I snapped. Strat Content

electronpirate

electronpirate

Axe-Master
I keep saying that I'm an LP guy. But last night, in a burst of fervor, I bought an HSS Strat (MIM kind...).

I've been through several Strats, 2 Tele's, etc, but never could find a single coil guitar that I loved. But the humbucker in the bridge might make it the SC widget that I hope it will.

Damn you Tequila. I will find out on Tuesday whether I've tossed money down another rabbit hole or not.

BTW this is inspired by the new FW. I'm finding it...awesome, so getting a great SC clean is on my mind greatly since I've nailed every HB tone that I care for.

Now if I can just hold off buying that Guild 12 String I've had an eye on...sigh.
 
For the first 40+ years of my playing, I just couldn't ever bond with the tones I could get out of a Strat. I was a humbucker guy through and through. I did have a Strat-shaped Ibanez in the early early '80s that had a pair of humbuckers in it, but it definitely didn't sound like a Strat. Then a few years ago I started playing in a band that was doing classic rock covers with an acoustic guitar, Washburn acoustic bass, and low-volume drums. I became the electric guitarist in an acoustic rock band, lol. On a whim, I bought a used MIM Strat at Guitar Center, and it just fit much of the material the band was doing. Now I own 5 MIM Strats with various pups, and I love the results I get with all of them. I still use a couple of humbucker guitars at gigs, but a Strat is probably used on about 60% of the songs we play. (I have 2 on stage - one in E and the other tuned to Eb.) The remaining 40% of the material is split between humbucker guitars or the Roland GR55 synth. For a while I was running HSS in one of the Strats, but I wasn't really satisfied with it. I lost the classic Strat sounds (even when splitting the coils on the humbucker), so I eventually switched it back to a SSS configuration on that guitar. (I think part of the problem was that I was using the wrong pups. I was using Lace Sensor Golds...I think I would have been happier with something else in their place.)
 
I'd been a Strat guy for 25+ years, my main guitar for that time was a custom that I'd had built in the late 80's. But soon I replaced the bridge w/ a Hot Rails, later I experimented w/ a number of SC in the mid and neck, and for the longest time it didn't really sound like a Strat anymore either. But it was perfect for playing a lot of different styles and I loved the feel (it originally had pretty small fretwire, and when it needed replacing my luthier suggested I move up to mid-fat and I was really scared of trying it... good thing I did! ;-) .

Eventually I got the PRS bug, and my 513 is now my #1 because it can pretty much do it all. But I was still craving the sound of a 'real' Strat so I went another direction and picked up a G&L S-500 for a sweet deal. I also had it rewired for various series/parallel setups w/ all the pups but discovered that most of those sounds were pretty dark and didn't really do it for me (the original 5 positions are really nice). But I almost never play it now because since that time both of my bands don't need the SC Strat sound as much as I do either HSS, HH, or the versatility of the 513. One of these days I'm going to pick up a Suhr HSS or something of the like...
 
I'm bilingual. I speak Humbucker and Strat. I love humbuckers for what they do, but I really love the sound of single coils. They have a clarity and twang that humbuckers just don't want to give. When buying my Suhr Classic, I debated whether to go with HSS or SSS. I opted for SSS and I'm glad I did. It took a bit to dial in the sounds I was looking for, but it was well worth the effort. Congrats on your new squeeze.
 
electronpirate said:
I keep saying that I'm an LP guy. But last night, in a burst of fervor, I bought an HSS Strat (MIM kind...).

I've been through several Strats, 2 Tele's, etc, but never could find a single coil guitar that I loved. But the humbucker in the bridge might make it the SC widget that I hope it will.

Damn you Tequila. I will find out on Tuesday whether I've tossed money down another rabbit hole or not.

BTW this is inspired by the new FW. I'm finding it...awesome, so getting a great SC clean is on my mind greatly since I've nailed every HB tone that I care for.

Now if I can just hold off buying that Guild 12 String I've had an eye on...sigh.
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Yah, late night drunken purchases always work out great.......................but I am betting on you being very pleased with what you hear (if yer new axe ain't a lemon.....:confused:)
 
Over the years I've discovered that, more than the pickup configuration or body shape, the neck carve matters to me. A neck that works with my hands makes any guitar a pleasure to play.

I hope your new Strat fits you like a glove!
 
I always look at the super strats or whatever they are called the HSS ones - never have pulled the trigger yet but I know it's coming at SOME point! lol. Hope your new axe works out great for you!
 
electronpirate said:
I keep saying that I'm an LP guy. But last night, in a burst of fervor, I bought an HSS Strat (MIM kind...)
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Which pickups? You might want to a get a few to try out.

I went through an SSS Suhr, an SSH Suhr and landed on a Tyler Classic SSH before realizing what I really needed to do to get the 60s-70s tones I needed for my gig was swap out pickups .

