i never realized how stupid of a design the strat has until...

Re: i never realized how stupid of a design the strat has until...

The OP is sooooooooo right BUT the Telecaster is even worse. That sadist Leo Fender gave the original Telecaster bridge a raised lip in exactly the right place to rap our fingernails and draw blood.

Alternatively, a person could learn to control his or her picking/strumming hand.
 
Re: i never realized how stupid of a design the strat has until...

Maaaaaaan, does this forum need emoticons for sarcasm and irony. :D
 
Re: i never realized how stupid of a design the strat has until...

flieger67;3383922Jeff Beck said:
You can get used to anything. Doesn't mean that mean that when you were starting out that you might not have preffered it done differently. Every guitar is a collection of compromises.
Click to expand...
 
Re: i never realized how stupid of a design the strat has until...

I am of the camp that dislikes the volume pot so close to the bridge. Then again, I dislike 5-ways for the exact same reason, when it's in the neck position and strum fast and hard I inadvertently end up hitting it, throwing it in the bridge position.

Here's the good news though, all the controls are mounted on a relatively inexpensive piece of plastic (or other material) called a pickguard.

All you have to do it modify your existing one or get a blank one and cut it out the way you want it to be so that even if you're a Hun like me you can get everything out of the way in safe distance from that hammer you're calling your strumming hand ;)
 
Re: i never realized how stupid of a design the strat has until...

Funkfingers said:
The OP is sooooooooo right BUT the Telecaster is even worse. That sadist Leo Fender gave the original Telecaster bridge a raised lip in exactly the right place to rap our fingernails and draw blood.

Alternatively, a person could learn to control his or her picking/strumming hand.
Click to expand...

Oddly enough, I have not had a single ergonomic issue with even the most traditional of Telecasters.

But I do with Strats.

So..... I acknowledge that it my be I who am weird.
 
Re: i never realized how stupid of a design the strat has until...

ratherdashing said:
On my non-Strat guitars, I actually resent having to reach over to adjust the volume.
Click to expand...

Yup, one of the main reasons I got rid of my SG. It was a lovely guitar in every respect, but the controls were so damn far from the strings that I couldn't ride the volume like I was used to. Now that I've started using fuzz as much as I have, I imagine it'd only be worse for me.

But seriously people, just buy a new pickguard from Warmoth with no holes so you can put them exactly where you want them. That's what I'm doing in my SSS to HSH conversion. I opted for only a Volume and first tone control to be drilled so I can put a LP toggle switch instead of a blade switch and a 3PDT toggle instead of a second tone pot.
 
Re: i never realized how stupid of a design the strat has until...

sosomething said:
Oddly enough, I have not had a single ergonomic issue with even the most traditional of Telecasters.

But I do with Strats.

So..... I acknowledge that it my be I who am weird.
Click to expand...

You're actually not alone in that one. While I can appreciate the contours of a strat, I actually prefer the control layout of the telecaster and I hate vibrato bridges (which is why you'll never see me playing Strats, Jazzmasters or Jaguars).
 
Re: i never realized how stupid of a design the strat has until...

That90'sGuy said:
You're actually not alone in that one. While I can appreciate the contours of a strat, I actually prefer the control layout of the telecaster and I hate vibrato bridges (which is why you'll never see me playing Strats, Jazzmasters or Jaguars).
Click to expand...

I played a hardtail for the first time in like a year when I was at GC today but im so use to strats one of the first things i did was reach for the bar but wasn't their. Even when I don't use the trem I still want it their any way since im use to having my hand a certain way. But I will say I appreciated the stability of the hardtail bridge over the floyd.
 
Re: i never realized how stupid of a design the strat has until...

I always forget how big of an issue it is for me....until I play in a band setting with it! Then I get into the groove and I'm turning it down over and over again.

The Music Master placement is MUCH better in my opinion.
 
Re: i never realized how stupid of a design the strat has until...

Just curious...you guys who have problems with the placement of the Stat volume knob...do you wear your guitar really low?

I like the placement, but I wear my guitar higher.

Bill
 
Re: i never realized how stupid of a design the strat has until...

JeffB said:
Hated it for 20 years, plus. Once I started playing a strat exclusively for a couple years, I ended up loving it, and it is still the most ergonomic layout there is AFAIC...that goes for the whole guitar really.

