Lotus Strat Copy

INTERESTING TIDBIT for those considering upgrades to their Lotus str@ts:

Several months ago I decided to replace the generic pickups in my Lotus with Kent Armstrong units. Not only did they just barely fit the cutout holes in the pickguard, but the pole pieces didn't fall directly under each string as they are supposed to. They still pick up okay, but obviously something wasn't right. How could that be?

The answer is this: at least on MY Lotus, the string spread at the bridge is only 1 7/8" or 1 15/16" or so, compared to a real Strat's 2 1/8" string spread. In layman's terms, the bridge--and string spread--are between 1/8" and 1/4" narrower than on a Fender Stratocaster! It's a very subtle difference, and I didn't realize it until I took a ruler to my guitar. The neck itself seems to be the right widhth, however; the narrowness seems to be caused by the design of the bridge. Be aware of this if you're planning to do any fixing up or hot-rodding.

I bought it in 93, Normal guitar features, nothing special

Sounds like a 150 dollar guitar I use it as a backup and I play with a Jcm 600 4x10 marshall. Practice with a Ibenez gt-10 Sounds well That depends on who plays it. A good set up and great players makes it sing. It sounds good to me.

I dont remember how it was set up when I bought it because i was a new player. I have adjusted it over the years. And it plays fine

Fell off the truck, Breaks strings constantly= burr on bridge, Thrown into wall, covered in stickers, slamed on the floor, smackd the wall and other people, lit on fire, Still plays

What

Bottom line, This is a beginers guitar. Dont bother upgrading it that would cost too much, just keep it working. If some one stole it I would be pissed cuz no matter how crappy it sounds It helped me learn to play/adjust the guitar.

For a quick visual; a strat copy, i.e. s/s/s pickups, vintage style tremolo, three way switch, master vol, two tones. Maple neck, maple fretboard, thin vintage frets, and a thin veneer top over plywood (which I now affectionately refer to as "polylaminate"). I'll explain later. Overall, a very close likeness of a str@t. Made in Japan, per the back neck plate. Started out as a robin egg blue with white pickguard, and aged knobs and pup covers. I have since changed the color to a copper metallic, painted the pickguard black, bright white pup covers and knobs, jogger reflective tape striping, a hand painted mural, str@t replacement trem, a second selector switch for 7 possible combinations, bridge and middle(rwrp) mexican str@t stock pickups with ceramic magnets, and planet wave trim-lok (r) machine heads. I don't know how old it is, but the serial number started with an 82xxxx, so, if they were around then...it looked like it could be that old.

the first thing that pops into my mind is twangy! very twangy. The bridge and middle pickups would get "muddy" with the volume above 7. changing those out helped alot, and I will soon upgrade them again. The neck pickup is perfect, well, it has a really sweet, smooth, warm tone. Not real hot, but great for bluesy type stuff. The sustain was really lame at first, and overall sound was kinda trebly. However, with the tremolo and tuner upgrades, it really sings. I play through a Roland GP-100 processor into a '71 Kustom tuck and roll 150w combo with 2x12 speakers. I can get chunck or squeal or grind. It plays nearly as well as my old '76 american ash strat. sustain is really good now. I can't say it was ever noisy.

In redoing this guitar, I became aware of 1. copyright laws, and 2. cost cutting in production. The hardware was cheap, just awful. the tuners were especially crap, and the tremolo block was not a block, but a stamped metal piece. No str@t parts would fit directly, but with some filing and grinding, bingo! The action is adjustable, so if it isn't right, do something about it. when I got it, the robin egg blue was sanded off (except inside the body cavity). previous owner attempted to do it in a natural finish...except when they found out it was plywood, brush painted it in a pink floyd look (natural with black edges). The headstock was broken and reglued almost squarely, the nut was chipped, whammy bar missing, short in the wiring, neck warped, rusty strings. It was a project, but, my wife bought it for me at an antique auction out in the boondocks for christmas...I couldn't hurt her feelings. The neck fits tightly, and the neck angle is good. the clear coat finish was on there like armor. I won't rate this catagory.

