Back to "Are stagg guitars any good?

bostakpise · Joined: 14 Mar 2005 Posts: 3 Location: Middle East

Hello all,
Yesterday i went to the music shop to buy strings for my brother, i fell in love with a telecaster look-alike called stagg, the guy there plugged it for me on an Ibanez 30, i bluezed for 15 minutes, it played great, it sounded clean, no buzz and even if it got some buzz you can always fix it at a guitar technician where you buy it from, best guitars need such fixing from time to time. A fender tele is about 1650$, it's stagg clone (body and soul) is for 175$, i hardly believe that with fender you're paying 1850$ for hardware and know how, half of it is for the name and the publicity fender pays, the rest is hardware cost and expensive American labor cost. I think fender can produce exactly the same quality telecaster in china and be able to sell it on the market for 350$ or even less under fender china name. And + stagg is a German company that manufactures in china, Germans never do things wrong, even their lowest quality products are satisfying. I'm buying it. Twisted Evil

lee_UK · Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2005 12:34 am Post subject:

There is a world of difference between a stagg and a US / Mexican / Jap fender, its not only hardware but tonal woods too, its also finish quality and build quality, was you quoting US $$?? i dont think a US strat is as expensive as that, maybe some in the range are, but an entry level US strat would cost around $600, and a top quality instrument is an investment, what is your stagg going to be worth in 10 years time?? maybe you could recycle it down your local rubbish tip, but invest $600 in a good strat in a sensible colour, and you should get most of your money back, i have a few gibsons i bought in 99-2001 and they are worth more now than when i bought them.
Forget the stagg, buy a quality guitar, and support your national economy too, everything seems to be made in China these days, ive never forgiven them for taking production of that Great BRITISH amp the VOX AC30, and the celestion speaker range, including the great alnico 'Blue' .

1bassleft · Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2005 2:18 am Post subject:

OTOH...

Copies have always been around. Lee is right, a good genuine holds or increases in value; that's pretty much a fact. But, a copy can be fun for trying out and (this is pretty much a fact) cheapo crummy copies now are a million light years better than copies of 20 years ago.

If you want to pootle around with something different, Stagg are alright. As are Rondo Music's stuff. Have a look for the Saein (where's my Korean spellchecker?) company. The're punting out a lot of product that probably gets relabelled. AFAIK, Stagg's European distribution is handled by a Belgian company. Nothing wrong with that; just don't fall into the idea that something's better because a German may have looked at it.

If you like, you buy. What do you lose - 150 bucks? The problem is (and here I agree with Lee) you could spend silly money upping the pups, and the jack and pots, then the tuners, etc. If you're happy with it as is, then that's the best reason to buy and I wouldn't worry about other opinions. As a "porch guitar", the Stagg is fine, but there are others too. I envy you, though. I bought a ply Hondo in '87 for £145 and it's just too embarrassing to list on Fleeb now.

bostakpise · Joined: 14 Mar 2005 Posts: 3 Location: Middle East

Stagg back,
thanks for your feedback, first i didn't want to invest in a guitar just bying my brother some strings he asked me for. I was tempted when I found a telecaster hangin on the wall. My first impression was "how nice a telecaster", I got closer, i checked the brand and price and felt Arghhhhh surely crappy.
Decided to give it a try, It looked and felt good, not great like the originals but fairly good. I played it, it sounded clean and bright with a good sustain. the finish is nice, maybe the alloy chrome will suffer after a while and the neck might bend a degree in a year or so and require fixing, but i still think it's a nice piece to get and have fun with it for a couple of years.

I had great guitars in the past, Guild bluebird, Epiphone and others but not anymore since 95, now it felt like resurrecting the mood of guitar playing again and I think I’m happy to do it with that cheap copy. I don’t care where my money goes, china or the us as long as I’m happy with what I’m getting. Isn’t this what’s called globalization baby? Wink

Cheers and thanks again.

1bassleft · Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2005 11:55 pm Post subject:

Bostak, sounds like you should buy. More importantly, sounds like you've checked it out and don't really need a 2nd op from here. Mustard mitt, Stagg do some interesting body shapes (I like the Jag, Jazzmaster stylee) and, unlike the copies I bought for budget money 20 years ago, there is at least a lump of alder instead of kitchen-worktop plywood to play with.

If it's tempting you to play again, buy it. Guitar... you know you want to... strumming, jamming... hmm, so little money... Twisted Evil

This is exactly what the Stagg is about; getting (back) into playing. As I said earlier, it's a heap better than most old copies were.

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