"I'm just not a strat guy".

[Juanhanglo]

The Stratocaster was my first guitar and my only guitar for many years. I learned to play and adapt to any genre with it because I had nothing else, or wanted anything else. Fast forward 10 years later and here arrives the Super Strat in my life - Ibanez RGs. My favorite guitar shape of all time. Everything I like about the Stratocaster, only better. The control lay out. 5 way switching, 1 volume and 1 tone. The neck. It is just perfect for me. It feels the best to play.

But that regular old standard 3 single coil Strat will always be a special guitar to me, too. I still have it and always will. I still play it. And it still has that magic.

Yet, I am more than just a strat player these days. I've found I do like Les Pauls, SGs, and Telecasters. It just took me 30 years to find that out.

This is me to a "t".

i started on a strat, and my main players these days, are 3 RGs.

I like guitars that i don't have to fight to get sounds i want, and that seem to disappear when i play them.

i am seriously considering selling my les paul type (ec401v) and grabbing and RGA instead.

if im honest with myself, i could sell off everything but my RGs and not lose much sleep over it.

i keep my non RGs around for variety's sake, and the fact that they are worth more to me than the paltry sums they would sell for.


Strats have different ergos than other guitars. That much is true. The guys that "can't" get used to them, clearly don't really want to, and prefer other guitars. If one guy can do it, everybody can.

i hit the volume knob.
the middle pickup.......
single coils are thin
the trem......
its too light
its too sculpted and disappears.

these are all excuses. All can be overcome with time.

then there is that little problem of when does a strat cease to be a strat?
when you add a humbucker?
or a floyd?
or lose a tone control?
how about if they have no pickguard?

if you has a bottom routed SSS strat body with a floyd, is it a strat?

an rg is pretty much a strat, right?

how many "i am not a strat guy" guys play super strats with no issue?
how much is really just personal bias?


"I am not a strat guy" merely means that they prefer other guitar styles, most likely gibson products.

as to what a strat doesn't provide? It doesnt provide the exact playing experience of other guitars, like a les paul.

 

[Mincer]

I don't get the problem with the middle pickup. How hard are you digging in that it causes a problem?

For hybrid picking, it catches on my nails...ow!

 

[alex1fly]

The Stratocaster was my first guitar and my only guitar for many years. I learned to play and adapt to any genre with it because I had nothing else, or wanted anything else. Fast forward 10 years later and here arrives the Super Strat in my life - Ibanez RGs. My favorite guitar shape of all time. Everything I like about the Stratocaster, only better. The control lay out. 5 way switching, 1 volume and 1 tone. The neck. It is just perfect for me. It feels the best to play.

But that regular old standard 3 single coil Strat will always be a special guitar to me, too. I still have it and always will. I still play it. And it still has that magic.

Yet, I am more than just a strat player these days. I've found I do like Les Pauls, SGs, and Telecasters. It just took me 30 years to find that out.

This is similar to my experience minus one decade.

Strats sound nothing like other guitars. If you you find one you like and can embrace it, you can be a Strat guy. If you fight it and try to make it something it's not, it's harder to be a Strat guy.

The complaints are legit. You have to make adjustments to play a Strat. Stuff gets in the way. Pickup heights have to be set not just for tone but for the convenience of not striking the polepieces with your pick or fingers. I'll never again consider a Strat my #1, but it's very deserving of a spot in my small stable of loves.

 

[jeremy]

It's useless and make the guitar looks cluttered.

thats bs. the middle pup has its own sound which tons of people have used over the years and contributes heavily to the notch tones of the strat, and "looks cluttered" is just silly.

 

[Ascension]

The traditional strat sound is scooped, bright, and low output. And they buzz. If you're used to humbuckers (especially high output humbuckers), plugging into a strat sucks . . . you've got to pay attention to your dynamics a lot more, and nuances of playing really stick out because it's harder to hide behind lots of distortion. Couple that with a longer scale length (which means a little more reach for chords and notes) and a middle pickup that's placed right under where many people pick and they can be very unwelcoming instruments to pick up.

They are different that's for sure. It has only been over the last few years that I have really started using a good Strat live consistently . They force me to think and play much differently and that is not a bad thing. It's opened up some new things for me working with a strat that I would not have as part of my playing if I had stayed with the dual humbucking guitars that I have mostly played.
Now my "Strat" is a little non traditional in my 94 Washburn USA Silverado. One piece maple neck 16 radius board big frets ,real swamp ash body with killer workmanship and detail that rivals any Suhr or super high end Fender Custom Shop. The Duncan Antiquity !! Surfer set and custom harness also helps. Has become one of my favorite guitars to just pickup and play now.
Actually thinking very hard about building a new custom Kiesel Delos in a very tradition configuration.

