MIK Lite Ash Strat

Johnny Storm

MIK Lite Ash Strat finally arrived.
It was very well packed (despite coming without a case). The outer box had a fairly big hole in it but the guitar was in a second box which was undamaged. I also got a new set of knobs for that crucial I've-lost-me-knobs type vibe.



The guitar is beautifully made as far as I can see.
The chunk of ash wood used in the body is not as nicely figured as other photos of these guitars I've seen.




The frets are very, very uniform. There's no finish on the frets as I've heard is a "feature" of some maple neck strats.


Poor ol' Kim Il Soong was obviously well-jarred when he drilled those holes. Thankfully you cant see this when the cover is on.


Yes, it's a Fender, but is it a Stratocaster?

Everything else seems to be put together tightly and blemish free. The neck was very slightly backbowed when it arrived - but still played well (???). I've slackened off the truss rod and now there is some relief. I also put in the 3rd trem spring and adjusted the trem height as recommended. BTW this guitar came without a manual. I'm still having a lot of tuning problems but I hope that's cause there's still a bit of stretch left in the strings and springs and that the wood in the guitar is still "settling down". I also oiled the saddle, nut and string trees.
Plus I'm still getting used to it.

Doctor J

That is a beautiful guitar. Congratulations.

Can we get a pic of the fretboard? I really dig birds eye maple

jcoote

i had a couple of tuning issues at the start but they have fecked off now since i broke it in...enjoy it my man

jcoote

Doctor J wrote:

That is a beautiful guitar. Congratulations.

Can we get a pic of the fretboard? I really dig birds eye maple

the neck is beautiful doc....abalone inlays too oh yeah

Johnny Storm

Doctor J wrote:

That is a beautiful guitar. Congratulations.

Can we get a pic of the fretboard? I really dig birds eye maple

Your wish is my command, Dr J.





*** Cheers JCoote ! Thanks for the info. That makes me feel a lot better. BTW yours is one of the ones I'm talking about with the nicer figured ash.

Fusion251

That's a great looking guitar alright, good stuff.


Fusion
:cool:

DiamondJQuimby

Lovely Guitar man congrats...

Some good camera work too which helps alot

Where did you pick this up?? Thomann ??

D

Ancient1

Congrats Johnny, she's a beauty!

And excellent pics too - i hereby nominate you for the official Instruments boards photographer! No, I take that back coz that would mean that you would be too close to my guitars!

jcoote

yeah savage pics altogether...the ones of the neck capture it very well...good stuff...where abouts are u worried about the figuring johnny i don't see it...would it ook better with black knobs???they jury is out and looking on thomann

Johnny Storm

jcoote wrote:

yeah savage pics altogether...the ones of the neck capture it very well...good stuff...where abouts are u worried about the figuring johnny i don't see it...would it ook better with black knobs???they jury is out and looking on thomann

Thanks all for the kind words on the photos. IMHO What makes the difference is using a camera that can focus close-up (ie not the one in your phone) and then cropping and touching-up the photos in Picassa afterwards. :rolleyes:
As regards the knobs, I really just got those to see what they looked like (and TBH to p1ss off my wife by making it look even more hillbilly-ish )

*** JCoote. The bit of my guitar that looks a bit "plain" or not figured is (when you have it on) to the right of and above the bridge. Its not a biggie but I suppose if I had bought this guitar in a shop that had several examples this probably wouldn't have been the one I'd pick out (on looks anyway).

*** Mayor Quimby, Yes I got this on Thomann for €499 plus 20 shipping. JCoote got one last week too. Its a real bargain.

DiamondJQuimby

I think the White ones look better as they stand out more and give it some character.

jcoote

i wouldn't mind getting pearly kinda ones like the inlays that'd be different...i see it now johnny its no biggy as u say...wouldn't let it bother me....this is quite simply the best value for money as far as guitars go at the moment IMO

Johnny Storm

jcoote wrote:

i wouldn't mind getting pearly kinda ones like the inlays that'd be different...i see it now johnny its no biggy as u say...wouldn't let it bother me....this is quite simply the best value for money as far as guitars go at the moment IMO

I 100% agree. And when you consider it's €765 in Music Maker ! FFS :eek: .

