Recently bought a Jet strat type guitar just for home use. Replaced the pups with a full set of Iron Gears, set of locking tuners, bit of set up work, really decent guitar for under £300 👍
Thanks to your recommendation I got a sunburst Sire S3 a year ago. It still does the job well and I play it almost everyday. The neck is truly amazing and comfortable :)
I'm hoping to buy a few more Sires when the new models come out. The L5 with lipstick pickups looks cool. The T7 with P90s and an f hole. And maybe I'll pick up an S5 or two for alternate tunings. Basically the same as the S7 vintage, except it doesn't have roasted maple and it has 2 tone knobs instead of 1 (more like a true strat copy).
I have this exact problem with my S3. Arrived with a snapped high e. Like it was sheared off at the ball. Went through 4 of them in as many days. Any kind of bending just sped the process up. Until I stopped using it. Mine's a '23 sometime. It's a shame really 'cause it's a great guitar easily on par with my more expensive Nick Johnston. Thanks for the advice! I hadn't considered this or seen this solution before.
I would still buy a Sire S7 or T7 over a Fender Player series...at least Sire gives you some very nice features: roasted maple necks, rolled fret edges, locking tuners and a bone nut AND it's $200 less !
100% Yes, I've had a S7 now for around 6 months and for the price I just don't think you can go wrong at all. The quality is good could be better but I've had Fenders at 3 times the price which have been far far worst condition and setup out of the box. Its plays well the frets were so smooth I was just loved it instantly from the very first noodle around, I have a Schecter NJ and that is excellent again for the price and I'd say this guitar is not far of the same level really. I've recommend them to a few people now as an alternative to Squire and Epiphone for a beginner and having own both of those brands in the recent past the quality has improved but is is far off the levels of Sire, you feel like you bought a budget guitar even the player series you do, the Sire S7 really did not. Both guitars I've had setup locally and the tech has mentioned both times that he's been shocked at the prices for the Sire and Schecter. I just think now really mid ranged guitars are so well built or can be improved with little work, I'm not sure why most people certainly a hobbyist guitarist would ever really buy a fender or Gibson.
I had the same problem. My first three strings were breaking while bending the string. It was caused by a edge of the hole where comes out of the tremolo block. The edge of the hole cuts into the string. I slipped a short length of mike cable inner wire insulation down the string to cover it just enough so the insulation does not reach the saddle. I have not had a string break for three months now. Sire needs to round off the edge of the hole.
Interesting, you mentioned ibanez az in the same breath of quality and then you left them out. Looking second hand, the sire's seem to be double the azes40. Are the ibanez up there with these sires everyone raves about? With your connections can you double them?
The only problem I have with Sire guitars is the volume and tone knobs. Not the treble bleed circuit issue that you posted a video about. The taper is just weird. Like compare the volume and tone controls to an American strat, the full range of the pots on the Sire is much less usable. I'm hoping putting better pots in there will help!
Update in case anyone wants to do the same: Put CTS pots in there, that's definitely the move. Volume and tone pots work as they should. UPDATE: Actually, on second thought and after modding a couple more guitars, I think the new pots are less important than I initially thought. If I could go back, I'd stick with the stock pots. Surprisingly similar to CTS, maybe the taper with CTS is a little better on the tone pot, and maybe CTS is a little less aggressive on the volume pot. But I'd probably just stick with stock after some time playing with them.
Great review! Really appreciate it. I have a sire hollow body. Which I really was looking forward to owning. Really great guitar except the neck radius is too small. I have a large palm and fairly long fingers. To hear you say the neck radius on this guitar is a bit narrow, resonates with me after trying the hollow. In this price range what are two guitars that might have better neck radius with someone with longer fingers either in the hollow body market at this price range or the solid body models?
I have a s7 and I lowered the bridge messed with truss rod got it lo .015 and found high frets and I even them out and its the way I want it now.Just got scheter Nick Johnson and adjusted truss rod and I got it to were I like it.I have sire tand that is good like alot of lower price guitars expecte to mess with it a bit.
