Stratocaster - Try again? Or punt...

I hesitate to even post this...

Not sure why, but there is that damn'd voice in my head keeps saying 'You need a Strat...you need a Strat'. The Tele I have is outstanding, and thought that would keep my single coil itch in check...but...it just seems like there's a hole in my stable when I'm not able to successfully negotiate my way through an iconic guitar.

Now, I've been down this road before. I tried a number of them. Mexican Strat HSS, Classic Vibe (REALLY good value), Nash (surprised me that it just didn't sound great at all), American Strat (lower version...maybe $1000US?) The annoying part about this is that my nephew has a CV Strat that sounds REALLY good. I've tried to steal it from him many times...even when I've given him 2 acoustics that were really just lying around...no avail.

I could not bond with the ones I purchased. I LIKED them, but it always came down to a year later I realized that I haven't pulled it off the wall in 6 months.

I grew up on HB guitars, and if I had to play one for the rest of my life, it would be an LP, but that little voice...

In the past I've struggled with 'getting it right' with a Strat. I see players able to use all 5 positions and it's usable....I've never had that on any of the ones I've owned. The bridge is always ice-pick and/or thin, neck can be mud. Position 2, 4 I lived on (quack settings), sometimes okay with middle pup.

The range of the ones I've owned makes my just think 'you're never going to be a Strat guy.' But the universe will not let me go when Fender announced this:

https://shop.fender.com/en-US/elect...can-professional-stratocaster/0179303734.html

So Strat people, do I give up on this? Given my track record, I'm not down with a Custom Shop or even a used Suhr (basically spending 3k on potential wall candy. Or move on in a different direction, and get a Jazzmaster.

Not really looking for affirmation one way or another. Just curious if I've just had bad luck...or Strat ain't going to be my thing.

R

I mainly play a LP, next up is my Tele with Joe Barden Danny Gatton pups. So find a Strat that plays ands feels great, looks cool and at a nice price - drop a set of Joe Barden S-Deluxe pups in it. You'll get all the classic Strat tones you crave plus it's dead quiet and can rock your nuts off too. You'll def want to take it off the wall and play it.
 
I’m a PRS P24 player. Hamburgers all the way bridge and neck.

But a few years ago, decided I wanted the classic sound of a strat but w/ modern features (1 of 12 Brondel s-types) with Ron Ellis SC PUps. Toasted neck, really old yellow cedar body ... anyways ... point being those pickups in that guitar give the best string separation and clarity. Agree with low output; maybe a kick on the bridge.

Like someone else wrote ... strats love to be dug into ... played with some grit - (something a PRS might punish you for over fretting).

Good luck - have fun no matter what you do!
 
I had a similar journey with strats. Due to my hand size, I never found the scale comfortable with the chunky necks.

I was resigned to having to build a partscaster and was looking for a used cheap guitar to use as a donor body to start the build.

On GC's used gear section, I found a Squier Bullet Strat that was loaded with Fender high gain noiseless pickups for less money than buying a similar spec body elsewhere. The neck was the best strat neck that I ever played due to the smaller scale, width, and depth.

The guitar was so perfect in the playing and sound for me, the only things that I did were install Dunlop Straplocks and cut down a trem bar to Gilmour size. The only other mod that I will do is add locking tuners as the stock Bullet tuners can't withstand my bending and trem onslaught.

Perhaps this avenue may be interesting for you to explore.
 
With the squiers you have to pay attention to the 6 screw bridge mounting. It's more inclined to cause tuning problems than the tuners in fact.
 
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Last December I took yet another shot at a Strat and after 50+ years of playing and god only knows how many guitars it finally paid off. I found a Strat that's a keeper. It's a 2018 American Elite and I now rarely play anything else since I got it. They've made a number of improvements on this guitar that I feel should have been made years ago. Top to bottom (so to speak),

1. it has locking tuners with shorter string posts,

2. no hole in the head-stock for truss adjustment, that's moved to the base of the neck.

3. It has a bone nut,

The neck itself is different in several ways,

4. The back of the neck morphs from a classic C shape at the 1st fret to a flatter D shape at the 22nd fret to accommodate the fret board which morphs from a 9-1/2" radius at the first fret to a 14" radius at the 22nd fret.

5. This latest model includes ebony as a fret board choice (which I chose).

6. Just past the 22nd fret is a "wheel" to make truss rod adjustments quick and easy.

7. New contoured heal and neck on the treble side where the neck and body meet.

8. The new 4th generation noiseless pickups truly are a NEW design, not just further mods on previous models, and they're MUCH quieter while being more powerful then any Strat pickups I've heard before.

