Fullerton ST3 Standard Strat-Style Guitar

Stratocaster On-The-Cheap! (But In A Good Way)

This is a great story that goes back about a year or so. I was doing my usual late-night surfing of all the cool guitar sites when I came across a blog that said that they were blowing out the Fullerton line of guitars on Music123. The posting said that they were selling the ST3 at only $69.95! Great, says me, so I load one up in the shopping cart and hit the check out button. It was only after I entered all of my billing/shipping info and hit the submit button (I was half-watching basketball too) that I noticed that the price in the cart was only $49.95 for the guitar! WHOO-HOO!!! This is by far the cheapest playable guitar I have run across to date.

Well, I have to admit that the price sort of set my expectations for the fit/finish and performance of the guitar. It arrived pretty quickly actually; only took about four days. It was packaged well and arrived in perfect condition; no dings or scratches; the guitar looked just gorgeous out of the box. The ST3 is Fullerton’s attempt at the classic Fender Stratocaster guitar, but without the pick guard. It has the standard S/S/S (single coil) pickup configuration, with a basswood body and rosewood fingerboard. The banana-shaped headstock has the look of the old Kramers from back in the 80’s.

The “get-what-you-pay-for” alarms started going off when I ran my hand along the edges of the neck. All of the frets were sharp and unfinished. The neck also had an “unfinished” feel to it; it was almost as if the final clear coat was not applied. The guitar was simply not playable by me in this state.

What I needed was a way to get this neck finished! Remember, the price of the guitar alone made taking it to a trained luthier out of the question; if I damaged the guitar beyond repair, oh well, it was only 50 bucks. So, being the SEO wizard that I am, I scoured Google looking for tutorials on how to do this myself. I found a great resource on how to file down guitar frets and went right to work on the neck of my new little Stratocaster copy.

While it took me a couple of nights of detailed filing and finishing, I deem it all worthwhile. The guitar plays like a dream! There are no buzzes or intonation problems. The neck feels now feels just fine, making my $50 investment totally worth it! I play surf tunes from The Ventures, The Dillengers and other surf bands on this guitar; with my Roland Cube 30, I am able to get some nice tone and great reverb. I am also able to get some nice blues bends and turnarounds out of this one. I LOVE this Fullerton Guitar! Therefore, I totally approve this guitar for entry into the Cheap But Not “Cheap” Guitars lineup.

PLEASE NOTE: My experience is totally not exemplary of the other feedback I have seen on the web for this guitar; overall feedback was mostly positive.

More Fullerton Guitar Reviews from Harmony Central

Music from The Ventures

Music from The Dillengers