Are Any Of You Bored With Stratocasters?

[DrumBob]

Let me preface this thread: No offense intended to Stratocaster lovers. This is just my opinion.

For years, I played Strats, owned a couple pre-CBS ones too. At one point, I owned five Strats, and finally looked at them and said, "This is ridiculous." Now, I own one, a '94 MIJ 60's reissue in Candy Apple Red that is my 5-string open G tuned guitar a la Keith Richards. It's now relic'd and beat up. Plays great. I still think the Strat is a beautiful looking guitar.

But I'm sick of them.

I reached a point where I was just fed up with Stratocasters. I got tired of the thin sounds they made, and mostly, I got sick of walking into any club or open mic, and seeing almost everybody playing Strats. They were everywhere, ubiquitous, a dime a dozen. The wave of SRV imitators also turned me off. I was reviewing a lot of blues discs at that point, and every week, my mailbox was inhabited with new CDs by SRV wannabes in gaucho hats, all sporting-you guessed it-Stratocasters. I also realized that I was better served playing Gibson and Gretsch guitars for the most part, because they gave me the fuller sound and full-bore crunch I wanted. Lately, I've also been playing both a Telecaster and a Jazzmaster, and find them much more to my liking.

So, have any of you become bored or disenchanted with Strats?

[Robert****]

No!

I love my Suhr Classic more for every day that goes by...

But there are times when I go for my Hagstrom Swede instead. Especially when playing with piano or keyboard players. The LP style guitars seem to blend better with keys than a strat can do.

I'm a Strat Man to the bone though...

[Spudman***]

Never! After playing and owning Strats since 1975 I can say without a doubt I am still in love with that model. However, like any man I may stray occasionally but I always come back to my first and favorite mistress. She's sexy, versatile and can make so many different noises that she never bores me. Subtle and seductive or screaming and wild - she does it all for me.

[markb]

Been there, done that, come out the other side

http://www.thefret.net/showthread.php?t=9150

FWIW it's still not my favourite guitar. It may just be the most useful though.

[deeaa*]

Well, I don't see why one would have to stick with the same model all one's life.

I like strats, despite the couple of design flaws IMO, but it's the most comfortable guitar to play and probably the most versatile.

But I always thought it looks kinda boring and dull, preferred Gibsons by far in that respect, and, well, to me Gibsons' sounds and feel also commanded more, well, respect. But today I have two strat-ish guitars and one Flying-V.

Still, if I now had to buy a factory-made guitar as my only instrument, I'd most likely get a strat. And yet, you could say I'm bored of them.

I like my Davette the best; it's got the best qualities of a strat but also all the best qualities of Gibsons, combined with the best qualities of superstrats...but those are not available in stores, sadly.

[Zip]

I think there's a reason some of the best (famous) guitarists, who can afford just about anything, play Strats. I like my humbuckers, and there's a place for my 335, but the Strat is very versatile. I can get about any sound out of it. And it's comfortable on stage.

Read the first half or so of this interview for some great insight: http://fender.com/news/index.php?display_article=499

[Jimi75]

I am not bored at all with my Strats. I still love Strats, but since owning my Gibson Les Paul I have found out that most of the common and well known testimonies regarding the Strat being so much more versatile than the Les Paul are simply not true. To come back to topic, I prefer owning a Strat and a Les Paul, so it never gets boring at all.

[oldguy]

I love me a good Strat, but with any job you have to choose the tool that fits the application.
Don't send a Paul to do a Strat's job.

[hubberjub***]

I think the Strat is an amazingly versatile instrument. I tend to grab one of those before I go after one of my LP style guitars. However, my Telecaster is currently my most played electric.

[sunvalleylaw]

No, not overall. My strat (in my avatar this week) is my number one. But I will admit there are times I want a different sound, so I guess on those days you could say I am "tired" of my strat sound for the day. Then I go for my Hagstrom Viking. So like Jimi says, I have a fatter bucker sound for those days I want it, and i never tire of my strat overall.

