

White Strat copy, 21 frets, made in Japan. 1 volume knob, 2 tone knobs, 3-way selector. I dont know what pickups these are. Not sure that they are stock because the sound is BEAUTIFUL! No feedback or buzzing whatsoever.

This is the best guitar I've ever played in studio and on stage. I play in a glam-stadium-punk band. With my previous guitars, I would have to cut the volume if I wanted to work the crowd, or sing during a bass part. With this guitar, I just take my hands off. Like I said previously, no feedback or noise from these babies... and I'm ripping it through a Line 6 Spider II stack at near full volume.

The body was absolute shit when I bought it. The finish on the guitar was cracked, there were chips and dents everywhere. I've decided to keep the look, however. I love the look, but most people wouldn't. Its not vintage, and its not new. Its just beat up.

You could give this guitar to Kurt Cobain and it would still be intact after a tour. This baby is at least 30 years old, and still going strong. The strap buttons had already been replaced when I bought it, and they will most likely last forever. I can totally depend on this guitar in the studio or on the road. I would use this in a gig without a backup, but I am always worried about breaking strings, so I always do bring a backup.

none available

This guitar beats any ridiculously priced Gibson or any other guitar for that matter. Once you play this, you'll never want to play anything else ever again. If this guitar was stolen or lost, I'd go into withdrawl. I love everything about it, nothing to hate. If you see an El Degas out there, buy it. This is my third, and each has a great quality to it. For this one, it's everything.

bought NEW in the early 80's (needed a step up from my sears model), made in Japan, has 21 frets with a birdseye maple neck and fretboard. laminated body in sunburst. tuners were crap from the start! so up graded right away with some shallers( this I say is a must if you want to stay in tune!!!)neck has the famous big strat headstock and skunk strip, but the scale is short 24 3/4 inces compaired to the strats 25 1/2.( good for players with short fingers)

sounded great for the basment/party jamming days, but have since upgraded to dimarzio pick ups, pots and switch. was a bit bassy with the stock set up, but over all good for the bargin price! plays well for country to full out thrash. I use only FENDER amps and stacks and it works GREAT! as my back up to my strat to this day!

when purchased it the action was a finger ripper! adjusted it on the drive home (my buddy was driving of course)set up the intonation at the house and rocked on all night! the bridge held out for a few years with added springs! stock springs were soft. finish has held up quite well, I've replaced all the hardware over the years(I have owned it now for 20+)that itself accounts for something.

I've only played it live since the replacement of the electronics, I've also replaced all the hardware (though they did weather well, with the acception of the tuners)the finish I would say is a TITAN all though the fretboard did start to sepparate and I had to fix it.the frets have held up well with only 1 redress in 20+ years! I use this now as a back up guitar but in the 80's it was my main electric, so I will have to say it's very reliable!

never needed to check

over all a nice piece and I would replace again if needed.

This was my first guitar

I believe the guitar was made in 80/81. I bought it used in Canada for $200 Cdn at the time. 22 Frets - Maple neck, with black on black body. Heavy ash body. Demarzio pickups (beige) - Black lacquered finish, standard - cheap like strat bridge copy with soft metal. Standard 3 springs. Non locking strat machine heads. Blank reverse 4 bolted back plate.

Sound was fairly good however too much bass. Tone controls didnt help too much. Standard strat variety of sound however limited with original 3 position selector.

Action was fairly good however the neck was too narrow at top. found my original fender strat had more room near the open string area of fretboard.

Strap buttons were very solid. has been played at gigs however after a new neck, rewound pickups.

I've been playing this guitar for 25years however after significant upgrades. New rosewood board, rewound frets and new 5 position switch. added full compliment of springs. sounds texas special now.

Not sure of the year or the country of origin, but it was probably Japan, early '80s. 21 frets, looked like a black-on-black Strat, maple neck. Five-way selector, three single coils. Medium size frets. Overall, a comfortable-feeling guitar.

