The Stratocaster is the best guitar ever made

[Robert****]

Okay, I'm opening a can of something here... but honestly, I find the Stratocaster design to be the best of all guitars or guitar designs ever made. It has versatility, tone, looks, feel and mojo that simply no other guitar models can touch, in my humble opinion.

We have Gibsons of course, but I just can never warm up to them. The short scale is non-appealing to me - the Stratocaster gives me both twang and balls. I probably will never be a humbucker man either. Single coils floats my boat. It would be fun to have a Les Paul but I am afraid I would get bored of it. They don't have a lot of different tones in them. The ones they have kick booty to some extent though, I would have to agree on that.

What about the Telecaster? Well it's great too, but I'd still pick the Strat ahead of it. The sound and feel is slightly more appealing to me . The tremolo bridge is another reason I put it ahead of the Tele. The Tele has its own sound and mojo and it's very close, but for me, the Strat is THE guitar out of all of them.

Other designs? Well, dunno - I can't think of any others that have the appeal of the ones above, or have stood the test of time as these have. PRS, Danelectro, etc - oh no, don't get me started... :

[Ch0jin]

M'mmmm Worms

I respectfully disagree.

I crave neither twang nor versatility although I do appreciate a volume and tone control per pickup.
A tremolo system adds unneeded complication as well as reliability and tuning issues.
I need two PU positions only and neither position should amplify background noise.
Looks are subjective, but I've never seen a Fender guitar that came close to the finishes you commonly see on Gibson's, which then pale in comparison to say PRS etc

Guess I'm just the anti-Robert

I'm with you on the scale though. All three of my guitars have 25.5" necks.

[markb]

More like a huge barrel o' snakes, I'd say. This needs further thought

[Spudman***]

The Strat design works for me. I just get tired of all the weedeley, weedeley, twaaaang, grrrrrrimpph, scree scree, wah sounds that come out of it.

[Jimi75]

The STRAT is a musical weapon. When you play a good Strat you feel the tones vibrating through the wood and in my opinion no other guitar transports the tone vibration as much as a Strat. The handling and feel is unbeatable, it is the most practical concept im my eyes (please make no efforts to post pics of Parker guitars and other Star Trek Guitars that some mad professor invented....I don't care! ). *lol*

Its strength is its simplicity. To me good sounds starts with basic features that offer me the opportunity to shape the sound. Single coils do this more to me than humbuckers could ever do - this is also valid for single-channelled amps .

I love the woody sound you get when you play with the neck pick up. No other guitar can mimic/do that. Regarding the design aspect it is perfect. The shaping is beautiful. I wonder why so many people say you can not use the bridge PU it sounds to bright in a Strat. Use the tone knob to adjust brightness, and then go for great creamy distorted sounds or 50's Rockabilly stuff, the Strat has it all!

All this I say with great respect to gibsonstyle guitars and Teles that I also like, but honestly spoken, there's nothing like a Strat to me.
I have equipped my Jimmie Vaughan with Texas Special PUs from the beginning on and never looked back since then.

[duhvoodooman***]

This is such an INCREDIBLY SUBJECTIVE declaration that I'm kind of surprised that you'd open up said can of annelids on your own forum, RR! (now if Strummy had started this thread--that I could believe! )

To use a line I heard once, "I feel strongly both ways". To me, there will always be two classic rock machines--the Strat and the Les Paul. They each have their own unique and indispensable characteristics and I really don't have a preference between them. Arguing that one is better than the other seems pointless to me. They're so totally different that comparison is an exercise in futility. AFAIC, any serious rock guitarist (listening there, R-man? : ) needs to have at least one of each--either the genuine article or a more inexpensive clone that captures the essential qualities. Rock on, Fretters! :

[bigoldron]

The Strat design works for me. I just get tired of all the weedeley, weedeley, twaaaang, grrrrrrimpph, scree scree, wah sounds that come out of it.

Is that the Strat or your playing? :

Seriously, I don't disagree with Robert as I've gone over to the Strat style camp. My main guitar is a Washburn WI64 Idol with 2 GFS humbuckers in it and I do love its sound. It's a heavier sound that really plays well with Southern and Classic Rock and Contemporary Christian as well. I like it and I'm not going to "dis" that tone.

But, since I've started playing a Strat style Yamaha and especially now that I've got my Squier Strat, I've discovered a whole new range of tones that is not, as Robert said, available in the "humbucker/LP world".

If I had to declare a winner, I guess I would have to go with the Strat as it does offer a wider range of sounds (LOVE that quack) than a Paul, but when the song calls for it, there's nothing like that humbucker based guitar.

That's why I have at least one of each - more options! Two of my guitars are Fat Strat style guitars (HSS), so I guess that's a good compromise between the two. If they had better pickups, then I guess you really could declare the Strat the winner.

