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FenderGuy1

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It would take far too long to tell and, even worse, be far too self-indulgent.

 

Short version is I love them as much as - but in a slighty different way from the way - I love Les Pauls.

 

P.

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I personally love the strat. I played one in GC yesterday. American standard. It was very sweet.

 

However when I plugged in a Les Paul Junior...the Junior won that battle. So really it depends on what you like I guess. I cant imagine not having my strat copy.

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personally I think the main difference between Gibson and Fenders is that Fenders sing and Gibsons roar.. And its not that Gibsons dont sing too, but its what makes them versitile instruments.. nothing roars like a Gibson.. But Fenders sing in a different way to any other guitar too..

 

its all just down to persoanl tastes I guess..

 

I grew up with 80s rock and that fat Slash type sounds so a guitar that doesnt do that is less atractive to me.

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Theres a strat for everyone, ive played many and they all have completely different tones. When people say they dont like strats, they just simply haven't played all of them.

You have no idea how many of the "I was never a strat guy but i just bought this...".

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I only own the one MIJ Strat and a MIA Tele, love em both. As another poster described, the Strat is like the lead singer and the LP like the choir or chorus.

 

Just to be fair I have played many many Strats and only a handful did I consider really good guitars. But the same goes for LPs also.

Buyer beware.

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In my opinion, the Stratocaster is the most versatile solid body guitar ever invented. Everybody should own AT LEAST one.

 

Here's the first REAL electric guitar I ever bought. I staged this photo to match the photo above of CB's '64.

 

5172784228_0739816235.jpg

 

At one time I owned five Strats, I'm now down to three.

 

3470000724_88e5da7046.jpg

 

what pickups? emg's? lace?

 

btw, beautiful guitars

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Some people still mistakenly still equate guitar collectors with non-playing hoarders and speculators who buy up vintage instruments and lock them in hermatically sealed vaults and keep them silent and unplayed until they can find another non-playing buyer to unload it on to make a tidy profit. People of this ilk should be marched off the side of a cliff as far as I'm concerned.I make no apologies about collecting vintage instruments.I buy them to play them and to appreciate the intricate work the luthier put into crafting the guitar.Serious collectors have an unwritten code of ethics and that isto maintain each instrument in the condition itwas when they bought it or even better condition if they can. I have saved beautiful guitars from fates that would have been very detrimental to them,such as the '65 Mustang I bought years ago that had been "refinished" by an inept idiot who had stripped it down and slathered on varnish with a brush.To add insult to injury there was a guy about my age in the store while I was there talking about whipping the pups out of it and slapping in a couple of Dimarzio Fat Strat pups.I couldn't see a lovely guitar like that suffer that fate so I bought it and lovingly restored it to like new condition.This is just one instance but I have done things similar to that over the years as any serious collector and guitar lover would.

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... I think its down to the construcion differences ( bolt on versus jointed neck , body mass, Mahogany and Maple versus Ash and Alder, fixed bridge versus floating. )

 

It's that plus the scale length, IMO. (24.75 versus 25.5) We all know 3/4 of an inch can make a huge difference! \:D/

 

Super Strats have their own sound, but I prefer single coils in 25.5 inch scale length guitars and humbuckers in 24.75 in scale length.

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Theres a strat for everyone, ive played many and they all have completely different tones. When people say they dont like strats, they just simply haven't played all of them.

 

 

I whole heartily disagree with your statements.

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One of the greatest designs of all time, but some people wear it out. I mean, I am really tired of people telling me over and over to check out this blues player, and they're like "you should listen and get some pointers because this guy cooks!". So I go and listen and I say to myself, "Self, nothing new or interesting here. Just a bunch of Stevie ripoff licks that Kenny Wayne Shepherd wore out on his first album. Awk!". And they go to me, "Kale, you should learn some of his stuff. Someday you can be as good as him.". I go, "Not to brag, but, I played those licks, on a Gibson, no less, for like a year and I wore it out. It got boring. I'd like to hear that guy play YYZ without mistakes! (which I cannot do, mind you)." They shoot back, "What is YYZ, is it a SRV song?". I think to myself "Seriously? Do these friggin' people ever listen to anything else?". So I reply, "No man, its Rush". They tell me, "Kid, don't waste your time listening to that stuff. There's no soul. It's too complicated for people to like". I go, "At least Alex Lifeson doesn't play the same ol' penatonic licks in every song!". They reply, "Well, they're not in the RnR HOF, and neither is Kiss, whom you seem to like although they're just a circus act.". I go, "Who cares!, soul is subjective. Playing is subjective. And I seriously hate it when bands just stand there and play". They go, "good musicians don't need showmanship, and BTW, why do you bring that f'n pedalboard to every gig?". I go, "It has all my sounds in it." They reply, "But anyways, you better stick to blues because playing Rush type music won't get you anywhere." I go, "Go listen to your copycat blues guy, and I'll go home and listen to Fractured Mirror. Awk!".