I did a Tom Holmes 455 for the bucker and Budz for the single coils. Been running with that for 9 years. The Holmes was totally worth it, and Budz are a great price for the sound, which is perfect for my needs.
http://www.budzguitars.com/budzguitars/S-Styles.html
https://www.facebook.com/pg/Tom-Holmes-PAF-261832495335/photos/
 
The only thing that stopped me buying a MIM was the lack of a 22nd fret ..... I won't have either a 21 or 24 fret guitar ... 22 or nothing (unless someone wanted to sell a 62 or 63 Strat for peanuts of course).

That stupid fret cost me hundreds more than a MIM as I felt compelled to buy a US one instead ..... not many hundreds .... in fact less than 2 hundreds as I bought the US one secondhand from a cash strapped recently divorced wretch living from boxes in a dank apartment. His story was a sad one - but also one he should have kept to himself because I was able to beat him down well in price by waving the wad under his cash strapped recently divorced nose.

I met him again not so long ago and his life is good again ...... and he doesn't miss the guitar because he doesn't play any more (that's what got him in trouble the first time round ..... wife turned up at a gig to surprise him and found a completely different band playing ..... you can probably work out the rest for yourselves).
 
The mono dual case helped my indecisiveness for a one guitar for the night attitude. I always have a strat and humbucker guitar to choose from :)
 
mwd said:
I remember the day you bought a Baja model of something. I think a Tele. Did that not work out?
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It did work out. I liked it, but in the end, I just didn't play it that often. I moved it as I needed to install a sprinkler system at the house!

Yeah, it was impulsive, but feeling okay with it.
 
I'm an old LP guy , had a strat attacked over the winter , came back around to my tele. Lovin the tele and my LP with low output pups the most , with the new firmware. They sound very similar. So much , that I don't have to dial in the presets for each , they just have a little different SPICE. Good luck !
 
I've only got one Fender Strat at the moment. A 50th anniversary edition Strat Plus Deluxe (Lace pups, roller nut, Floyd non-locking trem, Trem-setter, etc). It's a case-queen.

Like several here, I just never bonded with it. I'm a humbucker guy till the day I die, and a humbucker+Floyd guy at that. METAL! =)

After selling a 1983 Strat Elite (ceramic pups, 3 push-button selectors, limited edition paint scheme) and living to regret it, I don't sell gear like this anymore. My non-special edition Epi's and Schecters? Meh...they can be replaced, but guitars like my current Fender and a no-longer-available Schecter Tempest Classic (only a sixxer, but probably the meanest face-melting tone out of all of my guitars)...they'll be with me forever, or at least until their value reaches a point I can justify selling them, if that ever comes.

"He who dies with the most toys wins...and I plan on being disqualified for unsportsman like conduct". =)
 
I always thought I was a LP guy for life.
Then I built a HH Super strat using Mighty Might parts (Anderson pick ups)....and most importantly, a maple neck/fretboard.
The guitar sounds absolutely amazing and I love the snap from a maple neck.
Since then I've built 2 more and a Tele (which I always HATED) the look of.
The Tele has a hot rails in the bridge and hum in the neck. It is my favorite guitar (and I have 10+ Les Pauls..lots of vintage...in the closet).

I still have not bonded with a single coil....but a Hum in a strat or Tele is awesome.
I wish I tried one 20 years ago...
 
Yeah, I may gut it and put a range of pups in there until I'm happy. The good news is that with MIM Strat I don't feel badly about moving things around on it. But figured I'd get Humbucker feel with the cool Strat bounce and SC as a bonus. I'll post a review since it will be here tomorrow...

-Never again boozy buy (until the next time...)
 
i don't think anyone type of pup can do the job all the time. I love my Tele, my LP, my gretsch, my strat....and a number of others. some just work better for some things than others....and sometimes i just want a different vibe or flavor. i'd go crazy with just one type of guitar.
 
iaresee said:
Over the years I've discovered that, more than the pickup configuration or body shape, the neck carve matters to me. A neck that works with my hands makes any guitar a pleasure to play.
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First thing I do when I inspect a guitar is feel up the neck. If it doesn't feel right to me (meaning: too thick) it doesn't matter how it sounds, it's not for me.

maxdown said:
The only thing that stopped me buying a MIM was the lack of a 22nd fret ..... I won't have either a 21 or 24 fret guitar ... 22 or nothing (unless someone wanted to sell a 62 or 63 Strat for peanuts of course)
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I have that 22 fret obsession as well. That severely limits my choice in Strats and Teles. Or in commercially available separate necks. If I want to buy a separate neck it absolutely HAS to have 22 frets with a big CBS style headstock. Anything else will just not rub my OCD right.
 
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