I guess the next set of sounds I want to add is somewhere in the solid body humbucker line, either a LP (maybe with a P90 in the neck) or a tele with a bucker in the neck. Thinking mostly vintage/indie/punkie rock sounds here mostly. I know LPs can get nice cleans and jazz sounds, and of course teles can too, but I get those from the Vik, and I am looking more for Joe Strummer, Tom Wisniewski (from MxPx) Rivers Cuomo here. Ok, this paragraph is really for another thread. I will start one. But bottom line, not tired of my strat at all. (EDIT: new thread started).

[mainestratman]

I'm with DB on this one.

I have always owned Strats.. MIA, MIJ and MIM. I liked my Deluxe with the lace sensor pickups.. kept the Strat sound but wasn't thin like the single coils and could pretty much keep up with LP, tone-wise.

Since I got my LP, my Strat sat in its case and never came out. I've found the 59's to be incredibly versatile and can easily cover any electric tone I want from clean to ball-grabbing gain. I also like the shorter scale on my LP.

I might own another Strat some day, but not today. And I like being the only blues guy in the state not playing one. :-)

[Katastrophe]

My first guitar was a white SSS Strat copy, bought from Sears. It didn't take long to realize that the single in the bridge just didn't fit with my style of playing (hard rock and metal).

I went to "superstrat" style guitars, although they all play and sound completely different from the real deal. My wife gave me a MIM Fat Strat in 2006.

It's incredibly versatile. With the bridge 'bucker, I get the thicker tones needed for hard rock. Flipping the pickup switch, the 'bucker splits, and I can get those cool Strat "quack" tones. Clean tones sound fantastic on the neck and neck/middle postitions. I think a pup swap would make it sound even better.

Bored? Hardly. Indeed, this MIM Strat opened up a whole world of subtelty to my playing. I no longer want to do just hypergain chuggachugga.

But, now I want to explore the world further. A set neck or neck through guitar will be my next purchase, with double 'buckers, preferrably with a 24.75" scale.

You're right about one thing, though... Strats are used too often in blues music these days. It's impossible to deny the SRV influence. Play a V, or a Tele, or a Paul (like Joe B.), don't automatically go for the Strat!

[Tone2TheBone]

This is why they made '56 Goldtops with P-90s. Just kidding. I could not imagine NOT having at least 2 Strats. There's no way....I wouldn't be able to live with myself. Jimi would roll over in his grave if we all gave up on them!

[marnold***]

I've never owned a true Strat, I'm more of a Superstrat guy (see the Dinky in my avatar). I tend to prefer humbuckers over single coils and double-locking trems to the Strat type. Flat fretboards are a must too. Actually, the only similarities between a Strat and my Dinky are the very general body shape and the 25.5" scale.

My big beef with Fender is that they have 1000 different models of the same doggone thing. Ooh, this one has a V shaped neck profile instead of a C shape. Totally different! Bah. IMO, the big boys haven't done much innovation since Gibson introduced the Flying V.

[Commodore 64***]

When I started playing 7 months ago. I was dead set on not being a Fender guy. Everybody has Fender Guitars and Fender Amps. Anyone who follows my posts here knows that I've been through an assload of gear in the past 7 months.

What's in my room now:

1. 2002 Fender MiM Strat
2. 1994 Fender MiM Tele
3. Squier CV 50s Tele
4. 1969 Fender Am. Tele (not mine, on loan from friend)
5. '68 Fender Champ
6. Fender Stage 1000 amp

So, despite my best intentions, I became a Fender guy. WTF.

I will add though, that yesterday I traded my Turser Tele to a kid for a Epi Special II, which is like a solid body, bolt on neck dual HB guitar. Last night, I could NOT put it down. I have a brand new CV50s tele and a VIntage 1969 Tele in my house and I could not put down a $150 low-end Epi. One thing about the Epi though, the tuners are FREAKING HORRIBLE. Never seen tuners this bad. They grind and slip, but the guitar does stay in tune pretty well so I guess I shouldn't complain.

[ZMAN]

Let me preface this thread: No offense intended to Stratocaster lovers. This is just my opinion.