It's sounds great too. I'm a-quackin' and a-honkin' away good-o Next step: learn to play the Beverly Hillbillies theme.....

jcoote

yeeeeee feckin haw to that johnny...

i got the strat and the case for 655 shipped

so thats a 100 quid saving and i get a hard case...sweet or what

Karl Hungus

I'd far rather the natural one myself. Oh it will be mine!

feylya

Oh, that's rather nice. The holes in the back would annoy me immensly since I never put the trem cavity cover on but besides that, OOOH!

Doctor J

If I thought I'd live to play it I'd go for the black one meself

jcoote

i think the chrome hardware on the black one looks a bit naff tbh...must take of my cavity cover again to see if i have the double drill holes...maybe its a design feature

feylya

That's a great picture

Ancient1

A red pearloid scratchplate would go nicely with that colour.....the holes for the trem cover can be filled easily though. Yes, "Kim Il Soong was obviously well-jarred"

fish-head

Very nice guitar indeed Johnny. I'm starting to turn on to Strats.. I was playing my guitar teacher's yesterday and it's a really lovely Made In USA jobby.

feylya

There is no sound quite like a neck pickup on a strat going into a tube amp that's just breaking up!

Johnny Storm

Yeah ! It doesn't sound too bad with a M*cr*C*be either!

jcoote

feylya wrote:

There is no sound quite like a neck pickup on a strat going into a tube amp that's just breaking up!

nailed it once again my man!!!

feylya

It's ok Johnny, Microcube isn't a dirty word around here

Johnny Storm

feylya wrote:

It's ok Johnny, Microcube isn't a dirty word around here

Yeah, but it sounds a bit silly compared to "honkin' great big tube amp cranked to the verge of sonic destruction" though.

jcoote

no it doesn't cubes rock!!!!

fish-head

Neck-Middle Position...HONK HONK!

Johnny Storm

Given the crappy way the holes for the trem covers were drilled I decided to have a look inside. The good news for me is there was no other evidence of bad workmanship that I could see. No double holes anyway. The wiring was pretty neat and done in that greasy looking cloth wrap that you see in old radios. The pots say "Cort-Tek" on them (which is where this guitar was made) and are 500K. The electronics all seem to work fine and are not noisy.



I've only had this guitar a few days and already I have done about 4 times as much set-up work on this one as every other guitar I ever had put together. The tuning is better now but still a bit unstable (like myself).

Come on strat-lovers, tell me the truth please, is "challenging" tuning a feature of the strat?

Voodu Child

Yep, strats unfortunately have worse tuning than most other guitars, simply because a trem without a locking nut is never going to be 100% stable, you can do things like use better string trees, and change the angle off the nut, and lubricate etc., but its never going to be 100%.
That said, its all relative, it should still be 95% stable, and most people will be happy enough with it, so heres a few tips. Apologies if theyre obvious, but ive no idea how long youve been playing.

Stretch the strings - cant stress this enough, and most beginners dont do it properly. You should be really grabbing the strings, and pulling them side to side, keep doing it until they stop going flat. Wound strings will stretch more, and becareful of the high e, because you should be stretching it so much that there is a risk of breaking it (with practice youll learn just how much you can safely stretch it)

Lubricate the string trees/nut - graphite from a soft pencil will do nicely, though some people use special lube (nut sauce etc.)

Wind the strings on the tuners more, to increase the break angle over the nut (not everyone will agree with this, but I find it works)

Other solutions unfortunately involve spending money on hardware, as the stuff on guitars this price isnt great, (compared to gotoh, wilkinson, grover etc. anyway) However, this shouldnt really be necessary, and wouldnt be worth the money, anyway with those tips, tuning should be fairly decent on all but the crappiest guitars.

Johnny Storm

Thanks for the info, Voodoo_Child. I've been playing on-and-off since the early/mid-Seventies believe it or not, but this is the first start type guitar I've owned.
I've done the stretching. I oiled the saddles with 3in1, the string trees with chapstick and the nut with pencil lead. I'll get some new strings shortly and try that.

The bass E string tuner seems to catch in one place - ie it does not rotate 100% smoothly - could also be the way the string is wond around it too I suppose.