I sent back a Marcus Miller Jazz Bass in 2022.. neck would not stay put after truss adjustment and had a bad creaking sound in it when doing readjustments. Weird. Although Thomann was good about working with me HERE, across the pond (USA), it was still a hassle. My last Sire and my last order with Thomann.
I must that my more expensive Sire S-7 purchase 3 or 4 years ago is a fine guitar and I particularly like the pickups. However that guitar also had a higher action out of the box and with low action you may get some note choking but I got it somewhere in the middle. And although the rolled fingerboard edges felt good I think that it’s a little too rolled causing my high strings to pull off the edge of the fingerboard when going for a string bend so I have to play with caution. And that is a more expensive model. However all things said I have to say that it’s still a fine guitar.
Not to criticize your guitar tech abilities (I'm a jank guitar tech myself), but do you have feeler gauges for measuring neck relief? My Sire S7 rings out great, fortunately. I do play with slightly higher action than some at 1.75mm at 12th fret since I play a fair bit of slide.
@@fr3ak1shhyes I own feeler gauges and stuff but I’ve set up my guitars for so many years and own around 50 guitars so it’s an easy adjustment for me. The action is pretty good now but I can’t get it as low as some others. But that’s not to say that some of my Fenders doesn’t have issues either. However I don’t use real low action either so it’s really not a problem for me. I don’t like the over rolled fingerboard edges all that much though.
@@guitareveryone My experience is that neck relief cannot be eyeballed. A tenth of a millimeter can make the difference between buzzing and playing just right. I used to play on a vintage telecaster that the strings slipped off incredibly easy, especially because the next was crooked when I got it. I haven't had any problems with my Sires, slips no different than my PRS, American Fender, Charvel, or Les Paul.
@@fr3ak1shh it’s the fretwork and over rolled fingerboard edges. There are uneven frets and would take some fret leveling but it’s not a big enough problem to be concerned with. It feels great but it’s over rounded. But if you play it for awhile you get more used to it and can avoid the strings from falling off the fretboard. However it’s still a great guitar, especially considering that these issues are pretty common on Gibson’s which I also own and they cost a bunch more. I really like the pickups and hardware. A really good guitar for the price. I wouldn’t mind trying out the 335 style model too.
I bought an S7 and tbh was underwhelmed. Output jack broke after a few months, push/push pot is flaky at best, the nut was poorly cut and the frets aren't level. Too much hype around then imo.
I think the string broke just in the right moment of the track. The sound effect couldn't have been accomplished on any other guitar. It just shows what brilliant instruments they are. It already seems like they know when the string has to break. Sometimes it's not just the player❤
I listen to him every day and this is my first time being the first viewer. As always, great playing. I started this journey with him as a fractal audio user, and have found myself watching every since.
2024 my sire acoustic Sire R3 GS still dries like crazy and has significant 13th fret bump and buzz unless you maintain the humidity Buddy bought the same guitar, same problem, living in Europe, no issues with other guitars Andertons answer is: made in another place with a different humidity I do not recommend unless you live in a tropical forest, simple as that. Pity as otherwise guitar is quite nice.
According to some guitar techs I looked up, with strat style guitars, you either settle for low action with fret buzz or medium action. I lowered mine as low as I could without fret buzz. I’m no tech but can a tech really lower the action any more and without fret buzz? I also didn’t touch the truss rod out the box for this guitar
Junk - Buy an actual Fender/ Squirer or a Suhr if you want the same old boring designed guitar .....It's like never driving anything but a Toyota your whole life -
Sorry to break it to you, don't know if you ever tried a sire guitar, or some other average brand in the same price. If you had you'd know that sires are the enrey level guitars, but way beyond average. Actualy the best for the price range, and pointing at fender's pathetic greed