I do love the look, finish and feel of PRS's, but they're WAY out of my price range, so I don't see me owning one, unless the lottery comes through or I win one somehow. Anyway, that's enough of me rambling.

[oldguy]

Nothing wrong with having an opinion, Robert.............

I have more Strats/Strat style guitars than anything, but I absolutely love my Agile LP copy as well. It will do stuff the Strats don't, and do it well.
I also dig my Tele, but again, it has it's own personality.
Is the Strat the best guitar ever made? I dunno............. depends on the flavor you crave at the time............ Is a cheesburger w/ sharp cheddar the best sammich ever made, or do you prefer ham on rye w/ swiss now and then?

That's kinda how I look at it.

[Blaze]

I think that Fender Strat & Gibson LP are the best in there respective world ..

Remember Jeff Beck classic Blow by Blow album played with Lp and then he went to Strat for some awesome albums..

Same thing with Bonammassa but the other way, went from Strat to mostly LP now.

The main thing is that these guys are the one that create the licks , the tone ,this sound .

I m a believer that no matter the guitar model,the guitarist is the one that make it sing.


I personally think the LP is more versatile while the Start has its own identity.


Blazes

[Robert****]

Well, I guess a Les Paul would look good hanging on a wall around here, might even bring one to a gig if I knew the crowd was small ... but not yet. I'm not ready for a Les Paul yet.

Feel free to have your opinion guys - I think most of us are either a single coil guy or a humbucker guy. Y'all know what I am.

The point of this thread is just to stir up some thoughts about the Stratocaster!

I also need to add this is about solid body electrics only. Acoustics or hollow body guitars are not included in this discussion, as I see them as different instruments.

[wingsdad]

...
Other designs? Well, dunno - I can't think of any others that have the appeal of the ones above, or have stood the test of time as these have. ...

One might add the Gibson 335, introduced in 1958 as a 2-humbucker semi-hollow double-cutaway (with Bigsby or Gibson Maestro Vibrato) as a 4th 'Classic' Design. [Gibson, of course, had a slew of other hollow body models, mostly single-cutaway with P90's, before the 335.]

I use the term 'Classic Design' as in: ceaselessly imitated, copied and finally, attempted to be improved upon with a myriad of modifications to the original designs.

In that sense, I'd venture that no other design has been as 'Classic', as imitated, as 'knocked off', as modded, as the original 1954 Fender Stratocaster. The Strat was originally designed and introduced with only 3 pickup selector positions, each pickup individually, and the 2 controls were for the middle and neck; the bridge pup, like that on the Tele before it, were just 'straight', intended to be bright and loud, to emulate a lap or pedal steel guitar's sound, to cut thru the rest of the band. The '2' and '4' selector positions that render the paralel combinations with 'the quack' were almost accidentally discovered (invented?) by early Strat players, and were kind of a grass-roots thing, spread among players . Eventually, in the mid-late-60's, the 5-way switch made them official.

Then again, when speaking of Les Pauls, is it The Chicken or The Egg Design?

If one is 'single-coil' kinda player, then let's not overlook that the original '52 Les Paul model (Goldtop) was a 2-P90 guitar; humbuckers didn't even come along on it until mid-57 when Seth Lover had developed the PAF, and in '58, the LP Standard finally 'oficially' was the 2-humbucker model. Shoot...Les Paul brought Gibson his 'Log' 5 years before they finally put the Les Paul on the market, and purists that they were, poo-pooed the solid body concept...until influenced to embrace it because Leo Fender had this cheap $130 slab of ash, maple-necked Telecaster feedback-busting thing going on.

The Telecaster? IMHO, this is the design that's 'stood the test of time' more so than any other. Because, after all, without it, the Stratocaster wouldn't have been designed by Leo Fender (with George Fullerton and others) to improve upon its limitations. And Gibson wouldn't have gone back to Les Paul's 'Log' and reconsidered.

Is the Tele the Chicken, or is it the Egg?

Gibson even discontinued the LP as we know it today when they replaced it with the SG as the 'Les Paul' in the early 60's and threw Firebirds and Thunderbirds and other 'sexy space age' body shapes out there, all of which, one could argue, of course, attempts to grab some of the thunderous appeal of the Stratocaster's original sexy shape and 'space age' name. It was only reintroduced at the end of the 60's because the 58 Standard was so sought-after, it having 'stood the test of time'.

[sumitomo]

I like 'em all but Im always drawn to the strat,quess why that's why I have three.I like what Jimi said,"Its a musical weapon"and it is.Sumi

[wingsdad]

...
I also need to add this is about solid body electrics only.

I was writing my above post before you made this stipulation. I should have realized when you left the 335 out of your opening post that this was your position.

