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

[Ball&Chain]

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

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

Yep. With a proper TOM bridge, all you should really feel when you put you hand on the bridge is strings. Even my agile al-2000 with who knows what TOM bridge is that way. Still very comfortable.

On a typical strat bridge, I feel strings and in worst cases, sharp allen screws. Not saying a strat bridge is bad, but yea, a TOM bridge is most definitely the most comfortable of the 2. Really, for me a TOM bridge is the best all around bridge there is.

 

[LReese]

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

On a typical strat bridge, I feel strings and in worst cases, sharp allen screws. Not saying a strat bridge is bad, but yea, a TOM bridge is most definitely the most comfortable of the 2. Really, for me a TOM bridge is the best all around bridge there is.

You can grind/cut the height screws to length and also sand the sharp edges off the top.

 

[JollyRoger523]

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

I'm neutral on its position. I don't really like it that close but it has never bothered me either. I guess you could always order a different pick guard with different hole positions, and not have to make any modifications to the body (within reason).

 

[Ball&Chain]

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

You can grind/cut the height screws to length and also sand the sharp edges off the top.

Wow, really. Of course, if the bridges were set up like that in the first place that would be something.

 

[LReese]

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

Wow, really. Of course, if the bridges were set up like that in the first place that would be something.

And the world would be a perfect place. There are manufacturers that do that with the old Fender style bridges - Just not Fender. :sigh:

 

[JeffB]

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

Maybe its because my hands are numb half the time,but even before my issues, the screws on teles and strats never really bothered me..yes some.of them are sharp and scratch, but I guess I polish em down naturally over time. It never bothered me enough to try new screws. My Tele is especially bad (50s ri style).they stick way out and are nice and rusty. Man's guitar

 

[LReese]

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

I've had one out of 25 about Strats that was really bad about being scratchy. I've never bothered to change out those height screws though.

The scratchy screws issue is something I think Fender should take care of with their vendor. The height issue I'm sure its a case of being able to cover a variety of setups with the stock screws. Some like floating, some like decked, more tilt, less tilt, etc.

Suhr for example delivers guitars with the screws smooth and silky cut to length on bent saddle bridges, with a small amount for adjustment - a 'perfect' setup out of the box, save a possible truss rod adjust dependent on environment. I just don't think they can cover the range of adjustment as one from Fender. Its a compromise on Fender's part.

The thing is any of those Fender bridges are not perfect - actually that goes for any bridge. But for someone who started playing in the '70s, we generally took guitars as they they were delivered from the Dealer, no pickup swaps or super low setups.

 

[crusty philtrum]

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

They could simply provide a small bag of height-adjustment screws in varying lengths with every new instrument, to allow the bridge to be set up in different ways and suitable length screws can be used from the selection provided. But i guess $5 worth of extra screws would add $200 to the price of the guitar.

 

[LReese]

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

That makes too much sense. They do provide 2 extra springs, so why not extra adjustment screws? Those buggers are hard to find locally. I got a grab bag full of them off EPay.

 

[leftyaxeman]

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

Volume swells? I dig it there....

This.

The strat design is arguably the most imitated design of all guitar body styles. Leo Fender pretty much got the design right the first time. There have been slight alterations in the design & improvements, but for all intents & purposes, has pretty much had the same shape since inception. The double cutaway, the belly cut, the forearm bevel, all remain and make the design ergonomically comfortable. I cant think of any other guitar design that are more comfortable. SG, nah, headstock dives & strap button should be on the horn, Les Paul, not enough access to upper frets, Flying V, strap button in wrong place, not best suited for playing while sitting. ES335, large uncomfortable body, again the strap button in a bad location. These are just my opinion & observations on the guitars I own. My Jem, Jackson Soloist, Carvin ST300, & Fender strat are real comfortable to play standing or sitting. Yeah, think Leo got it right, it has stood the test of time.

 

[Zerberus]

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

Since nobody else cares enough to anywer...

I wear my guitar at around belt buckle = picking height, and don`t have significant problems with the knob. I do prefer it moved just slightly out of the way like on a Jackson Rhoads or soloist, though. Still close enough when you need it, but far enough away that you can really get down and dirty with your picking hand

 

[J E C]

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

Kind of hard to call the Strat a stupid design when it is the most copied electric guitar design in history. That being said, I prefer the vol knob 1/4" lower and 1/4" further forward than stock.

 

[Zerberus]

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

^^ Forward as in towards the neck? That`s unusual, IME most prefer it moved towards the butt end and /or down... cool :friday:

 

[blueman335]

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

do you wear your guitar really low? I wear my guitar higher.