9.The S1 switch adds an additional array of new tones while still maintaining all the classic Strat tones that made it famous.

10. Attention to detail on this Strat is like none I've ever seen before, I literally went over it with a magnifying glass and cannot find fault anywhere. That includes the tightest neck pocket I've ever seen on a bolt neck guitar, and frets so polished they shine.

It's far and away the best Strat I've ever played and indeed a real Keeper.
 
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Last December I took yet another shot at a Strat and after 50+ years of playing and god only knows how many guitars it finally paid off. I found a Strat that's a keeper. It's a 2018 American Elite and I now rarely play anything else since I got it. They've made a number of improvements on this guitar that I feel should have been made years ago. Top to bottom (so to speak),

1. it has locking tuners with shorter string posts,

2. no hole in the head-stock for truss adjustment, that's moved to the base of the neck.

3. It has a bone nut,

The neck itself is different in several ways,

4. The back of the neck morphs from a classic C shape at the 1st fret to a flatter D shape at the 22nd fret to accommodate the fret board which morphs from a 9-1/2" radius at the first fret to a 14" radius at the 22nd fret.

5. This latest model includes ebony as a fret board choice (which I chose).

6. Just past the 22nd fret is a "wheel" to make truss rod adjustments quick and easy.

7. New contoured heal and neck on the treble side where the neck and body meet.

8. The new 4th generation noiseless pickups truly are a NEW design, not just further mods on previous models, and they're MUCH quieter while being more powerful then any Strat pickups I've heard before.

9.The S1 switch adds an additional array of new tones while still maintaining all the classic Strat tones that made it famous.

10. Attention to detail on this Strat is like none I've ever seen before, I literally went over it with a magnifying glass and cannot find fault anywhere. That includes the tightest neck pocket I've ever seen on a bolt neck guitar, and frets so polished they shine.

It's far and away the best Strat I've ever played and indeed a real Keeper.
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Ah, the age old conundrum. In Australia we've always had the Ford vs Holden (GM) thing or Collingwood vs Carlton (AFL). For me it's the same, Strat vs LP. I have often wondered if there is any truth in the belief that as a guitarist, we will always gravitate back to the type of guitar we learnt to play on (or got the bug from). I started on a cheap Les Paul copy and years and years later, the LP remains home.

I get the strat thing though - they have that tone that only a strat can do and if ever I am in a Knopfler or Gilmour type of mood, out comes my Mexican Strat. It's a great guitar, SSS with Texas Specials, Rosewood FB, plays great sounds great. A humbucker in a strat to me is like a single coil in a Les Paul - trying to get something to be what it is not. So I play my strat for a while and then the main annoyance gets me - that damn switch!!! I am forever hitting it from 5 to 4 so have to totally adjust my playing technique to "strat mode" - which I don't enjoy as much so the strat collects dust again for another 6 months until the mood kicks in once again.

I love the strat tone and always want to have one in my collection - just not an expensive one ;).
 
Ah, the age old conundrum. In Australia we've always had the Ford vs Holden (GM) thing or Collingwood vs Carlton (AFL). For me it's the same, Strat vs LP. I have often wondered if there is any truth in the belief that as a guitarist, we will always gravitate back to the type of guitar we learnt to play on (or got the bug from). I started on a cheap Les Paul copy and years and years later, the LP remains home.

I get the strat thing though - they have that tone that only a strat can do and if ever I am in a Knopfler or Gilmour type of mood, out comes my Mexican Strat. It's a great guitar, SSS with Texas Specials, Rosewood FB, plays great sounds great. A humbucker in a strat to me is like a single coil in a Les Paul - trying to get something to be what it is not. So I play my strat for a while and then the main annoyance gets me - that damn switch!!! I am forever hitting it from 5 to 4 so have to totally adjust my playing technique to "strat mode" - which I don't enjoy as much so the strat collects dust again for another 6 months until the mood kicks in once again.

I love the strat tone and always want to have one in my collection - just not an expensive one ;).

I too started on a Les Paul, but I soon lusted after a Strat, and have not looked back ever since. I reckon its what your favorite guitar heroes are using that's as much an influence as what you start with. The fact that the LP took a nose dive from the stand that it was on one day and broke the headstock didn't help either.

I have also no problems whatsoever with sticking any kind of pickup in any kind of guitar. They're tools, not icons. Strats and Tele's feel ergonomically right to me, LP's don't. And sound comes from the electronics, not the body shape.
 
