Encore KC-3T Strat Copy

Solid red, strat style axe with tremolo, probably built in korea or taiwan. Tis around a 2002 model with 22 frets and s/s/s p/ups.Body possibly a cheap ply.

I play mainly rock/blues, also some jazz, and some other assorted stuyff. I play through a really bogus Trucker 50 amp with some gain and chourus.I have tried to get some workable tones out of it but sounds like a wasp in a tin can. I dont like this load of junk really, but that all I can afford at the moment.;

When i recieved the said guitar, it was unplayable due to the neck having so little relief the strings buzz at every turn. I just set it up for heavy strings now,

I would NOT gig this peice of trash, i mean, the neck goes clunck when you pick it up due to a cross-threaded neck screw. And i doubt the tremolo will do much, I hadmine blocked with some wood so it dont move no more

never dealt with them

Ive been playin' for around 16 years and ive had some copies in my time, and i must say this is the worst. I hope it gets stolen cos i pity the idiot who ends up with it.

Specs:
22 Frets
One volume control, two tone controls
Five way selector switch
Pickups: S/S/S
Strat styled body
Included accessories: Gig bag, B.B Blaster amp, strap, pitch pipe.

I am a rock musician, and to be perfectly honest, the guitar hardly suits me. The only thing I really use it for is punk or a bit of Iron Maiden. The pickups are rubbish!
The overall sound quality is pretty bad!
I used to use the free B.B Blaster amp (Aaagh! It's pure awful!) with it as it was my first guitar, but now I use a Marshall MG15DFX. I use numerous pedals, but they just don't sound right with the guitar.
It's not really a noisy guitar, probably because the pickups are that bad.
It can't really make that many noises. I often try to get it to 'squeal' but it doesn't really work.
Likes? Hmmm... it's a pretty good beginner's guitar, but after playing for four years, I realised that it really isn't great. But, hey, if you're just starting out, it's not too bad!
Dislikes... well, the pickups! I think they are dying or are already dead!

The guitar set-up was great at the factory, and it was already perfectly tuned when I got it.
The pickups were adjusted pretty well too.
The guitar didn't have any flaws at all.

Hmm... I'm not sure if this guitar could withstand more than a few live gigs. Plus, you'd drive the audience out first with the pickups!
The hardware is pretty good.
I changed my finish after about 2 years of owning it, so I don't know. And before somebody says thats how my pickups went, they were already dying anyway!
The strap buttons are solid.
No, unfortunately I can't depend on this guitar.
And I probably wouldn't gig with it!

I've never had to get it repaired, so I've never dealt with the company.
It is under warranty, but I'm not sure how long it lasts for.

I've been playing for about four years now.
I own another six guitars; Epiphone Les Paul 100, Westfield Jazz Bass, Westfield Acoustic, Encore (again... I know...) Classical Guitar, Cort CL100 Electric and I'm in the middle of doing another classical guitar up. Oh, and hopefully, soon to be mine, an Ibanez RG350DX!
There's nothing I wish I would have asked before buying the guitar because at the time, I didn't know anything much about them as I was just starting.
If it got stolen or lost, I wouldn'y buy another one of them, I'd get something else.
I HATE THE PICKUPS!

Made: Unknown
22 frets
1 Volume, 2 Tone, 5 way selector
Basic Strat Set up: S+S+S
Rosewood Fingerboard\"Mahogany" Neck
Black Gloss Finish
Rubbish Tuners
Crap Included: Crap B.B Blaster 10w Amp ,gig bag, crap lead, crap pitch pipe.. the usual.

I play a bit of all kinds of punk (Green Day, Blink 182, Sex Pistols), a bit of grunge\modern rock (Nirvana, Foo Fighters) and a bit of indie\alternative rock (Oasis, Kaiser Cheifs, Hard-Fi)

This guitar has a terrible sound but I have to say it does have some pros. When practising at home all you're ficsated on is how your playing sounds generally, but when you crank it up on it's soulmate (the B.B Blaster) it sounds terrible. It starts to make a very low, deep, Barry White kinda noise, like a french horn. However when played at band practise or something it dosen't really show and it sounds dare I say... ok.

All in all I'd say the saound is... i dunno... mediocre.

This guitar, surprisingly, was a straight outta the box deal. I now own a Gibson Les Paul Junior (1956) and that, out of the box was horrendous. This guitar though unlike the Les Paul Jr developed it's problems over time. The tuning pegs became looser and looser every time you changed a string until eventually they came off and i had to buy new ones. The electronics on this was pretty terrible. I replaced the crappy single coil "magnets" (how dare you classify those as pickups) with Seymour Duncan Hot Trails which are basically humbuckers that fit in Strats. When I opened it up I discovered that my tone and volume pots where of no use because there was no wire attaching them! So I had to re-wire everything (not to easy if you're 14 years old). All in all this does what it's meant to do... with a little kick up the backside.

