Wiring rear access - which strats/clones?

[genmce]

I do Craigslist alot and am always shopping for cheap guitars.
I like moding the wiring, but hate having to remove the strings to do it, especially when I forget to block the tremelo and have to set that up again too.

So - which strats/strat clones have the wiring access on the back of the guitar under a plate, accessible without removing the strings?

That will help me shop out my next fixer upper.
Thanks.

[cynical1]

Depends on the model, but the GTX and ESP Super Strats are back routed. And there are more then a few Ibanez guitars back routed. I mention these as they've been the most consistent in quality on restores. There are many more out there, but Ibanez resells very nicely.

The best advice I can give you, if you're planning on doing restorations, is to grab guitars over 10 and less then 25 years old. The wood has stabilized and if the neck was ever going to go South on you it would have done it in the first 10 years. Older then 25 years old gets expensive and unless you've got a 4 figure model it's not time or cost effective.

HTC1

[4real]

I love my mahogany "contemporary strat" from squier that you can see in the gallery and the subject of that rewire and several 'mods'...



No scratchplate on mine, though there was a 3xSC with black scratchplate I believe so watch for that...pickups on mine are top mounted so maximum wood in it.

Cavity is small though and a little thinner in the body as most squiers are, not bad...but that superswitch only just fit in there and touches the backplate (some tape over the foil stops shorting). The whole cavity is impressively shielded too with paint and foil on the cover.

I replaced a lot of the parts on mine but not really necessary. The bridge is the riginal for instance and very good. I like locking tuners, but the originals were quite servicable sealled units. The original pickups were a 'SD designed' HB and two standard squier single coils with magnetized pole pieces (not a cheap ceramic) and were decent enough.

Of course, this guitar is not made any more, it was around perhaps 5-6 years ago when I got mine new but half price, I suspect because there is a darker strip of wood going through the middle of it or something.

I like squiers, but there are high end ones like this and my 25th anniversary squier tele that are a step above the quality of the low end models that are more typical.

Of course, if you are handy with a router and don't mind the work, I imagine one could back route another cavity in the back of a strat clone if access is a problem.

There are a lot of alternatives to the strat these days. OPL did some nice musicman clones a la EVH that seemed really nice to play and back routed with twin HB's in it for instance.

There is a guitar maker that makes most 'clones' in china or somewhere...probably the equivalent to epiphones if they are not actually made there. Eden & Eden. My Les Paul is an example of their work (see the gallery) but beware, building a guitar from parts can get pricey and take some skill and scavenging. They do do some fair low cost necks and bodies if you look about and wanted to go that route, but a working decent squier has a lot going for it and you can mod it over time.