The Soul of the Stratocaster...?

[That90'sGuy]

Re: The Soul of the Stratocaster...?

Different people are simply drawn to the tone of different instruments. I don't find I have to work for anything with my super strat. I love strat tones, but I need a humbucker for distortion. I just like the thicker, fuller tone that a humbucker provides in that case. Thickening up single coils doesn't take much, and a blend pot also does wonders (there's a reason why I love them so much).

If you dig the sound you're making, who cares if it's versatile? I'm sure a les paul of prs with coil tapping features can coax some decent strat tones, but I prefer actual single coils for anything clean or overdriven. For funk, it's hard for me to imagine anything else.

A lot of my heros used Les Pauls, but when it came down to it, it wasn't for me. I wasn't happy with the tones I was stuck with and I ended up gravitating towards a strat. After playing one in a store (which I never used to do), I was hooked and that thinner sound just works for me and a lot of the playing I do. I'm not fighting the instrument, I'm allowing it to mold with the ideas I have in my head and since it's reproducing what I want it to, it's going to encourage me to be that much better of a player.

 

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: The Soul of the Stratocaster...?

Just so you know, a lot of the early Bryan Adams stuff was done with a strat with a humbucker loaded in the rear. I think he nicknamed it 'the beast'.

No I am not talking about Reckless and older albums, more from into the fire and waking up the neighbours.
Plus have seen him live quite a few times now, he used that Fiesta red maple strat, the sunburst strat. and his old Tele, but that blonde 70's strat never showed up, he used a PRS that sounded like **** compared to the others...hehe quite funny really, plus he threw that one around like he wanted it to die on stage, he really abused it, did not see him use it again ever after that concert, had two old Marshall stacks, one white and one red, way cool, the other concerts he used his three speaker cabs with the vox-hiwatt amps, vox poweramps taken from ac-30's, and a single preamp from an funny two-channel hiwatt 50 watts amp, that some japanese company made in the 80's.

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: The Soul of the Stratocaster...?

The strat is like a continuation of the musician, not a tool that covers him up to make everything sound pretty and effortless.

I find this to be a bit of a stretch, the notion that humbucking pickups are in some way "cheating." I also don't really see the value in an instrument requiring me to fight it to get a decent sound.

 

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: The Soul of the Stratocaster...?

That effort will cause you to sound better, due to you digging into the guitar.
Just like playing an acoustic.
Low action humbucker guitars does not require much effort, can be slightly more dull and the dynamics are not so wide as in loweroutput stuff.
Plus the frequency curve is wider on lower output, making it more demanding to play, but will be lively and interesting if you can command it.
There are subtle stuff going on, it is not about cheating or stuff like that.
It just requires a different playing and approach, nothing wrong in working for your music, that is just another part of it.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: The Soul of the Stratocaster...?

I definitely connect with strats. There was a time where I was convinced I'd never play any other guitar. It's a design that is just basic perfection. Pure, clean, and 5 very useable tones to choose from. I've given a lot of thought as to why the very best guitar players on earth gravitate toward the Stratocaster, Telecaster, and Les Paul, and it HAS to be that they just hit the nail on the head......not because famous guys used them. Famous guitar players used them because they sifted through every single guitar on the planet, and naturally gravitated to the ones that 'hit the nail on the head.' I've been playing guitar since I was 9 years old, which means 25 years, and I've had a lot of guitars of all different styles. I've used strats, fallen away from them, used Pauls, fallen away from them, but everytime, I come right back to the source......just like air and water. Even when I play other guitars I really like for awhile, I eventually realize they didn't 'hit the nail on the head' with their design like the Strat, Tele, and Paul. Maybe I'm crazy, but I don't think so. Neither does the vast majority of serious players on this earth, and there's something to be said for that. Between Strats and Pauls, I think the strat lets the human element shine through a little better, and some would argue that the Tele, even moreso. It's all just an interesting topic of conversation to me. Good Post!

 

[Hot _Grits]

Re: The Soul of the Stratocaster...?

I find this to be a bit of a stretch, the notion that humbucking pickups are in some way "cheating." I also don't really see the value in an instrument requiring me to fight it to get a decent sound.

I don't think it's cheating, but using anything that limits the guitar's dynamic range (such as overwound humbuckers, high gain, compression, lots of effects) is a trade-off: you may be able to play better, but you will lose articulation, variety and dynamic range. You have to make an aesthetic and artistic judgement as to how much you want to trade to get the sound you hear in your head.

You can also hear when a player doesn't have any dynamic range to his playing. Everything sounds the same, and can become stale and difficult to listen to. Guys who can really play give you everything, from sheer physical brutality to whisper-quiet.

As far as breadth of expression and dynamics goes, the yardstick for me is Jeff Beck. he's done some great stuff with Les Pauls, but his most breathtaking stuff is all tele, strat and bare hands.