I have often wondered if there is any truth in the belief that as a guitarist, we will always gravitate back to the type of guitar we learnt to play on (or got the bug from). I started on a cheap Les Paul copy and years and years later, the LP remains home.
I started on a cheap LP copy. Haven’t really owned one since. There was an Epi LP I bought as a backup to the backup when I was playing more actively in my 20s. Hung on to it for two years maybe. And I had an LP Special in TV yellow for a couple of years but it too went out the door.
 
I have often wondered if there is any truth in the belief that as a guitarist, we will always gravitate back to the type of guitar we learnt to play on (or got the bug from). I started on a cheap Les Paul copy and years and years later, the LP remains home.

Not for me ( at least ) ..., my 1st electric guitar was a 1969 Les Paul Custom ( don't hate .... I had an aunt that worked at Gibson in Kalamazoo ;) ). I played that guitar exclusively for about 10 years. When I was 25 I bought a used Stratocaster to use as a back up ( no idea what year, but it looked like Malmsteen's ). It had a Maple neck, but I don't even know if the body was Alder or Ash ?

It didn't take long for that to become my # 1 and the L.P. got relegated to back up status. Over time I customized it with a Kahler Trem, EMG pickups and a Starr Switch .... Stupidly sold them both to buy a 1986 PRS ....

Since then there have been many times I've wanted to go back to an L.P. ..., but for some reason the Strat-style guitars just seem to fit my eyes & ears better ....

My current # 1 is an H-S-S Strat with a Floyd and a pickup system built for me by James Tyler ....
 
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My first good guitar was a '67 Les Paul Custom, followed by a new (at the time) '78 ES-335. (Both were stolen a couple of years after I bought the 335.) Played all humbucker guitars throughout my pro days in the late '70s and into the '80s...just never really gelled with Strats or Teles. Fast forward a whole lot of years, and I started playing out again, and the songs the band was playing lent themselves to a more spanky tone. I picked up a beat up MIM Strat at GC for under $200 that played nicely and had a comfortable neck. I was instantly won over. One MIM Strat became five, and most of them have upgraded pickups and electronics in them but no other upgrades. They all have unique voices and feel, but they all inspire me to play. I'm afraid to play a really nice Strat for fear I'd like it and have to come up with the money to buy it, lol. I gig with a couple of Strats (in different tunings) and a couple of humbucker guitars (one fixed bridge and one with a Floyd). If I had to go back to just a single guitar, chances are it'd be some variant of a SSS Strat. (The John Meyer PRS would work for me, lol.)
 
Unearthing this.

After much trepidation (and a long wait), I went to WildWood this weekend. Only played one Strat (style). A Tungsten PRS Silver Sky. Played it through a Koch Signature amp (pretty nice sounding amp! And Greg is in the house!)

It took me all of 5 minutes to love the Guitar. Very usable tones across PUP's and tone knobs. Especially my "don't go there!' bridge PUP. Cleaned up nicely on volume knob with dirt. Most importantly, it felt natural to me, right neck size, comfortable fretboard.

I wasn't thrilled about the color, but they will be receiving a shipment at the end of this week. I'm partial to the gold, but the green works for me too. I'll get a call and run up to confirm that it's the guitar I want. But boy, they did right on this one.

I will put another plug in for WildWood. It's a pleasure to go up there and deal with them. Incredibly knowledgeable, quick to put you in a room by yourself with a guitar, and I could have stayed there for hours without complaint. Won't buy a high end guitar elsewhere.
 
Unearthing this.

After much trepidation (and a long wait), I went to WildWood this weekend. Only played one Strat (style). A Tungsten PRS Silver Sky. Played it through a Koch Signature amp (pretty nice sounding amp! And Greg is in the house!)

It took me all of 5 minutes to love the Guitar. Very usable tones across PUP's and tone knobs. Especially my "don't go there!' bridge PUP. Cleaned up nicely on volume knob with dirt. Most importantly, it felt natural to me, right neck size, comfortable fretboard.

I wasn't thrilled about the color, but they will be receiving a shipment at the end of this week. I'm partial to the gold, but the green works for me too. I'll get a call and run up to confirm that it's the guitar I want. But boy, they did right on this one.

I will put another plug in for WildWood. It's a pleasure to go up there and deal with them. Incredibly knowledgeable, quick to put you in a room by yourself with a guitar, and I could have stayed there for hours without complaint. Won't buy a high end guitar elsewhere.
Cool. Keep us posted. Strats truly are their own thing, and a good one is quite an adventure.
 
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