Should every electric guitarist own a Stratocaster?

[raysachs]

Originally Posted by robj144

For a long time, I didn't really like a Strat because they were sort of thin sounding. I like humbuckers and LP type guitars.

But, I got a Strat knockoff that was cheap recently and am starting to appreciate the Strat sound more as I experiment.

Definitely good to own a single coil and humbucker guitar if you can afford it though.

I've been a strat guy forever (since about 1978) and I never really bonded with Humbuckers. But P90s are a different story. Single coils with plenty of single coil goodness but fat kind of like a humbucker but not as tamed as a humbucker. Can be sweet and pretty but can growl and snap like nobody's business. Realistically I play my strat 90+ percent of the time, but I just picked up my latest P90 guitar, an Epiphone SG, and I'm loving that P90 sound at the moment.

-Ray

[Texsunburst59]

Up until about 3 yrs. ago, I owned 14 Fender Strats.

It was overkill,but most of them were bought at crazy low prices, so I couldn't pass them up.

My 1st guitar was a '79 Fender strat that I played live for about 8 yrs.

Over the years I branched off into other style of guitars, like an Gibson LP, Explorer, and Fender Tele.

Out of all of those my home base was always a Strat.

These days I own 6- Fender Strats, 6 - Fender Tele's, 7- Gibson LP's,and 3 - Gibson ES's, from 2 large Guitars companies.

I also own 3 - PRS's, 2 - Tom Anderson's, and 1 - Suhr Strat.

Out of all the 54 guitar is my collection, there are 7 different models that bring the best tones and/or versatility, that the others in my collection can't match.

If I excluded rarity, beauty, and sentiment value, I could just own these 7, and have all the tones I'd need covered.

Here are the 7:

'99 Tom Anderson Hollow Drop Top Classic SSH



'03 Tom Anderson Hollow T Drop Top HSH



'15 Suhr Classic Pro SSH



'09 PRS DGT



'00 Gibson Classic Premium Plus



'83 Gibson ES-335 Dot (the right on the right)



'01 Gibson LP Jr.

[PHJim]

The first electric guitarists I admired were jazz players like Charlie Christian, Barney Kessel and Kenny Burrell, so I was attracted to hollow body Gibsons.
The first solid body guitarist I listened to was Mike Bloomfield on the first Butterfield LP in the early sixties where he was playing a cream coloured Tele with a rosewood board and white pickguard. I also was a fan of Roy Buchannan and Amos Garrett, both Tele players at the time, so I was drawn to that type of guitar.

[PHJim]

Do you consider the Gibson J160e or the Martin D-18e to be electric guitars? They look like acoustics, but they usually sound like electrics.

[Dru Edwards]

Hi Jim, I consider them acoustic guitars that are amplified. What's with that 2nd guitar, the D-18e? Someone ruined a D-18.

Originally Posted by PHJim

Do you consider the Gibson J160e or the Martin D-18e to be electric guitars? They look like acoustics, but they usually sound like electrics.

[Acousticado]

I’m a Strat guy. I started my guitar journey in ‘76 on a ‘58 Strat. I got into acoustics in ‘79 and most of my time since is with acoustics. I sold my ‘58 in ‘02 for some good coin and not to be without a Strat, I immediate bought an ‘02 ‘57 American Strat reissue...and a Taylor 814c and some average cost guitars and other gear. I like Les Pauls a lot, but I find them too dang heavy.

[Aspiring]

This thread got me curious. What do people define as a strat?

At first I was going to answer that I am doing fine without but at a closer look I suspect two of my guitars could possibly be considered a strat. One is a Tom Anderson Cobra S but with splittable humbuckers and the other is an ssh Jackson Fusion USA from 90.

Both are shorter scale though at 24.75.

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by Aspiring

...What do people define as a Strat?...

The basic formula since 1954:

• Bolt-on neck
• 1-5/8" nut
• 25.5" scale
• Three single-coils
• Blade switch/three control knobs
• Leo-style trem or hardtail
• "Soft" body/headstock contours
• Fender (or a subsidiary) name on the headstock

As soon as you introduce other elements (humbuckers/lipsticks/active PU's, pointy head/body, set/through-neck, Floyd, etc.) you might wind up with a great guitar - if you're lucky - but that's not what the whole "Strat" mystique is all about...

[C-ville Brent]

Yes, and a Les Paul, and...

I'm an acoustic player but like electrics. Generally, 2 humbucker Les Pauls and super strats. I really like the 2 and 4 position tones of a Stratocaster and haven't been able to coax those tones out of humbuckers.

[C-ville Brent]

Texsunburst59, beautiful guitars, each and every one!

[Texsunburst59]

Originally Posted by C-ville Brent

Texsunburst59, beautiful guitars, each and every one!

Thank you sir.

I think so too.

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by RP

Bob: I guess I wasn't clear. I didn't mean to imply that the Strat would be one's only electric guitar, but that a Strat would be among the electrics that somebody like you who plays a lot of electric guitar would consider an important arrow in his quiver...

I had only a Gibson ES-335 for quite a number of years and was pretty happy. Eventually, though, I did buy a Fender Strat, and now I play it a lot more than the ES-335.

I think the Strat sound, the Tele sound and Gibson Les Paul or ES-335 sound are staples in the electric guitar world. Nobody needs a guitar of any kind, but if you have the money and the interest, these guitars or similar clones tend to be where a lot of the sounds are.

And then there is the rockabilly sound of the Gretsch guitars and the jazz sound from the L5 type guitars. I have a good jazz guitar; I do not have a Gretsch guitar, though.

But I think I have enough guitars at this stage!

- Glenn

[alnico5]

Guitar player since 1967. I have never owned one. In circa 1967 I played my instructor's old beat up Stratocaster. I would not have paid $5 for it, but I bet someone has.

[rockabilly69]

Originally Posted by RP

I see these as two iconic electric guitars and wonder if others see the Strat as a de facto element in any electric player's arsenal. I'm zeroing in on the Strat because I see it as a more widely used guitar than the Tele although I know that there are many Telecaster lovers out there...

I have many guitars, and own 1 Strat, and 1 G&L Legacy ( G&L's Strat), and neither if these guitars see much recording time in my studio. I prefer Teles which always seem to work for me when looking for a thinner Fender type sound. So a NO from me.

[s2y]

Originally Posted by Steve DeRosa

The basic formula since 1954:

• Bolt-on neck
• 1-5/8" nut
• 25.5" scale
• Three single-coils
• Blade switch/three control knobs
• Leo-style trem or hardtail
• "Soft" body/headstock contours
• Fender (or a subsidiary) name on the headstock

As soon as you introduce other elements (humbuckers/lipsticks/active PU's, pointy head/body, set/through-neck, Floyd, etc.) you might wind up with a great guitar - if you're lucky - but that's not what the whole "Strat" mystique is all about...

Some of those are important, like the bolt-on 25.5" scale maple neck with a RW or maple fretboard.

Nut....nah.

Some, definitely not all, humbuckers can split well. The JB in my ancient Kramer Pacers and Duncan Hyperion in my Ibanez AZ both split well, which delivers a nice single coil and single bridge+middle.

The 2 knob config might make a theoretical tonal difference, but not something that's likely audible in a band mix.

While it's true that a Floyd might change the tone a little, even Fender is offering modern 2 point options. Much more responsive to subtle vibrato and stays in tune better.

As for the name on the headstock, plenty of people have been using different brands, mismatched parts, parts builds, etc. It was never meant to be a perfect or magic formula. The intent was mass production and reasonable price.