Fullerton Stratocaster Standard Sunburst Review
We all know there are decent guitars made for low costs these days. In the world of budget guitars, the Fullerton Stratocaster copy is another top guitar to add to the pile.
How cheap is it?
I bought mine for, listen now - $44.99 - can you believe it? You would think it's a piece of crap for that price. Well, is it? Read on!
Features
The Fullerton Standard Strat has a classic style with two cutaways which makes it look a little edgier than the typical stratocaster. There are 3 single coil pickups, a classic vintage style tremolo, a 22 fret rosewood fingerboard with dot inlays.
What about the quality?
Well, this was a major surprise to me. It has good electronics, okay pickups, nice neck and tremolo. I could not believe the quality for such a cheap guitar. It is not as good as a MIM Fender, but it is on par with a Squier, no doubt.
The back of the neck was nicely polished, the rosewood fretboard had nothing wrong with it. The frets could use a little polishing with some steel wool.
Even the tremolo surprised me. It stayed in tune much better than expected, even though I pulled the tremolo arm up and down.
One obvious thing that needs replacing is the plastic nut. Most budget guitars come with these crappy nuts made of plastic, and this guitar is no exception. These no-good plastic nuts make it harder to keep the guitar in tune, as well as they take away some tone and sustain. Remove this junky nut, install a pre-slotted Tusq nut or graphite nut and you're good to go.
The frets are vintage-style, a bit thinner than what I am used to. I do prefer jumbo frets, because it makes it easier to bend and play. Still, these frets are okay and it's great fun to play this guitar.
How does it sound?
The pickups on this guitar are budget pickups. They sound okay with clean amp settings, but as you add overdrive or distortion, the tone starts to muddy up. It is not surprising though, that a $45 guitar doesn't have top notch pickups. Replace them, and you have nice sounding guitar for a very low cost!
The body is made of hardwood, and although I am not familiar with this type of wood, the guitar has a good acoustic sound, and a more than decent overall sound, even with the stock pickups.
Video Clips - see and hear!
Summary
* * * * Four Stars!
The first day I received the guitar, I went to a local jam and played it all night. It was fun! It stayed in tune quite well, and sounded sweet, especially on cleaner amp settings. People were wondering what kind of cool looking strat is that, and when I asked them to guess what I payed for it, they guessed a few hundred bucks too much...
I definitely recommend this as an entry-level or beginner guitar, or as a modding guitar for people who like to tinker (like me) Slap on some good pickups, replace the nut and perhaps the tremolo and you have a really great guitar for the money. Stock, it is not as good as Fender, but with some upgrades like I mentioned, you get a pretty nice guitar for not much money. I am having fun with mine, and some new pickups are going into it soon...
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