late '90s fender US strat plux deluxe vs '11 les paul custom shop R7 goldtop

esandes

Well-known member
since i got my LP i sort of "forgot" about my other guitars. after not playing for a couple of weeks i picked up my old strat and played for about an hour. i couldn't get the right sound for a certain riff so i decided use the LP as it does that riff well-as i want it to sound.

anyways, it felt like the LP neck was as thick as the fat end of a baseball bat. lol

carry on

edit: correction-late 80s/early 90s strat.
 
Last edited:
Re: late '90s fender US strat plux deluxe vs '11 les paul custom shop R7 goldtop

What alarms me each time is the feel of the high-up tune-o-matic vs. the Flat Strat saddles...

I feel that the tune-o-matic is much easier to play; the strings are elevated and stick out for you to pick. But if I get used to that, my picking becomes sloppier when I return to playing my Strat. So I always practice with my Strat; when I "need" the tone, I grab something else. Strats seem so much more sensitive to proper technique, IMO...
 
Re: late '90s fender US strat plux deluxe vs '11 les paul custom shop R7 goldtop

since i got my LP i sort of "forgot" about my other guitars. after not playing for a couple of weeks i picked up my old strat and played for about an hour. i couldn't get the right sound for a certain riff so i decided use the LP as it does that riff well-as i want it to sound.

anyways, it felt like the LP neck was as thick as the fat end of a baseball bat. lol

carry on

If you think you're L.P. has a baseball bat neck you should play my 2015 L.P.M.! Not only is it the fattest neck Gibson has ever used as far as I know, but they also made the fretboard 1/16 of an inch wider on both sides!!! It took some getting used to at first but now I actually really like it...

Yours would feel like a Jackson Dinky after a hour or so on mine, LOL!!!
 
Re: late '90s fender US strat plux deluxe vs '11 les paul custom shop R7 goldtop

so your lpm neck is 1 13/16" wide? weird.

the r7 has a fat neck, similar to the r6 and r8. love the shape though, at least on the older ones. my old r6 was about 1" deep at the nut with almost no taper. havent played a new one in a few years so not sure how they size up
 
Re: late '90s fender US strat plux deluxe vs '11 les paul custom shop R7 goldtop

I'm a Gibson and Fender purist, and have this to say.

Keep your gem of a LP.

Think of your strat as a good strat and remove the entire pickguard with Lace Sensors. Set it aside and replace it with a pickguard loaded with Surfer Custom set wired Eric Johnson style.

You will have the perfect LP/Strat combo for two authentic tones.
 
Re: late '90s fender US strat plux deluxe vs '11 les paul custom shop R7 goldtop

I borrowed a Plus Deluxe (Plus Ultra? Tremsetter and SSS) long-term once, such a great guitar but... The Lace pickups (some red/gold/purple set or something) were all quack/glass and no twang or chime (so missing half of the classic Stratocaster sound.) Generally dull.

I sort of wish I could revisit them and find a way to use them, but at the time they were disappointing.
 
Re: late '90s fender US strat plux deluxe vs '11 les paul custom shop R7 goldtop

I'm a Gibson and Fender purist, and have this to say.

Keep your gem of a LP.

Think of your strat as a good strat and remove the entire pickguard with Lace Sensors. Set it aside and replace it with a pickguard loaded with Surfer Custom set wired Eric Johnson style.

You will have the perfect LP/Strat combo for two authentic tones.

this is what I am doing with my Eric Johnson strat, I am keeping the the wiring the same but replacing the neck and middle with 2 Seymour Duncan Surfer Aniquity2 pickups and a IM1 humbucker in the bridge. Also putting a Super V blade runner on the trem with a brass block. I will keep the original pickguard with the pickups intact and in a box somewhere. I will buy another Eric Johnson strat and keep it close to original as his pickups are very good but I want to mod this blue one first to a rockin surf guitar.
 
Re: late '90s fender US strat plux deluxe vs '11 les paul custom shop R7 goldtop

I'm a Gibson and Fender purist, and have this to say.

Keep your gem of a LP.

Think of your strat as a good strat and remove the entire pickguard with Lace Sensors. Set it aside and replace it with a pickguard loaded with Surfer Custom set wired Eric Johnson style.

You will have the perfect LP/Strat combo for two authentic tones.

ha. thanks man. i replaced the sensors with a HSS setup. i need a bridge HB-it's just something i can't alter. my biggest beef with the guitar is the frets. the top and bottom E strings often slip off the fret and kills my yngwie style solo in its tracks. none of my other axes do this to me. i dig the SSL-1 set.
 
Re: late '90s fender US strat plux deluxe vs '11 les paul custom shop R7 goldtop

I borrowed a Plus Deluxe (Plus Ultra? Tremsetter and SSS) long-term once, such a great guitar but... The Lace pickups (some red/gold/purple set or something) were all quack/glass and no twang or chime (so missing half of the classic Stratocaster sound.) Generally dull.

I sort of wish I could revisit them and find a way to use them, but at the time they were disappointing.
you never know quality until you try it. i thought the sensors were the shiz and i also thought the G12T-75 celestion speakers were great. it's good to try things out in the store or even check out clips or know what artists use.
this is what I am doing with my Eric Johnson strat, I am keeping the the wiring the same but replacing the neck and middle with 2 Seymour Duncan Surfer Aniquity2 pickups and a IM1 humbucker in the bridge. Also putting a Super V blade runner on the trem with a brass block. I will keep the original pickguard with the pickups intact and in a box somewhere. I will buy another Eric Johnson strat and keep it close to original as his pickups are very good but I want to mod this blue one first to a rockin surf guitar.
instead of a block i added 3 springs to the back and tightened the body anchor as much as i could. that's where the sustain comes from.

one other beef with strats is the volume knob is too close to where my fingers want to be. so i use a warmoth pickguard with the two far knobs in tact. one is a SC 250k volume and the other is a 500k volume for the HB. the original bent steel (ungrooved) saddles are pretty ghetto too.
 
Re: late '90s fender US strat plux deluxe vs '11 les paul custom shop R7 goldtop

you never know quality until you try it. i thought the sensors were the shiz and i also thought the G12T-75 celestion speakers were great. it's good to try things out in the store or even check out clips or know what artists use.

instead of a block i added 3 springs to the back and tightened the body anchor as much as i could. that's where the sustain comes from.

one other beef with strats is the volume knob is too close to where my fingers want to be. so i use a warmoth pickguard with the two far knobs in tact. one is a SC 250k volume and the other is a 500k volume for the HB. the original bent steel (ungrooved) saddles are pretty ghetto too.

steel saddles are good, to me they have the best tone. no matter how they look I think steel saddles sound the best. Thats a good thing to me.
 
Re: late '90s fender US strat plux deluxe vs '11 les paul custom shop R7 goldtop

I used to have one of those strats. It was a beautiful guitar that I got for a sweet deal. I quickly dumped those horrible Lace Sensors because if I was going to own a strat I thought it should at least sound like one. I went through a set of Texas Specials then a set of Vintage Noiseless which I liked the best of the three but I just never liked the vibe. Probably had a lot to do with the wierd floyd rose/roller nut combo it came with. I ended up trading it for a nice acoustic guitar.
 
Back
Top