![]() ![]() The small parts (machineheads, knobs, etc) were as you’d expect on a beginners' instrument: poor, but tolerable if you had no alternative. Clearly, these were not hardwood guitars. And if you’re still not convinced, consider that later E77s (a slightly more expensive sister to the E76, with a humbucker at the bridge) came in classic ‘plywood sunburst’, with the black extended right across the contouring to hide the lamination. So officially, there’s no verification I can find on body spec, but expect plywood, because it’s inevitable. It seems that not even Guitarist magazine could get hold of the body specs either, as they had to settle for: “I suspect the body is a laminate of some kind” in their review of the instrument. I’d kind of guess that if Encore had been making these guitars out of solid ash, the fact would at least have been mentioned, if not used as a key headline. Encore gave no indication in their own ads or blurb as to what the E76 body was made of, merely expressing that it was: “Full thickness/weight”. However, given that they were priced at less than ninety quid at a time when even plywood Squiers cost double that amount, the chances of that actually being the case would strike me as inconceivable. I’ve seen it stated elsewhere that the bodies of these guitars were made of ash. The rest of the neck was maple, but there was no option for a ‘one-piece’ maple neck without the rosewood board. The rosewood fingerboard was of its time and typically flat in profile, sporting jumbo type frets, as opposed to slimmer Fender wire. ![]() Five-way switch, two string trees… I can’t give you any real surprises I’m afraid. The vibrato system was described by Encore as “traditional”, but it wasn’t an exact vintage Fender replica by any means. The scratchplate did, however, fit the body as well as could be expected in a guitar of this price, and was normally mounted reasonably well. Whilst the guitar at a glance looked to be a straight Strat copy, the body shape wasn’t exactly the same as Fender’s. The pickups were the expected ceramic cheapies with shiny chromed poles, magnetised by proxy. There was a three-ply scratchplate, held to the guitar (on some models at least) with ten flat-head screws rather than cross-head. The red looked to be modelled vaguely on Fender’s Torino shade. Encore unimaginatively defined the finishes as black, white, and red. The E76 came in just three colours – all solid and non-metallic. In England, the E76 was a very, very big commercial hitter, gaining bestseller status by the middle of the decade, by which time it was in its more familiar price territory of £129. ![]() But despite its lowliness, Encore was a very high-profile brand in the 1990s, with heavy promotions across the guitar press and good visibilty/prominence in the music shops. Just about as cheap a usable electric guitar as it was possible to make, basically. With a UK recommended retail price of just £89.99, this Indian-made baseliner set itself into the market occupying territory which had formerly been the preserve of Kay, Columbus and Satellite copies. For this article I’m going back twenty-two years to revisit the unashamedly cheap Encore E76 Strat copy, of 1991. ![]()
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