I snapped. Strat Content

Well it arrived.

Good news:
It plays great (with caveats below), and my tones sound great. I finally get the Plexi - Strat thing that people have been raving about. My clean tones were tough to dial until I did the .5 on input, but then they sounded great. Getting a nice range of tones from this thing that is phenomenal. One thing I noticed: this thing is HEAVY for a Strat. It seems to translate to thicker tones...they just don't sound or feel thin at all. So far so good.

Bad news:
I had purchased one with a Rosewood fretboard. What shows up? A maple fretboard. After playing it for awhile, I am happy with it enough not to send it back. Another issue: The bridge is poking up a little high in the back...like the springs are worn or something. With my limited Strat experience, I'll have to investigate how to fix all of that (suggestions welcome...another spring? As I remember I can move the backplate further into the body with a few screw turns...) I'll crack the back here sometime tomorrow.

For the reduced price, it's sticking around. I may play with the pups later, but really liking what I hear so far.

NGD!
 
electronpirate said:
Well it arrived.

Good news:
It plays great (with caveats below), and my tones sound great. I finally get the Plexi - Strat thing that people have been raving about.
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Very cool. Strats do have their own thing going on. There's nothing quite like 'em.


electronpirate said:
Bad news:
...The bridge is poking up a little high in the back...like the springs are worn or something.
Click to expand...
Tighten the two screws holding the claw (that piece of metal on the other end of the springs).
 
Continueing:

Yes, I had remembered. Once I pulled the backplate and tightened the screws, it looked better. I had to raise the action on the bridge a little on each string to get rid of buzz, but she's lovely now. Fixed the staying in tune issue too.

Also: I had ordered and paid for a 'used' guitar on Amazon, but after closer look, it's a new guitar. The protective cover is still on the pickguard. Maybe it was sent back...and outside of 2 VERY MINOR nicks...more like factory dents in the wood and lacquered over (and some very sloppy QC where I can see shielding foil on the edge of the pickguard...1 CM), it's pretty pristine.

Last carp: There seems to be a huge amount of lacquer on the fretboard...nice smooth playing, but it seems like it could be more 'lived in' there.
 
electronpirate said:
Last carp: There seems to be a huge amount of lacquer on the fretboard...nice smooth playing, but it seems like it could be more 'lived in' there.
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This is my main beef with maple boarded Strats. (Of which I own one.) I don't mind the lacquer on the back of the neck as much but on the fingerboard and ESPECIALLY over the frets drives me mad. As you play it, it starts to chip and chunk off leaving a ragged mess. Plus, why bother leveling the frets if you are just going to blast an uneven coat of goop over top of them.

It drove me nuts enough that I did something about it. A couple of summers ago I popped off the neck off and spent a couple of hours and a few frosty beverages carefully scraping all the lacquer off the neck. Then I sanded if with various grades of scotch brite and then coated it with tung oil. 1000% improvement over stock and the flame in the maple looks extra amazing now.
 
Too much finish on the fretboard is a mistake that Fender makes from time to time. When it happens, refretting is an ugly job, because it's hard to pull the old frets without damaging the finish.
 
How does the neck feel when fretting? My first impressions with a Strat was there seemed to be more space between the frets. I have other 25.5 inch scale guitars with same amount of frets and they seem more compact .... which in theory is of course impossible ... but the Strat just seems 'roomier' to me for some reason. Took a bit of time to settle in with it.
 
I agree Max, there is some adjustment there. Some of it is where I (personally) hold it compared to an LP.

It feels good though. It's not like I have zero experience with a Strat, I've got plenty, but for the last 10 years or so I've been LP with mild foray's to SC guitars. Keep in mind that when the tone is good, I'm encouraged to play, so much of this is attributed to the fact that I'm loving tones out of my presets. And I'm starting to think that I managed to win the 'low rent guitar - high price tone' lottery where you get a bargain guitar that performs over it's price point. Time will tell.
 
Rex said:
As long as you have those 500K pots in there, it won't be. :)
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Yup. It works Live since most folks don't care that much after a few knocks of Jaeger. Saves on pulling out another guitar, etc (and you can clean up an LP on split with the tools we have.) But if I'm recording, or playing at home...nice to have the real deal.
 
electronpirate said:
Yup. It works Live since most folks don't care that much after a few knocks of Jaeger. Saves on pulling out another guitar, etc (and you can clean up an LP on split with the tools we have.) But if I'm recording, or playing at home...nice to have the real deal.
Click to expand...
Something to consider if you're the tinkering type:

I have an Ibanez 540-SQM that I'm modifying. One of the modifications is a coil tap switch that also throws a 500K resistor across the volume and tone pots (using a Fender F-1 switch), effectively making them 250K. I've tested side by side, with and without the resistors, and they really do add a Strat-like charm to the tapped pickups.
 
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