This guitar is a brick! I've played live twice with this and it's still exactly like it came out of the box (except mods). The buttons aren't really a major concern (or at least not as bad as everyone says they are). I use my LP Jr usually for gigging and concidering that this is my only other guitar I use it for backup (not that I ever need to).

Before I owned this I had the cheaper model, the EIBTR. It broke down after seven months and even though it was 4 weeks out of warranty they replaced it, with the more expensive model. So because of the fluke that was in my favour I'll give them... 10.

I have been playing for two and a half years and my equipment is as follows:

A Gibson Les Paul Junior
An Alesis Wildfire 60 channeled through a Marshall MF400A Mode Four 412 Slant Cab 400W.
A Fender Stratocaster reissue (sold)
The Encore KC3T.

I really don't know why I bought this guitar, I bought it becuase I really wanted a guitar and this was the cheaper option to a Squier Strat, but I'm happy I didn't get that either. I would have rather got an Epiphone Les Paul Junior Starter Pack wholey based on the fact that I love Gibson's and I love LP Jr's! To all those planning to buy this get an Epiphone Les Paul Junior Starter Pack!

If this was stolen I would track down the burglar and shake his hand. Then I would press charges, get insurance money and compensation and buy another Fender Strat. This guitar wholey deserves what it gets but I wouldn't sell it for two reasons:

1) No one in there right mind would buy it.
2) Because this is like a brother to me. This guy taught me to play and for that I thank it.

It's basically just a strat copy with cheap pickups. The body of it is smaller and lighter than a full size strat so I guess it's perfect for beginners.

I had it in black ,with a BB blaster amplifier, but then one of the pickups stopped working so I took it back and received a not so nice looking (in my opinion) sunburst finish guitar.

But that was ok because it came with a much better, longer lasting Kustom 10 watt amp, that has never caused me any problems.
The pack also included some bog standard accessories included in most started packs. i.e.- picks, lead and video.

The guitar is fine for a beginner. It was my first guitar, I didn't really realise how bad it sounded until I got my SG. It makes a kind of dull sound and buzzes all the time and also goes out of tune very quickly.
Mine used to tune it's self higher as I played which cause much retuning in one practise and many broken strings.

The action is very high on this guitar, it takes about 2 minutes to press down on one fret. other than that it's pretty much ok to play and looks alright. I don't really like the head stock much but I can't really ask much from a cheap guitar.

Encore guitars last and last even if you don't want them to. Mine has fallen down the stairs before and been smashed about for the past few years and all that?s happened in a few small dents in the paintwork.
I've had two of these but i think that the pickup breaking in the first one was just down to that guitars dodgy wiring and is not reflected on all the encore strats.

the only problems I?ve had with the 2nd strat is, one of the tuners coming loose and the cheap strap buttons falling apart, but it still works.

I wouldn't use this guitar for live playing as it would just sound like buzzy, mushy goo compared to the rest of the band.

I've taken it back once. after i had showed them the receipt I was given a new replacement one strait away.

This guitar is good for beginners but you can get a much better starter guitar pack from squier or stagg for the same price. The guitar is now residing in a cupboard in my bedroom where it's been since I got my new guitar and I don?t think I?ll ever use it again.

Looks pretty similar to a strat (good neck), tone and volume controls didn't work and came with sh***y accessories (gig bag, bad cable, psycho tuner from hell). The Amp it came with was pretty good (Kustom 10 watt + FX)

BUZZZZZZZZ. If you like buzz, this guitar is for you. Not versatile in it's sound at all (tone and volume controls do not affect the sound). Bad tone and always sounds distorted(even on clean), which can be okay for hard rock.

Lots of fret buzz. Adjusting the action or pickups makes no difference, so there is no point in even trying. Wood and finish were very strong (could barely scratch it with a knife)

Good finish. Poor hardware. But it would withstand live playing (but may not withstand riots over terrible sound).

N/A

I would pay someone to steal this guitar.

Just a strat copy basically. A self destruct button would be a valuable addition.

Well, the pickups on this piece of firewood hum like some kind of giant snowbeast stood next to a giant speaker holding an electric razor and a mobile phone that he is roaring into, ROARING INTO!!! Not good.

I could have built a better guitar from things found in my dustbin, action was terrible as was everything else.

