Stratocaster Blues

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by Bob Womack

...A suggestion that I've never used is to jack the middle pickup down near flush with the pick guard to get it out of the way...

Actually, in the days of relatively heavy flatwound strings (and before Charlie Kaman developed the first viable acoustic-electric guitars) this was an old New York studio players' trick for obtaining an "acoustic" rhythm sound on record, and several of the Four Seasons' hits ("Dawn," "Ronnie," "Save It For Me") featured it prominently; the first and third positions of the old-style three-way switches would be used for "electric" tones, with the middle reserved strictly for rhythm - while it wasn't/isn't the most accurate acoustic tone it filled the same sonic space in a recorded arrangement, and as late as the early-70's Frankie and the boys were still using it in their live performances...

[Dirk Hofman]

So I went out and played a bunch today. Fun. Living in the Bay Area kicks butt, love that I can hit a bunch of major stores in an afternoon.

2008 PRS Mira. Nice guitar, comfortable. Looks cool. Neck was fine but didn’t love it, certainly not as nice as my Strat. I don’t like gloss necks as much.

Gibson SG. Sold already so I can’t remember exactly which one it was. Natural finish, all satin. Nice. Totally could have worked but didn’t grab me.

Yamaha Revstar 420. Or something like that. Nice! Really nice. Liked the neck a lot. Set up really well and played great. Contender.

Telecaster Deluxe MIM. OMG I love the neck! Satin and Fat. Controls out of the way. Could be best of both worlds? Super interested. Didn’t get to plug it in. What do these sound like? Really cool guitar, if I’d have bought this I’d probably not be looking now. Oh, who am I kidding...

Les Paul Standard. Heavy and glossy. Looks amazing. Sounds amazing. Controls out of the way. Good neck shape, but glossy. Did I say heavy?

Les Paul Classic. Heavy and Glossy. I don’t see or hear the difference but I don’t really know how to manipulate electric tone. Awesome looking. Good neck shape.

Les Paul Tribute. Smooth, satin, nice. Kept coming back to it. Love the satin honeyburst. Feels way better than the standard or classic. Easy, feels right. Sounded great. Lighter by a fair bit and nicely balanced. It fit me. Not as great a neck as the Tele DLX, but I liked it quite a bit. Tuners seemed like they came off a Hummingbird. Will it stay in tune? $1199 seems good! Gig bag? Lame. I’d buy a case. Pickup switch was loose and felt cheap. Dude said they could tighten it up. Meh. Anyone have one of these?

Do they make other Les Pauls with the satin neck?

[Paleolith54]

Originally Posted by Bob Womack

A suggestion that I've never used is to jack the middle pickup down near flush with the pick guard to get it out of the way.

Bob

Eric Johnson does this. Or at least did at one point.

[perttime]

Originally Posted by Bob Womack

... A suggestion that I've never used is to jack the middle pickup down near flush with the pick guard to get it out of the way.

And Robbie Robertson got a famous Stratocaster modified so that the middle pickup was placed right next to the bridge pickup. I saw that there's Squier models now, with something that looks like that.

--------------

The Stratocaster has lots of features that people were asking for - but they aren't ideal for everybody. Mine is a hardtail because I've decided to do without the vibrato system.

The volume knob is pretty close, and some brands have built "S-type" guitars where it is further away. Probably with just one tone knob too.

One of my favorites is a tele-strat hybrid with the comfy strat body shape and contours but tele-style hardware. I recall Fender had some limited run of those. I'm always looking for opportunities to post my partscaster done that way....

[fpuhan]

Originally Posted by blue

Watch Jeff Beck play in this clip in full screen mode and watch his picking hand. Right from the start he's using the volume knob. His playing is possibly the greatest "use" of what makes a strat a strat. The volume knob position and the trem... Not saying he's the greatest strat player. No such thing obviously. I'm saying I've never seen or heard anybody have more control of a strat.

I saw a YouTube video of Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton playing a duet that kind of turned into "duel." Trading leads and licks, toward the end, Clapton just took his hands off his Strat, shrugged, and pointed to Beck, as if to say, "You win."

If Beck isn't the greatest Strat player (I know it's a subjective opinion), he's pretty darn close.

[Dru Edwards]

Originally Posted by Dirk Hofman

So I went out and played a bunch today. Fun. Living in the Bay Area kicks butt, love that I can hit a bunch of major stores in an afternoon.