 

[Obsessive Compulsive]

thats bs. the middle pup has its own sound which tons of people have used over the years and contributes heavily to the notch tones of the strat, and "looks cluttered" is just silly.

Lol...sure, your voice is the authority. Tons of BS people playing guitars with no mid (including LP) should listen to you.

 

[jeremy]

no more or less an authority than you. i didnt say a two pup guitar is useless or anything of the sort. all i said is your statement is bs, cause it is, and gave a few reasons why its bs. is a three pup les paul cluttered? i dont like three pup lps but that doesnt mean they are useless

 

[JMP/HBE]

Alot depends on the Strat style guitar.

 

[solspirit]

Before reading any comments I will say it's the pickups that turn most people off.

 

[Ascension]

It's useless and make the guitar looks cluttered.

Disagree strongly. Have had several HSH guitars and use the center single. If nothing else use it with the humbuckers split to get Strat tones in the middle 3 and bucker tones on the end.

 

[Ascension]

Before reading any comments I will say it's the pickups that turn most people off.

Did for me for years. In the right hands a good Strat with real singles is a pretty unique sounding guitar and nothing else sounds like them. It took me many years to "get it" with a Strat now for some things I have to have one! What really got me into them was playing with this guy and having to try and cover Daves parts here.

 

[Ascension]

Playing a good Strat is a much different thing than playing a guitar with humbuckers. It forces you to think differently and phrase differently for me forced me out of my box. I will never play a 3 single Strat as my #1 but now will always own one.
My Silverado through the Archon over a track no effects. MUCH different vibe that one of my other guitars over the same track!

 

[zionstrat]

It's a tool. It's entirely about what it can do and how it fits your body/habits.

Assuming we're talking about the original guitar because hybrids can do just about anything..

Strats are incredibly good going from clean to thick and they still crunch good.

Put a firebird or a p90 in the neck of a tele and it can do just about anything.

If you need more thickness and don't need clean snap or articulation move on to 24.75.

So of course I'm a strat guy and a tele guy and I've still got a Les Paul / SG for the thick stuff and too many other guitars because they are all wonderful and different.



Sent from my SM-G781U using Tapatalk

 

[Wattage]

I am most definitely not a Strat guy, I've tried, I do like Teles but don't currently own any

Gibson scale length is my preference

 

[GuitarDoc]

The traditional strat sound is scooped, bright, and low output. And they buzz. If you're used to humbuckers (especially high output humbuckers), plugging into a strat sucks . . . you've got to pay attention to your dynamics a lot more, and nuances of playing really stick out because it's harder to hide behind lots of distortion. Couple that with a longer scale length (which means a little more reach for chords and notes) and a middle pickup that's placed right under where many people pick and they can be very unwelcoming instruments to pick up.

Yeah, it sucks to have to pay attention to every technique that makes a great guitar player. I can relate to that.

 

[Demanic]

I actually like the middle pickup in my strat used on its own. Maybe it's because it has A5 magnets in it while the neck and bridge both have A3's. It makes for a very usable sound.

Sent from my SM-A115A using Tapatalk

 

[alex1fly]

I actually like the middle pickup in my strat used on its own. Maybe it's because it has A5 magnets in it while the neck and bridge both have A3's. It makes for a very usable sound.

Sent from my SM-A115A using Tapatalk

The middle pickup has long been my favorite Strat sound. In my first two bands, it cut the best through the mix. It's chimey, quirky, aggressive, and fun. It can be very expressive. One of my bucket list guitar projects is to build a Partscaster with a single middle pickup. Nowadays I'm preferring the notch tones as I have finally dialed them in to my liking (hey, some things take years... or decades), but I generally think the middle pickup complaints are overblown.

 

[Mincer]

I don't use the middle pickup by itself at all. Mostly it is used with the neck pickup. My Warmoth is wired so the middle position is actually the neck and bridge, which is a great sound, too.

 

[GuitarStv]

I don't use the middle pickup by itself at all. Mostly it is used with the neck pickup. My Warmoth is wired so the middle position is actually the neck and bridge, which is a great sound, too.

I really like neck + bridge on a strat. Do you have RWRP neck or bridge to make this work and be noiseless?

 

[Mincer]

I really like neck + bridge on a strat. Do you have RWRP neck or bridge to make this work and be noiseless?

Yes, the neck is rw/rp.