This thing is fun to play! as much or more as my nicer pieces. Its heavy, and with the upgrades, has gobs of sustain and tone. I would use this as a regular tool for strat type sounds. I have replaced all the screws, mostly with brass. It feels solid. I plan to keep it for a long time. The frets show little if any wear. the fretboard shows NO wear, like its bulletproof. The nut is chipped on one end, but the string doesn't come off...I have a bone blank I'll cut to shape soon. Replacing the cheap hardware made this Lotus a real mover, rock solid. It looked like it had been through hell, but a fresh coat of paint and some decent parts; its dynamite.

At this stage of the game, there is plenty of support from other players on the internet. A ford works the same as a chevy, fender like a lotus...there is plenty of info to keep your axe working. Seek and find.

I've been playing off/on since 1967. I've had some nice pieces like a '76 american strat, a '76 Electra Super Magnum 2258, and this lotus with the upgrades, is every bit as much fun to play. At first I hated it for the plywood body, but to be honest, I don't think it makes that Big of a difference. The hardware was crap, but easily changed. Strat parts don't fit it, but mustang parts don't fit camaros either. I now have a custom, personalized, great sounding axe for 100 bucks...I can take it to work, or the park, and not have to worry about it getting stolen. I would do another...although next time I'll try for a wood body.

I have no idea what type of wood it is or when it was made. I believe it was made in Japan. It has a maple neck and a crappy bluish/grey paint job. 3 single coils with black hardware-yes it looks like crap. It was my first guitar and for some reason I always keep it around. I have owned every Fender model you can think of and for $100 you just can't beat this.

I play a Victoria Double Deluxe and a National Resolectric. I know tone. I use this guitar for "junky" strat tones when I record. It's not a reliable guitar, but it doesn't sound that much worse than the 62 american vintage reissue I had. I want to put Fralin pickups in it and do a pro set up, but it would cost more than the guitar and I don't want the guy at the guitar shop to laugh at me-you know what I'm talking about. I am rating the sound based on the value of it for the money I spent.

The hardware is grade A crap. The finish has a total "relic" appearance that's endearing because I put all of the wear into and didn't pay Fender $2000 to do it for me with a power sander. It's fun and with better components you wouldn't be able to tell it apart from any Fender.

Tuners are garbage and the bridge is junk, but I only play with it at home. It would be fine with better tuners.

Puh-lease

I have owned or played everything you can think of. I play in L.A. and you can get anything here. I have seen Tom Morello of Audioslave play crappy guitars and make them sound great. Tone is in your hands. You should sound good with any guitar and a pignose if your good. For the price you can't beat these. Fender guitars past the 1970's are just junk. The new American standard guitars are nice, but no character. Save money on a guitar and buy a good tube amp first.

THIS IS AN UPDATE.

Except for the nut, nothing has physically changed on this guitar.

My usual effects chain is: Lotus>DOD Supra Distortion or Classic Fuzz>DOD Stereo Flanger>amp.

Having joined a second band (http://www.twiggyandfrollywog.com) for which I handle lead guitar chores, and having thus made my turquoise-and-toilet-seat Lotus my main guitar, I can wholeheartedly vouch for the guitar's sound in a live situation. The lead pickup is now not weak, just ear-piercingly trebly...so I use mainly the mid and neck pickups, and properly EQ'd they sound wonderful, even through my LAMEy HC-50 combo amp. Played clean through the flanger it makes for an excellent chimey 12-string simulation which I use a lot. I also used this setup on our 4-track demo/EP disc, with both the fuzz and the amp's overdrive channel on different songs, and it came through sounding absolutely schwinnngghhh. I recently bought a Kustom K200B head (see review) and the Lotus takes to it like butter to toast.