I'm a pretty vintage guy, and I like a certain amount of attack to work against. So for me, it's fairly dry amp, lower gain, lower output pickups, strings not too light, action not too low. This applies to my PRS, too. One area where I do trade off is liking jumbo frets on fenders, which go a long way to making them more playable. This brightens the tone up a tiny bit, but I can live with that.

 

[El Dorado]

Re: The Soul of the Stratocaster...?

I think an instrument has to earn a soul, it's not born with one whether it's a strat or a daisy rock :laugh2:. I feel my wolfgang special has mucho soul because i've been playing it almost every day for the last 7 years.

 

[Mincer]

Re: The Soul of the Stratocaster...?

That effort will cause you to sound better, due to you digging into the guitar.
Just like playing an acoustic.
Low action humbucker guitars does not require much effort, can be slightly more dull and the dynamics are not so wide as in loweroutput stuff.
Plus the frequency curve is wider on lower output, making it more demanding to play, but will be lively and interesting if you can command it.
There are subtle stuff going on, it is not about cheating or stuff like that.
It just requires a different playing and approach, nothing wrong in working for your music, that is just another part of it.

I don't dig into the guitar, and my guitar is pretty effortless to play. My action is low, and I use humbuckers (a CC and an APHII). One of my guitars even has (gasp) a scalloped neck. I don't think 'digging' into your guitar makes it sound better. To me, it sounds too compressed, buzzy and spiky.
So if a guitar is difficult to play, the music made will be better and more 'original'?
The best instrument for you is a very personal choice, and it is whatever it is that makes you be who you are.

 

[El Dorado]

Re: The Soul of the Stratocaster...?

I don't dig into the guitar, and my guitar is pretty effortless to play. My action is low, and I use humbuckers (a CC and an APHII). One of my guitars even has (gasp) a scalloped neck. I don't think 'digging' into your guitar makes it sound better. To me, it sounds too compressed, buzzy and spiky.
So if a guitar is difficult to play, the music made will be better and more 'original'?
The best instrument for you is a very personal choice, and it is whatever it is that makes you be who you are.

I listened to some of your clips Mincer. Definitely original and definitely gots soul

 

[Rainmaker]

Re: The Soul of the Stratocaster...?

I find this to be a bit of a stretch, the notion that humbucking pickups are in some way "cheating." I also don't really see the value in an instrument requiring me to fight it to get a decent sound.

Gonna have to agree here.

 

[Rainmaker]

Re: The Soul of the Stratocaster...?

That being said, this is a bloddy good thread. Now you're giving me GAS... justified GAS.

 

[Rainmaker]

Re: The Soul of the Stratocaster...?

One question. Do G&L's count as strats?

Or does this just really apply to low-output single coils?

 

[JeffB]

Re: The Soul of the Stratocaster...?

That being said, this is a bloddy good thread.

agreed..some good discussion here, which is what I had hoped for

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: The Soul of the Stratocaster...?

One question. Do G&L's count as strats?

Or does this just really apply to low-output single coils?

I count my G&L as a Strat! It's got the Strat shape and Strat wood and uses three Strat type single coil pickups and a vibrato that won't stay in tune. That's a Strat if you ask me! :laugh2: Lew

 

[Martian]

Re: The Soul of the Stratocaster...?

Once again, I get to show my old age.

Musically, I grew up "prime time" with the British Invasion of the 1960s and naturally, the Psychedelic Era. Single coil (SC) pickup guitars were for the most part, more common then humbucker equipped ones. The only widely used preamps back then were wah-wah pedals, fuzz boxes and a looped tape delay, all with their albeit, archaic technology of the time. In any case, then as now, these devices are not vital to any guitarist's stylings.

Original design Strats are tougher to play than say, an original high-end Gibson. Original design Strat players usually don't stray far from OEM SC pickup designs nor do they use a lot of pre-amp devices. Granted, there's always exceptions to both.

SCs are far from pre-amp and faulty structure wiring friendly. We all know about the noise. Sure, one can put a noise gate on a SC's processed chain but then, the inherent, full frequencies of the SC no longer exist. A classic example is a stacked HB. This point has been argued to death since "day one", but IMHO, NO stacked HB sounds EXACTLY like the SC it's supposed to be emulating. Even simply shielding the piss out of a guitar cuts down on the SC's frequency response. In either case, one will hear the BASIC tonality of the SC but NEVER the SC's whole dynamic spectrum once the circuit is from an electronics standpoint, improved upon. Here's the importance of all this: Such alterations will make you play the Strat differently too because with an original design Strat, you make the totality of the instrument a part of you, playing WITH it rather than simply ON it.

Us "Old School" players work predominantly with the inherent tone of the guitar itself through predominantly the amp itself, relying on our playing technique with the natural harmonic distortion of the amp (if desired), to achieve the final result. See, back in the day, a player's abilities and his kit (stock guitar and amp) were all that was readily available.