For years, I played Strats, owned a couple pre-CBS ones too. At one point, I owned five Strats, and finally looked at them and said, "This is ridiculous." Now, I own one, a '94 MIJ 60's reissue in Candy Apple Red that is my 5-string open A tuned guitar a la Keith Richards. It's now relic'd and beat up. Plays great. I still think the Strat is a beautiful looking guitar.

But I'm sick of them.

I reached a point where I was just fed up with Stratocasters. I got tired of the thin sounds they made, and mostly, I got sick of walking into any club or open mic, and seeing almost everybody playing Strats. They were everywhere, ubiquitous, a dime a dozen. The wave of SRV imitators also turned me off. I was reviewing a lot of blues discs at that point, and every week, my mailbox was inhabited with new CDs by SRV wannabes in gaucho hats, all sporting-you guessed it-Stratocasters. I also realized that I was better served playing Gibson and Gretsch guitars for the most part, because they gave me the fuller sound and full-bore crunch I wanted. Lately, I've also been playing both a Telecaster and a Jazzmaster, and find them much more to my liking.

So, have any of you become bored or disenchanted with Strats?

After accumulating 9 Strats and I am now down to 8 I can say YES I agree 100%. I go into a store now and I don't even look at them. I hardly play any of them now and I don't even have them out of their cases. I play only my Gibson HB guitars.
I thought it was a phase I was going through. It has happened in the past.
After the Crossroads DVDs hit, I was back into Strats. Those DVDs are a definite love fest for Strats.
It is funny because even one of the biggest proponents of the Strat. (Eric Clapton) uses the mid boost circuit to make it sound more like an HB. IMHO of course.
I agree with you on the thin sound as well. I like the much fuller HB sound.
We shall see how long this lasts.

[guitardan777]

I'm quite the opposite as I just got my first Fender Strat.
I love the versatility and that un mistakeable Strat sound....

I also have a Carvin Bolt, which is a fine insrument too, but its set up w/ 3 HB's so it's a different animal....

I can see if you have played Strats all you life, you'd get to a point where you'd get bored, or want to be different like you say..

But, that's why there are millions of choices out there for other types...

If you wanna be different without breaking the bank, take a serious look at Carvin, and have one custom built to your specs.....

[sunvalleylaw]

After accumulating 9 Strats and I am now down to 8 I can say YES I agree 100%. I go into a store now and I don't even look at them. I hardly play any of them now and I don't even have them out of their cases. I play only my Gibson HB guitars.
I thought it was a phase I was going through. It has happened in the past.
After the Crossroads DVDs hit, I was back into Strats. Those DVDs are a definite love fest for Strats.
It is funny because even one of the biggest proponents of the Strat. (Eric Clapton) uses the mid boost circuit to make it sound more like an HB. IMHO of course.
I agree with you on the thin sound as well. I like the much fuller HB sound.
We shall see how long this lasts.

You know, that is interesting about Clapton. I think of the strat players I like, and Clapton's strat tone is not my favorite at all. Sometimes it is better, but mostly, his tone is kinda "meh" to me. I prefer Mayer's strat tone, and when Bonamassa played strats, I loved that tone as well, and of course SRV, Knoppfler, the list goes on. Even Rivers Cuomo of Weezer plays a warmoth strat, though I think he uses one with humbuckers at least part of the time.

I do think we can go in waves. When I got my Hagstrom Viking, I went on a big wave of playing that mostly for a while. Now I go back and forth, but I still call my strat my home base or true north on the sonic compass rose.

[Tig***]

I'll always love Strat's. While I can't see owning more than 2 or 3 Strat's (seriously, what's the point of being so redundant, regardless of body wood or pickups?), I can see owning an additional Strat-like SSS guitar, like a G&L, Suhr, or especially the new PRS 305.

I'll never get the narrow-minded mentality of Fender or Gibson only players out there. I doubt there are many of them left these days. How can someone not embrace the huge palette of tone and feel that so many different styles of guitars have? If anything, we are fortunate to have too many choices.

When in doubt, be a guitar slut and have one of each!