Not fire resistant

Pass

Terrible, bought this guitar for my son as his first guitar. I've been playing 35 years and currently play through many different amps. My main setup is a gibson les paul classic into a marshall JCM 800 head with marshall 1960 4x12. The encore should just be destroyed. Couldn't even get it to sound good through my boogie stack with my g-major!!

You've seen it all before - a strat copy...not a lot more...nothing to get too excited about.

Brilliant...no sorry, i mean bloody aweful. Yeh its sounds like a guitar but only just.

not bad, until I repainted it, got bored and then smashed it up with a pair of pliers. I got mine in a sparkly gold colour (not very rock but it looked cool at the time) and it was quite nice as far as gold 100 pound strat copies go.

Unfortunately i haven't gigged with it yet although i may give it a go. I don't think it could break anymore than it already has done but i'll look into that...BUT I don't think a new one would break too soon unless there is some manual input from the owner (oops).

Not bothered to deal with them.

I play loads of different stuff although most of it is metal oriented. This guitar is great for a beginner's first guitar although if you do buy one just be aware of the fact that as soon as you try a different guitar your gonna realise that the encore is possibly the crappest guitar you've ever laid eyes on.

well its a strat copy, look fairly similar to the real thing if thats your cup of tea. the finish was fine, a few dents ont he back (something to do with the way it was coated. i got a few accesories most of which broke apart from the amp (bb blaster) which i subsequently replaced on account of being crap!

buzzbuzzbuzz like a very buzzy beeeeee... urgh, the buzz on these things are terrible! argh! especially through a bb blaster, however with a decent amp it seemed to calm down (a little.) the sound quality isnt up to much but again, througha decent amp then there is no reasin it cant sounds mildly pleasing.

the action is preety high making it a bit of a pain to to play higher on the fretboard. the tuners are a bit ropey as are the tone and volume buttons. loose, not working etc...

i have managed to put this guitar trough a lot of punishment seeming as it regularyly falls over and gets knocks and scars. would i use it at a gig as a backup? i would even use it as a backup. hahah

n/a

this guitar, all be it a bit cheap and nasty is the ideal beginner guitar, available in many coulours and with infinate packs and such like it is a good choice. but then again for #200 quid more u can have hte real thing?!

Not much features. Just an average beginner guitar with a Encore badge at the top.
It's just like any other strat guitars. 22 frets, 3 pickups and 5 stages on the pickup selectors. 2 tone controls and one volume control (you don't really need them because they don't really do anything to the sound).

I think for a budget guitar, this one is pretty decent. It can sound like a proper electric guitar if you have a decent amp.
I tried what sound this guitar can make and I was pretty impressed. Punk, metal, indie etc...it can do quite heavy stuff. If you have a decent amp, then this thing can do alot of damage.

No particular flaws, but a few problems. My one is old, so age took it's toll. Fret buzz, rust etc...problems with the metal parts mostly. The tuning pegs are extremely fiddly and a small knock on the wall would make the strings loosen up...Very annoying when that happens. But the paint work is good and wood is very strong. Everything is nice and solid and I dropped it alot of times and the paint work is still fine, not a scratch on it. But the bridge area is abit dodgy. The string snaps alot near the bridge. Apart from that, everythin seems fine...

Well, all I'm worried about playing on the stage and stuff is about dropping my pick. I had no problems with it playing on stage apart from a few occasional fret buzz. I would use it in a gig because there is nothing horrible about it.

eh...I bought it second hand for 75 quid (UK pounds) and I had 1 month warranty. But I don't need it because it's fine. I wouldn't rate it.

Good, cheap, reliable, quite high quality. If any beginners need a cheap guitar, this is a good one. I would recommend it.

i bought this guitar about a year and a half ago. its just a basic fender strat copy thats really quite accurate at casual inspection. 5 way selector, 3 single coils, volume and 2 tone dials..the usual.
the body is so light which is why i like it. the wood is probably crap but it aint bothered me. probz the best thing about this is that the neck is probably the fastest and thinnest ive ever played.

i play all sorts of stuff and this guitar was quite good for all. the top and bottom selections on the switch are the only ones that have good sound, the rest is absolute crap. im using it with the 10watt amp it came with and it is shite, however i bought a zoom707II fx pedal and it sounds sweet now.

its a processed, million by the minute product of an automated system.
its quite sturdy but the bridge was badly aligned when i got it so i had to spend a good 10 mins fixing it. the volume dial fell off but it can easily be clicked back on
the strap buttons are excellent though, theyve never even came loose.

very undurable and will not withstand live playing as its too light and cheaply made.
if you look after it then it will last but if not, its gone in less than a year. the strap buttons are very solid but its not very dependable because of a tendency to go way out of tune if left for a while.

never had to contact

this was my first guitar and ive grown quite attached to it so i wont be selling it. i just got a tanglewood les paul copy and its much better so i advise u purchase the les paul over this any day.
if this was stolen, id probly be quite sad as it taught me how to play. if your a beginner its not a bad deal, the guitars ok and the price is even better.

y'all here must know the features already, for cryin out loud, its a strat copy! though my accessories that came with it were CRAP the amp... well... its in the garage! P.s. no-one ive showed my guitar to has managed to identify the wood used on the body. most likely solidified crap, but it does fall apart when your unscrew the straps, much like fibreboard or chipboard.

