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#16
10-31-2002, 01:00 PM
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Let me approach this a completely different way. I have MY opinions of what a great Stratocaster is. You may not agree. BUT, if you follow my process, you will find THE Strat for you....promise.
1) Find a dealer with a good selection of Stratocasters in all price ranges. This usually means a larger store but does not mean you HAVE to go to GC or MARS. 2) Decide just what kind of money you can afford to spend and stick to that. 3) Go into the store and hold (do not play) as many guitars as you can that fall below your price point. Take your strap so you can feel the weight of the guitar. How does it fall against your body? You know the contours on Strats are a little different from model to model. Wrap your hand around the neck as though your were chording. Slide it up and down the neck. Do you like the feel? Do you like the gloss or satin finish? Do you like the maple or rosewood fingerboard? Do you like the neck profile? How do the frets feel? Right size? Give the tuners a twist. Feel good? No binding when they turn? 4) Now, of your favorite 6 or so, play them all unplugged in a quite room. How do they sound? Does the sound really pop out of it or is it a little dead? Any dead spots in the neck? What about sustain? A guitar that sounds good unplugged will sound good plugged in. A guitar that sounds bad unplugged can sometimes be saved with good pickups but rarely will it be "THE" guitar. 5) Now take the best handful from that experiment and try them with several amps. You may find that different pickups sound different when teamed with different amps. So, how do you like your new Paul Reed Smith? Hehe..just kidding. I have a USA 1997 Fender Roadhouse Stratocaster too.
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Thomas R. Pullen Partner - Mojo's Music 
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#17
10-31-2002, 05:02 PM
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If you really want to go the "fender" route...I think that it is hard to beat their Custom Shop American Classic/Custom Classic guitars. The best of the modern Strat/Tele in my opinion (from fender anyway)
-Matt
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#18
10-31-2002, 07:04 PM
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Go through all of the steps recommended in this thread, then when you are really exhausted with all the choices that lay before you....plug a standard Fender Telecaster (yes, off the rack and, yes, the variety that is finely assembled in Mexico) into your nearest Vox and just let it ring. Might make you reconsider all the gadgetry of the Strat. Nothing compares to the ringing sustain of a Tele....that is, with the exception of a good Taylor acoustic.
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2004 Martin D-15 LE Spruce/Rosewood 2002 Simon & Patrick 12 Spruce 2002 Taylor 414c (for sale, right offer) 2002 Taylor BabyM Old wood tambourine & wire brushes
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#19
10-31-2002, 08:00 PM
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There's a lot to be said for the simpicity of the telecaster. Joe Walsh can make one really rock! Great suggestion, JW
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Resident Driver of the Drama Bus. Yes, I can beat a horse to death with just my right wing.
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#22
11-01-2002, 03:51 AM
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My current ideal guitar collection would consist of a well rounded mix of taylors, a martain or two, a great strat, a great tele, a great les paul, and of course a prs. We'll see what happens when I win the lottery.
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2002 Taylor 314CE 1993 Yamaha FG-400A 1994 Peavey Predator (USA)
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#23
11-01-2002, 11:21 AM
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I play a 96 tele as my main electric(hence the name tele-plyr
 )There are times however when it just does not do the job. It is a great guitar and I will never get rid of it. If you are looking for a strat sounding guitar, a tele is not it! G&L is the way to go in my opinion. Leo Fender made the early strats, you know the ones you have to pay thousands for now. Why not go for the ones made by his company now. especially since the price is better!
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Brad 2001 710ce 1996 USA Standard Telecaster 1991 Alvarez Midnight Special 1992 Squire Strat 1966 Fender Mustang "You must cut down the largest tree in the forest with... A HERRING!!!"
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#24
11-01-2002, 07:27 PM
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I am on the same page with TRPULLEN. PRS makes a very nice and very $$$$$ guitar. For me its a toss between the Santana's and McCarthy's. For those looking for a deal Guitar Center in El Toro/Lake Forest, CA has a used PRS C-22 for $1K. Happy Sunsets.
