I'm a bit out of touch with the music world: which higher end Fender for me?

[Pierre]

Yep. The time has come. I haz job, therefore I need Fender Stratocaster. Fact of life.

I have a Highway1 series right now which I modded a bit. LOVE it. But I want something noticeably superior to it. There's nothing about it I don't like. But I know I can get better.

Ash or Alder (don't mind)
9.5'' Radius
Non tiny vintage frets
I don't mind 21 frets but I do prefer 22
Hardtail is preferred, but I guess I'll put up with a vintage trem. I'd rather not go for a two points but well, if I have to...
I like slightly hotter than normal Strat pickups, but still Strat pickups... No huge treble spike for me...
Hence why I'd probably prefer a rosewood board too
SMALL headstock. Please. Or ideally, reversed... A man can dream
Nice C or light V back neck shape. I like it to fill in the hand nicely so I can avoid cramps
I prefer the vintage colors... Lake Placid Blue, CAR, etc...

There's not much choice locally to try things... Luxembourg isn't exactly the Stratocaster's immigration place of choice.

Throw some at me!

I'll be honest right now I'm looking at the Fender Classic Player 60s, 50s, the Fender US Standard series and er... that's pretty much it. :/
Thanks!

[Rowan]

Re: I'm a bit out of touch with the music world: which higher end Fender for me?

Honestly? Go out on a journey to a strat rich location and play a bunch of them. I know there's people out there who prefer their "lesser" fender to their high end one. An instrument's cost does not determine its worth. I have a friend who completely neglects his American standard in favorite of less costly partsocaster.

[dominus]

Re: I'm a bit out of touch with the music world: which higher end Fender for me?

I'd say build yourself a partscaster. Grab a Robert Cray body (hardtail), an American left handed neck (22 fret), etc.

[Pierre]

Re: I'm a bit out of touch with the music world: which higher end Fender for me?

HAHAHAHAHAHA I'm affraid I'm in Europe. Closest decent guitar store is...er... probably Berlin. Nah ok Paris and Amsterdam are ok, but it's at least an extra 100 euros just to go and try guitars, by train.

There are no Strat rich locations here. Quite simply. :/

Most of my guitars are parts or as cloe to parts as they'll get, so for once I wanted something new. Parts take a while to complete and you never know how they'll sound until they're done.

[Travis H]

Re: I'm a bit out of touch with the music world: which higher end Fender for me?

I'd say build yourself a partscaster. Grab a Robert Cray body (hardtail), an American left handed neck (22 fret), etc.

+1 or you could go warmoth. they make outstanding guitar parts

[Pierre]

Re: I'm a bit out of touch with the music world: which higher end Fender for me?

Actually I headed straight into the Warmoth site and well... the showcases has some CHEAP parts... I found a dream CAR Strat body for 305 dollars. Almost makes it worth the customs + shipping charges... :/

[Rowan]

Re: I'm a bit out of touch with the music world: which higher end Fender for me?

Be sure to check out USA custom guitars as well!

http://www.usacustomguitars.com/

I got my tele body from them and it was immaculate. Great sound, great finish and the USA fender neck fit perfectly into the pocket.

[JeffB]

Re: I'm a bit out of touch with the music world: which higher end Fender for me?

I had a partscaster and lucked out with mine. But they are just like anything else- high quality parts does not always equal high quality tone. Most partscasters suffer the same problem as production Fenders- alot of times you just don't get the mojotastic matchup of body, neck & parts/pups.

Go play some strats and pick one that does it for you. Based on your specs I'd reccomend a John Mayer model, and then put in whatever pups float your boat. Nice vintage but not overwhelming neck, 6105s, vintage colors, beautiful boards, play brilliantly. I think they are nitro as well, though I am not positive. Not a fan of the player, but he knows a good set of strat specs.

[d1dsj]

Re: I'm a bit out of touch with the music world: which higher end Fender for me?

Try some G&L's, they are excellent guitars.

[Gamera]

Re: I'm a bit out of touch with the music world: which higher end Fender for me?

You don't need the Warmoth route to get a good Fender. I have however learned something odd about Strats.

I was in the same boat as you so I decided to treat myself to an American Deluxe flame maple top fat Strat with noiseless pickups, ebony fretboard, locking tuners, the works. Great guitar but I always thought it wasn't as Stratty as it could be.

Fast forward a few years later and I got a MIM fat Strat. Old school, noisy pickups and maple board. It oozes Strattiness.

That's when I learned that at some point, if you deluxe up a Strat too much you eliminate the Strat vibe and end up with something else. It can still be nice but a true Strat is actually a pretty simple formula. No need for many bells and whistles, just find one that feels good to you.

[Pierre]

Re: I'm a bit out of touch with the music world: which higher end Fender for me?

Hence why I want 'just' a Strat, but a good one. Right now, there's no plan for a humbucker, Floyd, flame top or whatever, much less so noiseless pickups.

If I go Warmoth it would be to get 'my' neck and colors; in Europe Strats are expensive and we don't have nearly the same choice.

[JeffB]

Re: I'm a bit out of touch with the music world: which higher end Fender for me?

That's when I learned that at some point, if you deluxe up a Strat too much you eliminate the Strat vibe and end up with something else. It can still be nice but a true Strat is actually a pretty simple formula. No need for many bells and whistles, just find one that feels good to you.

Took me some time to figure this out too (like nearly 20 years)- I was never able to really bond with any strat or tele until I actually owned ones meant to emulate vintage designs (bridges, pickups, tuners, necks, control setups, etc). I don't get along with the AM deluxes/standards and similar.

[Pierre]

Re: I'm a bit out of touch with the music world: which higher end Fender for me?

Well I've never heard a vintage Fender so I have no idea what they sound like. But I think my specs are far enough from a modern super strat as it is...

For pickups it'd probably be a Custom/Custom/AP2 set or something similar. It'd depend on how she sounds acoustically of course.

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: I'm a bit out of touch with the music world: which higher end Fender for me?

Doh...do not speculate on pickups and the usual OCD Pierre stuff.
The Deluxe series with Ash is fab right of the hook, most needs a minor setup and they run, hardware pickups and all.....who else than Fender knows what Fender sounds like??
They have been making that stuff for a long time now!
The 62 RI is also a traditional great strat....Rosewood and all....
The Vintage Hotrod is another really really good guitar....
All these I would just buy and plug in, forget about mods and specs those sounds great 98% of the time!

I am still saving up for a 68 heavy relic strat!!!
Uuuuh light ash body, huge action, huge sound
Difficult and great to play at the same time!
(P'S even our little POS country have nice strats....should be doable to locate something around where you live)

[Pierre]

Re: I'm a bit out of touch with the music world: which higher end Fender for me?

I meant if I weren't going with a Fender! I like Fender stock pickups usually.

Heavy relic? Yuck...