I think guitar height has a lot to do with how much of your belly you want to cover. Even you skinny guys can overdo the too high thing; nothing looks dorkier than a guy with a guitar strapped under his chin. He might as well wear pants that are too short and a bow tie while he's at it.

 

[Zerberus]

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

...; nothing looks dorkier than a guy with a guitar strapped under his chin. He might as well wear pants that are too short and a bow tie while he's at it.

I`ll see your Dork and raise you a mid ´90s Oprah in Fresh Prince of Bel Air drag with an electric violin :laugh2::beerchug:

 

[Adieu]

TRY A CUSTOM GUARD. CHEAP, VERY COOL.

TRY A CUSTOM GUARD. CHEAP, VERY COOL.

Yup, it's annoying... although at least it's a lower profile piece of plastic, much nastier on some superstrats with a steel dome that's placed even closer and further towards the neck.

If you like the strat, definitely chuck the second tone and just move the pot. Or order a custom guard (sometimes ridiculously cheap, like $20 from cash-poor metal shop fabricators who are also guitar enthusiasts, they often make em out of leftover scraps of cool decorative sheet metals). Try listing a WTB ad on your local craigslist, then talk to them about moving the potentiometer holes.

Example of a custom guard (patterned textured partially copper-plated aluminium, I believe) from a fabricator that I had once upon a time. Guy said the sheets the scrap came from sold at over A GRAND A PIECE, just the material:



....though the guard was personally made by the previous owner himself, and might have cost closer to $50 if he were selling it - what between few people having CAD'd Flying V pickguard designs for their metal cutting thingy machine, and the material being pretty darn cool... Can't say I ever figured out how to hold a Vee comfortably (sooo unlike its stablemate the explorer, despite common comparison and some people seeing them as alternatives to each other). Ended up flipping that one at MASSIVE profit as an image-oriented customized unique axe, more than doubled my money between pulling the EMGs it came with and getting a full hundred off another buyer for the minty OHSC.... btw, custom pickguards? Bloody BRILLIANT for sprucing up an axe to expedite selling and get a whole chunk more cash for it. Kids, amateurs, and vain people looooove the things.

 

[J E C]

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

Yup towards the neck. I was wrong, it's closer to 3/8" towards the neck. It allows me to get to it easier with the Floyds bar being there. I like the bar tightened to the point were it stays put, but barely so I can knock it out of the way easily. I currently have it set up with the strings fairly high off the body at 9/16" at the bridge for the two E strings, and no pick guard. I like the standard Strat and Gibson bell shaped knobs best. They are shorter. So that might be part of the reason I'm not banging in to it. I think moving it down even a little bit can make a big difference.

 

[Zerberus]

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

^^ sounds absolutely logical when I hear the details, and yes the bar is the reason I like the knob slightly lower and towards the butt. BTW I like my bar the same, stays put but is effortless to reposition. :beerchug:

I think I`ll have to try that on a future build, sounds like a great way to have bar and volume control simultaneously, making it easy to have an actual tremolo effect while using the tremolo :headbang:

 

[Ball&Chain]

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

And the world would be a perfect place. There are manufacturers that do that with the old Fender style bridges - Just not Fender. :sigh:

I dunno. If i'm spending several hundres dollars of my hard earned cash on a strat, I'd expect the insturment not at least not draw blood, even in an imperfect world such as it is.

 

[Ball&Chain]

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

This.

The strat design is arguably the most imitated design of all guitar body styles. Leo Fender pretty much got the design right the first time. There have been slight alterations in the design & improvements, but for all intents & purposes, has pretty much had the same shape since inception. The double cutaway, the belly cut, the forearm bevel, all remain and make the design ergonomically comfortable. I cant think of any other guitar design that are more comfortable. SG, nah, headstock dives & strap button should be on the horn, Les Paul, not enough access to upper frets, Flying V, strap button in wrong place, not best suited for playing while sitting. ES335, large uncomfortable body, again the strap button in a bad location. These are just my opinion & observations on the guitars I own. My Jem, Jackson Soloist, Carvin ST300, & Fender strat are real comfortable to play standing or sitting. Yeah, think Leo got it right, it has stood the test of time.

I think Gibson might have an argument with you. I see les Paul copies just as much if not more that strat copies.

Im not an anti strat guy at all, but give me a good LP over a strat any day. I dont need belly cuts or ergonmics and actually imo, a LP has just as much upper fret access as a traditional strat. The horn on a strat is just as forbidding to me on a strat as the chunky heel is on a LP. Now superstrats like a Jackson is where the design was perfected.