I used this back in the mid-to-late-'80s, it got me through my teenage band days rather nicely. I used a Peavey amp with it, along with a few Ross and Boss effects. The sound was good and full, though not all that Strat-like.

I got it second-hand, and the action was too high for me. So, I adjusted it to be really, really low. The guitar seemed to be built rather well, with one exception. I had to replace the neck in the early '90s because the truss rod was slipping out of place all the time. Of course, I was pretty rough with the instrument, so that might have been the reason why. My favorite feature: the "El Degas" name on the headstock just scratched off easily with a pick. So I was able to hide my starter guitar shame from an unforgiving world.

I played with it live. No problem.

Never went looking for customer support.

A fantastic starter guitar that might have lasted me 'till this very day if I hadn't been such an angry young man. The problem with the neck led to a problem with the replacement neck, which led me to giving up on this guitar altogether. I wish I still had it in a way... it played nicely. I've moved on to more expensive name guitars now like PRS, but I must admit... if I see another El Degas '70s Strat sometime, I just might buy it for old time's sake.

I've got a very nice Crystal Clear Stratocaster! Probably made in Japan in the 70's (1977 I think) I bought it in 1984 for about $200. The body is much thinner than a wooden Strat so the weight stays within limits. Quite thick and round maple neck with separate maple fretboard, 22 frets. Original vibrato replaced with Tokai Floyd Rose I copy, Schaller tuners. Plain single coil pickups, no bad sound at all, maybe a little underpowered. But no problem to pick this one from an orchestra of guitars, it cuts right through. I wonder how this guitar sounds with some EMG's...

It sounds great for Johnny Guitar Watson type-of-stuff, also a sharp and bright SRV sound can be found in this one-of-a-kind copy. And remember the Jan Akkerman sound during the 70's? No problem! Even though it's a Strat it's construction makes it a Super Strat.
You can get just about any Strat sound from this guitar and all sound great. But no use for it in metal or other trash-related material, the original pickups are just to weak for that.

No problems here. I have modified the set-up as soon as I got it and it hasn't changed in over 16 years. Plays quite well although if switching from another good guitar it takes a little time. Action is quite good although not perfect.

You can depend on this guitar for live playing, although the pickups might be a bit sensitive for high volumes. Replacing them with a couple of EMG's or Bill Lawrence wouldn't hurt but then again... no real need to yet.
Finish is as durable as you can get when it's made of this material! And big advantage: you can see all fingerprints and scratches easily by holding a flashlight behind it!

None. Company doesn't exist anymore I think. Just a few Japanese guitar factories and hundreds of Japanese brands. Go figure....

I've been playing for about 22 years now. I own a custom-made Boogie amp, an '81 Ibanez Artist 300CS, a '76 Ibanez LP copy w/set neck (both cs and flamed top), an Epi SG400 copy, a Custom Rick 4003 stereo bass, a Casio DG-20 synth guitar, a black '76 Gibson LP Custom, a Concord Explorer copy with DiMarzio's, a Warmoth Tele copy with Blackmore type neck and EMG's (18 volts!), a huge '63 Hoyer Jazzguitar and a very nice home made Destroyer copy (ceddar wood, mahogany top) with Schaller pickups and some kind of QL filter. Also a Strat Blackmore project guitar. Collection still growing.
If it were stolen it would be impossible to get another one, never seen another one in my life! I'm pleased the way it is.

Model: STRATO/SB
Serial Number: 781S
Colour: Sunburst, with maple neck and black pickguard
Body: maple(?), hardwood
Bought in July 1980 for $270 Canadian in Montreal Canada
Made in Japan
22 frets with black plastic inlays and small side inlays
Solid body
Very fine Stratocaster copy. Definitely of 1970 era style, except for the four-screw neck plate, when Fender had 3-screw plate for a while. Definitely the kind of copy Fender/CBS hated to find on the market at the time. It still plays gracefully after 20 years. Original bridge and neck pickups were replaced with Di-Marzio Super Humbuckers at nearly $90 a piece (I still have the old ones)! Middle pickup still original, but hums too much. Dimarzios provide less gain in lower frequencies. 3-knob arangement still original, except volume variable resistor wore out and was changed. I also isolated the strings from the ground shield using a large film capacitor and shilded the whole inside with copper foil to bring down the noise. It worked great!. No more danger of getting electrocuted. Tremolo bar/bridge is also of '70's era style, except that I carefully balanced the back springs (only use 3 out of 5 available) and using D'addario's light top super heavy bottom strings to make the whole thing float. Meaning the bridge actually floats above the body and can either be bulled up or pushed down.

