Encore Strat Copy

No idea what year it was made
Made in cheap labour land (Korea)
21 ?frets?, which seem to be pencil lead
I think it has a clear coat plastic finish, the type you laminate restaurant menus with
3 fridge magnets shaped like strat pickups, 5 way pickup selector, 2 tone and 1 volume, all best set at 0.
Body ? knotty pine. Fret board - cardboard. Neck ? paper Mache
Strat style body
It has a trem that?s designed to put your tuning out of whack whenever u touch it
Features tuners that tighten and loosen the strings but doesn?t tune them by any means

This guitar is a joke, it sounds like shit not only because it plays like shit and is made out of shit, but because it was obviously made by a crazy blind china-man. The rattles and clanks this pathetic excuse for an instrument makes would make my deaf grandmother shudder. I know it?s designed for beginners but if I had this as my first guitar I would of given up on day 1! (Thank god its not mine, a friend left it at my house.. wonder why?)

I?ve have a fender deluxe USA strat and the coils tapped on my Gibson les Paul, and in single coil mode they don?t make anywhere near as much noise as this. Its funny when you plug in and pickup French radio.

It sounds revolting in every setting!

The strings were dead and the action was as high as my drug-addict cousin. The intonation was all over the place and the pickups were to low. The nut looked like it was glued on the wrong way round and was at a dodgy angle.

The thing was covered in dents and marks, not that its hard to avoid, its not worth taking care of.

As a guitar for gigging? no, as a paddle for my canoe or a spade for my garden? maybe! I?m sure the neck would brake off as soon as it hit the mud though.

I?ve been playing a good few years and own lots of gear and play in 2 bands. This guitar isn?t worthy of anyone, even a beginner. If you?re thinking of buying one of these think twice, save a few extra quid up and buy a Jackson import or a cheap Ibanez. The cheap Ibanez?s aren?t really much different from the 1500 pound ones!

Usual spec as mentioned so many times.
Have had the guitar for ages and have a mate who does guitar revamps at mates rates...

New Pickups (Fender Lace Sensors (Bridge, Middle) Seanour D Humbucker (Bridge)

New Paint job

New Tuners

Original rating 4
Now 8

The guitar really sounds awesome now. The new pickups have really changed it. It sustains really well and the range of tones now offered is second to none.

This is one of the early ones and I have to say things aint too bad here. The neck is REALLY slim, the guitar has been pro set up (why you may ask, 'cause it was free!) and it plays really nice.

Nice action, very low with little to no string buzz.

It doesn't feel as solid as it could but what do you expect for the money!

I have been playing this guitar on and off for 9 years, still in great playing condition.

Other guitars, Rick 330 & Fender Mex Tele Custom

Although it will probably not make as many years as the other two guitars I would feel very comfortable playing this on stage.

N/A

Overall this guituar is a CHEAP copy and you should expect it to sound bloody awful when you first plug it in. Fortunately I was lucky enough to get some quality hardware for next to nothing and now the guitar sounds the dogs.

Standard strat features except for the tremolo, its unuseable, it's more like an instant detune bar.

Sounds great apart from the humming, lots of treble, very nice for funk or rithm & blues. For some styles I definately prefer it over my Ibanez artist ($2500).

I've set the strings very low over the fretboard and still not one fret is buzzing. The finish is nice too.

Stays tuned forever as long as you don't touch the tremolo.
Never broke, neck stays straight (unlike some yamaha's that would cost you twice as much).
I've gigged with it a couple of times and had no problems even after playing Jimi.

Never needed it.

I've been playing guitar for 6 years and I own a home studio with a couple of amps, guitars, p.a. system and lots of effects. The guitar sounds great through everything I own.
I don't understand why everyone rates this guitar so low, there's no better example for 'value for money'. The only flaws I can mention are the humming and the unuseable tremolo. Not bad for ?150,-.

This is one of the earlier strat copies by Encore with a fender strat shaped head stock, not the ugly head they put on newer ones. All the features of a fender strat but odviously not as good quality.

for what I paid, quality.

These earlier copys sound great. Yes the pickups are cheap but for texas blues and clean twangs they are awsome. The dude who taught me to play guitar uses a set of these encore pickups on a Redwing Tornado, these guitars were hand made by Patrick Eggle and are quality machines. I also own a Tornado but with the pickups Patrick put in and mine doesn't sound half as good.

In my oppinion the bridge pickup is a little to harsh but the middle and neck I think are comparable to some of the best single coils I have heard.