When it was designed, it was not made for morons bashing away at the bridge. It was designed for precise picking. I am unfortunately in the former camp. But I got used to it.
Click to expand...
Yeah I am one of those Morons too. I think the position is just right.
 
Re: i never realized how stupid of a design the strat has until...

sosomething said:
You guys are funny.

"It was designed for precise picking and volume swells!"

Really? I don't get that impression.
Click to expand...

But it is true. Leo took all the negative feedback about the telecaster and suggestiins from the pro players and thestrat was the result. True he was not a player himself, howevr he was verty in tune with players, and what they wanted. Sometimes his enginnering analytical mind would win out on a certain issue, but player input was normally the key factor.

The ashtray was an engineering solution, asfar as Leo was concerned, just like on the tele. Palm muting and not letting strings ring out was not a key component of most guitar players prior to the age of RnR. The guitar was an accompaniment instrument relegated to the background for the vast majority of players. Strumming away for 2 minutes at low volume with a clean amp was the norm. You have plenty of room for muting the strings as need be forwatd of the ashtray. The hot pickers of course did away with the thing, but overall the strat was designed by guitarist input.
 
Re: i never realized how stupid of a design the strat has until...

I've seen many interviews where the great originators of successful classics have stated that back in the day, they assumed the new 'electromomatic guitars wanted by those crazy mixed-up kids for their new beat music' was going to be a passing fad, many of them giving it no more than five years. So the name of the game back then was more about being able to get products aimed at them into the marketplace as quickly and cheaply as possible. It seems that most (if not all) of them had absolutely no idea that we'd be sitting here half a century later, scouring the planet via electronics to find those original instruments and amplifiers for vast sums of money, or that the same instruments could still be purchased new in any music store around the globe.

Also worth remembering that the leading lights of metal back then were people like Buddy Holly and Bill Haley, so no doubt their simpler forms of metal didn't require such specific attention the the bridge construction.
 
Re: i never realized how stupid of a design the strat has until...

JeffB said:
But it is true. Leo took all the negative feedback about the telecaster and suggestiins from the pro players and thestrat was the result. True he was not a player himself, howevr he was verty in tune with players, and what they wanted. Sometimes his enginnering analytical mind would win out on a certain issue, but player input was normally the key factor.

The ashtray was an engineering solution, asfar as Leo was concerned, just like on the tele. Palm muting and not letting strings ring out was not a key component of most guitar players prior to the age of RnR. The guitar was an accompaniment instrument relegated to the background for the vast majority of players. Strumming away for 2 minutes at low volume with a clean amp was the norm. You have plenty of room for muting the strings as need be forwatd of the ashtray. The hot pickers of course did away with the thing, but overall the strat was designed by guitarist input.
Click to expand...

Actually, I did know a bit of this beforehand, so I do realize you're totally right.

I didn't realize the volume position was the result of player input, since it didn't show up on any later Fender designs.. I assumed it was something he revised based on player input, but I am not a well-versed student of the Strat, and I'm happy to defer to someone like yourself with more knowledge!
 
Re: i never realized how stupid of a design the strat has until...

Im no expert, but I did sleep in a Holiday Inn express last night.

I ssupect what happened was with the ashtray, the vol control placement is not an issue.later designs without trays he probably realizzed the volume was too close on the strat for many, and met the players halfway, so to speak.

He never changed the Tele much either. Leo seemed like he preferred new models for major changes(?)
 
Re: i never realized how stupid of a design the strat has until...

Ball&Chain said:
Yes, it most certainly is.
Click to expand...

I was thinking that too. LP - very comfy bridge thank you!

(some Epis and copies have sharpish saddles but Gibsons and TonePros are baby-butt smooth :)
 
Re: i never realized how stupid of a design the strat has until...

JeffB said:
Im no expert, but I did sleep in a Holiday Inn express last night.

I ssupect what happened was with the ashtray, the vol control placement is not an issue.later designs without trays he probably realizzed the volume was too close on the strat for many, and met the players halfway, so to speak.

He never changed the Tele much either. Leo seemed like he preferred new models for major changes(?)
Click to expand...

He did, didn't he?

That's pretty interesting, and a cool way to approach product development.

Of course, Leo Fender was a genius. It was probably more appealing to him to just design a totally new guitar than to keep revising existing models.
 
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