Acoustics or hollow body guitars are not included in this discussion, as I see them as different instruments.

Acoustics, sure, not electric guitars unless equipped and originally designed to be, like an Ovation Custom Balladeer. But to exclude hollow body (or semi-hollow?) electrics, when they preceded solid-body electrics, as a 'different' instrument?

But...do they get played differently? Maybe I need to play another 47 years to get the picture right...

Others obviously got your point as I didn't, since I was the first to bring up the 'different instrument'.Seriously, I mean no disrespect here and don't intend to be 'arguing with an administrator' (I certainly don't want to be banned for breaking one of the Forum Rules) :

[sunvalleylaw]

I was going to weigh in as I own a semi hollow electric (the Viking), and my strat. Robert, you are excluding hollow bodies, but the Vik is semi hollow with a center block of wood, has humbuckers, and for me covers the humbucker territory I want at this point. It for me covered humbucker territory instead of a LP, because I just didn't find the right LP that I really wanted. I love both my electric guitars. The do different things for me. But as I stated in my deserted Island thread, I would pick my strat if I could keep only one. As I said, I never have warmed up to a LP or LP copy that told me I needed to buy it. I might get one someday, but will most likely get a tele first. I'll have to decide if I want a humbucker in the neck of my tele, or a middle pickup strat style. I doubt either a tele or a LP would ever replace my strat. They (strats) just feel so good, and to me are so versatile.

[marnold***]

<SNL>Robert, you ignorant slut.</SNL>

Sorry, couldn't resist.

This will be subjective. Obviously I'm a big fan of Super Strats, so if you definite Stratiness by what Leo originally designed, I'd disagree. If you'd open the definition to include the likes of a San Dimas Charvel, then I'd agree. I've never really played a Les Paul, so I can't comment too far. I can't imagine having a Strat without a humbucker at the bridge. A Tele bridge single coil rules. A Strat one is just . . . there.

My only gripe with a Strat is that the Strat body shape (and the Les Paul shape for that matter) has pretty much defined what an electric guitar should look like. So go into a GC and see how many non-Strat or non-Les-Paul bodies you find. As "out there" as guitarists can be, we're a dreadfully boring lot when it comes to guitar body shapes. I guess that's why I like pointies because at least it's different.

[Robert****]

Wingsdad, no problem! I enjoyed your response greatly. I think I understand what you mean about the forum rules. What that part refers to is arguing about disciplinary decisions made by administrators or moderators. Discussions and different opinions than administrators/moderators regarding guitar stuff are most welcome! I'll make a change to the rules to clarify this.

Anyway, I've always felt that the hollow body guitars are a different breed of guitars and I tend to play them way differently than solid body electrics. I guess it may be unfair to exclude the great hollow body guitars out of this discussion, so what the heck, let's include solid body guitars too! I've always wanted a 335 and maybe one day...

I know I'm an ignorant slut, a gear slut that is...

[Andy]

Obviously I'm a big fan of Super Strats

me two , but I think were a minority here, in fact I see a very low count of Les Paul posts as well.

this is a very dominant strat and tele territory.

[wingsdad]

Thanks for clarifying that, Robert.

For the record, while over the years I've played and owned at least one of all of the 'Classics' I yakked about, out of all the guitars I've owned since I got it in '81, my Fender STRAT is my #1 'Go-to' guitar, kind of a 'Swiss Army Knife'. However, it is NOT a 'classic' Strat by design, not even close, and was never meant to be; it has an alder body that weighs in at around 9 lbs., 9 Pickup Selector Positions (including Bridge & Neck in Series and all 3 in Series) and a single Master Tone control. (This versatility is why at one point, after 'retiring' from active gigging, I'd sold off my stable except this one...the only 6-string electric I had until I started rebuilding a collection around 10 years ago.) I start with IT, then if I find I'm a little hemmed in, even working my amp and/or effects with it, I reach for one of the others that are more 'specific'.

...
I've always wanted a 335 and maybe one day...

Maybe, as a single coil guy, you should give an Epi Casino, or if you can find one, a vintage Gibson ES-330TD, a try? P90's, hollow, not semi-hollow...it followed the 335, going back to the P90's. My first pro quality guitar was a '64 330. Then I got a '66 Tele. Didn't get into the Strat, or LP's until the mid-70's.

[Spudman***]

Every guitar hangs differently on me. So far the Strat is the one that feels best. Everything is at just the right angle and there are no sharp edges digging into my ribs or forearm. The one exception being some of the Ibanez guitars such as the RG or S series. Both of those really are just modified versions of the Strat design. The Musicman Luke hangs perfectly as well and could be included as a Strat design. It's just that I feel more mobile and at ease with the Strat hanging off me compared to all the other guitars. It has more flow. It's smooth. I also love all the tonal options more so than any other guitar.