My only complaint now is that the string to string balance is a bit unevn. In some cases the high E string sounds very weak, especially during solos. I credit this flaw with the fact that while pickup pole pieces are of uneven height, they are NOT actually STAGGERED in the fashion of old Fender pickups. The pole pieces follow (roughly) the arc of the string heights. except more extreme, so that the low and high E pole pieces are further from the strings than the D and G, and that loud unwound G is uncompensated for, making it "honk" sometimes. It's not usually a problem, but it is a problem nevertheless, one that can be fixed (I assume) by swapping out the pups.

Remember that awful black plastic nut that I grumbled about? I replaced it with one of those preslotted white plastic nuts that they sell for a buck apiece. Major improvement in tone and feel! The tuning is much more stable now, too. The blue Lotus is now a joy to play.

Removing the black nut was a pain and a half, though. The chunk that had previously cracked off was easy enough, but the rest of it had been glued in with some kind of industrial strength adhesive, like epoxy, or it had somehow been poured in and molded, because it was dang near impossible to scrape the remains out of the nut slot. It kept crumbling into pieces, but there remained an almost impenetrable layer that just wouldn't come off. I finally got it reasonably flat (chipping the rosewood around the slot a bit, dang it), Elmer's-glued the white plastic replacement, tightened the strings on it, and let it solidify. Rock on.

I'd suggest letting your friendly neighborhood guitar tech do this, as this operation is likely to drive you up the wall, not to mention possibly ruin that nice Lotus neck. I was lucky.

The only possible problem I've noticed here is that my strings have a tendency to break, even with not so heavy playing, at the same place--right around the bridge saddle. (This happened at a gig, going into my guitar-wanker solo at the end of the last song, throwing the tuning all to crap. I heroically managed to finish the solo anyway by shifting up a fret.) Something about the bridge components or adjustment seems to make strings break right there. Perhaps a switch to better saddles would help. Otherwise, rock-solid so far.

No clue.

Every guitar has its faults, face it. The Lotus's don't justify docking it any points. I've become very impressed with it now that it's my main guitar, flaws and all. And as I said before, I can't reasonably complain about an ash-bodied str@t with this kind of playability for a piddly $60. Name-brand logos be damned. Get a Lotus, tweak it to your heart's content, and rock the crap out of it for years.

www.floorian.com
www.twiggyandfrollywog.com

OK I did the last review and I gave high points. I just bought another off the bay and it was new almost. Pure garbage! It looked cheap and played cheap.

Was lousy!

Just poor manufacture!

OK

OK what's the deal???? I have had several Lotus guitars that have been GREAT then I got this pile of newer trash! I did some research and here is the scoop I got: The GOOD Lotus guitars that I bought were made in India and they are great. Lotus went to another country in Asia and started producing garbage. The quality was so poor they may have gone back to India according to what I read.If you get an older (but not so old) Lotus they're great.

I bought this by recommendation of a professional luthier in Folsom CA...Nick at Nicholson Music. He said it has a solid alder or ash body. It has a very nice neck with jumbo frets. Tuners are ok nothing bad. Pickups are fair to good. I would give this a ten but it isn't perfect.

I use them for blues and they are perfect. I use a Fender Bandmaster Reverb and it sounds great. I put a Lace Gold Sensor at the neck position and it sounds perfect. I put a Dimarzio Chopper at the bridge and it sounds pretty good, I may try something different someday. I have another Lotus that is set up with two singles and a humbucker and sounds great for blues on a smaller tube amp. It is not too noisy all single coils can give some noise but read about potting with wax and shielding with the foil that one of the other Lotus owners did. Neck gives rich sound and bridge gives bright sound same as all strats. Variety is plenty.

Set up is fine although I had a luthier set up one for $100 to redress frets, install my pickups, etc.. THis guitar is set up fine. A luthier can enhance it if you want.

Just like any other solid body strat.