BUZZ! my god, even through a buzz filter it STILL buzzes like a swarm of demented bees! even on clean! You can actually get sound out of it though... which is ok. actually sounds alright through a shitload of effects and some new nifty digital amp modelling

wellllll... the action is terrible. i think you could use this to train yourself on how a guitar should NOT sound and how it should NOT feel like to play. pain chips so friggin easily, the pickup selector fizzes when moved, and the saddles are shite. intonation etc was wwwwwwaaaayyyyy off from the factory, obviously they are equal employers at JHS and employ deaf people to check the intonation. also, the wood has stripped on several scew holes such as the ones holding the plug socket in, and the strap holders on.

despite the paint chips, dogey hardware, worksmanship, and aforemention undicernable wood, i think the guitar body ITSELF would survive a bomb, but the rest wud of gone to where ever crap guitars go when they die. wouldnt gig without a backup.

JHS do exist, and no they didnt want to hear about my guitar falling apart a month after i had it. so i was forced to use No More Nails on the plug socket to hold it in. i actually think it may of improved the sound quality and definition.

been playin for a few days short of a year (4 to be precise) and after this... thing... ive tried and tested many different guitars as to not make this mistake again. soon to be upgrading to an ESP kh-202 as they are gods gift to guitarists compaired to these

It's a reasonably accurate (in dimensions anyway) strat copy, with a different headstock shape to avoid being sued.

It was so nasty to play I never bothered plugging it in.

Set up terrible - bridge was visibily twisted, strings falling off neck. The trem screw holes were way off, not even in a straight line. Several lacquer runs on the body, parts had been assembled before the lacquer was set so there were deep indentations, very poor finish - grain ridges and wood block joins clearly visible.

Paint very thin and soft, not at all robust. Generally a very light, un-solid feel. I wouldn't play this in a darkened room on my own, let alone in public!

www.jhs.co.uk - never dealt with them (they're wholesalers).

This is a terrible guitar. I've been playing on-and-off for 25 years, and this is the worst guitar I've ever played (apart from one a mate at school made himself, but that doesn't count!) I took it apart to use for spares the day I got it - the body is solid wood, surprisingly, so may be usable after a complete sanding down and refinish.

All you'll ever know about this guitar is what you can see with your own eyes, 'cos Encore don't seem to exist in this space-time continuum. What you see is an authentic strat copy with one or two slight differences, the most obvious being the shape of the headstock. Also there's no capping strip down the back of the neck and that little bush thingy that Fender put in the hole where the tie rod goes in is missing. Otherwise all you need to be a Hendrix/Clapton/Hank Marvin wannabe. Mine had a "made in China" sticker which I rapidly discarded. Where that model number comes from I don't know 'cos mine's got nothing on it apart from the logo (font a la Fender). The features are the same as a strat - you don't need me to tell you - and the construction appears to be a laminated God-knows-what body, ash neck & rosewood fingerboard. Mine was bought in a kit from those purveyors of fine musical instruments, Argos PLC, and came with a gig bag, spare strings, strap, diamond hard mega-thick pleccie, 10W amp & instruction video which is absolutely hilarious.

I play indie-rock stylee like Radiohead, Oasis etc. If I use it at all these days I play it through a Boss GT-3 with the headphones plugged in. The pups buzz like a bastard at anything above moderate gain, but I've got used to the humbuckers on a Les Paul, so I might be slightly biased. The sound is a reasonable strat-ish bright sound and the variation in tone is what you'd expect with 3 pups & 5-way selector switch together with tone controls. A major beef here is the difference in tone between the bass & treble strings. Any arpeggio which takes you from the D to the G string sounds like two different guitars. I've never re-stringed mine so that might rectify it if you can be arsed. There's also a problem at the open position on the treble strings. I think the first three frets are set too high, so anything played around there is audibly sharp, which gets you reaching for the tuner - all to no avail. If you ever use the Floyd-Rose type tremelo, make it the last thing you do before a re-tune 'cos anything you play after will be as flat as a witches tit. I don't use this guitar much 'cos it really doesn't match my style - too tinny. At the moment I've got it tuned to open G (Keef Richard's fave tuning) and use it for Honky Tonk Women/Brown Sugar. It actually sounds OK like that!!