I am not slamming anyone else's stylings. Many of today's players have a phenomenal sound utilizing today's state of the art stuff.

Although among some of my guitars, I have a Ric 330, even a Gibson LP with HBs, my #1 guitar has always been an original design Strat with some form of moderate output single coils. And yes, I agree that in today's day and age, maintaining a "kit only" philosophy may limit a player's overall scope but it doesn't necessarily mean that the player has a problem with it. I know I don't.

Just my two cents. YMMV

 

[Mincer]

Re: The Soul of the Stratocaster...?

I listened to some of your clips Mincer. Definitely original and definitely gots soul

Wow, thanks so much for the kind words, you rock!

 

[Luke Duke]

Re: The Soul of the Stratocaster...?

Man....some good discussion here to be sure! I'll throw my hat in on this action.

When I bought my first guitar is was a gibson 330. 2 P90's, a hollow body, a tune-o-matic, and bigsby. I am the only person in the world it would seem with a SC gibson, and I love it the cut, the bite, the sting.

Then I bought my strat, a SD equipped fender big apple strat. To me the humbuckers good, very good but different. Whereas the SC cut through the mix like a knife the Buckers bludgeoned their was through the mix.

Next I bought my LP custom. It was the stratX10. A tone that was useable but eventually turned me off of buckers.

Then the tele came 4-5 months after the LP. This guitar spoke to me in the store. It was very much alive. The bridge pup sounded so strong and AUTHORITIVE. Throw the gain on and it sang. I felt every note ring and I felt every molecule of the guitar move in unison. I painstakingly removed the finish off of the frets and out of the neck pocket, slapped in new pups, and then lowered the action and raised the neck. It is my easiest playing (fretting etc) guitar and I love the grit I can get from it. It also cuts through unbelievably well. I'll readily admit that more than any other guitar this guitar is HARD to get tone from. Some days I can do it some I can't. That's my beef with my tele. I think it does make me a better player. My buddy Thomas thinks it is THE solidbody. I just want to try one with a bucker to see what it's like.

Some of you will remember I traded my LP for my Dr. Z. Haven't regretted it yet. I received my Godin lg with SD P90s and that guitar was like my tele taken to the next level. Warmer thicker and had a faster neck. The resonance was unbelievable and on a mahogany guitar. It felt like a new guitar though and I have since been playing it giving it the time it deserves. By this time I played my strat seldom and my dad's LP more than it. The LG tele and 330 got most of the use.

Then I picked up my Heritage and it was everything that I hoped my Gibson would be. It had soul, it felt like it could tell me stories from back in the day!I don't know if it's THE one but it's a definite possiblility. Haven't had it long enough to truly bond and see. I do know that folks like the tone.

fftopic: Now five years later said strat has 3 singles...for better or ill. Are strat SC's my favorite? No probably not. I think they have their place and as I continue to get used to them and really get my guitar set up right.I'm sure I'll respect them more, right now I enjoy my Scorpions and Great White tones. All that said I'm probably a P90's guy and don't like to fight my guitars for a good sound maybe dynamics or something but not for tone.

Luke

 

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: The Soul of the Stratocaster...?

Hehe Mincer you got a style on your own, plus you have a way different sound than most others have

 

[Quencho092]

Re: The Soul of the Stratocaster...?

It's just plain easier to make every nuance come out in a strat. If you do really soft plucking on my HH ibanez and compare it to plucking on my strat there's a world of difference.

Both types get the job done for many people, but i prefer the more touch sensitive feel of SC's.

 

[Guitar Toad]

Re: The Soul of the Stratocaster...?

This is a really great thread. I glad I found it.

FWIW, I played HB Les Paul and an Explorer before I sold everything off 15 years ago. Then, as I came back to playing this year. I never imagined that I would own and enjoy a stratocaster. But, the more I read this forum, the more I felt that I should give them a look. I bought a JV strat and the more I play it the more I like it.

I love the notch positions 2 and 4, the neck and the bridge is really cool too. Maybe it is the Single coils, maybe it's the shape, maybe it's the history. Maybe it's the great's that have played it. All I know is the they made me want to play and this fine strat that I have makes me want to play more. Especially when my amp is working right!

I don't want to just play it. I want to make it talk. I want people to feel the emotion of living as I play. I to use it to communicate joy, happiness, loneliness, saddness, indifference, acceptance, togetherness, absence, reunion. I don't just want to play didy's and riffs.

The soul of a stratocaster is the soul of the one playing it.

Everyman dies, but not everyman lives.
Every guitar player plays his notes, but I want mine to say something worth hearing, worth remembering, worthy of the time people give listening. I want my strat to proclaim a life worth living.
That is the art I am aspiring to reach with my strat.
At least I can dream to that end.