School me on Strats

@Andy Eagle Which strat gets your stamp of approval on quality and tone for the least money? Some Fender model? I think I've seen you recommend a foreign strat with a bridge upgrade on this thread, would that be it? Or maybe some other brand makes a great one that clears the bar for less?

Would be interested to read your recommendations... How about for the Tele and 335? :grin:
 
After few weeks with my first Strat I get why everyone should have a strat style guitar in the collection. The cleans! the Cleans!!! its like rediscovering the Axe Fx also as I'm exploring different amp/cab combinations for single coils. Is there a thread somewhere for amp/cab recommendations for single coil guitars? If not, that'd be a great idea. I will say this Performer Strat is real easy to play. I quite like the neck and action on this guitar; bends are nice n easy. Has me thinking, down the road, of a Musicman silhouette or Cutlass or PRS Silversky. I imagine they are on a whole other level
 
After few weeks with my first Strat I get why everyone should have a strat style guitar in the collection. The cleans! the Cleans!!! its like rediscovering the Axe Fx also as I'm exploring different amp/cab combinations for single coils. Is there a thread somewhere for amp/cab recommendations for single coil guitars? If not, that'd be a great idea. I will say this Performer Strat is real easy to play. I quite like the neck and action on this guitar; bends are nice n easy. Has me thinking, down the road, of a Musicman silhouette or Cutlass or PRS Silversky. I imagine they are on a whole other level
I always thought some amps were better suited to single coils and others for the buckers.

Check out the Suhr Classic S guitars if you want an upgrade and have plenty of green.
 
@Andy Eagle Which strat gets your stamp of approval on quality and tone for the least money? Some Fender model? I think I've seen you recommend a foreign strat with a bridge upgrade on this thread, would that be it? Or maybe some other brand makes a great one that clears the bar for less?

Would be interested to read your recommendations... How about for the Tele and 335? :grin:
For value I think the old satin nitro Highway One strat with a Gotoh trem fitted would be about the best strat for no money . I would also recommend the Tele in the same series. These are fundamentally sound instruments mostly USA built that are fully compatible with high quality replacement parts should you decide to swap things around over time and both have a medium neck size with 22 6100 frets and a 9.5" radius. Can't go wrong with either at the price. After that I pretty much skip to custom shop Fender for strat sounds (or replicas I built myself.) There are plenty of really good strat and stratish shaped modern guitars (Suhr Anderson etc) but they rarely give you accurate vintage strat tones if that is what you'r looking for.
335;
Difficult, these are basically plywood to start so budget models are wrong for reasons other than cheap wood. The Best authentic 335 tones for cheap is the Gibson 333 because it is a 335 in most ways but price. Beyond this and in to proper budget land I would start auditioning Ibanez Artcore models with a mind to pull the electrics and pickups swapping them for SD59s ( best cheap PAF ) and CTS pots and swithchcraft switch. The original parts are not the worst but the woodwork is of another standard altogether and worth the upgrade . It is worth mentioning that putting money in to upgrading cheap guitars makes little or no difference to the resale value so only do it to a keeper.
 
I was thinking about getting a Strat or another 3-single-coil guitar...then I looked at my collection of guitars, saw that I have a Kiesel GH3 with Twinblades in the neck/middle and a SD Lil’ 59 in the bridge...so I just decided to buy a set of single coils to swap in for around $250. I have another GH3 that has dual humbuckers, so now both of my GH3’s will cover anything I need them to do.F1776324-1093-46D5-A6E9-C6BBB7DDA250.jpeg
 
One, no trem springs . Two, brass milled baseplate instead of CRS. Three, stainless steel milled saddles instead of the pressed steel. Even the string spacing is different. You could hardly get a more different surface mounted bridge.
 
That doesnt mean it wont sound like a strat.

Fender makes hardtail strats - those dont sound like strats either, I bet.

I block my trem and pvc my springs and yet my strat sounds like one.
 
That doesnt mean it wont sound like a strat.

Fender makes hardtail strats - those dont sound like strats either, I bet.

I block my trem and pvc my springs and yet my strat sounds like one.
Not classic strat tone. Depends how deaf you are.
 
So what do YOU think makes a strat sound like a strat? how is it different from any other bolt on neck guitar that has single coils.
The bridge is vital to the way a strat sounds. As soon as you start taking away the key attributes that are different from other models you start to make it more generic and eventually all you have is weak pickups. Putting a single coil in a Les Paul does not sound anything like a strat.
 
So what do YOU think makes a strat sound like a strat? how is it different from any other bolt on neck guitar that has single coils.
The bridge is vital to the way a strat sounds. As soon as you start taking away the key attributes that are different from other models you start to make it more generic and eventually all you have is weak pickups. Putting a single coil in a Les Paul does not sound anything like a strat.

Body shape, scale length, single coils. That's why other guitars with the same specs (double cutaway, 25.5", 3 single coils) sound like strats too. Are there minute differences? Sure, two strats will have them too.
 
Not really. Those are part but your missing all the subtle differences that add up to what actually matters . Using your criteria (ears) we would all play a Chinese squire strat because; "hay near enough ."
 
I would have to argue that bridge material and design are very important to the sound of a guitar. But I also recognise that there is a difference between trying to exactly nail a 50s strat tone, and something that just generally sounds straty.
 
I would have to argue that bridge material and design are very important to the sound of a guitar. But I also recognise that there is a difference between trying to exactly nail a 50s strat tone, and something that just generally sounds straty.
You need to find out why so many people who fitted a Kahler on a strat took it off again Dave Gilmour for one.
The bridge has influence on every note from the angel of break to its absorption of the string energy. I went through about 5 sets of brass Tele saddles with a customer looking for the right set. All were brass and had compensation .You wouldn't believe how different the various alloys sounded. I am talking Master Built Fender Custom Shop here and played back through hand made tube amps of the highest sensitivity.
 
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