Stratocasters

[leftybassman392]

Set up as a partner to GuyR's Tele thread.

Here's my much-loved, much-gigged and slightly non-standard American Standard. I bought this new in 1990 from what was then Musical Exchanges in Snow Hill, Birmingham.

Since then it's had, er, a few mods. Can you tell?

Pups are David White Old Glories (the gap in the scratchplate is where one of a pair of blue Lace Sensors once lived), and if you look carefully you'll notice that the frets are jumbos. Very much a personal thing that will no doubt have the purists chirping, but I just prefer  it that way.

 

Edited August 27, 2018 by leftybassman392

[gary mac]

Nice but I couldn't live with the hole in the guard

[leftybassman392]

14 minutes ago, gary mac said:

Nice but I couldn't live with the hole in the guard

Yeah, it's a bit of a personal thing. I like that the guitar's wearing it's history on it's face (so to speak...).

Anyhoo; enough about me. Where's yer Strats guys?

[gary mac]

Mine's a Strat free zone at the moment. 

[GuyR]

I only have two Strats; a Bravewood '62 type I bought on EBay 10 years ago or so. Brazilian rosewood slab board, all period correct and as good to play as it is to look at.

 

Also have a jv Squier '57 bought in 1990ish. Very light, quite chunky neck. The seller had an identical one he had "Fenderised" with new decals and didn't want to keep this, which he said was in too good condition to gig and surplus to requirements. It is still almost immaculate, save for 2 dings.

I am always on the lookout for another, of course.

Edited August 28, 2018 by GuyR

[leftybassman392]

Liking the '57.

I had a MIJ '57 RI that looked very similar to this (apart from being a leftie of course ). Fretboard on mine was a little darker as I recall, but otherwise pretty much exactly the same. Lovely guitar, currently in the possession of my nephew. I gave it to him as a gift on condition that he never sell it so that I can buy it back off him if I ever change my mind . That was around 5 years ago, and he still had it when I asked him earlier this year.

[EdwardMarlowe]

Bought and sold a few cheap copies over the years to try different neck shapes and pups, but the one I still have is my US Standard from 1994. Saved for two years to afford it, ordered it in July that year. It had to come in from the States as I wanted a lefty three tone burst with rosewood board that neither the shop in Belfast nor Arbiter in London had in at the time. I remember picking it up on the 25th anniversary of Hendrix performing at Woodstock (the rosewood / burst choice was a direct Hendrix influence at the time). Still got it. If ever I was in the position where money was no object, I'd have Fender make me a new neck with a slightly narrower nut and soft-V profile; I always found it just a tiny bit wide for optimum comfort. It also has the old, blocky saddles they put on the two-point trem back then. Ugly as sin, but I liked to keep the old boy all-original so I keep them on there. Funnily enough, it always sounded a bit too "polite" somehow back when, but it has aged beautifully. That dreadful anemic look the maple used to have back then has also faded to a nice, light amber hue now. Lovely old axe with a lot of mojo, and in beautiful condition as I never really gigged. Time has come that (once I've sold some bits to fund it) I want a stablemate with a maple board; failing the availability of a left handed Classic Player 50s in LPB (never a spec offered), I foresee a Player Series in tidepool coming into my life within the next eighteen months... hopefully with a matching Player  P bass too. 

[Si600]

Do strat shaped guitars count?

[leftybassman392]

55 minutes ago, Si600 said:

Do strat shaped guitars count?

*Sigh*

Oh alright then. If you must...

 

 

 

 

Seriously, post away. The more the merrier.

[Si600]

In that case, meet my bitsa Superstrat.

Series 10 neck given to me by a friend, body from the classifieds in the back of Guitarist, before you could get such things from the interwebz. Gotoh tuners and licensed Floyd Rose. IIRC the pickups are Kent Armstrong, very probably from WD Music or David Duke when his hardware catalogue was four sides of photocopied A4.

The front routed body was cut through to the back and the front cavities had a wooden lid fitted. All the cutting for the trem and humbuckers was done on a milling machine.

It's a Vauxhall green rattle can finish, but it may be Ford!

 

[jazzyvee]

My USA strat which i had the Wailers "Burnin'" album laser etched on the body then refinished by John Diggins of Jaydee Custom Guitars in Birmingham. I replaced the innards with alembic low impedance activator pickups and electronics. Since this photo was taken it has some new wooden knobs and a switch to put the outer two pickups on in 'telecaster' mode.

