I wrote about my $60USD flea market Indonesian Strat clone electric guitar. I haven’t got nerve enough to install the new Ernie Ball strings on it yet despite multiple web DIY text, pics and vids.

Now I have a real incentive. Pawnshop patrolling got me this Silvertone amp/speaker for $16.09 (25% off for you my friend!) and they kindly threw in the antique cable from Buddy Holly’s era gratis.

Thanks also for the genuine Fender brand strap I found inside the case, I needed one!

It’s called the Smart II S, often sold as a kit with guitar and other accessories. The 26 watt amp and 6.5 inch (165mm) speaker sounded strong and clear with plenty of volume for practice, actually quite loud in a small space.

The pawn shop guy turned up the overdrive so I know that works too though I don’t know what any of the controls do, or the ones on the guitar either. My first electric.

Web reviews tended boffo for the clean little amp but had less love for the sharp finger hurtin’ frets and general cheaposity of the Silvertone strat clone guitar, though the pickups are good.

Recommended only for cheap tinkerers like me, though the frets on mine seem OK, at least for zero minutes playing it.

 

Real Fender Stratocaster?

 

No, a fake Fender Strat but with a real Fender strap. Amp and guitar are the new revived Silvertone made by Samick Instruments in Asia, not the old Harmony/Danelectro made instruments often sold at Sears.

This amp was made in China and the guitar probably in Indonesia.

Now for those pesky strings!, Well, real soon now, just a few more DIY videos to get my nerve up.

 

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