Who knows?? They have been making guitars since the 80's or longer. Recently they started making these in Asia but they were first in India. Maybe they went back to India???????? THe only gripe might be getting a different pickguard. You might have to make your own, I don't know.

Been playing off and on since the 70's. I own other gear that is inexpensive but good. Sure would buy these again. I love the price. I feel sorry that nobody can get anything out of these. These have very little value for resale. These are wonderful bargains and I have no desire to sell my three lotus guitars. I have owned Fenders and I am just as happy with these. The only thing I hate is the resale but like I said, I have no reason to sell them. These are the best deals out there. I paid $100, $75, and $50 for the three I own. If you pay $100 you have done fine. Total that up and see if you can buy a Fender with a solid body and jumbo frets. Buy one for the whole family or get one in every color for yourself.

i just bought it a couple of days ago. Its a strat look-a-like and its a dingy yellow.It looks to be modified,cause it has emg pickups,likehumbuckers but the ones esp use.only two. It also has a 3 way switch with another 2 way switch,2 controls one for volume and other for tone,it has no whammy connection.The bridge is basic like those of strats,and the nut seems to be bone,white not plastic.22 fret neck thats just perfect,WITH TREMENDOUS PLAYABILITY.THE PICKUPS ARE THE BEST, FOR ANY TYPE OF MUSIC.

I love to play alot of garage sounding blues,dirty but no pedals .Like a stevie ray style,sound like a bad ass outlaw biker but anyways,the sound is thick,no matter what setting,awesome for harmonics ,pulloffs,powerchords,soloing,or just clean playing.No buzz what so ever.I use b52 strings 48-9's which are soft enough to pull down on and thick for some crunchy barre chords

The action is the best I ever felt,the strings sit perfectover the frets,The fit and sound are awesome,Im a big fender and les paul fan but this guitar was probably modified by a guy that should work for them.fender is my favorite guitars but this one blows any strat.It has a couple dings on the paint but nothing a well used guitar wouldn't have.

It looks like the person who had it knew what he was doing,probably playing for many years,I live in a retiring town,so this guy might have passed away and his guitar sold to a pawn shop.This guitar looks like its gotten alot of fame in its time,and to sound like it does it must of been used for live gigs.

I looked to be sitting a long time.the strings were rusted,and missing one.but even like that I tried it and got an incredible sound. so thats why I bought it,plus its a strat alike that I prefer.

I think I plan to make this my main guitar,I just never heard a guitar like this,that feels great in your hands ,awesome looks,and action.But remember info lookers that not all are going to be like this one ,so choose wisely,But I think that these guitars are awesome when modified so if you have one I think its worth putting the money in it.

No indications of year or country of manufacture on the guitar itself, but based on other reviews I'm assuming that this is a product of India. This is your basic standard str@t configuration, so no need to go into details. The body is a heavy wood with pronounced grain and no sign of lamination--possibly solid ash (!). It's finished in what once must have been a stunning transparent turquoise blue finish, but the previous owner had destroyed portions of the clearcoat by applying and then peeling off a bunch of stickers. Over this is a mother-of-toilet-seat pickguard, a nifty combination. Maple neck (satin finish) with rosewood fingerboard; feels like the fingerboard radius in considerably flatter than a regular Fender neck--kind of a "heavy metal guitar" feel IMO. Generic sealed tuners, however not of the best quality. Nut made of some kind of brittle, crumbly black plastic, not good at all. Generic str@t pickups have staggered pole pieces, a nice touch.

Basic str@t sound; pretty good emulation of Hendrix/Stevie Ray sounds especially using .010 or .011 strings. I do think the bridge pickup sounds a bit weak, but that may just be an adjustment issue. Pretty decent sustain. One problem for those for whom it applies: I cannot get this thing to cooperate with an E-bow!