The set-up out of the box is truly pants. Big linen ones with porcelain buttons and a cat-flap. The gap between the strings and the fingerboard above the twelfth fret is big enough to drive your car through. It takes so long to get the string down that you've already plucked it & moved on to the next note before it hits the fret. This is something you get used to with time - this was my first guitar - but once you've played something with decent action you realise how restrictive it is and it's almost impossible to go back. There's no obvious problems with fit of the various parts, but the paint job is dire. Mine's black, and it looks like a bog standard gloss finish that you might put on a door, and there's overspill where the neck meets the body. What with the softness of the body and crappy paint, mine's got dinks & chips all round the edges, and I don't abuse it - honest!

Don't gig with this, people will laugh. Learn to play on it. If you can get a tune out of it the next guitar will be a piece of piss. I've only had a knob drop off so far, which I glued back on, and the body dinks I've mentioned above. These guitars probably last a while 'cos nobody plays them much.

What company?

I've got into Epiphone guitars 'cos of the tone - they're the same as Gibson but cheaper. I now own a Les Paul Standard & a Zephyr Regent archtop electric/acoustic, and I've moved up to a Laney VC50 amp via a Kramer 15W practice, and the Boss GT-3 floor effects pre-amp I mentioned before. Of course I wouldn't buy another Eclipse if it got nicked!!!!! I'd act devastated to the insurance company and put the money towards a Telecaster. I love nothing about it and hate it all, but it taught me to play guitar. I've got a soft spot for it, OK? Buy it for your kid when he expresses an interest in guitars, then you won't have wasted too much money when he moves on to something else after a week. You can probably buy these in bulk somewhere for the purpose of smashing them up on stage without damaging your amp. Or the stage.

strat copy with a strange "too small for a strat, too big for a tele" headstock - SSS with 3 knobs and 5 way selecter, the pickups are poor inhouse ones, and as a beginner (lets face it the only people who would buy this guitar) these will not help your musical development, and by spending another #50 on a guitar you will notice the difference and you will enjoy playing much more because of it. the set-ups pretty simple, nothing flashy, The other stuff it comes with (amp lead etc.) where terrible, i gave the amp to a friend and got a marshall mg30 second hand for #100

i play mostly punk, ska, rock and the odd slow song, and in the process use pretty much every fx pedal you could imagine. i play through a marshall mg30 amp (buy/try marshall, you'll never turn back)and a korg ax1500 board. this guitar sounds simply bad, clean it has no sustain at all, while distorted it just hums, even when you stand a long way from your amp with a noise gate. The sound is soooo thin when distorted its unreal, even with bass turned up and mid raised a bit too, its just lifeless.

i owned this guitar for 5 months in total (well, this guitar 3 times. see below) and the paint stripped off at various points 2 of the 3 times (the last time i only owned it for 4 days)

the action was extremely high, and i like my guitars like this, but this was still way off target. People who have said "this is what you expect from a budget guitar" are wrong you should expect something much better.

The guitars only redeeming feature is the neck, which is ok. Easy to move around and the frets where ok 2 out of 3 times.

*sigh* playing this guitar live - no chance, im not sure i would like to play it infront of friends and family. lets go thought the guitars one by one with its faults.

GUITAR 1 - "lovely" i thought, "its much better than my nylon string acoustic". I learnt the basics and all was well until 2 months in, when the middle and bridge pickups just started squeeling uncontrollably (even on clean amp setting). A few days later they had just stopped making sound all together, except the odd clunk and fizzle.

GUITAR 2 - i got a brand new one of the same model. some of the frets where sticking out a bit, but i decided to stick with it. 1 month in and the problem had become severely worsed, and even after i took it to a proper music shop to get the action fixed it still rattled when i played (the strings against the frets). Various reasons meant it took 1 month for me to get another replacement

GUITAR 3 - 4 days in and it just plain stopped. id had enough and got a refund.

i didnt speak to encore at all - but argos were very nice. They replaced the guitar each time, and gave me a full refund when i told them the problems that had occured, if you really must by this guitar go for the extended warrenty

Ive been playing for only a year and a half, and i can tell this guitar is just plain bad. I now own a yamaha pacifica 012, and am looking to upgrade to a fender mex fat strat very soon.

The yamaha pacifica 012 (#110 if you look hard enough) is a superb instrument, the humbucker makes it more versatile (expecially for distorted sounds) and the build is much better. Anyone who wants to play punk/rock guitar like green day, blink, foo fighters etc. would be much better off with it. i bought this guitar because i was stupid, and i didnt spend time like you have reading websites to see how good/bad it was.