 

Anyways, Dave Gilmour, Jeff Beck, Ritchie Blackmore, Rory Gallagher, and George Harrison (not to mention Hendrix) make the Strat look like the guitar of the Gods. But SRV, and all of his followers wear it out like Bret Michaels wore out spandex. Awk!

 

personally I put SRV in the same category as all the other legends you've mentioned... I do however, agree about how the SRV copycats are boring...If I want to hear SRV, I'll go put on an SRV cd. The thing is, SRV's tone is so simple to approximate - Strat+Tubescreamer+Tube amp = SRV. I think there are so many copycats because it's a nice tone that is easy and inexpensive to achieve.

 

Now my opinion on the strat - love em. Doesn't totally replace any of my gibbies because the sound is completely different. It's just more options on my sonic palet.

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In my earpinion:

Fender Stratocasters vs. My SG's

 

Best tone clean - Definitely the Strats, SG clean sounds sorta rubbery and dead to me. Very country and twangy, the SG.

Best tone distorted - up for grabs. Both are fantastic, but the Strats do a better, more intense half-way-Wah sound when the wah is set back half way with distortion.

Best looking: Tie

If I had to record something - Strat. Very clean, full tone. Trouble free.

Playability - Same ease for me. But I hear the SG's have shorter scale length, which may help some with smaller hands.

 

However, I will say that the bottom of the body of the Strats seem to swing farward while standing, which makes me have to arch my left wrist more to play the Strat. The SG is flat on the back and I don't have to arch as much. This only becomes noticeable to me after playing the SG for a while, and then switching over to the strat.

 

I just haven't played anything that sounds better to me. I can get all the ones I like out of a Strat easier than I can an SG, in my experience.

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One of the greatest designs of all time, but some people wear it out. I mean, I am really tired of people telling me over and over to check out this blues player, and they're like "you should listen and get some pointers because this guy cooks!". So I go and listen and I say to myself, "Self, nothing new or interesting here. Just a bunch of Stevie ripoff licks that Kenny Wayne Shepherd wore out on his first album. Awk!". And they go to me, "Kale, you should learn some of his stuff. Someday you can be as good as him.". I go, "Not to brag, but, I played those licks, on a Gibson, no less, for like a year and I wore it out. It got boring. I'd like to hear that guy play YYZ without mistakes! (which I cannot do, mind you)." They shoot back, "What is YYZ, is it a SRV song?". I think to myself "Seriously? Do these friggin' people ever listen to anything else?". So I reply, "No man, its Rush". They tell me, "Kid, don't waste your time listening to that stuff. There's no soul. It's too complicated for people to like". I go, "At least Alex Lifeson doesn't play the same ol' penatonic licks in every song!". They reply, "Well, they're not in the RnR HOF, and neither is Kiss, whom you seem to like although they're just a circus act.". I go, "Who cares!, soul is subjective. Playing is subjective. And I seriously hate it when bands just stand there and play". They go, "good musicians don't need showmanship, and BTW, why do you bring that f'n pedalboard to every gig?". I go, "It has all my sounds in it." They reply, "But anyways, you better stick to blues because playing Rush type music won't get you anywhere." I go, "Go listen to your copycat blues guy, and I'll go home and listen to Fractured Mirror. Awk!".

 

Anyways, Dave Gilmour, Jeff Beck, Ritchie Blackmore, Rory Gallagher, and George Harrison (not to mention Hendrix) make the Strat look like the guitar of the Gods. But SRV, and all of his followers wear it out like Bret Michaels wore out spandex. Awk!

