Fender Strats - your input on the in's & outs of buying, for authentic tone.

American Standards are a good way in, they have all the tones with modern features such as the flatter radius neck, bigger frets and new design, more stable tremelo/bridge but the necks are quite thin.

If you want better quality woods, workmanship, and typically more traditional appointments, better quality pots and arguably better sound with an aged look, go for a Custom Shop.

I've had Am Stds, Am Deluxes and currently have a CS 1960 Relic with Abby Ybarra hand wound pickups. The worn in aged feel and neck shape on the CS relic makes this guitar feel wonderful and like I have owned it for years and it has all of the traditional Strat tones with better taper on the vol and tone pots that the Am Stds, the frets are bigger and better finsihed too. But, the trem arm is a bit sloppy in the trem block and needs plumbers tape to get it tight.

Having said that the Am Deluxe HSS I had for a few years 2009-12 was very very nice and I miss it and the pop in arm trem was great with no slack wobble, i would have that guitar back in a flash.

Just my views.

Gazza
 
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I've owned several strats. Played even more. I most likely won't own another one primarily because of other guitars that are, IMHO, better or at minimum, as good, at a fraction of the price. YMMV.
 
I had a Strat Plus back in 1990 with a rosewood fretboard. It had a nice modern strat tone. I wanted something more vintage sounding and wound up with a '69 Relic, because it was the only one I could get whose neck wasn't sticky. It's a good strat, but I play a PRS 305 prototype for vintage strat sounds. It has more of a balls out tone. I wouldn't recommend a PRS 305, because the production ones moved away from the strat tone.
 
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IMO after nearly a half century of playing, the best playing AND sounding Strats are hands down the Carvin Bolt with Carvin's AP-11 pick-up's. You also have WAY more options including a DIY version that'll save a lot of money.
 
The best strat I ever played was a Japanese Squier from 1987. I had borrowed it, and it was really beaten up, and had a horrific paint job, but was incredible. But I've never found a strat that's available off the shelf today which has all the attributes I'd be looking for. Of course custom shop allows you to do whatever you want, but that's prohibitively expensive. I'd quite like to try a MIM model, like a classic player, and just upgrade the hardware etc as I go along.
 
Best strat I have ever played is my warmoth build with kinman woodstock pickups.
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Me too,
until I had this build:
90%20-%20geertstratface.jpg


I've got a gorgeous 35th anniversary strat as well and a American Deluxe Strat. i've put Kinmans in the Deluxe as well.
Nice geetar but not as good or as nice as the anniversary.
 
MisterE said:
Me too,
until I had this build:
90%20-%20geertstratface.jpg


I've got a gorgeous 35th anniversary strat as well and a American Deluxe Strat. i've put Kinmans in the Deluxe as well.
Nice geetar but not as good or as nice as the anniversary.
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Nice Guitar, who makes that ? I'm looking for a Custom build....
 
A good step between the standards and the custom shop is the select series. IMO They contain a nice blend of vintage Strat features and modern ergonomics. The #1 feature of this series for me is the compound radius necks with either flame or birds eye maple.

Here's mine, personalized slightly since this was taken. I'm probably going to drop in a replacement pickguard with some noiseless pickups. The stock ones sound fantastic, but I practice in an electrically noisy environment and prefer the 1,3,5 positions so I get some noise/hum with gain. I'm gassing over some Kinmans and will probably pick some up later this year.

strat_amp.jpg
 
Well, old school me prefers Fender Strats - Used deluxes which are made better reg usa American standard. My 2006 (my avatar) usa deluxe Strat is the best Strat I have ever owned- it's a FSR from MF.

The only other Strat I would consider is a Suhr but the $$$ (even used) is just too much for me. I would like to own one though. Maybe someday if I live long enough :)

Deluxe USA Strats can be had for $800 and such-pretty cheap I think. Although the noiseless pickups they use now s**k IMHO -N3 or something. I have Lindy Fralins Blues specials in my deluxe. May be going to Lollar flat poles soon.
 
Historic tones require historic materials. 50's = swamp ash body, maple neck, slightly under wound vintage style single coil pups and historic material bridge! 60's = alder body, maple neck with Brazilian rosewood finger board plus all wood finished in nitrocellulose finish. This is not the only way to great Strat tone!
 
I've played many strats and never found two that sound or feel the same. And now with the ever-expanding product range, no one ever will :)

So my advice is to try lots (preferably played through the same gear you use) until you can identify the sound and feel differences that matter to you, then pick the right strat for you.
 
Is the 'Squire' 'Classic Vibe' , either 50s or 60s a contender for that quintessential Strat sound and feel, or is it worth it to spend more for American standard or such?
 
GM Arts said:
I've played many strats and never found two that sound or feel the same. And now with the ever-expanding product range, no one ever will :)

So my advice is to try lots (preferably played through the same gear you use) until you can identify the sound and feel differences that matter to you, then pick the right strat for you.
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This is the best advice yet.

Deciding what you want based on specifications? That's a crap shoot. You need to find a Strat that you really gel with. Two models that came off the assembly line on the same day can be miles apart from each other. One might be wonderful—the next one might be terrible. Vintage guitar production isn't famous for consistency. ;)

Pick up everything you see that looks Strat-like and interests you. See how it plays, and see how it sounds. You'll find what you're looking for faster than you will by reading a mountain of opinions.
 
BillyZeppa said:
Is the 'Squire' 'Classic Vibe' , either 50s or 60s a contender for that quintessential Strat sound and feel, or is it worth it to spend more for American standard or such?
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Depends on the Squier. There are great ones and there are lousy ones.

I've found recent Squier quality to be more consistent than Fender quality.
 
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