2008 PRS Mira. Nice guitar, comfortable. Looks cool. Neck was fine but didn’t love it, certainly not as nice as my Strat. I don’t like gloss necks as much.

Gibson SG. Sold already so I can’t remember exactly which one it was. Natural finish, all satin. Nice. Totally could have worked but didn’t grab me.

Yamaha Revstar 420. Or something like that. Nice! Really nice. Liked the neck a lot. Set up really well and played great. Contender.

Telecaster Deluxe MIM. OMG I love the neck! Satin and Fat. Controls out of the way. Could be best of both worlds? Super interested. Didn’t get to plug it in. What do these sound like? Really cool guitar, if I’d have bought this I’d probably not be looking now. Oh, who am I kidding...

Les Paul Standard. Heavy and glossy. Looks amazing. Sounds amazing. Controls out of the way. Good neck shape, but glossy. Did I say heavy?

Les Paul Classic. Heavy and Glossy. I don’t see or hear the difference but I don’t really know how to manipulate electric tone. Awesome looking. Good neck shape.

Les Paul Tribute. Smooth, satin, nice. Kept coming back to it. Love the satin honeyburst. Feels way better than the standard or classic. Easy, feels right. Sounded great. Lighter by a fair bit and nicely balanced. It fit me. Not as great a neck as the Tele DLX, but I liked it quite a bit. Tuners seemed like they came off a Hummingbird. Will it stay in tune? $1199 seems good! Gig bag? Lame. I’d buy a case. Pickup switch was loose and felt cheap. Dude said they could tighten it up. Meh. Anyone have one of these?

Do they make other Les Pauls with the satin neck?

Dirk, best thing about the Tribute is the price. They're great guitars. I have a 2011 Gibson Les Paul 60s Tribute Goldtop with P90s and those P90s rock. Lighter than my other Les Pauls.

+1 on the SG for tone and lightness.

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by Dirk Hofman

So I went out and played a bunch today. Fun. Living in the Bay Area kicks butt, love that I can hit a bunch of major stores in an afternoon...

Les Paul Tribute. Smooth, satin, nice. Kept coming back to it. Love the satin honeyburst. Feels way better than the standard or classic. Easy, feels right. Sounded great. Lighter by a fair bit and nicely balanced. It fit me. Not as great a neck as the Tele DLX, but I liked it quite a bit. Tuners seemed like they came off a Hummingbird. Will it stay in tune? $1199 seems good! Gig bag? Lame. I’d buy a case. Pickup switch was loose and felt cheap. Dude said they could tighten it up. Meh. Anyone have one of these?

Originally Posted by Dru Edwards

...They're great guitars. I have a 2011 Gibson Les Paul 60s Tribute Goldtop with P90s and those P90s rock. Lighter than my other Les Pauls.

I have the same guitar - sounds amazing through a low-/mid-powered tube amp, more versatile than your typical humbucker LP (best surf guitar I've ever played, including original Mosrites and everything in the Fender lineup since the mid-60's - who'da thunk... ), weighs about as much as many hollowbodies, and looks like a sweet under-the-bed '56 that got played a couple times a month and put away when Elvis got out of the Army - and if you can score one of these for a reasonable price (good luck - I declined an offer of $1500 for mine a couple years ago, but they are out there), grab it...

[Dru Edwards]

Originally Posted by Steve DeRosa

I have the same guitar - sounds amazing through a low-/mid-powered tube amp, more versatile than your typical humbucker LP (best surf guitar I've ever played, including original Mosrites and everything in the Fender lineup since the mid-60's - who'da thunk... ), weighs about as much as many hollowbodies, and looks like a sweet under-the-bed '56 that got played a couple times a month and put away when Elvis got out of the Army - and if you can score one of these for a reasonable price (good luck - I declined an offer of $1500 for mine a couple years ago, but they are out there), grab it...

Hey Steve, I bought my Tribute used at Long & Mcquade in 2015 for $599 CAD + tax ($678) and it came with an SKB hardshell case with TSA lock. It was my first P90 guitar. I played it 2 nights ago through my Marshall Vintage Modern and the tone is amazing. It's not a guitar I play often but when I do I smile.

[stephenT]

This is my solution to the "strat" volume knob issue (and other issues I have w/ strats).

[FrankHudson]

Played at Strat yesterday thinking of your report. I can see why folks sometimes seem non-responsive to the real personal observations such as yours. It's just the way I pick and hold my picking hand: I never hit the volume knob or switch by accident. Which doesn't mean you don't.

