School me on Strats.... so many to choose from

[Audioholic]

I am Jonsen for a strat lately, as posted before.

have a limited price range, looking at the 600-700 dollar range it appears there are quite a few strats to choose from.

- Fender Deluxe Lone Star Strat
- Fender Deluxe Roadhouse Strat
- Fender Deluxe Player's Strat
- Fender Highway 1 Stratocaster
- Fender Highway 1 Stratocaster HSS
- Fender Deluxe Fat Strat

The only one of these I have played was the Highway one. While I am not really used to strats, I was pleased with the sound. Help me understand what are the major differences. I am mainly looking for a strat to cover what a strat does well, that single coil sound, but I am not against having a humbucker, as long as I could coax that standard sound.

 

[LedZep77]

Any objection to buying used? You should be able to find a used MIA in that price range. I've seen them as low as $500 on my local Craigslist.

 

[Audioholic]

Any objection to buying used? You should be able to find a used MIA in that price range. I've seen them as low as $500 on my local Craigslist.

No real objections to buying used, though the Highway ones are made in America as well. I did prefer the MIA strats much over the MIM ones I tried a few times, but can't justify the 1300 plus for some of them. Though for me, I usually need to try out a guitar first hand before buying, just so many variables on a fiddle, some just feel better then others, its hard to buy sight unplayed, so if I did go used, I would much prefer to try it out first hand.

 

[LedZep77]

Any objection to buying used? You should be able to find a used MIA in that price range. I've seen them as low as $500 on my local Craigslist.

No real objections to buying used, though the Highway ones are made in America as well. I did prefer the MIA strats much over the MIM ones I tried a few times, but can't justify the 1300 plus for some of them. Though for me, I usually need to try out a guitar first hand before buying, just so many variables on a fiddle, some just feel better then others, its hard to buy sight unplayed, so if I did go used, I would much prefer to try it out first hand.

The Highway 1's are nice, and the stock pickups sound really nice. My issue is the jumbo frets, which are not my cup of tea. To be honest, I actually preferred the Hwy 1 pickups to my American Deluxe pickups when I tried them both side by side, but the Deluxe just played so nice and smooth. I'm not sure where you're located, but if you're near a decent sized area, I'm sure you could find a good deal on Craigslist, and you would get to try before you buy

 

[EvilBatman]

One caveat I'll pass on about Fender...

Many of their guitars are good. Solid 7's in my book on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being best. That being said, play as many of them as you possibly can. Most of the ones I've played have been in the 5-7 (nice to good) range but you can find one that is great if you look long enough.

 

[Audioholic]

One caveat I'll pass on about Fender...

Many of their guitars are good. Solid 7's in my book on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being best. That being said, play as many of them as you possibly can. Most of the ones I've played have been in the 5-7 (nice to good) range but you can find one that is great if you look long enough.

A reason why I Must play a guitar before I buy, Sometimes no two guitars feel the same, even from the same make/model. A good setup however will even it out tons.

 

[boof]

The fact that Fender has so many variations on the same theme is a complaint i have about them more and more. I tend to stick with the custom shop strats based on thier vintage bodies and necks (54, 57, 59, 60s) Fenders can be hit and miss. I have owned some great ones and some that were crap. so as someone else said, first and foremost go out and play them. I will not buy a strat that I havent sat down and played.

grab the catalogs and have a read
http://www.fender.com/resources/catalogs.php

you will more likley find differences in the feel with the neck shapes and frets more than anything else. 7.25 in vintage models and 9.5 in modern models in general but there are also many exceptions to this even compound radius necks on some that I have seen at guitar shows. aside from obvious differences of maple, rosewood, alder and ash.

After that some differences will be the bridge that they use and pickups along with some switching options like being able to tap some models that have an HSS configuration.

if you are looking for a traditional strat sound best to stick with one that has an alder body.
outside of that the pickups vary from strat to strat and personal opinion is that what they put in their lower end strats do them no justice. I like the fat 50s pickups they make. some of the higher end master built guitars the maker will also wind thier own pickups as well and yes you can actually tell the difference.

bottom line of my 2 cents is if you find one that is in your price range and it feels right and seems like it is well made then go with it and perhaps swap out the pickups at some point.

Boof

 

[chunktone]

I am Jonsen for a strat lately, as posted before.

I am mainly looking for a strat to cover what a strat does well, that single coil sound, but I am not against having a humbucker, as long as I could coax that standard sound.

If you're looking for what a Strat does I personally would avoid any type of humbuckers. NONE of them sound like single-coil pickups. Even humbuckers that "split well" still don't sound like a real single-coil. If the hum you get with single-coils bugs you too much Suhr Guitars SSC system is great for dealing with that.

