Gunny47
New member
Last Saturday, I went to a crap-load of guitar stores in New York City. I was looking for a good strat and a good amp to play and maybe I would put one or the other on hold etc. First, I went to Sam Ash and talked to the guy at the store about vintage style strats. Older guy, definitely knew what he was talking about. Pointed out some of the signature strats like the Jeff Beck and Eric Johnson models and said that they were really good too along with the American Vintage series and the Custom Shop Reissues.
He let me loose to play the ones that I seemed to like out of a bunch of strats on a multi-guitar stand thing. I was looking for the 50s styling because of the wider necks and maple fretboards. I seen a '56 Closet Classic in Sonic Blue with the whammy bar in it. I looked around for an amp and found a vintage blackface Pro Reverb (not sure if it was all original but it was in great shape anyway and to my knowledge, was fully functional). Neck pickup, reverb at about 3 or 4, set up with lowered mids and slightly higher bass and I instantly got in a good "Lenny" sound. Very clean like a traditional blackface, but you could turn the volume a little bit higher than the massive Twin Reverb. This tone had to be one of the best tones I've ever gotten. That amp really complimented the single coils of the strat and almost thickened the tone up a tiny bit, just enough to make a nice difference.
The neck and fretboard was beautiful. The boat neck was a perfect size for me because I'm used to a big 50s neck on my R7 and the maple fretboard was not too greasy (didn't have too much finish). It felt real solid too unlike the C necks or even the V necks on most strats (I found the boat neck to be wider and just have more mass than a V neck, but is a similar shape). I think that maple board gave me a nice bluesy snap to the tone. I'm used to hearing and playing rosewood fretboard strats and the difference between the maple and the rosewood was like changing your strings. Maple is more bright and snappy and seemed less sqashy. Not too much of a difference, but I liked it better.
Slapped the bridge pickup on and it was surf heaven after tweaking the settings on the amp. Because the whammy bar arm was there, I could do some stuff with that. Played in the surf style and as soon as the guy at the store seen me doing divebombs on that thing, I told him that I would retune it after i was done. To my surprise, the guitar was not that much out of tune after. The closet classic finish of the guitar and the color was really nice too. The light checking of the finish actually looked really cool, and I'm not the sort of guy of getting stuff aged and "messed up on purpose." Sonic blue looked cool, it's like daphne blue but less girly. I did not even know that they made that guitar in sonic blue and went home and could not find it.
The pickups and the pickguard and knobs and stuff was aged slightly too which made it look really cool too and the sounds I was getting out of that gutiar with that amp were so great. If I had the money, I would definitely buy that guitar, but I wasn't considering a custom shop then...now I am. I could really picture myself playing some texas blues with a tube screamer with that guitar too. Mainly, the neck pickup was just stellar. I could go so far on it. I still prefer the bridge humbucker over a bridge single coil, but thats why god invented the ability to have more than one guitar.
I'm sure that the great sounds I was getting was greatly attributed to the vintage Pro Reverb amp. I did not take a close look at it really or read how much the price was which was foolish. I will complete my guitar store trip story later. Bottom line for now is that I am now, after reflecting on my Fender crusade, considering paying for a custom shop strat.
He let me loose to play the ones that I seemed to like out of a bunch of strats on a multi-guitar stand thing. I was looking for the 50s styling because of the wider necks and maple fretboards. I seen a '56 Closet Classic in Sonic Blue with the whammy bar in it. I looked around for an amp and found a vintage blackface Pro Reverb (not sure if it was all original but it was in great shape anyway and to my knowledge, was fully functional). Neck pickup, reverb at about 3 or 4, set up with lowered mids and slightly higher bass and I instantly got in a good "Lenny" sound. Very clean like a traditional blackface, but you could turn the volume a little bit higher than the massive Twin Reverb. This tone had to be one of the best tones I've ever gotten. That amp really complimented the single coils of the strat and almost thickened the tone up a tiny bit, just enough to make a nice difference.
The neck and fretboard was beautiful. The boat neck was a perfect size for me because I'm used to a big 50s neck on my R7 and the maple fretboard was not too greasy (didn't have too much finish). It felt real solid too unlike the C necks or even the V necks on most strats (I found the boat neck to be wider and just have more mass than a V neck, but is a similar shape). I think that maple board gave me a nice bluesy snap to the tone. I'm used to hearing and playing rosewood fretboard strats and the difference between the maple and the rosewood was like changing your strings. Maple is more bright and snappy and seemed less sqashy. Not too much of a difference, but I liked it better.
Slapped the bridge pickup on and it was surf heaven after tweaking the settings on the amp. Because the whammy bar arm was there, I could do some stuff with that. Played in the surf style and as soon as the guy at the store seen me doing divebombs on that thing, I told him that I would retune it after i was done. To my surprise, the guitar was not that much out of tune after. The closet classic finish of the guitar and the color was really nice too. The light checking of the finish actually looked really cool, and I'm not the sort of guy of getting stuff aged and "messed up on purpose." Sonic blue looked cool, it's like daphne blue but less girly. I did not even know that they made that guitar in sonic blue and went home and could not find it.
The pickups and the pickguard and knobs and stuff was aged slightly too which made it look really cool too and the sounds I was getting out of that gutiar with that amp were so great. If I had the money, I would definitely buy that guitar, but I wasn't considering a custom shop then...now I am. I could really picture myself playing some texas blues with a tube screamer with that guitar too. Mainly, the neck pickup was just stellar. I could go so far on it. I still prefer the bridge humbucker over a bridge single coil, but thats why god invented the ability to have more than one guitar.
I'm sure that the great sounds I was getting was greatly attributed to the vintage Pro Reverb amp. I did not take a close look at it really or read how much the price was which was foolish. I will complete my guitar store trip story later. Bottom line for now is that I am now, after reflecting on my Fender crusade, considering paying for a custom shop strat.