Non-locking tuners, not very high grade.

The neck is narrow and the frets well spaced. It takes a lot of practice to get a good playing out of this one. Using all four fingers on the neck while playing is quite rewarding.

The whole thing is a definite blues machine, with lots of warm output, from thin to almost fat (not as much as a big Gibson Les Paul). The neck is perfect for cool licks all the way to stacatos. The output will drive an amplifier just enough to get 3rd and 5th order harmonics out and provide this elusive '70's blues sound. It is a little too thin to play grunge, although a good challenger.

No flaws originally, but I worked for months to get the guitar balanced the way I wanted. It has maintained the balance for 20 years, except now it needs a good neck adjustment. No rust after all that time.

The sunburst colour is really warm and gracefull, with tones or red, orange, yellow and deep black.

Clearcoat finish was all over the frets and had to be removed carefully to get to the metal.

Tuning is a little fragile, but no worse than a genuine Fender. Actually it is probably better than the 1975 3-screw CBS neck plate arrangement. With the floating bridge I use teflon strips under the headstock string guides to keep the strings sliding and in tune. The neck can sustain heavy workout without problems.

Finish is thick clearcoating and lasting.

Strap buttons are OK.

Surely dependable.

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I've had it for 20 years and was lucky enough to get it after my previous one was stolen. You can't find those nowadays, so to me it is quite valuable. I would only trade it for either a pre-CBS stratocaster (mid-60's) or a old white Jazzmater.

I also own a red El-Degas Double cutaway Les Paul Jr copy. My brother has a sunburst El-Degas Gibson Lespaul Jr. These guitars rock!

Korean-made, probably the best strat clone I've ever seen. Probably manufacturered some time in the 1980's and prepared for the Canadian market, it's very basic and perfect to the strat design save for the headpiece which is off. Controls are volume, tone for neck, and tone for humbucker. (S/S/H configuration) . I don't have a clue who made the pickups. Looks like ash to me. Blood-red color, tele-style bridge, thin neck, no acc. lovely belt clips but they tend to come undone! Very smooth neck, plays beautifully.

Standard rock guitar, suited with a very powerful humbucker to rhythms. Neck pickup is very bright, but centre pickup is dead-sounding. Used with a slew of effects, pretty solid in all of them. No buzzing either - - great sound. (Very MC5ish when loud, actually).

This is a beautiful guitar, it's as great to play as any real strat. No flaws, save for the fact that the saddles tend to slice of even .11 strings with wear that isn't really "excessive." And the second fret is sharp on the righthand side, so it had to be shaved down.

You could throw this thing off the CN Tower and nothing bad would come of it. Finish chipped off a bit, but only after I grinded it into the ground a bit (d'ohh!). The strap buttons loosen themselves though! This one is made for gigging.

Company no longer exists :-)

Aside from some minor quibbles, this guitar is the ultimate in ready-made gig guitars. I don't know if I'd rush out to buy another one if I lost it, but it would definitely be missed...it's got the smoothest neck in creation.

Ironic that it doesn't suit the kind of music I play! :-)

better than my 79 and 89 american it has some updates pickups and tuners pickguard its done up nice
killer tone!!!!!!!!!!

fat fat fat!!!!!!!!!!

fast neck low action no buzz plays like butter!!!!!!

straight as a pin!!!!!!!!!!!

i would like to no if they come from the Fuji-Gen Gaki factory
if anyone has some info
thanx

i have had a few and its it