Std. Strat - Gotta have one !

[RACER X]

OK, iv never played a Fender Strat before tonight and know im hooked. A buddy of mine brought over both of his Strats tonight and let me play them, both have DiMarzio pups 3x. Iv allways been more of a Ibanez or Jackson guy but those darn things just fit me right. The way they played and sound just blew me away, even though im used to playing a guitar with a 24 fret neck. Am I crazy or have I finaley found my tone in these guitars ? All I know is that im selling both my Ibanez's so I can get a couple of these. I know in my heart I found my GAS.

 

[SfordRog]

Nothing wrong with strats, just shop around for the right one. Might even consider a kit build. I have a 60's reissue that I love to play...got lucky on a used deal through the now dead Mars Music chain. I left it stock and kept my other "main" axe to have variety. I would suggest keeping one of your Ibanez's and just getting one strat.

 

[RACER X]

Yeh, iv had my 220 for a while, it would be hard to git rid of it since it was my first good guitar.

 

[Gary S.]

Say man I like Strats too but you gotta keep one shred ax.

 

[xerxes]

i would say keep at least one ibanez, you will be sorry later on it you dont.


also, i loove strats, they play so nice and are really fun to play.

 

[Hoss]

yeah don't sell em' both.......or neither if you can help it.....you'll always regret it!!!

Strats rock! i can't wait to finish building mine!!!

 

[Frantic_Rock]

I'll add to the pile

DON'T sell BOTH!
U gotta have a fast playing, smooth guitar for metal and heavy music.

I have a strat and a tele. Both loaded with SDs and they're great for blues and classic tones! BUT i play lots of Joe Satriani, Vai, and Johnson, and let me tell u the strat and tele just can't measure up to the fast progressive stuff. Firstly i need a floyd to do all the noises and squeaking... Secondly the necks are far too thick for playing fast on a strat (i have a modern U-Shape).

Here check out mine:
http://f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/le....pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/leshaakimov/my_photos

The strat is great don't get me wrong. But i'm getting a jackson soloist towards the end of this year, because I need a faster playing guitar with a floyd and humbuckers (So in a sense me n u are in opposite camps )

 

[Gearjoneser]

Have you ever noticed that the guys who have played the longest, or have owned the most guitars, always gravitate
toward LP's and strats? It's no coincidence that you got
bitten by the strat bug. The longer you play one, the more
you realize it's a perfect design.

I agree with the other guys who said to hang on to at least
one of your current axes. May as well round out your collection
with all the essentials.

 

[Biu]

Hehe, I used to be a Gibson guy until I played my first Ibanez Prestige, and that was it, my GAS exploded! Sold the LP Custom and bought a Prestige Ibanez. But don't sell both of your Ibanezes, for the love of Ibanez don't! I know how you feel though. Also, I don't think Paul Gilbert would appreciated it if you sold both your Ibanezes

 

[dalastcaffeine]

idk man...strat imo give the perfect shred tone..

 

[strat_master]

YOU SOLD YOUR GIBSON LP CUSTOM FOR AN IBANEZ?!?!??!?!??!?!?! I dunno personanly i liek mroe classic type of guitars like strats, les pauls, teles and SG's i i were you i would be crying for my LP back.

 

[kmcguitars]

That's the beauty of Stratocasters, You don't have to buy one
outright. You can kinda grow one from parts. Of the 1/2 a
dozen strats I have only one was bought new. The rest came
together piece by piece over the course of time. I even had one
strat stolen from me, I got the neck back a year later and regrew it !

 

[midnite_man]

Have you ever noticed that the guys who have played the longest, or have owned the most guitars, always gravitate
toward LP's and strats? It's no coincidence that you got
bitten by the strat bug. The longer you play one, the more
you realize it's a perfect design.

I agree with the other guys who said to hang on to at least
one of your current axes. May as well round out your collection
with all the essentials.

I gotta go along with you on this one Gearjoneser. IMO the Stratocaster is the most versatile guitar on the market. My advice to RACER X is to play a bunch of 'em and find the Strat neck that fits your hand the best, and make sure the neck to body joint is a tight fit for good sustain and tone.
THEN, get yourself a set of SD pups and slap 'em in.
Rock on.

 

[midnite_man]

Don't forget, there's some great wiring diagrams available at this website for Strats when you get ready to do some tweakin'.
Good luck!

 

[Jonny R]

I used to have mainly shredder guitars, but I mainly have strat & tele style ones now.

I would recommend also looking at other strat options like G&L Legacys or S-500s


"I hated Strats in the beginning, but that's all I play now" - Dann Huff

 

[Mincer]

Love the shape, but also like refinements by several companies. Love the 'sculpted' look of my Ernie Ball Silhouette Special, and the 4+2 headstock, locking tuners and lower weight. I also like humbuckers better than SCs. Fender is kinda locked into not refining the basic strat appointments, because of the conservative buying public. They might change a knob or a pickup or a color or a neck shape, but they really can't change much else. That why I like 'refined' models by other companies because they aren't linked to tradition.

 

[midnite_man]

Fender is kinda locked into not refining the basic strat appointments, because of the conservative buying public. They might change a knob or a pickup or a color or a neck shape, but they really can't change much else. That why I like 'refined' models by other companies because they aren't linked to tradition.

What? Refined?
That's quite a statement, Mincer, unless you're only referring to the Standard Strat. I kinda find your words a little hard to understand when Fender offers so many different styles of the Stratocaster. I mean, how refined can you get? 50's, 60's, 70's RI models, Deluxe series, Hot Rod series, Jeff Beck nodel, Eric Clapton model, Jimmie Vaughn model, SRV model, Custom Shop, etc. All kinds of different neck shapes, body and neck woods, and different pickups mixed in there as well. I could list ALL the different Strat guitars Fender has to offer and the differences between them based on the specs Fender supplies, but you can go to the Fender website and see for yourself.
What would "other companies" have to copy from if the Strat hadn't been invented? That pretty much links them all to the Strat "tradition," don't you think?
Even the Standard Strat comes in either a U.S. or Mexican version, and some of the components differ on those two models as well.
The bottom line is the Fender Stratocaster look, sound, and playability speaks for itself, and there's at least one model for every guitar player out there to feel comfortable with. I'll take that "tradition" any day.
By the way, I am by no means conservative....

 

[Empty Pockets]

Essential Guitars:
Classic Fender (Tele, Strat, Mustang) for the pickguard look
Classic Gibson (SG, 335) 'cuz red guitars are cool
One shredder (Jackson, Ibanez) so you can still be "metal"
One Acoustic 'cuz everybody's got one
Something weird (V, BC Rich) to get people's attention
One baritone so you can be "current"
One seven string for the same reason
One four-string bass
One five-string bass
and umm...
oh nevermind

 

[Mincer]

Hey, I own an 82, and had a 96 mexi, and love them both...what I am saying is that Fender makes 200 versions of Strats that are 'slightly different'. Maybe different pickups, colors, neckshapes, etc, but hey..they could probably offer 1 model, and let you choose your options.
They can't, however, change the shape- like Music Man did, or G&L, or Charvel, or Ibanez...they have certain parameters in which they work with. The shape stays the same, so does the headstock. Anderson Guitars changed the formula sucessfully because they are not linked to a 'tradition'. So did G&L, so did Music Man, and many other companies.
Fender doesn't offer what I currently want in a guitar, although I could buy it through their Custom Shop, paying about $3-4k...is a mongrel stat worth it so I can say 'look, its a Fender'..no way! Either I will build it or get a smaller builder to do it..they need the $ more than Fender does.