Stratospehere.com

[movinginslomo]

I get their e-mails. I think I singed up out of pure curiosity. They got complaints they didn't have enough "cheap" parts so they now offer cheap strat and tele bridges. So I buy my extremely high end clapton signature "blackie" neck, stick it on a low end squire body with cheap parts, cheap tuners, get a MIM pickguard assembly (because I don't want that too cheap) and go to town. I now have a very mutt guitar. Am I the only one who doesn't get the appeal? You wouldn't buy all the same parts to the same model guitar to re-build it back again, so they obviously expect people to buy random parts. They seem encourage mutt building. I get it for neck replacements or whatever, but it still kinda makes me wonder. Wouldn't you want the same level quality on all your parts? Obviously Gibson and Fender can't be happy with it, and I wonder if they've been sued yet.. It feels very shrewd and shady and skeevy to me. "Hey buddy, real fender necks, logo and everythin'! HOT!" What are other opinions?

[gordo]

Honestly, most of my stuff clocks in at sub $300 purchase price and I upgrade from there or just spend time getting what's on it set up properly or working.  So to answer your question...no.  Quality is subjective in many cases.  That said, there is some killer stuff on both the cheap and expensive side.  Ultimately, does it do what you want it to?  Is it going to make you play/sound/write better?

I have a few killer Lados, a really cool Hamer, and perhaps the best guitar I've played - a Music Man Silhouette that is just magic but at the end of the day I could still do the gig with my $89 GFS strat kit and nobody would hear the difference.

[reddesert]

Is this about parts guitars, or about stratosphere in particular?

Some people like parts guitars and some people dislike them. Modding or assembling a mutt guitar could have to do with trying to make something that isn't sold commercially, or just compulsive modding. Different people have different ideas about what parts of a guitar are the most important. For example I prefer certain neck shapes and nice tuners, but I'm not picky about heavy bridges or full-size pots, though some people really are. The one thing about parts guitars is that they take a hit on resale value.

Stratosphere seems to take apart new-ish guitars and sell them as parts at prices such that it would be cheaper to buy an entire new guitar, if you wanted an entire guitar. I don't understand the economics of parting out guitars, but they appear to stay in business, and AFAIK you get what is advertised and there is nothing shady about it. (Maybe they are a channel for guitars that are returned to stores and can't be sold as new-new?)

My only experience with Stratosphere is that they sell 3rd-party pickguards in a variety of colors and pickup configurations for very good prices (about $10) and good quality.

[jimilee]

I would say that a lot of refurbishers would buy the original or vintage parts. Maybe some body bought a guitar on the cheap and needs apart to complete it. Maybe a kid got a guitar and a piece broke, and he needs to replace it on a limited budget. I've bought from them a couple of times to build a few guitars.   Really, it's an open market and they fill a niche.


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[Frank_NH]

I just recently put together a parts guitar, a '72 telecaster deluxe with wide range humbuckers.  I sourced a RI Fender body and neck from e-bay, then obtained quality tuners and an excellent hardtail bridge (Callaham), pickguard (wired up myself), and finally some aftermarket pickups (Brandonwound WRHB).  For all intents and purposes it's a Fender guitar, but with some boutique parts, and it plays like a dream.  It was a fun project to do, although the total cost was probably about what I could get a used one for (perhaps a bit more, due to the boutique pickups).

The Stratosphere bodies, necks, and parts are for those who want a custom guitar but don't want to buy a used guitar and replace original parts with boutique counterparts (like the bridge and pickups).  And like pedal building, don't make a parts guitar to save money - do it because it's an enjoyable project. 

[movinginslomo]

It's not so much parts guitars in general, I have a few myself, but more the idea of buying like a custom shop neck and skimping on the rest of the guitar. Like Buy the cheap body but use the super high end neck. Like rather than buy a blackie strat you'd just get the neck and cheap out on everything else..  or them going "hey we have cheap parts now to put on your new high end body or neck because you're only able to afford a PART of a high end guitar!" just seems kinda lame to me.

[somnif]

Well there are cases where you end up with an instrument where you love MOST of it, but would love to upgrade one or two bits. I really like my Danelectro bass, but the neck is fairly garbage. The body, bridge, hardware I'm well pleased with, but I would swap the neck out in a heartbeat if I could. And if I'm going to swap up, why not swap for high quality?

(That said, I'm not putting a 600$ neck on a 200$ instrument. There is a point where it does just become a bit silly)

[movinginslomo]

(That said, I'm not putting a 600$ neck on a 200$ instrument. There is a point where it does just become a bit silly)

That's my point! It seems to be what they're shilling.

[culturejam]

Stratosphere seems to take apart new-ish guitars and sell them as parts at prices such that it would be cheaper to buy an entire new guitar, if you wanted an entire guitar. I don't understand the economics of parting out guitars,

These are my general thoughts as well. Somehow, a $500 guitar is worth $700 if it's in pieces. It's the like the opposite of how they get built in the first place (ie - $500 in parts becomes a $700 guitar). I guess there is value added in being able to buy *just* a neck or body or whatever without having to buy the rest of the guitar.

