JME Posted March 19, 2005 Report Share Posted March 19, 2005 Ok so everyone in the music world holds a general understanding that the words Fender Strat mean something good, but is this really true today? I must have tried out at least 20 or so modern strats before trying a 26 y/o one and getting that due to its far nicer sound, is it me or are fender getting away with selling bad sounding strats by relying on their long built reputation? What does everyone think about this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Bailz Posted March 19, 2005 Report Share Posted March 19, 2005 I play a Mexican Deluxe Strat and love it. Nice feel, tone and really sings when the volume's turned up. Alright, to begin with it sounded weedy but then I strapped some Seymour Duncans into it and brought it to life.Sounds excellent through my Marshall AVT150H and through Captain Tom's Laneys(whatever they are). You maybe just haven't found the right one for you.Bailz. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest lime ruined my life Posted March 19, 2005 Report Share Posted March 19, 2005 is it me or are fender getting away with selling bad sounding strats by relying on their long built reputation?yesyes they are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mouse Posted March 20, 2005 Report Share Posted March 20, 2005 Strats are legendary, still the best shape out there. Though imo I prefer Yamaha Pacifica's Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Compuphonic Posted March 20, 2005 Report Share Posted March 20, 2005 hahaha... this is exactly the same arguement that was going round in the '80s regarding Fenders.The '80s Fenders were poorly regarded compared to those made by the company 20 or so years before during the '60sThe one you've just settled on is from the bunch we thought were poor in the '80s Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Ascension Posted March 20, 2005 Report Share Posted March 20, 2005 Ironic post coming (me being rather a bit of a Maiden fan) ... but ...I don't like Strats, they are over-hyped and not great. THe hitlist of guitars i hate are as follows: Strat, Tele, Les Paul (TROUT) anything Gibson really. Doesn't float my boat!Give me a good solid japanese crafted Ibanez any day! Truly great guitars from the budget models (which are amazing for the price) up to the Steve Vai JEMs which are god like! I've got a RG1570ZBL Prestige and I wubs it more than any American Strat u could throw at me!Please don't throw guitars at me though, they hurt! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IamScrooge Posted March 20, 2005 Report Share Posted March 20, 2005 Maybe this is definative proof that if you use good woods which age well, an instrument will age gracefully, no? Or maybe its a contributing factor?You say you've used 20 strats, but you dont say what range they were and which specific pickups were in them, which body/neck woods were used, and if the comparison was made using equal testing circumstances. For all I know you've used 20 mexican strats and are comparing them to a 25 year old american deluxe (I dunno, did they have 'american deluxe's back then?) Theres also the whole confusion surrounding the japaneese strats of that era too...Overall though, I have to say that Fender have one of the best theologies regarding guitar design I can think of. Gibson made a few guitars and pickups when they first started, and...well...thats about all they've ever contributed to the electric guitar. Nowadays they rely on their intellectual property to sell their guitars. People want a 'gibson' because they grew up listening to gibsons. Ibanez on the other hand are too obsessed with making everything new and different from the classic electric guitar as we know it, some things are improvements, like their trems and necks, but others like luthite and basswood just dont cut the mustard.Fender now, take the design that works, and improve upon it with proven technology only when its beneficial, and often this includes outsourcing to other manufacturers to get the best parts. For example, Lace sensors, Floyd Rose trems, roller nuts etc. They also put a lot of money into developing worthy proprietry developments such as the deltatone, noiseless pickups, their floating trems and Texas Specials.While Gibson are beaten at their own game at both the budget and high end markets by companies like Tokai and Vintage, Fender are very consumer friendly by comparison. Can you honestly say that a Squier isn't good value for money? Or a Highway 1?Wish I owned a fender Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JME Posted March 20, 2005 Author Report Share Posted March 20, 2005 I've got a RG1570ZBL Prestige and I wubs it more than any American Strat u could throw at me!QUOTE] Well first of all, i dont mind Ibanez guitars, but, no offence, whos gonna actually remember a 9 digit string of letters and numbers as a name for a guitar, although im sure they all mean something or other. Next, i-m sure that this RG....... model sounds fine, after all dimarzio pickups are great, but nothing sounds like or as good as a well aged strat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skuzzlebutt Posted March 20, 2005 Report Share Posted March 20, 2005 Ok so everyone in the music world holds a general understanding that the words Fender Strat mean something good' date=' but is this really true today? I must have tried out at least 20 or so modern strats before trying a 26 y/o one and getting that due to its far nicer sound, is it me or are fender getting away with selling bad sounding strats by relying on their long built reputation? What does everyone think about this?