In conclusion - beginners can do much better with a pacifica or a higher end squire for similar cash. experts can have fun in music shops playing them and seeing how bad these things really are

This was my first electric guitar, and it sounds the same today as when I got it 3 years ago. A bad humming noise if plugged straight into a practice amp, but put through some effects and it sounds as good as any other I've come across. Mine came with a terrible strap that fell off 'cos of the weight of the guitar, a spare set of strings, low quality cable and gig bag. Excellent guitar for begginners, but wouldn't reccomend it for anyone else.

There's a lot of buzzing with this guitar, but i put it through a boss xt-2 pedal, and it sounds fine for fast, grungey sounds.

The finish on this guitar is indestructible, i must've thrown it around a hundred times, and it looks the same as the day i bought it. I had to take it back to the shop after about 5 months, the neck had twisted. Also, the jack-socket is coming loose and the thread in the screws has been damaged

i wouldn't play live using this guitar, but if (like in my case) this is your only electric, and you have NO CASH, it could be used as a last resort i guess. Indestructiible though.

Don't seem to have a website. When mine needed repairs i took it to an independant music store

This is great for beginners, but nothing more than that.

I'm pretty sure that this guitar was made in Japan or Korea but I heard someone mention India in a sdifferent review so it's definitely somwhere in the east (All you can expect fro the price). It has 22 frets and the usual stuff that the original Strat has (well to look at anyway). It also has a tremelo arom although I like to cal it a detuner.

As with most Encore guitars this sounds nothing short of terrible. And to whoever said it was the fault of the amp is wrong as it's definitely the piss poor pickups on this thing. I played it through numerous amps and it's always the same. As for the overall tone of the guitar, I'll have to wait till I have access to some sort of buzz filter to tell you that. Who knows, it could sound like an original 1960's strat underneath. My music style is instrumental rock and it doesn't suit this at all.

Ah, the action, let's start with that. Well as someone else said, it is possible to crawl under the strings without even touching them, believe me I've tried it. In fact, I'm pretty sure you could fly a jumbo jet underneath them without even coming close to the fretboard. I really don't see why companies such as Argos aim these things at beginners because I'm sure even Malmsteen would sound like an arthritic monkey playing this. It really is impossible.

If there's one thing you can say about Encore guitars it's that they'll definitely last, much to your dismay. I'm not sure what this thing is made out of but judging by the weight of it I'd guess at lead or titanium. I've owned two Encore guitars in the past and they certainly can take a few blows. Maybe the army should commission the guys at encore to start making their tanks.

I've never actually had any contact with Encore, (I'm sure they wouldn't e able to fix the problems I'm having with this guitar) but I have searched for them on the internet numerous times and It seems that they simply don't exist (or have gone into hiding).

I've been playing for two years and mostaly play Istrumental rock by Malmsteen and Vai, as well as some harder stuff such as Metallica and Iron Maiden. I see that most of the people on this database have purchased these things as a first guitar from places such as Argos. Well let me tell you something, Argos know about as much about guitars as Kate Moss knows about Quantum Physics. The beginners may complain about "snobs" giving this guitar a bad rating but wait a few years and see if you still play this piece of monkey sick. Thankyou

The encores strat isnt a quaifled guitar its begginers, which is what i am so im ok with it. Mine was made in India and its god knows how old i think its about 5 year! i got it second hand! it comes with an 10 watt amp with has ok ish distroition. it is perfect for playing nirvana songs as long as u raise the pickups up ALOT! the trem is crap so i dont use it! the build wquatilty is good because its been droped a few times and still works and also the paint stayed on.
the main prob is the things too bloody heavy!
i think its a good guitar sometimes but file down the brige area becasue the strings snap if u dont as i found out.

it suits most of my style as you can get a great overdriven sound wiht the raised pickups but on too loud it becomes microphonic but its really only for beggining praticeing.

i got it second hand so i think most of te probs were sorted out by the guy who had it before

it will last long it doesnt go out of tune unlessss u use the trem then it goes way out. its a bit heavy to be held on by my cheap strap so get straps locks!
oh and dont think about giging it

its fun guitar great for begginers and im selling it cheap at christmas when i get my tele (made by vintage a great guitar comp).

This was great for beginners because it came with amp (ok not too big) strap, case, tuner etc. um, excuse me if I'm wrong but, WHAT ELSE DO YOU NEED? 3 way, tone and volume, it's not like it left out any feature which matters, unless you are a fussy, stuck up b***ard. The only reason it is not a 10 is because it is nothing special, it has the same amount of features as my mate's Fender strat.

