Tried a bunch of Fender Stratocasters yesterday

[Robert****]

Went to Avenue Guitars in Edmonton. I tried a lot of Strats.

1. Jeff Beck Signature
2. Eric Johnson Signature
3. Custom Shop
4. Yngwie Malmsteen Signature
5. Robin Trower Signature
6. Classic 60s
7. Classic 50s
8. VG Strat

Which one did I like best? Well, I have to say the Jeff Beck signature was very nice. It stayed in tune insanely good. It has a roller nut.

Of the expensive strats, the Custom Shop was the winner, due to it's sound and quality feel. Everything on it seemed to be completely top notch and it was great to play. The Jeff Beck was a close second, followed by the Robin Trower Strat. Both these guitars are fantastic.

I spent a good while playing the VG Strat. I was not overwhelmed by it. It's a nice Strat in itself. One issue was that all those modeled guitars had a definite higher output (louder) than the normal strat by itself. The Telecaster model didn't sound like a Tele to me. The acoustic didn't at all sound like an acoustic, which is understandable. I guess you could get away with this at a gig as a rough acoustic imitation. The humbucker model had very high output. I guess metal players will like this one. The Strat model sounded ok, just louder than the normal strat (without the modeling on).

The tunings are cool though - I think I liked them the best. If it was cheaper, I might consider this guitar, but for the money I'd probably pick the Custom Shop Strat or any of the Signature guitars that I liked.

Next, - probably the Classic 50s Strat - I really liked this guitar I am thinking it may be my next Strat... ude: It's doesn't ooze as much quality as those other ones but it felt great to play, I really dug its vibe. The Classic 60s Strat was great too, I just preferred the Classic 50s.

The Malmsteen strat was a surprise - it was really nice it was wasn't for that scalloping disaster - otherwise the neck was great and the pickups sounded good. I don't like that big ugly head either.

The EJ Strat is also top notch quality, but the neck is a bit round for my tastes but the sound of this guitar is phenomenal.

I probably played more than these, but that's all my slow Swedish brain can remember today...