Middle pickup in the way? I keep mine fairly low, and tend to pick in between the middle an the the other two pickups. But again, for someone else this could be an issue.

I did used to have an issue with floating Strat trem bridges and resting my palm on them causing pitch changes, leading me to always decking or blocking the trem. Then I noticed I could do that intentionally, and for some subtler things I never need to grab the arm on a Strat with a floating trem.

Sounds like you're having fun looking at the alternatives, which is key along with your other preferences to joy. I have a Squier Tele Deluxe which is heavy, but sound great. Gibson was making a fair number of those satin finished Les Pauls (and other Gibson models) during the later part of the last management there. Some disliked them because they didn't have the fine furniture vibe of AAA top gloss finish Les Paul and the general dislike for the former CEO's ego. My Les Paul is one of those less expensive models from that era. Sounds great and plays easy, it just won't do as well for a "sure is pretty" photo spread.

I'm with Steve on P90s on Gibsons (and other electrics too). Besides the SG models, there are the Les Paul Special and Junior models that are usually light (some amazingly so) and usually sport P90s. I'd say be sure to try something with P90s.

But don't pay too much attention to us. Enjoy your search!

[raysachs]

Originally Posted by FrankHudson

I'm with Steve on P90s on Gibsons (and other electrics too). Besides the SG models, there are the Les Paul Special and Junior models that are usually light (some amazingly so) and usually sport P90s. I'd say be sure to try something with P90s.

I'm gonna triple-down on P90s because I don't think you can hear it enough. I'm a strat guy for more than 40 years and it's a STRONG preference. Such that almost any other electric guitar I have hanging on my wall never gets played and I end up selling them. EXCEPT for something with P90s in it, preferably solid-body. My only electric other than a strat is an Epiphone SG with P90s, spent all of $400 for it. I play the strat about 90-95% of the time, but every now and then I get a SERIOUS JONES to hear some P90s and I grab the SG. They're kind of the original electric pickup and in a lot of ways they're still the perfect pickup. They're single coil, so they don't get that muddy sound humbuckers can get. But they're a LOT fatter than a strat or tele single coil pickup. They sound sweet and rich clean and with a little bit of dirt behind them, they have this particular organic growl that's hard to describe but is a wonderful thing when you hear it.

Most folks who try 'em fall in love with them. At the very least, they're worth a try...

-Ray

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by Dru Edwards

...I bought my Tribute used at Long & McQuade in 2015 for $599 CAD + tax ($678) and it came with an SKB hardshell case with TSA lock. It was my first P-90 guitar. I played it 2 nights ago through my Marshall Vintage Modern and the tone is amazing. It's not a guitar I play often but when I do I smile.

You got a deal-and-a-half - by 2015 clean first-run Tribute P-90/goldtops were beginning to tickle the $1K mark here in the lower 48 (they had changed the cosmetics by then, to early '58-style darkback/no PRS-style exposed body "binding") - and although my 3-PU Gretsch 5622 covers 90% of my needs, sometimes you just gotta get a little bit down and dirty...

[Dru Edwards]

Originally Posted by Steve DeRosa

You got a deal-and-a-half - by 2015 clean first-run Tribute P-90/goldtops were beginning to tickle the $1K mark here in the lower 48 (they had changed the cosmetics by then, to early '58-style darkback/no PRS-style exposed body "binding") - and although my 3-PU Gretsch 5622 covers 90% of my needs, sometimes you just gotta get a little bit down and dirty...

I had no idea, Steve. I walked into the store and it couldn't have been on display more than a day or so. I was surprised when they brought out the hardshell case.

[BoneDigger]

I am a huge P90 fan. In fact, there is a Music Man Stingray upgraded to Fralin P90s local to me and I really am having to fight myself not to buy it. I already have an American strat. I considered trading the strat, but I'm just not sure about all that!

[perttime]

Originally Posted by raysachs

... hear some P90s and I grab the SG. They're kind of the original electric pickup and in a lot of ways they're still the perfect pickup. They're single coil, so they don't get that muddy sound humbuckers can get. But they're a LOT fatter than a strat or tele single coil pickup. They sound sweet and rich clean and with a little bit of dirt behind them, they have this particular organic growl that's hard to describe but is a wonderful thing when you hear it.

...

I don't think I'm buying yet another guitar soon. I've listened to some demos of people using P90s, and am wondering if you could get into the same ballpark with low output humbuckers (say, Alnico 5 PAF-style) or a somewhat hot wound telecaster bridge pickup.