I own two of these guitars and both I brought second hand. They both needed a good scrub and set up. I have got them too the point were they are pretty good, not perfection but very usable. Yes one of them has a buzz around the 17 fret, but I belive that is because the bandit who owned it before me had tried to file the nut down with a hack saw, this is something I plan to get fixed soon.

Both my Encore's have fantastic slim necks which are easy to play.

I have read through the other reviews for this guitar and found a couple quite amusing. One guy said ;"My guitar has fallen over; the neck hit really hard; I've kicked it many a time; it's been in a buses compartment hovel - and yet it still lives. Very strange." this guy gave it a 4 rating.
another guy said ; "fair enough encore, i've dropped it a few times but nothing seemed to happen but that may just be because it was shit in the first place??" he also gave it only a 4.

Now I'm not being funny but any guitar that can take being dropped, kicked and put in a luggage hold is a pretty fuckin tough guitar, 4 out of 10 ? I don't think so guys.

The machine heads are bog as is the tremolo ( mine are both broke ). Yes I would gig this guitar but only with new machine heads and the bridge tightened down. Strangly enough back to my guitar teacher, he gigs with one of these with sperzel locking machine heads.

The guitar is very solid. I mark it down only because the machine heads and bridge are a rectal nightmare.

On a guitar this cheap you can mess around with it and not worry about fucking it up.

I have been playing long enough now to Know what is good and what is not. For what you can pick these up for, these are great. Spend #50 on some sperzels and you have a guitar to rival an American strat, but then you'd rather spend #500 because you don't want to be seen with Encore on your head stock do you ? If you can look through your vanity you'll find a great guitar for a days wages.

It seems everyone is aganst these guitars, I can only assume they have had the misfortune of owning one of the newer ones which are shit. If you find an old one with the strat shape head stock, grab it.
You don't see these much, but when I do, I buy them.

just referring to review number 2- you seem to love this guitar and say its all good,well just buy a REAL strat and tell us what you think of it then! encores are crap ,they sound nasty and are made of MDF.they are not a guitar to be proud of and i cant see you wanting to own one if you ever got famous.give your grandchildren a break and give em something better! get a decent amp aswel, cheap copies do NOT compare to the real deal

muddy, even with my vox ac30
twangy, buzzy even with the highest action and correct truss rod setting.neck bends easily.niosy pick ups.crap basically

crap action in every setting
crap crap crap
poor finish, dints easily (mdf)
plastic nut.

dropped it once when it fell off my strap, hit the floor in front of the stage and then neck snapped off.

dont buy one.get a decent guitar like a real strat or les paul.if you cant afford one then get something half decent.i.e epiphone

You've read most of the 'features', though mine seems to have metal tuners and the body isn't cardboard as I found some sawdust.

Started learning to play on this (brought for my daughter originaly) and hated it. Cheesewire strings, massive pickup noise bloody awful jangly sound. Brought myself an epiphoney goth SG and forgot about the encore for a while. Then given that the thing was pretty much unplayable spent a couple of weekends adjusting the action (neck was a banana) pickup heights, intonation and fret sanding. Well it ain't subtle, infact it sounds down right brutal but I find myself playing the encore of a weekend when I don't have to be too considerate to the neighbours. Still get a little fret buzz if I strum with combine harvester strokes but it doesn't seem to matter :)

From the factory,
setup was awful, nothing has actually fallen off yet but it has most of the other dire finish problems mentioned by others.

The paint chips but it wasn't loved for the first part of its life. If I ever got good enough to gig then I'd take this. Similar to motorcycling you stop playing and there's a big cheesy grin on your face.

Who are Encore?

Been playing under 1 year, also own the aforementioned goth. If the encore was stolen I'd be heartbroken, then I'd get over it and buy a strat :)
I love it cause it was crap and awful, real dumpster material, but with a little effort spent on it (and no money), it sounds awesome (which was a complete suprise), and the actions pretty close to the goth's (damn good).