Well, my fave band is the Foo Fighters, they are well into distortion and "fuzzled" sound which creates an electric atmospher. The distortion on this baby is top notch. No I'm not going too far by saying that, I love the distortion, it rocks. It is buzzy on high distortion settings, FOR GOD SAKE SOMEBODY TELL THE OTHERS TO GET A DECENT AMP, that's what makes MOST of the the buzzing for christ sake. Good clean, vibrant sound, again I can immediately tell it's a foo fighter song when I start playing.

Well, unfortunately the volume button came off mine, it was still on, but it was like not fixed. It LOOKS EXACTLY LIKE A STRAT, I think there are too many "brand" obeyers out there who just go and do fender up the ass cos their called "Fender", so what, I like the look of this guitar. Call me inexperienced, but I think this is best, to not have high standards because then you actually judge a guitar on wot it is, not comparing it to a 1,500 quid Les Paula. Fine bridge, all FINE

hmmmm dunno about live playing, I wouldn't risk it. It is stable though, very stirdy, good build solid strap buttons, I can depend on it to pump out some seriously decent rock shit, great on power chords.

yeah, I found the Hornby Website, technical shit was available there, as expected.

Only been playing 4 months now, this is a seriously decent guitar for anyone who is a) not a fussy b***ard
b) a beginner (definately)
c) wanting to play like kick ass bands
Get it! And you don't just have to be a beginner, all you have to be is 150 quid up and not a true, "high standards" pro.

well then, 5way selector, 3single coil pickups, 2tone 1 volume control etc...etc...
came in a pack with 10Watt Kustom amp, strap, strings, video, bag etc...standard starter kit jobba

well, i would say that the sound is quite...hmhm...WANK. its actually me cousins guitar - but the sheer number of times he's asked me to go round and fix this and that for him, i think i've pissed about with it enough to make a fair opinion.

the sound is excellent if you like your guitar to sustain a note for 2seconds, even better if you like it to make a lovely BZZZZZZZZZZ sound for any period over this. The bloody bridge is all over't show, all the tuner things have slipped in random directions

oh good god. it looks fine, brand new i suppose it'd work fine aswell. give it 3months down't line however, OH BUGGER you shall be saying. i didnt expect much build quality due to its cheap price with all the extras, not too many gaping holes like id associate with VINTAGE, BUT THAT BRIDGE! the knobs have a nice stiffness to them, the neck has what i would call a more standard shape to it (damn you pacificas) BUT THE BRIDGE. ITS JUST SO CRAP! *BZZZZ* oh the joys of hearing it detune as you strike the note (amidst the BZZ). it did sit on't knee nicely though. light too

slap ye overdrive one, no1 can tell...but i'd say you pay for what you get. cheap guitar, cheap quality. im buggered if i'll ever play live, but this will give you not justice what-so-ever. i never once bothered to test the strap buttons due to the sheer crapness of it when your sat down playing it

ah, i too attempted to find the website...the closest i got was a pantomine. i aint sure of the background, but i know it aint under warrenty

great for a starter, probably worth it just for the amp & stuff, but any advances from being a begingner and your buggered.

3 pickups, single coil. Not the best quality, but it was my FIRST guitar ever.

It has a good clean but not a lot of power. I have heard Squire Strats that sound worse.

They are all fine. I had to keep REALLY light string or it woule buzz. But it looks great.

i wouldn't trust it live. It was a great beginners guitar and I learned a lot. i still play on it every so often.

Don't know

For a beginner, its a great guitar. I gave mine to my little brother to learn how to play. If you're looking to buy a beginner guitar, its the wayt o go.

I don't know a lot about guitars, i'm 16 and have just begun to play. I got my Encore Kc3T for christmas in order to learn and so far it has suited me rather well. The guitars got 3 single coil pickups 2 tone switches, 5 way selector switch, 22 frets, maple neck, and a traditional tremolino bridge; so its nothing special. It looks pretty good though, with a nice sunburst finish. With this guitar I also got everything else I needed to start, a tuition video, plectrum, a cr@ppy little amp, case, tuner, and a free black polo shirt with the Encore logo on it. (Yuk)

I think the Kc3t sounds pretty darn good. It has a good general tone that can be used to suit more or less any playing style but it really needs a better amp than what it came with or it can sound pretty cr@p. The guitar dosn't get out of tune easily either, and can be tuned up fairly quickly.

The guitar came from Argos more or less ready to play. It was tuned well, the strings were fitted properly and no assembly was required except for screwing the whammy bar on. Unfortunatly to preserve its factory-prepared state the guitar came completely laminated! Took about 2 hours to get it all off.