My particular guitar was bought used. The previous owner must have been a metal/punk kid judging from the shape it was in. Finish ruined by sticker removal, pickguard screws loose. But of course those are purely cosmetic things that I blame on somebody's raging hormones, so I won't dock Lotus for those, obviously. Besides, it drove the price down to $60 asking, without even having to haggle. Who can complain?

My main complaints that you can lay at Lotus's feet are the substandard tuners and the really crappy nut which has already disintegrated on me. A chunk broke off during a string change which irritated me, then made me curious. So I examined it...it actually looks like some kind of hard rubber or tar derivative rather than a hard plastic, not like something you should make a guitar nut out of.

Oh, I'm sure the basic chassis (body and neck) of this guitar will take a beating with flying colors. It's the hardware and little things that are gonna give out. Plan on replacing the tuners, the nut, maybe some of the electronics. Think of this as a really awesome project guitar.

Never dealt with. Not sure how I would anyway; I can't find any contact info.

My specimen was beat up, but outside of a couple of matters of cheap parts and/or materials, I have no complaints. The Lotus str@t seems to be a gem, especially if you can land an ash(?)-bodied one for cheap like I did. $60...shiiit. As I said, for project-guitar enthusiasts this is an excellent foundation for a cheap-but-kickass str@t. However, being a recent purchase for not a whole lot and therefore not being terribly attached to it, I probably would not sweat its theft but rather go shopping again (and believe me, exploring the universe of str@t clones is a mightily satisfying hobby).

Now the usual biographical info: 29 years old as of writing, playing and teaching self to play guitar since age 10, currently in my second band (the space-rock quintet Floorian--www.floorian.com), love mostly older rock and many many other styles. Also into keys and vintage synths, and have reviewed a bunch of my gear on this website. Booyah!

Don't know where it was made or when. It's just a standard strat copy with 21 frets, 5 way selector switch and 3 single coil pickups. Fretboard is definitely rosewood, and it has a tremelo comparitive to what you would find on a standard strat. I rate it a 7 because this is exactly what I would expect from a strat copy.

I play a lot of diffrent music styles with the most predominant leaning more towards metal. I pretty much only use this guitar for at home practice through a Fender Champ 10 amp. It doesn't sound too bad then, but the pickups suck. When I tried to play through my stack (Randall head, not sure what, and Crate stack), the feedback and noise was unbearable, though I also had to change the pickups in my Fender Strat as well. In my opinion, the majority of stock pickups suck.

I bought it at a pawn shop for $135 and it's a lefty, so for me it was a good deal. I've only used the whammy a few times and don't anymore because it goes out of tune right away. I haven't taken the time to try to fix this but it probably just needs new springs, which are cheap. I had the same problem on another guitar and the springs corrected the whole problem. Other than that, everything is adjusted well; intonation was great when I got it, and the action is pretty decent; about the same as my genuine strat. The finish is a little thin, but unless you really study it you won't see any flaws. As far as my Fender, the pickup mounting holes were drilled wrong, so they sit at a screwed up angle. (and I paid 5 times as much for it) The quality of construction is great. Not sure on the wood used, but it's just as heavy as my $600 Fender.

For the most part, everything about this guitar is solid. The tuners, tremelo, etc. are generic, but of good quality. I would play with it live besides the fact that the pickups are cheap and tinny. (I have heard worse though. I can't complain for the price I paid being a lefty.) I would use it during a show (besides the fact that a have a couple of much better guitars) if it weren't for the pickups. The construction is rock solid!

Does anyone know if this company still exists?? I haven't tried to get a hold of the company, but than again I haven't had to.

I've been playing guitar for about 7 years and have played in bands for about 3 years. Like I said, being left handed I wasn't too picky when I found this one at a pawn shop, but it's actually very comparable to the strat I bought new for 5 times the price. There's a lot of guitars out there, but not many that are left handed. If anything, I'd like to complement Lotus on making lefties. The quality is good though, and overall I'm pretty content with it.