Ok. The S281 arrived today. Only had a chance to mess around with it a few minutes but here's the good, the bad, and the ugly so far.
Action is horrible, needs a good set-up and new set of strings. No big deal. I'm guessing it was set up for slide. Might actually try it out for slide and keep it that way, not sure.
I like the neck, very much a Strat-ish neck which is what I was hoping for. Frets in decent shape, as is the fretboard. Looks straight. No issues there.
Headstock is uglier in person. They should have just outright copied a strat like everyone else.
A few more character marks than I thought, with cracked pick-up rings, a touched up chip on the front, and a few deep scratches. In the defense of the seller, his pics were actually pretty good. Now that the guitar is in my hands and I go back to the pics, I notice the marks more clearly. Probably my fault for not REALLY looking hard at the pics. Despite my slight disappointment in finish, these things generally don't bother me. Besides, the candy apple color hides it pretty well.
Tuners seem flimsy to me. Did all the S281 tuners suck or is it just this one?
Seller listing stated non-original whammy included. It wasn't.
I like the pups. Decent tone. I'm diggin' the smoky blues tones I got out of the bridge pup in a short trial run.
Two different knobs, one must be a replacement, no idea which one. One is like a Gibby speed knob, the other is kinda like a speed knob but it has grooves in it above each number. Anyone know which was original? Neither?
The two top adjusting screws in the neck pup look like large drywall screws as compared to the more typical small screws on the bridge pup. You can see them in the sellers pics. What's up with that? Butcher job? That can't be original can it?
Jury is out on this one. I like the feel of the neck and the tone is decent, which is the most important thing, but somehow it just seems like a cheap strat copy.
Action is horrible, needs a good set-up and new set of strings. No big deal. I'm guessing it was set up for slide. Might actually try it out for slide and keep it that way, not sure.
I like the neck, very much a Strat-ish neck which is what I was hoping for. Frets in decent shape, as is the fretboard. Looks straight. No issues there.
Headstock is uglier in person. They should have just outright copied a strat like everyone else.
A few more character marks than I thought, with cracked pick-up rings, a touched up chip on the front, and a few deep scratches. In the defense of the seller, his pics were actually pretty good. Now that the guitar is in my hands and I go back to the pics, I notice the marks more clearly. Probably my fault for not REALLY looking hard at the pics. Despite my slight disappointment in finish, these things generally don't bother me. Besides, the candy apple color hides it pretty well.
Tuners seem flimsy to me. Did all the S281 tuners suck or is it just this one?
Seller listing stated non-original whammy included. It wasn't.
I like the pups. Decent tone. I'm diggin' the smoky blues tones I got out of the bridge pup in a short trial run.
Two different knobs, one must be a replacement, no idea which one. One is like a Gibby speed knob, the other is kinda like a speed knob but it has grooves in it above each number. Anyone know which was original? Neither?
The two top adjusting screws in the neck pup look like large drywall screws as compared to the more typical small screws on the bridge pup. You can see them in the sellers pics. What's up with that? Butcher job? That can't be original can it?
Jury is out on this one. I like the feel of the neck and the tone is decent, which is the most important thing, but somehow it just seems like a cheap strat copy.