non-fender recommendations..

[BoringPostcards]

Micro-frets was a very innovative small company. Less than 4000 guitars were made if I remember things correctly (and a part of that sank in the ocean while being shipped to Europe).

Sound like a great story. Any link to read about it?

[FightingPlankton]

go soviet if you want something funky and obscure. they have very poor quality control...so be aware of that.
i suggest the solo-2
https://www.ebay.com/itm/FORMANTA-SOLO- ... SwDrxZ37LF

[FightingPlankton]

Here's another forum friendly suggestion
http://offsetguitars.com/forums/viewt ... t=106522

[HH1978]

Sound like a great story. Any link to read about it?

Here, it's a mail exchange between GuitarAttack and a former Micro-Frets engineer :

http://www.guitarattack.com/microfrets/microfrets.htm

[HH1978]

I love these:

That's an X-5 Zephyr, second Barth era (1965-1966). 20" scale length. I've got two of them, one is fully original, the other is a restoration project.
Fun guitars, with an incredible neck pickup, but an odd wiring (pickups are OOP when both selected), and a bit cheap quality-wise. Also, the body is very thin, so there's little place for modding (push/pull pots won't fit, for instance).

These days, people tend to ask the same price for them than for the full scale and much better built Tornados and typhoons, so I wouldn't recommend this model.