 

[blackba]

If you're looking for what a Strat does I personally would avoid any type of humbuckers. NONE of them sound like single-coil pickups. Even humbuckers that "split well" still don't sound like a real single-coil. If the hum you get with single-coils bugs you too much Suhr Guitars SSC system is great for dealing with that.

+1 Although I will say that a split humbucker can still sound really good. In some ways I prefer the anderson H2+ humbucker pickup split in one of my MIA strats to the Suhr FL Standard Bridge SC in my other MIA strat. Its been hard in my experience to get the Bridge SC to sound good by itself and I am a long time strat user. This actually has me thinking about selling my SSS MIA strat....

I would get a used MIJ or MIA standard strat. Should be lots of ones you can try in your area....

 

[troublehead]

The strat is my favorite guitar by a long shot. However, my experiences have been hit or miss.

Personally, I don't like H/S/S configurations. I have had an American Deluxe HSS and the mahogany bodied American HSS as well. Never got along with them and decided that a strat was meant to be SSS. A large part of that was also a chage in musical direction as well.

As far as build/quality...........I don't care much for the thinner modern necks that you find on the Deluxe. I have really small hands, but I still prefer the bigger vintage necks. They also add some "beef" that you don't get with the others IMO. Last year, I bought a new 2008 American Standard online unseen. The guitar was a POS. Sounded really thin and felt like a toy. I was severely disappointed and returned it. It was a big step down from the Deluxe series. Then again, I have a problem with the pups on the Deluxe series. They just don't have that "snappy" traditional single coil sound. And the S1 switching is just a total waste of extra electronics IMO. I never found a use for it.

As far as pickups go........my favorites are the Custom Shop Fat 50's and Modern Classics. I highly recommend these over the Texas Specials and Tex-Mex singles.

I have owned 2 MIM Robert Cray strats that were really good for the money once you swap out the bridge pup (neck and middle were nice). They were excellent fit/finish for a MIM strat.

My current Custom Shop is in a whole nother league. It feels like a rock and has much more depth to the sound. Stays in tune like a dream and I couldn't ask for anything else. There is really a difference in the Custom Shop guitars. I have played 2 others that wowed me in the same way. I put a BG single sized P-90 in the bridge and it sounds flat out amazing and doesn't lose that "quack" in position 2 that happens when you put a humbucker in the bridge. Yet it sounds thicker than a standard single coil. This is the best guitar I have ever owned hands down. I rarely pick up my Les Paul anymore.

 

[LedZep77]

Then again, I have a problem with the pups on the Deluxe series. They just don't have that "snappy" traditional single coil sound. And the S1 switching is just a total waste of extra electronics IMO. I never found a use for it.

Yep

 

[Variable]

I am Jonsen for a strat lately, as posted before.

have a limited price range, looking at the 600-700 dollar range it appears there are quite a few strats to choose from.

- Fender Deluxe Lone Star Strat
- Fender Deluxe Roadhouse Strat
- Fender Deluxe Player's Strat
- Fender Highway 1 Stratocaster
- Fender Highway 1 Stratocaster HSS
- Fender Deluxe Fat Strat

The only one of these I have played was the Highway one. While I am not really used to strats, I was pleased with the sound. Help me understand what are the major differences. I am mainly looking for a strat to cover what a strat does well, that single coil sound, but I am not against having a humbucker, as long as I could coax that standard sound.

Are you locked into the Fender camp? You can find a fantastic American G&L Legacy or S-500 for that price range used.

http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_nkw=G&...r&_sticky=1&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_sop=3&_sc=1

 

[Audioholic]

I am Jonsen for a strat lately, as posted before.

have a limited price range, looking at the 600-700 dollar range it appears there are quite a few strats to choose from.

- Fender Deluxe Lone Star Strat
- Fender Deluxe Roadhouse Strat
- Fender Deluxe Player's Strat
- Fender Highway 1 Stratocaster
- Fender Highway 1 Stratocaster HSS
- Fender Deluxe Fat Strat

The only one of these I have played was the Highway one. While I am not really used to strats, I was pleased with the sound. Help me understand what are the major differences. I am mainly looking for a strat to cover what a strat does well, that single coil sound, but I am not against having a humbucker, as long as I could coax that standard sound.

Are you locked into the Fender camp? You can find a fantastic American G&L Legacy or S-500 for that price range used.

http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_nkw=G&...r&_sticky=1&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_sop=3&_sc=1

The G&L's look very nice, but I am pretty sure I don't want to buy a guitar without trying it out first hand, and I don't have very good music stores here that would carry something like that. If someone in the Orlando area is selling one then I would for sure go try it out.