'95 MIM strat worth?

[jwendt2003]

What would be a ballpark for a '95 MIM 'Squire labeled' strat? The neck feels good, but is it still 'cheap' wood for the body? Thanks in advance - Jim

[David Schwab]

The wood is fine. The pickups and hardware might need upgrading though.

I fixed up a few cheap SX guitars for customers, and the big problem with cheap guitars generally starts with the hardware, mostly the pots/switches/jacks/pickups and the tuners.

[Sweetfinger]

Great platform guitar! Fender used a cheap pickguard assembly on those. Upgrade to new pickups/harness of your choice. The tuners are economy types. The vintage style Klusons look great and will cover most of the holes left by the old ones. Nothing wrong with the wood on those. The Fender Vintage bridge assembly or saddles will not fit on them, but the Mexican standard bridge (part 007 1014 000) should- or at least the narrow spaced bent saddles from it will transfer.

[Gibsonman63]

Pricing

Pricing would be based on condition and upgrades. For a bone stock guitar I would say you would be in the $250 to $350 range, maybe a little more for a good player in really nice condition. If they have a hardshell case for it add another $50.

I will temper this by saying, I am in a large US metropolitin area. Prices may vary some depending on where you are.

There are some really good deals to be had on upgraded MIM Strats. A lot of times the cost of the upgrades exceed the value of the guitar when you are done so you can pick up an upgraded guitar cheaper than upgrading one yourself.

[jwendt2003]

So much info! Well then I'm glad I bought it. It's a MIM with the small Squire label; fairly light overall. I paid $160 from a pawn shop. It's pretty well beat up, and there's a small crack next to the neck pocket, but I really like the neck; it's more like an American than a Mexican. I can't stand the newer MIM necks with thin frets. They feel cheaper or different someway. Now I don't feel so bad about having to part with my 84 American recently, and I can invest in some upgrades.

The pickups are staggered. Does that sound like the norm?

Also, I saw a $25 trem block (thicker/heavier?) upgrade. Are those worth it? I'm not going to put the $200 one in there...

[axpro]

Sounds like the normal setup for a MIM squire.

Good guitars to work on. and echoing what has been said, crap pickups. a nice set of SD's alnico 2's would make it sweet 9for me at least) or you could go all nutty with the mini humbuckers if that is your thing.

mods (in order of importance)

1-Properly set up or replace the nut (they had horrible nuts stock... and usually poorly cut/set up)
2-Replace generic tuners (not AS important as the nut, but close)
3-Wiring changes.