 

[Kiwi]

This is mine, a Trigger's Broom of sorts. 

Nile Rodgers signed it for me in 2013.

When I bought it in 2006, it looked like this (below).  Made in 1987 apparently and for some reason it just screams Midge Ure.  But maybe that's me.

Everything has been replaced apart from the wood which is basically by Warmoth.  It now sports EMG 89/SA/SA + mid boost electronics, a unicorn rare Wilkinson VS100CV trem and a solid, quilted maple body.  I found out a couple of weeks ago that Steve Lukather had 2 Valley Arts Strats also made with solid quilted maple bodies so I'm guessing that's where Chandlers (in Kew) got the idea from.

https://reverb.com/item/27780668-valley-arts-steve-lukather-model-with-signature-1991

So, although unintentional, it looks like I've ended up with an instrument that gets pretty close to the original Custom Valley Arts strats that Lukather had, for a couple of hundred quid or so shy of a grand.

[Kiwi]

And the other, while I'm at it.  I got this after Nile signed the blue strat.  It was made by Al Knight and is as close a replica Hitmaker as it's possible to get without measuring the original instrument. Even closer than the Fender signature run. Fifties strat body with narrower depth than normal (a cost saving measure by Fender at the time after they didn't take into account the shipping costs of a load of alder logs they'd scored on the cheap in a remote location).  Al managed to find out the exact depth but it escapes me.  Neck is Fender licensed C profile and most of the hardware is also Fender licensed.  I managed to source a genuine, NOS brass pickguard by Kahler, finished in chrome.  Apparently they are no longer made although neither I nor the seller were aware of that at the time.   Pickups are Fender noiseless jobbies, I did have some authentic recreations of 50's coils made by some Russian guy but they were so feeble that I had to replace them or get frustrated.  Luckily they weren't expensive but yep...authentic to a fault you might say.  Tuners are locking type by Sperzel and came from the blue strat originally.  The original electronics (with orange drop sprague caps) are still installed though even now the noiseless replacements are not that loud compared to my other guitars.  I would love for Nile to sign this one as well but I doubt he would agree given the Fender signature Hitmakers a while back (which had a thin coat of gold paint over the top of the white finish for some reason, not yellowed olympic white like mine). 

What does it sound like?  Pretty close, if I play along to the original Chic tracks.  But quite thin compared to a really good strat.  No bell like, Gilmouresque chimes coming out of this plank which lead me to believe that the original Hitmaker might well be a bit of a dog for all the mythology that has been whipped up around it.  Nile was using Tokai strats in the eighties apparently.  But playing it through a 5F2 Princeton clone does fatten it up a little more.

[EdwardMarlowe]

On 27/08/2018 at 22:28, GuyR said:

Also have a jv Squier '57 bought in 1990ish. Very light, quite chunky neck. The seller had an identical one he had "Fenderised" with new decals and didn't want to keep this, which he said was in too good condition to gig and surplus to requirements. It is still almost immaculate, save for 2 dings.

I am always on the lookout for another, of course.

Used to be a guy played in the Mike Sanchez Band maybe fifteen or so years ago, saw him using one of these JVs. I think the only one I ever saw in person. Stunning guitar. Looked and sounded every bit as good as the MIA 57RI one of the other guys was playing that night. 

[EdwardMarlowe]

On 27/08/2018 at 13:06, leftybassman392 said:

Set up as a partner to GuyR's Tele thread.

Here's my much-loved, much-gigged and slightly non-standard American Standard. I bought this new in 1990 from what was then Musical Exchanges in Snow Hill, Birmingham.

Since then it's had, er, a few mods. Can you tell?

Pups are David White Old Glories (the gap in the scratchplate is where one of a pair of blue Lace Sensors once lived), and if you look carefully you'll notice that the frets are jumbos. Very much a personal thing that will no doubt have the purists chirping, but I just prefer  it that way.

 

Tell you what strikes me might be interesting - and easily done without even changing the wiring as an experiment - moving the middle pup to beside the bridge. A *bit* like the new Squier "Contemporary Strat" https://shop.fender.com/en-GB/squier-electric-guitars/stratocaster/contemporary-stratocaster-special/0370230506.html , though those are wired slightly differently. Would be interesting to see how just moving the middle pup alone affected the tone.