[/quote']firstly i'd say the consistancy of fender manufacturing exceeds that of gibson..before picking up a us strat deluxe and a us hotrod strat...i tried out about 15 of each before parting with bux...and to be honest..there wasnt a whole lot to choose between them....try 5 gibbos....and you'll feel the difference in a second....when u tried out the 20 or so...would u agree that they were pretty similar in sound and feel?secondly, the only bad strat i ever played was in the 80's... a pink strat..who was on sale with a very low price tag...deservedly so the wood was absolutely dead....sounded dog awful...thirdly, as already pointed out, violins, acoustic guitars etc tend to mellow with age...hence, possibly, you can never really compare a 60's strat to a 2005 effort cos the 60's has the benefit of 40 odd years of ageing......good thread though....have a scene point... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skuzzlebutt Posted March 20, 2005 Report Share Posted March 20, 2005 Ok so everyone in the music world holds a general understanding that the words Fender Strat mean something good' date=' but is this really true today? I must have tried out at least 20 or so modern strats before trying a 26 y/o one and getting that due to its far nicer sound, is it me or are fender getting away with selling bad sounding strats by relying on their long built reputation? What does everyone think about this?[/quote']oh..yeah...forgot..no i dont think fenders are over hyped....i think thet are cracking good guitars.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JME Posted March 20, 2005 Author Report Share Posted March 20, 2005 You are right in guessing that the 20 or so i tried were similar in sound as in the mexicans sounded the worst and the american and japanese sounded the same, so good point about consistency. They just didnt have the same classic tone as the 79' one i eventually bought, although the 79' weighs a ton, you dont notice it untill you pick up a lighter one though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Bailz Posted March 20, 2005 Report Share Posted March 20, 2005 I also own an Ibanez but I'd choose to play my Strat over the Ibanez any day. The Strat both feels and sounds better. Compared to the Strat the Ibanez is painful to play, but I need the slim neck sometimes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craig deadenstereo Posted March 20, 2005 Report Share Posted March 20, 2005 I don't like the sound or feel of a stratocaster, and the ones with white scratchplates look gay.That's why I play a Love Rock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JME Posted March 20, 2005 Author Report Share Posted March 20, 2005 I don't like the sound or feel of a stratocaster' date=' and the ones with white scratchplates look gay.That's why I play a Love Rock.[/quote'] I dont want to get into an ill tempered argument like all the others threads have but why does a white scratchplate look gay??? Two of the most iconic guitars in music history had white scratchplates- Hendrix's blonde strat and Eric Clapton's 'Blackie', so you are definetly in a minority group of opinion there. But anyway, theres always one strange person that doesnt like strats. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wishbone G Posted March 20, 2005 Report Share Posted March 20, 2005 I was gonna buy a fender strat 50 year anniversary, but I realised (thanks to the scary moustashio man at bruce millers), that with fender you pay a hell of a lot for the name on it. I tried the Stratocaster out, then tried out an Ernie Ball Music Man for the same price, and the difference was amazing. The Music Man was absolutely wonderful, and the strat was obviously a mid-range guitar at a top-range price.The quality of them, i reckon, cant be faulted (Id prefer a stratocaster to my pacifica any day), but for the same price, you can get a much better guitar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest davetherave Posted March 20, 2005 Report Share Posted March 20, 2005 BastardcasterLeo Fender got it right with the shape and feel of the strat, but its never been my first choice of guitar. I use a full bodied steinberger copy (hohner jap made), so I get the comfort of the strat body with all the benefits of Ned Steinbergers fantastic trem system. EMG pickups, Roland guitar synth pickup and electronics internally installed, SSH config, with tappable humbucker. Very versatile for everything from metal to jazz But I do sometimes play my homemade bastardcaster made from various Fender bits, it is completely black, scratchplate, pickups, everything except the neck. Its a mexican neck and rates as one of the best I've played. