Are Any Of You Bored With Stratocasters?

[Tig***]

Who called me a slut?

I did! "I'm Spartacus!"
Truth be told, I have Guitar Slut Envy. Only a qualified guitar-playing doctor can accurately diagnose the condition. Many people have been mis-diagnosed golf playing doctors.

The two guitars that intrigue me the most in the photo are the double cut semi-hollow Gibson on the far left, and the Bombshell. The LP's on the left are also magnetizing.

[mainestratman]

Who called me a slut?

What? No SGs?

What's wrong with people these days?

[red]

My first "proper" electric guitar was a sunburst American Series (or was it American Standard? can't remember) Fender Stratocaster. Before that I've been using a beat up Washburn Asian-made electric guitar for years.

I blame SRV and Jimi Hendrix for the purchase (and it was pretty expensive too, at least for my financial resources at the time), but the guy most responsible for my purchase is Mike McCready from Pearl Jam who played one in "Live at the Garden". Well, almost - he had a gazillion dollars one from 1959. But hey - they were both sunburst.

I then proceeded to force myself to love it in spite of the fact that I felt it sounded like 90% of whatever music was playing on the radio at the time, and (more importantly) I felt that it just wasn't the best fit for me tonally. I had no problem with the shape of the guitar, or it's neck or the tone, it just wasn't what I heard in my head - and the fact that everyone and his brother was using one everywhere I turned to look didn't help matters much either, but I concede that's not a proper reason.

I've tried solid-state amps, and tube amps, and tube screamers and delays and all the gadgets I could both think of and afford.

Then I bought a second-hand Fender Telecaster, made my peace with the Stratocaster and sold it to a nice fellow who's been very happy with it to this very day. I still see the guitar every day on TV - he's playing in a band for a live TV show. Can't say I miss it much though.

I don't think the problem is in the instrument itself, surely there are more imaginative uses for a Stratocaster other than trying to be Hendrix or SRV. I really like Ron Wood's work with a Stratocaster. Bob Dylan sounds nice with one too. I'm still wondering if a vintage one or a vintage reissue would have been a better fit, but I doubt it and I can't afford to shell out that kind of coin to find out.

As for going away from Stratocasters to Les Pauls: I don't see how running from the Hendrix crowd into the arms of the Slash/Page crowd makes things any better .

But I do like Gibsons. But the ones that sound closer to Fenders. Like Melody Makers and Les Paul Jrs/Specials with P90s. My best friend now is the Telecaster.

[Plank_Spanker]

My Strats are just other colors on the pallette - there when I need them. To paraphrase a well known guitar maker, sometimes, only a Strat is good enough.

[Algonquin]

A Strat is a classic that has stood the test of time... I don't think I could ever become bored with a guitar style. The Strat continues to be one of the most versatile guitars ever manufactured. Sure I like humbuckers, but they can't come close to that crystal clear tone of a single coil.
If only we spent more time playing than drooling over what guitar to buy next... just saying.

[Tig***]

... it would be my '81 The STRAT.

First-ever Fender Fullerton factory 'hot-rodded' model, with a massive brass bridged trem system, a juiced-up bridge pup branded the 'X-1' and a wiring/switching scheme that goes with just a master tone pot to use the bottom one as a mode switch and provide a total of 9 pup positions, adding series combos to the standard parallels, including all 3 firing at once.

Now this is what every Strat should be.
I wish Fender would make these again.

[sunvalleylaw]

Now this is what every Strat should be.
I wish Fender would make these again.

That one looks really cool, and is from my high school graduating year. I have always liked seeing pics of that one.

[markb]

Now this is what every Strat should be.
I wish Fender would make these again.

The way they're going, they probably will.

[red]

Sure I like humbuckers, but they can't come close to that crystal clear tone of a single coil.
If only we spent more time playing than drooling over what guitar to buy next... just saying.

Indeed, I much prefer single coils to humbuckers myself, to the point where the only humbucker-style pickup I have in a guitar now is a Firebird pickup that sounds more like a good Stratocaster neck pickup than a regular humbucker. But I think the comparison here was Stratocasters vs. other guitar styles, not necessarily humbuckers vs. single coils. Fender also makes lots Stratocaster with humbuckers.

And of course you are absolutely right that playing counts for much more than changing gear around, but, (I might be wrong) what most of the nice folks in this thread seem to me to be saying is, to paraphrase Frank Zappa, that when they don't really like the sound that comes out of their amps, they tend not to wiggle their fingers. And that translates into less playing time, so there's somewhat of a vicious circle.

[oldguy]

Don't ever quit! Dial in some new tones or add some pedals, but play!
(I like my roadhouse strats. )

[Eric***]

when they don't really like the sound that comes out of their amps, they tend not to wiggle their fingers. And that translates into less playing time, so there's somewhat of a vicious circle.

