Andy Eagle
Fractal Fanatic
couldn't agree more.
Learning to do soldering is one of the greatest money saving skills any guitar player can learn. Fretwork takes a lot of time and trial and error to get it right, but soldering is such an easy skill to learn once you have a good iron it boggles the mind there are guitarists who will rather fork out lots of money to let others do it then learn it themselves.
I've been flirting with all sorts of things lately and the latest is a 2013 Fender Strat American deluxe for about $1300 USD
I do like being able to add more thickness but honestly I've barely used the bridge pickup yet. I can't stop using the 4th position--it sounds so good. I just spent an hour playing with the Axe's tweed presets. Now I need to find a good SRV style patch.@Flashback, what do you think of the bridge pickup's two modes?
Yes in as much as you can say with these, they always vary a far bit at this price point. Try before you buy if possible. I personally find the hit miss rate is; if you got 10 randomly selected of one model 1 would be awesome. 1 reject. 2 no issues but a bit bland sounding. 4 nothing a tech couldn't fix in a setup plus. 2 that you probably would send back because of fret issues or the truss rod doesn't produce a relief profile that is going to work properly . I think this ratio is about it right up to serious money.Is the build quality still the same?
I think they are a really nice versatile guitar but to me they don't really have the best actual strat tones. They have good tone but the changes in the hardware stop you getting the classic vintage strat sound (only an issue if that's what you are looking for.)Andy, what's your take on the American Deluxe series from the 90's?
I especially like the ones with the LSR roller nut and locking tuners.
My 35th ann. has a graphite nut and that's ok as well.
Any guitar player needs at least a Strat and a Tele in their arsenal,
Tele's are cool, but despite being made from parts screwed together like the Strat its not as moddable. Most Tele's are really routed for that classic Tele pickup loadout.