Careful with that Axe
I've been looking at treating myself to a new guitar mainly as payment for the last ten years of stress and heartbreak after my dad's death. His money came through earlier this month and I've been encouraged by family members to do something nice for myself.
So I've been looking at replacing my Squier Jaguar with a Fender model, but the prices and specifications just don't add up to me. In my research I saw a guitar forum post about Foals Guitars - a range of lookalike Stratocasters, Telecasters, Jazzmasters and Jaguars selling from China/Hong Kong at reasonable prices. Further research unearthed a YouTube video review of their Jazzmaster clone which painted it in a very favourable light.
I liked the look of their take on a Jazzmaster, which was marked down from 750 GBP to 435 with free postage. That's a good price for what I saw on that YouTube review. But then I realised that on top of the 435 would be 20% VAT (UK sales tax) plus a customs charge, plus a handling charge which would bring the guitar up to around nearly 600 GBP.
The Squier J Mascis Jazzmaster - a widely praised guitar of near identical design - retails at 469 with free postage. The quality of a J Mascis is also pretty much guaranteed, as is the resale value.
These new Foals guitars are an unknown. They could be the same quality as those AliExpress/Temu guitars that are only good for wall decoration. Alternatively they could be comparable quality to a high end Squier or the cheapest Fender, it feels like a real gamble. Also it's pretty guaranteed that, unless this turns out to be the start of a range of legendarily high quality guitars, resale and trade-in value will be in pence rather than pounds.
It's looking like I might be an offset stereotype and get a J Mascis, despite my current misgivings on giving money to an American company (given current world events).
I still feel that I don't deserve to have something expensive and nice (and I'm well aware that I am fucking lucky to have such a dilemma in the first place when people are struggling to heat and eat). I don't know... More news at eleven...