As far as expensive necks on cheaper bodies goes, I think that's the way to do it...at least for Strat / Tele type projects. In my opinion, there isn't a whole lot of difference between a MIM body and a Custom Shop body (other than the niceness of the finish). But there can be big differences between lower-end necks and the nicer necks. I'd drop $500 on a nice neck, but I'd probably never spend that much on a Fender body.

[Muadzin]

I agree with Culturejam. A good neck is worth its money. A guitar body, as long as its decent wood like alder, then most will do. In the end the neck is the part of the guitar that you will touch the most. The first thing I do when I see an interesting guitar is feel up the neck. Is it smooth? Thin? Lacquered or oiled? Big headstock? Only if it passes that test do I bother with the rest of the guitar.

It's interesting that the OP mentioned Blackie, as Clapton basically bought several guitars, took them apart and built Blackie and Brownie with them. All those expensive Custom Shop Eric Clapton guitars are basically replicas of mutt guitars. Same with Gilmour's Black Strat. The body aside there's probably not an original part still on it. And he abused the hell out of that body over the years.

[HamSandwich]

It's not so much parts guitars in general, I have a few myself, but more the idea of buying like a custom shop neck and skimping on the rest of the guitar. Like Buy the cheap body but use the super high end neck. Like rather than buy a blackie strat you'd just get the neck and cheap out on everything else..  or them going "hey we have cheap parts now to put on your new high end body or neck because you're only able to afford a PART of a high end guitar!" just seems kinda lame to me.

I don't see a problem with what you're talking about.

Budgeted most money towards the neck on a telebuild, decent bridge and cheapo everything else. Would I rather have a beautiful neck or a decent one and spend more to get an expensive pickguard and top of the line knobs? No contest. Love the guitar, and funnily enough the neck gave me the most problems, even though it was 75% of the price of the guitar.

I have a Gibson les Paul with pickups that sounded like shit, so I got a pair of GFS humbuckers and never looked back. Have played in constantly for years.

I could have wasted a ton of money if I only put parts of similar value on each guitar, so glad I did not.

[movinginslomo]

I agree with Culturejam. A good neck is worth its money. A guitar body, as long as its decent wood like alder, then most will do. In the end the neck is the part of the guitar that you will touch the most. The first thing I do when I see an interesting guitar is feel up the neck. Is it smooth? Thin? Lacquered or oiled? Big headstock? Only if it passes that test do I bother with the rest of the guitar.

It's interesting that the OP mentioned Blackie, as Clapton basically bought several guitars, took them apart and built Blackie and Brownie with them. All those expensive Custom Shop Eric Clapton guitars are basically replicas of mutt guitars. Same with Gilmour's Black Strat. The body aside there's probably not an original part still on it. And he abused the hell out of that body over the years.

HA I thought that too! "Clapton doesn't like his guitar being parted ou.....nevermind. just nevermind."

[pickdropper]

I don't know that they are pushing expensive necks on cheap bodies as much as simply breaking up guitars and selling them because people want to buy individual replacement parts.  To someone with a bad part, that piece is worth more than its corresponding percentage of a full guitar.

Years ago, when Stratosphere first hit the scene, it was difficult to get replacement necks from Fender.  I had a Fender neck go bad and I had to send the old one in in order to purchase a new one.  I wonder if companies like Stratosphere and the proliferation of aftermarket Fender parts (along with a lot of lost sales to companies like Warmoth, Allparts, etc) finally convinced Fender to start offering aftermarket necks.

[movinginslomo]

I don't know that they are pushing expensive necks on cheap bodies as much as simply breaking up guitars and selling them because people want to buy individual replacement parts.  To someone with a bad part, that piece is worth more than its corresponding percentage of a full guitar.

Years ago, when Stratosphere first hit the scene, it was difficult to get replacement necks from Fender.  I had a Fender neck go bad and I had to send the old one in in order to purchase a new one.  I wonder if companies like Stratosphere and the proliferation of aftermarket Fender parts (along with a lot of lost sales to companies like Warmoth, Allparts, etc) finally convinced Fender to start offering aftermarket necks.

They've been offered from Fender for a while before stratosphere existed, though they are stamped as replacements and were pricier than say a mighty-mite or all-parts of the same quality

[pickdropper]

I don't know that they are pushing expensive necks on cheap bodies as much as simply breaking up guitars and selling them because people want to buy individual replacement parts.  To someone with a bad part, that piece is worth more than its corresponding percentage of a full guitar.

Years ago, when Stratosphere first hit the scene, it was difficult to get replacement necks from Fender.  I had a Fender neck go bad and I had to send the old one in in order to purchase a new one.  I wonder if companies like Stratosphere and the proliferation of aftermarket Fender parts (along with a lot of lost sales to companies like Warmoth, Allparts, etc) finally convinced Fender to start offering aftermarket necks.

They've been offered from Fender for a while before stratosphere existed, though they are stamped as replacements and were pricier than say a mighty-mite or all-parts of the same quality

Really?  I couldn't get them to sell me one for my Strat Plus without sending the old neck back.