Hmm. That's a really good point.

[wingsdad]

That one looks really cool, and is from my high school graduating year. I have always liked seeing pics of that one.

Now this is what every Strat should be.
I wish Fender would make these again.

The way they're going, they probably will.

If they ever do, this is what they'd have to recreate:

With stock 250K audio taper vol & tone pots and .05MFD cap on the master tone pot, these are the 4 additional pickup combos the STRAT produces in the alternate mode (the bridge only pup is available in both modes) that made (make) it so incredibly versatile, ones that never existed before in a strat and generally, until they came up with the S1 system, to this day require aftermarket rewiring and modding to get:

• neck and middle pickups in series - humbucking
• middle and bridge pickups in series - humbucking
• neck and bridge pickups in parallel (that 'jangly' sound of a Tele's middle position)
• neck and bridge pickups in parellel, with the middle pickup in series (essentially/effectively acts to combine those first 2 and give you a 2-humbucker guitar)

The STRAT was only made from '80-'83. I bought mine in Sept. of '81. The only 'mod' I ever made to it was immediately installing Schaller Straplocks. (I did get the frets dressed 15 years ago -- not replaced, just leveled & recrowned to get the ruts out.) The oddball mix of the gold-plated bridge/knobs with chrome (Schaller for Fender) tuners, etc. is stock as that's how the earliest STRATS were produced in only 2 color options: Lake Placid Blue, and the Candy Apple Red (over gold) like mine.

These earlybirds like mine are a heavy alder body....mine weighs a hair under 11 lbs... this boat anchor makes an LP a relative lightweight, but definitely a factor in putting some meat on the 'classic' thinnish single coil Strat sound that apparently bores some folks to hating it, while others love it.

Look at mine carefully and you'll notice the middle pup is set lower than the bridge pup; this is a setup trick I learned when I bought it. Fiddling with the height of the middle pup varies the 'degree of quack' of the #2 pup position. Want more quack? Lower it. Too quacky? Raise it. I have the neck pup at about the same height as the middle pup because for me, as my forever-#1 axe, this makes those 1st and last 'humbucking' positions about as 'true' as a real 'bucker.

A bit later they added Arctic White and finally got the gold-plated (but same) tuners, pup selector switch cap, pg screws, string trees and strap buttons. The gold plating and expensive (for that time, labor intensive) custom wiring) made the STRAT a limited production model. They added an all-Walnut model and other custom finish options, so it was a major money-loser (as in not profitable) for Fender and they finally killed it.

And while I hope you're right, mark, in today's Fender guitar-making world of 'artist signature' models, distressed reissues that fake being 50 years old or worn out like it belonged to Andy Summers, EC or SRV, a model for every taste, that's probably why Fender won't make it again...it's too versatile.

[helliott***]

I played Strats for three decades before I branched out into bucker guitars -- not because I was bored but because I could finally afford to have more than a couple of guitars.
Loved my pawnshop special 70s LP (got stolen). Still really like my PRS guitars. But when it came time to decide on guitars that would be most practical and versatile for the current band (blues rock, from taj mahal, los lobos, Allmans, EC, Walter Trout, Santana, Fab Tbirds, Colin James, King Biscuit Boy), I turned back to the #1 Strat, bucker in the bridge, S1 switching. I don't find it thin at all, not with a well-set up amp and something like a TS9 for add a little girth where needed. And when you want a lead solo to scream, you can't beat a Strat, in my view.
But I never did think I'd be partial to Teles, too, and yet that's the other guitar I use onstage, very nice for older blues, funk and cleaner stuff.

[msteeln]

A good Strat is like your favorite burger joint, you always go back no matter what else you might try.

[red]

Hmm. That's a really good point.

Thank you, Eric.

[Tig***]

... it would be my '81 The STRAT.

Scorpions guitarist Matthias Jabsmight want to add it to his candy apple red Strat collection, so keep it hidden!

[red]

And when you want a lead solo to scream, you can't beat a Strat, in my view.

Amen to that! Starting at about 4:40:

[tremoloman***]

Whenever I go to the music store I always flirt with different brands and models. Some may have a little easier action for me to play or have a finish I dig, but no matter what I always find myself going back to Fenders and Strats.

They're just in my blood and they NEVER get old to me.

[gregsguitars]

I would not say "bored with strats" but it has taken me several years to bond with one, I presently own a 1987 Strat plus, lace sensor pickups and a wilkerson roller nut, I absolutely dig the guitar. I think the nut adds sustain and of course it did not hurt that mine was mad by John Page right before he wen to the custom shop, 2 piece alder body, plain rock hard maple neck. great guitar.