Desert Island Fender guitar

[misterwhizzy]

Let's just limit this to a Stratocaster versus Telecaster battle. You must choose one or the other, and you can't have both. Which way do you go and why?

(Okay, the desert island thing was a stretch, so feel free to ignore that part of it.)

 

[jeremy]

if i can have a firebird pup in the neck of the tele, ill take that. if not, a strat.

 

[dystrust]

When I saw the thread title my first thought was 'a Jazzmaster', but then I wanted to redo the electronics, swap the bridge, etc...

Since I feel like being a bit contrary, how about a G&L Doheny with a 22-fret neck, P-Rails, and Triple Shot rings?

If that's absolutely verboten, I'll just keep my Tele with Hot Stack for Tele / Classic Stack Plus for Strat / SM-1n Firebird.

 

[beaubrummels]

Telecaster. Bridge can twang or get into humbucker territory just rolling the tone knob. A good neck pickup can handle Strat-ish needs, and even some jazzy humbuckery stuff. I played country, rock, blues, pop, funk, hard rock, etc. with just one Tele for over 10 years.

 

[alex1fly]

The Tele sounds beefier which I like. The Strat body is more comfortable except for the knob placement. So I guess give me a Tele that I can put a sander to to round out those body edges.

I also think Strats sound better in a mix than solo. So for that reason alone, give me a Tele on the desert island because you know I'm not playing with others out there.

 

[PFDarkside]

HSS Strat. If I updated my Elite with a Custom/59 Hybrid, and two Classic Stack Plus pickups would probably be my guitar.

 

[Mincer]

Easy, a Strat with my choice of pickups...HH.

 

[Securb]

My HSH Strat with the P-Rails - Bill Lawrence 250 ML - Pearly Gates with all of the coil-tapping and phase switches that guitar has I would be all set.

 

[Aceman]

HSS Strat

I'll take my Lonestar

 

[TVFV]

Tele with a 4-way switch.

 

[Demanic]

Strat. And I'd even be happy with my budget Affinity.

Sent from my SM-A115A using Tapatalk

 

[Wattage]

A Les Paul lol

Telecaster for sure

 

[ErikH]

A HSS Strat, no question.

 

[NegativeEase]

Jazzmaster

 

[playas]

Strat.


Comfort, sound variety and bridge.
You can easily block or deck the trem on a strat, but it's not so easy to go other way with a tele.
I go through phases of trem use, but would miss it if I was stuck with a single hard-tail guitar.

 

[Masta' C]

If we're talking only traditional, off-the-shelf models without custom features, then Strat all the way.

If we're talking something like a Warmoth style build, artist signature, or Custom Shop, where things like body contours and pickups can be customized, then I'd go Tele.

As you can see from most of the posts so far, you'll have to be more specific in what you're asking. A Fender Strat and an Ibanez RG can practically be made identical if customizations are allowed. However, if we're limited to 1950's design specs, then that probably affects the decision for most of us.

 

[beaubrummels]

Given the OP title, I think we're limited to Fender.

 

[PFDarkside]

Strat.


Comfort, sound variety and bridge.
You can easily block or deck the trem on a strat, but it's not so easy to go other way with a tele.
I go through phases of trem use, but would miss it if I was stuck with a single hard-tail guitar.

I’m kind of surprised how many of my guitars have Trem systems. From 6 screw through to floyd, there are a lot.

 

[JamesPaul]

HSH Stratocaster. I'll move my P-Rails/Triple Shots from my LP to my Strat. I will go with a STK-S6 Custom Stack in the middle.

Why? The tonal variety is off the charts.

If you force me to total stock, I'm taking my HM Strat.

 

[Masta' C]

Given the OP title, I think we're limited to Fender.

Given his first post, we're limited to Strats and Teles. Yup, turns out I can read.

My point was that the term "Strat" or "Tele" is generic and potentially too broad to be meaningful in terms of preferring one to the other.

I mentioned the Ibanez as a spec-wise comparison to show how far from a "traditional" Strat you can push the "Strat" concept and still have a "Fender Strat", not suggesting that the Ibanez was a viable option in this case.

It's ultimately a body shape preference, I guess. I mean, dual high-output humbuckers, jumbo frets, and flatter fretboard radius are far from the classic or traditional Strat concept, but are things you can get from Fender under the "Strat" moniker...