Mid-life crisis: Have I become a Strat guy?

Re: Mid-life crisis: Have I become a Strat guy?

The feel of a Strat is magical to me.

A Strat with humbuckers is completely wonderful.

A Strat with lipstick pickups is soooooooooo slutty, it has to be played to be imagined.

A Stock strat with the funk happening in the in-between positions is totally addictive.

A Strat with a humbucker in the bridge and two single coils is probably one of the most useful instruments you'll ever use in the studio.

You my friend...are going to need more Strats.

:D
 
Re: Mid-life crisis: Have I become a Strat guy?

I'm just about to put p90's into a strat......so there's another strat you need.
 
Re: Mid-life crisis: Have I become a Strat guy?

I definitely have.

I used to hate playing with singles. I think because they don't really mask anything. They're honest.

I think as we grow as guitarists it's natural to end up gravitating towards more "honest" gear. It lets our true style and sound shine through.
 
Re: Mid-life crisis: Have I become a Strat guy?

I'm kinda lucky in that my singles machine is a Godin with big Filtertron-esque maxi-singles. Under P90s and pretty dark.

Maybe it'd be worth changing your tone cap to get that twang out.
 
Re: Mid-life crisis: Have I become a Strat guy?

I've always played a mixture. In the broadest generalization, in my experience singles have more bass thump and bright open high end while humbuckers have solid mids but lack deep thumpy bass and bright open top end. So I've tended to mix singles and hums together in the mix for a long time. They compliment each other well for rhythm and lead.
 
Re: Mid-life crisis: Have I become a Strat guy?

blueman335 said:
No, but they're heavy in weight and tone, and that counts for something! From the many blues festivals and local bands I've seen, the ratio here is about 10 Strats for every LP. Way too lopsided, and most of the Strats (but not all of them) sound either bright and thin, or when there's too much distortion, like 'a bee in a can.' I wouldn't mind the dominance of Strats that I've seen on the west coast of Florida, if most of those guys knew how to EQ the darn things. I've been conditioned over the years and now when I see a guy walk on stage with a Strat and say: 'Oh god, here we go again.' And most of the time I'm right, it's an avalanche of treble.

But, I've heard enough Strats that sound great to know that it is possible. It just seems like a lot players feel an obligation to buy them (either mass hypnosis or the Hendrix/SRV influence) but then don't put the effort into dialing in the tones, and they sound like crap. They seem to think that simply owning one is automatically the key to great tone. It's really the player's fault more than the guitar when that happens though. As Wah Wah said: 'Strats don't suffer fools lightly.'
Click to expand...

So you actually blame the guitar when you even said you KNOW it is the user's fault (EQ)? Makes perfect sense.

I personally am slowly become more of a single coil/P90 guy. I just wish there were more options in selecting pickups like you get with humbuckers. With that being said, I can get a true single coil sound, and combine any two single coils in series with one RW/RP to get into humbucker territory. To me, two single coils in series sound closer to a real humbucker, than a humbucker sounds like a real single coil when split.
 
Re: Mid-life crisis: Have I become a Strat guy?

It's bit ironic when I played Single coils I wanted Humbuckers, now after a while on playing on humbuckers I want single coils. Or at least one guitar with single coils.
 
Re: Mid-life crisis: Have I become a Strat guy?

^Playing a Strat with lipstick pickups is MUCH cheaper than getting out. :p

Easier to get in trouble than out of it, you know.
 
Re: Mid-life crisis: Have I become a Strat guy?

It is your honey moon with single coils, you should try an HSS, kind of geting best of both worlds.
 
Re: Mid-life crisis: Have I become a Strat guy?

^ Something to be tried...

For me it just does not work out even though I still own a few HSS guitars. A Strat to me just needs to be a Strat, but a superswitch and bridge PU tone control is almost a necessity (IMO). Even splitting a humbucker doesn't do it for me.

I've got a PRS to cover humbucker tones now, but it does not turn me on like the trusty Stratocaster or close facsimile.
 
Re: Mid-life crisis: Have I become a Strat guy?

Myaccount876;3515728I said:
can get a true single coil sound, and combine any two single coils in series with one RW/RP to get into humbucker territory. To me, two single coils in series sound closer to a real humbucker, than a humbucker sounds like a real single coil when split.
Click to expand...

totally agree. I'm going to mod my Godin with the Telecaster 4 point switching soon, so I can get bridge/parallel/neck/series.
 
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Re: Mid-life crisis: Have I become a Strat guy?

I started out on a Strat copy for my first electric so they are second nature to me. Granted, my favorite configuration on a Strat is dual humbuckers but I like good single-coils too. These days though, I'm all about the noiseless options. My SSS Strat has the STK-S4 in the neck and middle and STK-S9b in the bridge. Master volume, master tone, neck+bridge blender, 5-way blade switch. I can even turn off the noise cancelling coil of them with the tone control's push/pull but I can barely hear the difference. It's a comfort thing too. The contours of the body just work for me.
 
Re: Mid-life crisis: Have I become a Strat guy?

I've always been a Fender guy. EmptyPockets once said that what I really needed was a Les Paul...
 
Re: Mid-life crisis: Have I become a Strat guy?

As I age I get more and more vintage in preference. I think I'm going to replace the Stelly I have in the bridge now with a slightly hot vintage SC and in the Les Paul go with a PAF type in the bridge instead of the Custom that's in there currently.

And who knows the last time I played the Schecter with Blackouts! :p
 
Re: Mid-life crisis: Have I become a Strat guy?

I started playing HB electrics very young and didn't understand the reason for single coils. Strats just always sounded tinny to me. The P90s didn't sound much different than the HBs except for the noise. A few years ago I bought a Strat knock-off due to the ease with which it played and the comfort of the body & neck. Even though its an HSS configuration it took me a while to get accustomed to the sound. I understand why Clapton has his mid-boost circuit. I also added a boost circuit which I think helps. But there are some notes on the Strat that just sing all by themselves. Particularly the G, B, & E strings between the 10th & 15th frets. They have that "piano" like sound that you just can't get from any other guitar. Once you find it its hard to give up. I simply can't get this sound from the HB guitars, nor from a P90. I haven't tried any of the noiseless SCs although I am interested in the Kinmans. I like the piano like sound of the SCs but the noise is a bit much. I'm afraid that the noiseless pickups will destroy the clarity of the Fender SC sound making the distinction between the HB and the noiseless SC moot.
 
Re: Mid-life crisis: Have I become a Strat guy?

I have a tendency to think I want to switch up and get a SG or Les Paul, but seem to always end up with a strat. I just went and played a bunch of Les Pauls then picked up a used American Deluxe strat and didn't want to put it down and ended up leaving with it. I just love the feel of a strat. Its a 2004 with the SCN Pickups. It seems a lot of people do not like them, but I really dig them. They are dead silent even with tons of gain. I will eventually put a humbucker in the bridge, but will keep it stock for now. The bridge is fairly hot and all three handle gain well and with the S1 switching I can get heavy if I want. The cleans might not be the best, but they are pretty good. Besides raising the action and putting bigger gauge strings on it, I have no urge to mess with it.
 
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