Fender Strat enthusiasts
 

I'm a Fender Strat lover. I bought my first one in 1990 and still have it. Since then I've gotten another one a Sunburst American Deluxe with N3 pickups in 2012. I love it because it reminds me of Eric Johnson's Sunburst Strat. And I'm a big EJ fan!

My 1990 American Standard is a cream colored one with a maple neck that kind of looks like the one George Harrison played in the Concert for Bangladesh or Jimi Hendrix's Woodstock Strat.

I've always been partial to Maple Necks.

Any other Strat lovers out there?

I also have an Epiphone Les Paul Custom and a PRS Custom Cherry Burst.

You have to own a Strat if you want to do sessions. I've had two and kept one. The one I let go was an American Standard in alder with a maple neck that sounded very pretty and glassy. It could do the "Wicked Game" lead tone easily. It's only flaw was being a bit of a one-trick pony. Unfortunately, I fell in love with a lovely Gibson and needed trading fodder. Buh-bye.

http://www.in2guitar.com/strat/strat2vsm.jpg

The first one I owned and the one I've kept is a G&L S-500 in swamp ash with a rosewood board.

http://www.in2guitar.com/images/s500bodyms.jpg

My wife commissioned this special order for me twenty-five years ago. It was studio-ready right out of the box. It can do clean and raunchy and, like a pizza driver, it always delivers. I've used it on more recordings than I can count. And besides, we all know that red always sounds best. :D

Bob

I've usually got a strat in the arsenal. There really isn't anything else that does that "breathy" (for lack of a better way to say it) tone a strat can give you. Current one is a Player Series FSR in LPB:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/75...w=w651-h867-no

Yes! Once I discovered the Strat there was no turning back. Nothing but NOTHING does what it can do. I have a high-end, core series Paul Reed Smith that I love, but guess what I reach for automatically when the time comes time to get loud and rockus.

The white one is actually my #1 these days...a MIM from 2015 that I stripped all the hardware & electronics from and replaced with top-shelf components, including Fender 'Hot Noiseless' pickups just like the ones Jeff Beck uses, a Wilkinson trem almost identical to the ones PRS uses, Hipshot locking tuners...all in gold of course.

https://i.imgur.com/tdny83Y.jpg

...and the others (shown with the MIM White one, pre-mod), including a USA Deluxe with N3 noiseless pups, a mid-90's USA Roadhouse Strat with Texas Special pups, Wilkinson trem, a Mighty-Mite neck/compound radius & ebony fingerboard, and of course, the obligatory Telecaster...

https://i.imgur.com/30Ae5Xh.jpg

IMHO must haves are

a strat
a tele
a les paul

with those three, you got just about all the bases covered.

I have 2 US Made strats, one I've had since 96, the other I bought in 2014.
I've had a few more that I've traded off or let go, some with regret today.

I agree.

A strat was my only guitar for 15 years. I bought it new in 1999...a 2000 American Standard tri color sunburst with a maple fretboard. A Les Paul became my #1 for a few years while playing in a band, but the strat still feels like "home" to me when I play it.

“Black and white cat, black and white cake”
from the horror film “The Sentinel”
A black strat, a white strat and a tri color Jazzer to keep the monsters at bay.
Attachment 33514

yea, we all have our preference!

But it's other way around for me, the Les Paul is my home base. Strats are just right tho, when the tunes call for that sound. Still I'll never ever be without at least one strat and tele. Goodness that can't be denied.

new to electrics after playing acoustic for a decade plus, acquired a PRS CE 24 in a trade and its wonderful, but i'm having a hard time not buying this since i noticed it a few days ago

Congrats on your CE 24!!! I have one myself and it is a really great guitar! What sold me on it was the coil split provides useful single-like tones. On my other humbucker equipped guitars (Les Pauls) splitting the coil just makes the guitar sound wimpy.

I've got a Mexi made Fender Classic Series 50s Player Strat that is just the cat's meow. I'm mostly an acoustic player, but like to keep an electric around. This strat is the one that has stayed the longest. I love the 7.25 fretboard radius and vintage frets. Sweet airy tone too. Love it!

I have my sunburst US Standard that I bought new in 1992, the year I graduated college. I have 4 other electrics and at the moment the 335 is getting the most attention as we are doing a Beatles tribute show this year, but to be honest the Strat is still number one!

Can't imagine life without my Stratocaster. (Seafoam green with a maple finger board). After I play it, I sometimes stand it up by my window just so I can stare at it for a while before putting it away.

Love Fender Stratocasters!

Strats are wonderful but they can be a handful. Novice players on strats can sound....interesting. Of all the solidbody designs, it’s the one that responds most like an acoustic - minor changes in hand position, pickup selection, et cetera result in large tonal variation.

It’s fun to A/B strats and teles - one day one tone is good, and a different tone on other days.

I play a 2008 American Standard Strat, 3 tone sunburst, maple fretboard, 57/62 pickups. Out of my Tele and Les Paul, the Strat feels the best to me. I cut my teeth on Strats. This one is a particularly nice one. The pickups made it perfect to my ears.