New Strat Advice - MIM vs MIA!?

[PFDarkside]

Re: New Strat Advice - MIM vs MIA!?

The Classic Player series is freaking amazing for the money. CS69 Pickups, a flatter radius with bigger frets, 2-Post bridge with stamped saddles, great neck profile. It’s almost as good as my MIAs.

 

[mxaniac]

Re: New Strat Advice - MIM vs MIA!?

I'm a fan of the California Strat, one can debate all day long how much labor content is US vs MX or if it matters but the components are US grade and the specs are essentially a 62 RI with hotter Tex Mex pickups. Last I checked you could get them for a steal price wise.

 

[keiranstubbings]

Re: New Strat Advice - MIM vs MIA!?

Sorry guys I was also wondering - will there be much difference tonally between maple and rosewood?

Like I mentioned above, I’m after Hendrix, Sayce, Mayer and Gilmour but I know they all used different.

For what I’m after at the moment (casual bedroom use etc) will it make that much of a difference? Or would either be suitable for those sort of tones?

 

[mxaniac]

Re: New Strat Advice - MIM vs MIA!?

Sorry guys I was also wondering - will there be much difference tonally between maple and rosewood?

Like I mentioned above, I’m after Hendrix, Sayce, Mayer and Gilmour but I know they all used different.

For what I’m after at the moment (casual bedroom use etc) will it make that much of a difference? Or would either be suitable for those sort of tones?

I have two identical strats except one is rosewood. My son describes the rosewood one as more twangy.

 

[muttznmongrelz]

Re: New Strat Advice - MIM vs MIA!?

I just went through this dilemma trying to find a "good Strat"; one 2002 CIJ that the strings flopped off the edges of the fretboard and weren't centered over the fretboard or pickups, one 1992 MIJ Mutt that had a fabulous HRR Maple Neck with 22 Extra Jumbo Frets and converted to a LSR Nut but had a swimming pool routed body and Lace Holy Grails with stock bridge...had a great neck but zero sustain or tone with the body, and then, a 2003 American Standard that had a beautiful Crimson Translucent finish but unfortunately a severely back-bowed and twisted Rosewood Neck.

Ran across a deal on a pretty cool 2010 FSR MIM Standard HH Stratocaster with a Metallic Sunburst finish through which you can see the wood grain - I think they’re calling it Mystic Burst currently. Stock Fender Humbuckers are actually very good and I like them. Positions 2 & 4 give you some decent Strat Tones too. Best choice by far of the 8 used Strats in the shop I bought it from. Second best was a MIM Jimi Hendrix Model with Maple Neck and Reverse Headstock but it still was lacking compared to the FSR. I was very impressed with the overall build quality, fit/finish, feel and the versatility of the pickups/switching on the FSR - IMHO...a very nice Strat!

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: New Strat Advice - MIM vs MIA!?

Sorry guys I was also wondering - will there be much difference tonally between maple and rosewood?

Like I mentioned above, I’m after Hendrix, Sayce, Mayer and Gilmour but I know they all used different.

For what I’m after at the moment (casual bedroom use etc) will it make that much of a difference? Or would either be suitable for those sort of tones?

Generally speaking, a rosewood fretboard will be warmer sounding than a maple one. That's a broad generalization, though. I've run across bright rosewood 'boarded strats and warm maple necked strats.

 

[TVFV]

Re: New Strat Advice - MIM vs MIA!?

Sorry guys I was also wondering - will there be much difference tonally between maple and rosewood?

Like I mentioned above, I’m after Hendrix, Sayce, Mayer and Gilmour but I know they all used different.

For what I’m after at the moment (casual bedroom use etc) will it make that much of a difference? Or would either be suitable for those sort of tones?

In the grand scheme of things I really don't think it matters.

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

 

[mxaniac]

Re: New Strat Advice - MIM vs MIA!?

Generally speaking, a rosewood fretboard will be warmer sounding than a maple one. That's a broad generalization, though. I've run across bright rosewood 'boarded strats and warm maple necked strats.

Interesting, a quick google search shows you nailed it. My two strats are identical except for paint color and fretboard material and the rosewood is far brighter and more twangy and yet as you stated USUALLY it's the other way around.

 

[Chistopher]

Re: New Strat Advice - MIM vs MIA!?

Interesting, a quick google search shows you nailed it. My two strats are identical except for paint color and fretboard material and the rosewood is far brighter and more twangy and yet as you stated USUALLY it's the other way around.

Here in lies the issue with the whole "tonewood" debate. Even with a completely scientific process, all results will still be inconclusive.

People ears are tricky, I know we all have had moments when we pick up a guitar that we just set down the day before and with out messing with any of the controls, sounds completly different. One moment it could sound amazing, then you put it down to mow the grass or something and when you pick it back up it's too bright.

 

[Securb]

Re: New Strat Advice - MIM vs MIA!?

Ran across a deal on a pretty cool 2010 FSR MIM Standard HH Stratocaster with a Metallic Sunburst finish through which you can see the wood grain - I think they’re calling it Mystic Burst currently.

Beautiful guitar man but I think they put the headstock on backwards.

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: New Strat Advice - MIM vs MIA!?

Choose based on Neck profile.

And seriously, check out the Classic Player.

 

[FuseG4]

Re: New Strat Advice - MIM vs MIA!?

rosewood for me is only about look and feel under the fingers and the fact that you must maintain it periodically

 

[canon_mutant]

Re: New Strat Advice - MIM vs MIA!?

Getting tonally to your heroes' sound just takes tons of practice period. I once thought I needed a DG20 loaded pickguard in order to sound like Gilmour.

Bought one and still $ucked? :smack:

Then realized that those DG20 EMGs ruined about everything else I wanted to play.

So, on the guitar front, I would simply play a good MIM [Classic Player is a good start] and compare it to various American models and see which one floats your boat? Since after many years of playing, if I was going to have the Fender Custom shop build me a Strat to my specs it would be just like the Jeff Beck model, it was a perfect fit for me and I now own one even though I am not particularly a Jeff Beck fan. Yeah, he is an amazing guitar player, no doubt, but most of his solo work sounds like a cat fight on a chalk board to me. I absolutely LOVE that guitar though! The ONLY thing I might change is the Noiseless pups which are a compromise but I can make them work fine through all the genres you specified . . . only after tons of practice, technique, and tonal toys. And, on a bad night, I can $uck equally bad no matter what I pick up.

Good luck with your search . . .

 

[Little Pigbacon]

Re: New Strat Advice - MIM vs MIA!?

Ah, the Night of the Sucktacular Suck!

 

[muttznmongrelz]

Re: New Strat Advice - MIM vs MIA!?

Beautiful guitar man but I think they put the headstock on backwards.

Very nice! I do like a Reverse HS on a Strat.