Do a build. Get a killer Musikraft neck with stainless steel frets. Send a body out for paintwork and the collect hardware and electronics while you wait. You'll save money and have a killer guitar.
I bought a Mojotone kit that came with JJs. I was planning to put NOS in there right away, but the JJs sounded very good in it. I still have an addiction to buying NOS tubes I don't need. I would be very interested in these Western Electric tubes, if they ever hit the market at reasonable prices.
This was at The Music Store in Cologne, Germany in 2019. Man, I wanted this one so badly, but it'd have been tough to bring home, even without the power transformer issue.
The first fast lick in I'm the One intro is pretty tough to nail. Intro to Hang 'Em High is tricky, but can be mastered. Shuffle timing in Sinners Swing is tricky. My vote probably goes to most of the parts in Girl Gone Bad. But then Top Jimmy has some tricks too, as well as the Drop Dead...
I'm working in northern IN next week and plan to visit SW's campus next Sat. I have money burning a hole in my pocket, but don't really need anything unless it jumps out at me.
I'd like to see their quality control dept. I've had a lot of their EVH and Axis models and they are so uniformly great. I'd like to see what makes them weed the bad ones out or correct them.
You can't go wrong with early-mid-80s Kramers, even the Focus and Striker series guitars. They were just well made and very playable. Yeah, they look dated, depending on how old you are and what kind of band you play in. But they are solid guitars. I have an '82 Pacer with the beak headstock...
About 21 yrs ago I was in the GC in Rockville, MD and they had a white Pacer with maple neck and beak headstock, OFR and EMGs for $220. I didn't play it. I grabbed it and ran to the counter. I foolishly parted it out for about $600 on eBay.
I got a very clean one for $400 on the local CL a while back. I ran it very hard and eventually blew two of the GBs. I replaced them and sold the cab, as I needed more wattage to handle a 100w head that really puts out over 130w.
I had a Marshall AHW 4x12 with G12H 55 Hz 30w GBs and cooked it by running a 100w Marshall through it at full tilt for a lot of hours. It sounded glorious until they blew. 120w is not enough cab for a 100w head that usually puts out far more than that.