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GraemeC Posted March 22, 2005 Report Share Posted March 22, 2005 I had a Jap j series squire strat for years which looked sounded and played really well, I then bought a Jap classic reissue Fender which is even better, that was about 16 years ago mind you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rass Posted March 22, 2005 Report Share Posted March 22, 2005 im not getting into the technical side of the whole thing, but i have a Mexican strat, which is about 5 maybe 6 years old, and its just started to settle in, its aged to the point it is absolutely wonderful to play, i have a full rack of guitars including super strat syle guitars and super pumped axes featuring active pickups, locked bridges the lot and i still pick my strat to play for gigs/ practices/jamming at home, even if the strap button is being held on with a piece of masking tape. The only alteration i made to it is to replace the bridge singlecoil with a Seymour Duncan Hotrail, i love my strat! the only thing i flaw it on is i just wish it had 22 frets!Dont diss the strat! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craig deadenstereo Posted March 22, 2005 Report Share Posted March 22, 2005 Because it makes me think of Buddy Holly.For a while I was using our bassists red stratocastor that had a white scratchplate and white pickups. There came to a point where I was too embarrased to go on stage with it (this is form a guy who used to play a pink charvel telecaster with a revrse headstock), so changed the scratchplate out for a black one, keeping the white pickups.Everyone I know thought it looked much better. Our other guitarist did the same with his telecaster - changed the white plate out for a black one - looks much better.So, as far as me, and all the people I know, the majority of people are in favour of black scratchplates.I don't like white on a guitar, unless the whole thing is white. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Electric Tibet Posted March 22, 2005 Report Share Posted March 22, 2005 I love strats but Fender charge way too much for the quality (same with Gibson)Get a G&L (or a Heritage)or a Tokai Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Ascension Posted March 22, 2005 Report Share Posted March 22, 2005 im not getting into the technical side of the whole thing' date=' but i have a Mexican strat, which is about 5 maybe 6 years old, and its just started to settle in, its aged to the point it is absolutely wonderful to play, i have a full rack of guitars including super strat syle guitars and super pumped axes featuring active pickups, locked bridges the lot and i still pick my strat to play for gigs/ practices/jamming at home, even if the strap button is being held on with a piece of masking tape. The only alteration i made to it is to replace the bridge singlecoil with a Seymour Duncan Hotrail, i love my strat! the only thing i flaw it on is i just wish it had 22 frets!Dont diss the strat![/quote']Did you mean you wish it had 24 frets?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IamScrooge Posted March 22, 2005 Report Share Posted March 22, 2005 Am I right in thinking that G&L and MusicMan are Leo Fenders post-Fender legacy?Man that guy knew what he was doing. Senior Gibson and Les Paul dont have a look in.Still, is 700 really that much to pay for a quality guitar? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wishbone G Posted March 22, 2005 Report Share Posted March 22, 2005 Yeh, the MusicMan is Leo Fender's company. Apparently he thuoght he was gonna die at some point, sold off Fender, ended up not dying, not being allowed back at Fender, so he started MusicMan.And Music Man guitars are so fecking great Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest DustyDeviada Posted March 22, 2005 Report Share Posted March 22, 2005 Yeh' date=' the MusicMan is Leo Fender's company. Apparently he thuoght he was gonna die at some point, sold off Fender, ended up not dying, not being allowed back at Fender, so he started MusicMan.[/quote']Then sold that and started up G&L!I love my Mark Knopfler Signature Strat, Texas Special pups and a nitro finish (most Fenders are poly now) make for a good combination. Oh, and a super light swamp ash body. Red with white scratchplate is fine with me, but I prefer "classic" looking guitars with a vintage vibe going on than "different" looking guitars. Each to their own.I won't hear anybody dissing Gibson or the Les Paul though. Neither is better - they're just different, but both brilliant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pierre Von Mondragon Posted March 22, 2005 Report Share Posted March 22, 2005 I like the stripped down purity of the Tele, still the original electric guitar, but would love a nice Strat, have to have a maple fingerboard though, I don't like the feel of rosewood as much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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