Do you think the number of springs in the trem make much difference to tuning?

fish-head

Can you not disable the trem on a Strat somehow and make it 100% stable?
I think Rory Gallagher did that with his Strat.

Voodu Child

Johnny Storm wrote:

Do you think the number of springs in the trem make much difference to tuning?

No, it shouldnt do, so long as you have the tension of the springs adjusted so that the knife edges are perpendicular to the trem posts, that should be all you have to do spring wise. Theres various products available to helo with stability of strat trems (hipshot tremsetter etc.) but add springs to help pull the trem back to the same position each time, but ive never used them, and I dont think its necessary in this case.

Could the nut slots need filing out a little? Provided you dont increase the depth of the nut slot, this is something you could do yourself fairly easily.

And in regards to fishheads post, yeah, of course blocking the trem would solve the problem completely, but it shouldnt be necessary, you should be able to reach a situation where the tuning on a strat is almost, if not completely stable.

Since youve been playing so long, theres not a lot else I can suggest. Im sure youve thought of and tried everything else. Its really just a case of identifying places of friction and doing what you can to lubricate or fix them. Theres not a lot you can do with the tuners because theyre sealed, maybe someone else has some suggestions?

EDIT - i just spotted where you said 'it could be the way the string is wound around it'. If you were a beginner id ask if you were winding the strings on the right way, but becuase youve been playing so long, I doubt it very very much this could be the problem.

Ancient1

Johnny, if i were you i'd consider swapping the tuners for Sperzel Locking Tuners - you can get them relatively cheap.

Johnny Storm

Thanks for all the advice, dudes. Its very much appreciated. I think the real problem is that I'm just not used to this guitar. I'm going to just stick with it for a week or two and then see how its going.

Johnny Storm

FWIW, I put new strings on (Bullets) and did the winding-the-string-over-itself thingie and the tuning is much better now.

Doctor J

I've never liked that way of stringing, it effects the ratio of the tuner (imagine a rugby ball rolling top to bottom). I've always found this way sufficient. When you say it's beeter, do you mean better as in sorted or better as in not as bad?

Johnny Storm

Hi Doc,

It's too early to tell if its completely sorted but I'm hopeful. Its definitely a lot more stable than before.

I think the strings that came on this guitar were pretty crap and were not locked or trapped by any method.

Doctor J

Where did you find the bullets?

Ancient1

Johnny, since it's a new guitar the tuners are not worn out, but it could be a case of bad hardware. If you turn the peg a just a quarter and the handle (to which you attach the strings) doesn't turn, it's time to swap them out.

Johnny Storm

Doctor J wrote:

Where did you find the bullets?

I got them in the place beside the porno shop in Bray (Everest Music) - they have a good selection of (G) strings.

Johnny Storm

Ancient1 wrote:

Johnny, since it's a new guitar the tuners are not worn out, but it could be a case of bad hardware. If you turn the peg a just a quarter and the handle (to which you attach the strings) doesn't turn, it's time to swap them out.

Thanks, Ancient1, I think they are effective enough. Wrapping/locking the strings as mentioned above seems to have done the trick.

Duff_Man

fish-head wrote:

Can you not disable the trem on a Strat somehow and make it 100% stable?
I think Rory Gallagher did that with his Strat.

hate to bring up old threads but is that statement true? im lookin to buy a lite ash very soon! amazin gutiars! id like to know if u can disable the trem to help wit the tuning? i never use trem arms neway:P any help would be much appriciated!

Johnny Storm

Duff_Man wrote:

hate to bring up old threads but is that statement true? im lookin to buy a lite ash very soon! amazin gutiars! id like to know if u can disable the trem to help wit the tuning? i never use trem arms neway:P any help would be much appriciated!

You can tighten the springs so that the trem is completely flat on the body of the guitar and the trem will only go down not up. Some people swear by this but others do not. I didn't find it necessary. In fact I find a quick tug up on a strat trem will often put the bleedin' thing back into tune!



I have to laugh at the way in my original post about I gush on about how the frets are "very very uniform". This was before I had to pay €350 to get the frets sorted. :rolleyes: Live and learn !

Duff_Man

lol having to get the frets re-done is a tad off putting...but im guessin every model is different and not all of em have dodgy frets!