 

Awk??msp_mellow.gif

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Theres a strat for everyone, ive played many and they all have completely different tones. When people say they dont like strats, they just simply haven't played all of them.

You have no idea how many of the "I was never a strat guy but i just bought this...".

 

Moi!

 

[laugh]

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what pickups? emg's? lace?

 

btw, beautiful guitars

 

Lace Sensors (gold) with the "Clapton" active electronics package in the two RI's. The sunburst maple neck ('54 RI) now has the Fender "Vintage Noiseless" for I robbed the Lace Sensors out of it for a build I was doing for someone else.

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I am very happy with my MIM Strat, it is different in tone, and feel from my Gibsons, but I know what to expect. I replaced the stock pickups with Fender Vontage Noiseless, great tone and they are...noiseless.

 

IMG_0056.jpg

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My Fender is a MIM...to me, it is just as good as any USA Fender I played. I get it: it's not made in America. But a Fender is not my main guitar; never was and never will be. Wait: my Taylor is my main guitar...should I be on another forum?? [confused] [confused] [confused]

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Ok, I misprinted my opinions about SRV. I do think he is a god, and he certainly did things with a Strat that hadn't been done before (and he wasn't a prick about it like Mr. Blackmore.. No offense to Ritchie, as he is one of my favorites, especially Rainbow!), but the so-called "SRV reincarnates" don't have the pleasure of my interest. While I think that KWS has some good tunes (his latest release is killer. He's been listening to some Bloomfield!), the many others in that realm don't do anything for me. The SRV sound belongs to SRV. Otherwise, it is not my shtick. In all earnest, I think these type of blues players almost care too much about their tone. Its like, "I need a Strat, with these pickups, and a Tube Screamer, and a Super Reverb". Well, its really because all they got is their tone (many blues players are lazy and all they wanna do is copy their hero, who could play a little jazz guitar and definitely was not afraid to think out of the box!). And the tone don't even belong to them! To be honest, my "ideal" blues sound would either be a Les Paul of 335 into a JTM 45 or Plexi, a Gibson into a Fender or Dumble style amp (ala Bloomfield and or Robben Ford), or a Strat into a Fender amp with a splash of reverb, a little boost from a Tube Screamer (for the "crazy" stuff LOL), some amp tremolo, and maybe even a Leslie or Uni-Vibe. Sure, that last rig I described sounds a little like SRV, but I would be playing a minor blues jam in Gm in the style of ZZ Top's Blue Jean Blues. With some Robben Ford licks thrown in for good measure! BTW, "awk" is a term invented by Ace Frehley used when he was loaded and or drunk and didn't wanna engage in conversation and or when he was mad (Here is a line from his book, No Regrets: In reality I think they (Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley) are just a bunch of dirty rotten whores! Awk!). It was also originally his ONLY line in the movie "Kiss Meets The Phantom of The Park" (as they thought he would be too drugged up to say any more lines apparently. Awk!). According to Ace, he was trying to mimic the sound of a parrot.

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It is not a Fender but a Carvin DC-135. With Kahler 2700 tremolo. Doesthis count as a strat? Set neck made completely out of hard rock maple and pretty heavy too. Can sound both like a strat or les paul with the pick up combinations. Kind of thinking about selling this one. Tim

 

 

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The fretboard is too rounded, the volume control gets in the way, the large expanse of scratchplate is UGLY, the headstock is ugly, the bridge is wobbly, the pickups are noisy, the wee allan bolts (that adjust the saddle height) usually poke up and hurt the heel of my hand, and you cant adjust the tone on the bridge pickup......But they do sound lovely.

 

I have owned a USA standard, and a MIM roadhouse deluxe in the past, and currently own a vintage brand v6 strat copy, and a beater stagg strat copy.

 

the Mexican one sounded the the best, I really loved those Texas special pickups.

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It is not a Fender but a Carvin DC-135. With Kahler 2700 tremolo. Doesthis count as a strat? Set neck made completely out of hard rock maple and pretty heavy too. Can sound both like a strat or les paul with the pick up combinations. Kind of thinking about selling this one. Tim

 

I had a Carvin DC135 too, it's the blue one in my signature photo. Lovely guitar, but I just don't think they count as strats with a through neck construction and different scale length.

 

I recently swapped my one for an amp [biggrin]

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