Encore E93 Strat Copy

This guitar was a limited run special, produced around 1993. They were a standard strat outline, with a slim Encore maple neck. Fender-shaped headstock. Rosewood board. Standard Encore tuners. The body was solid (and I mean solid) ash, and were infact taken from the Charvel factory NOS, as the Charvel plant was owned by JHS (who own Encore) and had been shut down. Or something like that! Pickups were three black single coils with a black plastic cover over the pole pieces. The body was a solid red colour. No scratchplate. 5 way switch. I'll give it a 7/10...good range of features, but the pickups weren't great. The neck is one of the best I've ever had in my hand! And that's an Encore part!

How does it sound? Crap! It had all the makings of a great guitar, and if you put loads of gain on it it did some good but generic rock sounds. Just not the best pickups. Usable, but not memorable.

I don't think the action and fit were at all bad, if I remember correctly. The finish was ok too...and bullet-proof! I've since stripped and repainted the guitar several times, but the original finish was a bugger to get off...could have withstood a nuclear blast! Took more than one to get it off!!!! I've tweaked the whole guitar over the years...changes of pickups and electrics. Extra routing. New finishes. Different string gauges (from light to bloody heavy). Different bridges (and using it for slide for a while). You name it, I've done it on this thing, and it's always adjusted and performed well...fundamentally a well-conceived and manufactured instrument. Still needed the new pickups though! I say again, one of the best necks and set of frets EVER...and that's compared to all the makes (including Gibson and Fender - new and vintage) I've played and owned over the years. I realise (due to experience) this is incredibally rare for a cheap guitar.

Well, 11 years on this guitar looks like a lump of driftwood...quite artistic actually! This is down to all the changes I've made, and the pounding it's taken. However, this guitar would still take the ravages of regular live gigs...but I might chanage the crappy tuners after a while perhaps. I would use it live, and often do 3hr band pracs with it...strings never snap, and I don't have a backup with me.

Only had minimal dealings with JHS, and I know some dealers who grumble about them. I've had nothing to complain about though, and understand them to be quite reasonable, considering the original cost of their equipment. I know a lot of large companies, with guitar scosting thousands, who couldn't seem to give a monkey's! I'll give them a 6...but again, I can't say for sure due to only limited dealings several years ago.

I've been playing for over 11 years, and this was the first electric I bought. I still have it, and it's coped well with all the changes I've put it through. Tough as old boots, and always seems to perform. Find a good Encore, relpace the electrics, and you'll have a great guitar. I have real Fenders, but it took me 10 years to find one I liked better than this Encore. It now stands alongside Fenders and Gibsons (including vintage ones) in my collection, and is still gonig strong. If you've got one you don't want...track me down and give it to me!