Fender Strat enthusiasts

[Dru Edwards]

I have three Strats and they all have different pickups.

* The '01 American Strat has a bridge/neck Seymour Duncan Hot Rails - I call that my Iron Maiden strat.
* The '05 American has a Texas Special neck
* The '04 Mexi has a custom built pickup I ordered from Vineham, located in Newfoundland Canada. It's based on a Super Distortion.

I rarely play my Strats though. I'm much more comfortable on Les Pauls and SGs.

[Brent Hahn]

On my Santa list, there's a FrankenStrat. Hardtail body, Warmoth neck with an extra-wide fingerboard and EVO Gold frets. Hardtail because I think the standard Strat springs make the guitar feel mooshy, EVO Gold because I'm allergic to nickel.

[Jaden]

Originally Posted by M Hayden

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.

Agree - the heavily contoured (reduced mass) body with spring loaded tremolo block & hollow rear cavity, even with bridge decked or blocked - there is something very alive about this design, while on paper the idea of a floating bridge seems weak & flawed, it really turned the solid body electric guitar on its ear. As for the hardtail version - not really a strat, something else entirely in my opinion.

[Steel and wood]

Heard somewhere that Leo was chuffed primarily with his tremolo (vibrato) system on the Stratocaster.

Of course I use sparingly (worry about tuning) and mostly over chords. (Even if my favourite Stratocaster players use the tremolo (vibrato) bar far more than I choose to do).

[Tracerbullet]

Yep
I have an Al Hammond Jr as well as a Player limited edition cherry

[Bob Womack]

You know, it strikes me that I do, in fact, have another Strat, or Strat-ish guitar. This is a MusicMan Sterling LK100D Steve Lukather sig.



I'm not that into sigs or super Strats but after playing one of these and seeing Steve play them I was impressed enough because the features made it fit my style better than the average Strat. More HERE.


Bob

[KevWind]

Having given up electric guitar in 1969 and only returned 3 years ago, I had developed no particular brand or model "enthusiasm"

That said I can definitely appreciate what specific sonic design types might bring to the table. Currently my one electric is more in the LP hybrid type, with an LP -ish overall shape and fitted with Humbuckers,, BUT the pickups can be coil split and the neck is bolt on...
However I have been considering getting a straight 3 single coil design, so I guess you could I am a fan of the sonic design character, if not the brand itself.

[FrankHudson]

I love them. Of course I also love a lot of other guitars, but that's not the point here.

With clean tones I do think that box of springs under the bridge does add something. I think it's more apparent when it's set to float, but it's still there to some degree even when blocked. Sure, add lots more distortion and that's probably not retained much, but there's something to that "Springy Sound."

I've owned a bunch of them (or close copies) over the years. My current main Strat is a "reverse Strat" from a time when this model was not sold officially as a "Jimi Hendrix" model. The neck is "upside down" and the bridge pickup is reverse slanted (treble string side farther away from the bridge), but everything else is right handed/like a regular Strat. The pickups are sort of a 60 vintage style as I recall.

The reversed slant bridge pickup is nice thing I think as I've never really gotten much use from the classic Strat bridge pickup sound. I keep the bridge floating on this one--because Hendrix. Another nice thing about a loose, floating Strat bridge is that the guitar feels like it has lower tension strings. Of course you have bend farther when doing string vibrato and have the other possible issues with a floating Strat bridge, but it feels extra slinky when fretting otherwise.

In my Hendrix interest, I once bought a left-handed MIM Strat and flipped the nut to set it up Hendrix style so I could get a sense what that was like. Maybe you've read some things (I had) about how this helped Jimi Hendrix, how SRV liked the LH bridge by choice on his otherwise RH Strat, how the controls were handy upside down, and so on.

I found the experiment very informative. Play a Stat upside down and it takes one of the most ergonomic designs ever and makes it a three-legged sack race of a struggle. My arm was constantly bumping into the cable coming out of the jack (I watch Hendrix videos and it never seems to bother him!). I couldn't do pinky swells or easy volume adjustments in mid phrase with the volume knob up above the strings. The "comfort contours" became speed bumps. I found the vibrato arm more awkward, but that may be because I'm more or a high-strings "weedilly, weedilly…" kind of player.

Remembering that, every time I see Hendrix playing a Strat and making it look like the most natural thing in the world, I remember my experience with an actual fully upside-down Strat, and love my reverse Strat even more.

[Guildman]

I'll keep it short, I just sold my American Pro all maple neck. Why? Because after acquiring two EBMM, first an axis super sport, then the one that did it, 2017 Cutlass also with all maple neck, I could see the fender was going to be getting a lot of rest. I've never played a custom shop strat but I'd be hard pressed to be convinced it would make me swap out the Cutlass for one.

[maxtheaxe]

Originally Posted by M Hayden

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.

Agreed; I've heard Strats described as "wonky and un-biddable in the wrong hands". They really do take some time to learn one's way around, get them set up so they stay in tune, etc. They can really be a hot mess in the hands of someone not used to them.

I highly recommend watching Jeff Beck's "Live at Ronnie Scott's" DVD. Whomever did the filming of this did a great job of focusing in on what Beck is actually doing when he plays...nice primer for Strat players.

[Ray175]

My first strat (1962 sonic blue) was purchased for my 16th birthday in 1970. Sadly it had to go for finance reasons when I was a student. Last year I came across a 2012 NOS Custom Shop 1961 stratocaster in Sonic blue with exactly the same appointments and configuration as my first guitar. It wasn't cheap, but the pleasure it gave me to find exactly the same instrument (after setting the brige up to float correctly) was tremendous. It is also a great reminder of my Dad who was generous enough to pay for the first one, although we come from a poor background.



https://www.jazzguitar.be/forum/atta...-nos-strat-jpg

[ghostnote]

I'm in. I have two: An American Std that I bought new in 1989; red with a rosewood board, and a (2014?) Lone Star Strat, black with rosewood board. The Lone Star is pretty cool - it's an SSH MIM but the two single coils are USA Texas Specials and the humbucker is a Pearly Gates. Very versatile guitar, and I play it with our band every week. The Am Std is my old reliable. I only play it at home these days, but I think it's time I brought it out again.

[jp2558]

I have two.

The first is a black 86 MIJ E-series, bought new in 87. It has the notorious Kahler type one trem, with string-locks just above the nut.

Second is a 96 Clapton strat with the active electronics, tbx tone control, and 3 gold laces sensors, blocked per spec, so it is effectively a hard tail.

For purposes of my contribution, I also have an 85 Les Paul Custom, an 82 SG, and a 91 Deluxe Telecaster Plus. I’ve now owned all except the SG for over 20 years.

After all these years and out of all of them, the MIJ strat has the most hours on it. The rosewood over maple, 22 frets, on Fender’s modern C profile, to me is the most comfortable. And my tele has exact same specs, and it’s equally just as comfortable. I could let go of the EC strat because of the v neck, but I’m too lazy, (and it’s still a killer guitar). I might grow into it one of these days.

[jimmybcool]

I think there is a clean tone that can only be obtained from a strat with the right pickups. I didn't like mine until I swapped in a set of 69 Custom Shop Abigail Ybarra pickups and Shazam. This is IT. Love mine.

[3notes]

Originally Posted by jimmybcool

I think there is a clean tone that can only be obtained from a strat with the right pickups. I didn't like mine until I swapped in a set of 69 Custom Shop Abigail Ybarra pickups and Shazam. This is IT. Love mine.

Oh. Thats nice. Beautiful.