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#25
11-01-2002, 09:47 PM
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Stratocasters are a disease almost like TAS. I have three Strats, (note my screen name), and they are all different, but that doesn't mean I'm anywhere near having the Strat spectrum covered.
I have an incredible 1994 American Standard in brown sunburst with the bluest sounding pickups you've ever heard. I have a 2001 American Deluxe with the stacked humbucker Vintage Noiseless pickups and the sterile sound of them is wonderful for recording. I also recently built a Mexican Standard into a "Frankenstrat" with Seymour Duncan Cool Rails at the bridge and JB Junior at the neck. I left the Strat pickup in the middle. It might be the most versatile of the three and I figure to travel with it a couple times a year to jams with friends. Although I have some other electrics that do these things, I could have gone for a double fat configuration or a more traditional single-single-humbucker configuration. Another friend has a Strat with lipstick tube pickups in it. Another friend has a Fender DH-1 humbucker at the neck, single coil in the middle and Duncan Hot Rails at the bridge. There isn't a whole lot you or I could think of that hasn't been done to a Strat. Steve314 was recently talking to me about getting the Tom DeLonge Strat with the big swimming pool rout in it and making up a series of variations on the pickup combinations with the pickguards, pots, pickups and switch installed so he could just change back and forth to his heart's delight. It's not a bad idea if you grab the correct end of the soldering iron more than 50% of the time. Oh yeah... Take my word for it... Strats are addictive... and they come in so many pretty colors... !!!
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#26
11-02-2002, 10:30 PM
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How to pick out a Fender Strat?
Hop on one leg, spin in circles and bark like a dog. A large dog. Then, go buy a different brand. I play mainly strats... and fender would probably be my last choice. They are a good company, but don't make a product that is nearly worth the price tag. For the same money I'd take a G&L S500 any day... oh wait I did, hehe. Mine's a NAMM/Catlog guitar... all factory custom options, available to anyone for a reasonable upgrade in cost. http://www.jayratkowski.com/pics/s500/01.jpg http://www.jayratkowski.com/pics/s500/02.jpg http://www.jayratkowski.com/pics/s500/03.jpg http://www.jayratkowski.com/pics/s500/04.jpg http://www.jayratkowski.com/pics/s500/s500cavity.JPG For some more change, you can get a Brian Moore, little variance from the strat body, but you can get a great guitar with a midi pickup and piezo bridge, for $1k. Even better yet, you can get a Tom Anderson. I don't know what I'd do without mine. It's not bad to buy from Fender, but lots of people don't realize how many other options there are out there. For $500-$1000 there are a TON of much better new/used guitars that just happen to be made somewhere else. Just hate to see someone put all that money into a guitar when they can get something better. Or you can have a rewarding experience from building your own strat. www.warmoth.com
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#29
11-04-2002, 06:37 AM
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Hey Dude,
Beautiful G&L! Looks like birdseye for days. Write back and let us know how it sounds and what you're playing it through. mojo
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Forget all about that macho $?!t, and learn how to play guitar! Baby-M Adamas SMT Takamine Santa Fe, PSF-94 Tacoma D-14 Ric 360 Carl Wilson, #16 of 500 G&L Fanatic!!! '89 PRS CE-24 Heritage H-150 '69 Fender Twin Reverb (blackface) Fender Princeton Reverb II (Rivera) Marshall JCM-2000 DSL 401 combo Roland Blues Cube Mesa/Boogie V-Twin
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#30
11-04-2002, 08:21 PM
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Quote:
As for amps and stuff, I've got an Egnater preamp I use a lot or a '52 Deluxe with some cool pedals and stuff. One of these days I'll update my site with all my guitars, effects and doodads. One of these days... Anyways, guitar was selling for about $1300, don't remember what I paid but it was a bit under that. Well worth the cash. You can of course get a more subdued G&L for like $500 or so.
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