I havnt played live yet, and probably wont for a long time, but I do know that the kc3t is strong. My annoying little brother has knocked it over 3 times now and it has survived. The strap buttons stay on the guitar okay, but the strap that came with it dosnt. It kept slipping off so I had to buy a new one. Ive had the guitar 2 months now and play almost 2hours a day but the finish is still in mint condition, even though it does need quite a bit of polishing 'cos of its colour.

My guitar came with full instructions and loads of other material from the JHS (John Hornby and Skewes) company who made my guitar including a link to their website. Unfortunatly their website (www.jhc.co.uk) had a broken link which just happened to be the section on my guitar. Most annoying.

I like my little Kc3t, it does what I need. I suppose I will get a better guitar soon (Ibanez RG probably, I wanna play like the Offspring) but the kc3t gives me everything I ned from a guitar in order to learn the basics. Its good, reliable and a great guitar for beginners.

Dont buy this guitar!!!! The pickups were probably local shop own brand. I plugged it into my Mesa Boogie Stack and all i got was a shitty very load buzz no joke. Red Finish, the paint practically falls of. The action is so high i could crawl through the gap between the neck and the strings.nuf said

Shit, if you want an unresponsive, buzzing sound then this guitar is perfect.

Ugly

The pickups came unscrewed!!!

N/A

This guitar is Satans child

Eugh this is a horrible guitar. Japanise strat copy u like. A mate of mine bought one against my advice and I hate it! The tuners stick, the pickups are terrible, the whole thing feels like its stuck together with sellotape.

Terrible. Sounds ok ish through my amp and effects box but stick it through a small amp and my word does it sound bad.

Action was far too high, the pickups needed adjusted and I replaced the bridge and tuners for him. The neck is horrible to play and the pots were terrible even though the guitar was brand new.

this guitar barely stands up to home use let alone a gig. The finish is as durable as felt tip pen.

Dunno

Just say no.

Nice Korean made Strat copy. The neck is mable and fingerboard is rosewood, color black. 3 single-coil pickups, with a 5-pos switch. One master volume and two tone knobs. Steel truss rod, vintage style trem bar that does put the guitar out of tune, but not too bad. It's body is not real thick and it is comfortable to play.

I'm not a real good judge of electric guitar sound, I didn't look for one that sounded really good clean. If I wanted that I would get a Gibson Les Paul. I prefer mine distorted. I think the guitar sounds very good that way.

The action is great. The pickups are easily adjusted by little screws on both sides of them. The frets jutted out from the neck, so I stripped off the strings and filed them down. That was about the only setup it needed.

The guitar stays in tune if you don't play with the trem too much. I'm no professional musician, so I wouldn't ever get a chance to use the guitar at a gig. But I guess it would be good as a backup guitar.

I searched the net for this company. Can't find it. It seems the parts could all be easily replaced (it is a standard strat copy) so I'm losing no sweat over it.

For the price this is a great guitar. The people on eBay are selling them for around $100, so check it out.

This guitar was made in Korea, I believe it is another Samick Strat Copy. It has three single coil pick-ups, a tremelo bar, a 5-way selector switch. The body is made of mystery wood with a black finish, the neck appears to be one-piece maple. All of the hardware is as expected of a Korean made Strat Copy. The guitar appears to be exactly the same as a Hamer Slammer.

The sound is not too bad for a beginner guitar.

No gaping holes, scratches or gashes. I'm pretty sure I'll take a file to the frets or risk lost some skin to the fret edges. Actually, the guitar isn't bad for the price. The neck is thin, the way I like it to be. The action is pretty low, also the way I like it. I'm pretty sure the guy at the guitar shop set the action and adjusted the neck. I can't believe a hundred dollar and fifty dollar guitar from Korea would have no buzzes or such low action right from the factory. But, then why would the guy at the guitar shop spend the time to set-up a hundred dollar and fifty dollar guitar. Oh well, who knows...it plays pretty good. The nine rating is for a guitar in this price range.

This is a beginner's guitar, I wouldn't trust it for a live performance. But it stays in tune...I know it's hard to believe... so the tuners must be ok. The controls seem cheap and flimsy. Time will tell.

Who do I contact? Where is the Encore Guitar Co.? I've heard they are mostly sold in England. I've also been told they are manufactured by Samick. In any case I doubt I would be concerned about warranty work, considering the price of the guitar.

I've been playing guitar for quite a number of years. This guitar was purchased for a beginner, as such, it seems to be as good as any other strat copy I've seen, and better than most. However, time will tell.