dunno where its made
22 frets
2 tone 1 volume 5 way selecter 3 single coil pickups
strat look-a-like
came with amp only cause my mom got it from a friend and gave it to me for my birthday

i play hard rock, grungey, type of lead, and this guitar rocks at it
i use a squier amp (very underestimated) and a dod grunge distortion pedal
noisy on the 5th seting but thats because i put the pickup down real low
nice loud clean sound, great with my pedal
wide range of sounds, from lead to rhythm to whatever fits your needs
i love it all

low action makes easy platabilty
the pick ups everyone hates, but i guess i got the pick of the litter cause mine work great
the fretboard has a crack from the third fret down, but that dont hurt it

i think this guitar will be the one im handing down to my grand kids when im 80 yearsm old and still rocking out with it
it all is good
the strap buttons are great
i can depend on this to last til the day i die
i would use it in a gig without a back up, and do

i dunno if they exsist any more

ive been playing close to a year and a half
i wish i had a les paul, but for a guitarist on a budget, and even for rich people this guitar will rock you to your knees
if it was stolen i would deffinatly buy another
i love everything axcept the crack in the fretbaord
i compared it to a squier, hondo, and an austin, and this one was the best
i wish i had a 30 foot stack amp

No idea when it was made, probably sometime this century though and i presume it was made in some cheap labourous land, like china or korea.
The usual number of frets...22
Solid cheapy top.
Two tone a volume with 5 way selector
Who knows wot the pick-ups are probly some cheap ones that the ogg monster ate and was rejected by fender for their squeir strats.
Passive pickups
The body is wood, nothing fancy here, just plain old wood.
The finish is paint im safe to say
Its got a 60's strat bridge
Some crappy regular tuners
Fretboard is made of what can only resemble cardboard and the frets themselves look rather thin.
I think it came with a gig bag, strap, cable, tuner and amp

As it aint mine i can write what ever i want here. but it sounds surprisingly good for a piece cardboard glued to some 'wood' which was then painted by the winner of the turner prize. The amp it comes with is really good, a kustom i think it twas. What do u mean likes and dislikes, i could be here all day on the dislikes column.

ONce again as it aint mine i dont have a clue, but it safe to say that it was poorly constructed by some chinese fella who didnt even have clue about wot a guitar was, not that this can be classed as a guitar.

I presume it will fall apart with time, its hard to say if u could play with it in a gig, i would use as a finishing guitar, u no one u can smash over ur drummers head. Whoops, where are my safety precautions, make sure your dummer is wearing googles, if he isnt ull be forced to throw the guitar into the crowd.

Do encore really exist or are they just some crazed company that argos invented.

This guitar is about as useful as yogi is in a brothel. I mean ur better off using this as fire 'wood' coz i mean all of it would as there are not real metal parts, everything that looks metal is actually just plastic coated with paint. i found that out when i tryed playing it like hendrix did with his teeth and i ended up with a silver tongue.

Usual strat gubbins (see other reviews)

Oh dear lord. I've seen so many other reviews of this guitar being rubbish, i thought i must add to it. I don't usually write these reviews, but this has to be an exception. Its all true, this is possibly the worst guitar in the universe. What was the guy on that gave this 10!!? Feels flimsy, doesn't resonate. Horrible thin tone. I've played and owned cheap guitars before but they all sounded passable in some way, not this. Just because it is not marketed as beginners guitar doesn't make it an excuse to make it rubbish. If anything, it makes it far harder to learn. Nothing like a poor action to slow your progress down. I play a US telecaster. i wish i'd had that as a first guitar!

lol

I wouldn't rely on it because there isn't anything to rely on in the first place.

Who knows!? Do they exist? Are they an experimental government sector?

Whatever you do, under no circumstances buy this guitar. I've been playing 5 years now, have owned loads of gear, i know what i'm doing (mostly). My first guitar was a strat copy, (not this) for A#75 2nd hand. Half the retail price of this and 10 times the guitar. My advice is to look for 2nd hand items of the same price rather than waste your money on this 'guitar'. The thing i dislike most about the guitar is the physical presence of the guitar as an actual entity. The thing i like most is that it isn't actually attached to my body, which would just be weird.

none really awful pickups and real basic. i hate it. it has strings i suppose. From argos for 150 with amp and strap because o knew nothing about guitars, i was poor and i didnt even know if i'd pick up how to play guitar.

sounds bloody awful at any kind of music. horrible tinny sound and it buzzes as well.

sunburst effect looks nice so it pushes its score up by 1. Thats about it, the rest is shoddy and takky.

fair enough encore, i've dropped it a few times but nothing seemed to happen but that may just be because it was shit in the first place??

sorry nether spoken to them.

ok even if ur wanted a first guitar to learn on dont get this, its that bad. u can live with it for about a year before u realise how awful it is and u want to burn it. thats what happened to me. its sitting in the garage for 2 years now because its a crappy embarrasment. get a yamaha pacifica or fender standard strat for first guitar, they are well worth that little bit extra.