Mahogany Stratocaster

bacchanalian

https://i.imgur.com/z4cENx2.jpg

https://shop.fender.com/en-US/electric-guitars/stratocaster/2017-limited-edition-american-professional-mahogany-stratocaster/0175105733.html?rl=en_US&rl=en_GB

Quite like the idea of this Stratocaster. 
Has anyone played one or something similar?

 

Whitecat

bacchanalian said:

https://i.imgur.com/z4cENx2.jpg

https://shop.fender.com/en-US/electric-guitars/stratocaster/2017-limited-edition-american-professional-mahogany-stratocaster/0175105733.html?rl=en_US&rl=en_GB

Quite like the idea of this Stratocaster. 
Has anyone played one or something similar?

 

Two things about it are a bit of a turnoff - one, it’s a flat top, no bevels/arm carve, and two, I’m 99% sure the “top” is just a veneer - so what’s the point other than cosmetic? 

The idea of reclaimed Honduran mahogany is cool though. There are a couple Teles they made in the same line of stuff that are more “natural” looking. 

mart

Whitecat said:
...

Two things about it are a bit of a turnoff - one, it’s a flat top, no bevels/arm carve, and two, I’m 99% sure the “top” is just a veneer - so what’s the point other than cosmetic? 
...

It’s a mahogany body with a maple cap, a formula that seemed to work quite well for Gibson. Besides, plain mahogany looks like granny’s old wardrobe, so it needs some covering imho, whether that’s a quilted mahogany top like a bass I use to own, or a quilted maple cap as here. And the cap is why there’s no bevel.

Whitecat

mart said:

Whitecat said:
...

Two things about it are a bit of a turnoff - one, it’s a flat top, no bevels/arm carve, and two, I’m 99% sure the “top” is just a veneer - so what’s the point other than cosmetic? 
...

It’s a mahogany body with a maple cap, a formula that seemed to work quite well for Gibson. Besides, plain mahogany looks like granny’s old wardrobe, so it needs some covering imho, whether that’s a quilted mahogany top like a bass I use to own, or a quilted maple cap as here. And the cap is why there’s no bevel.

But I don’t think you can call it a “cap”. I think it’s a paper-thin sheet of quilted maple that has zero effect on tone. 

Gibsons have thick tops. It’s a much bigger deal in terms of the wood ratio. 

Fender can do proper maple tops with the bevel. The Select series was a perfect example of that. This one just looks like they hit a cost ceiling and said “fuck it.”

If it’s so ugly, why not just paint it?

horsehead

Probett Guitars are all mahogany I believe, from the rooter to the tooter

Danielsguitars

horsehead said:

Probett Guitars are all mahogany I believe, from the rooter to the tooter

I thought he made them with mahogany and a proper carved full thickness cap like a les paul, let me know if I'm wrong 

bacchanalian

horsehead said:

Probett Guitars are all mahogany I believe, from the rooter to the tooter

customkits said:

horsehead said:

Probett Guitars are all mahogany I believe, from the rooter to the tooter

I thought he made them with mahogany and a proper carved full thickness cap like a les paul, let me know if I'm wrong 

Interesting you have mentioned Probett as they were my first thoughts also.  
I think he does both mahogany and with a maple cap.
I would love to have just one guitar and never have to shop again and was thinking Probett might be the answer.

I like the idea of this strat but I think it would be a bit of a white elephant.  You would have to really love it to buy it. 

robgilmo

Mahogany is gorgeous, flamed even nicer, why put a maple cap on it? My guess is its Sepele or some other cheap bland form of Mahogany substitute. 

Strangefan

I'm not sure why anyone here is questioning if it's a cap or vaneer as it's written plainly on the Fender site what it is. 

bacchanalian

Strangefan said:

I'm not sure why anyone here is questioning if it's a cap or vaneer as it's written plainly on the Fender site what it is. 

Agreed. It was the quality of the wood that drew my attention.  Surely that old growth reclaimed mahogany is one of the reasons old guitars are considered better than newer ones.

Hoping to try one later in the week as there appears to be one locally

Whitecat

Strangefan said:

I'm not sure why anyone here is questioning if it's a cap or vaneer as it's written plainly on the Fender site what it is. 

Eh? It says it’s a “top”. That doesn’t add any clarity. 

”Top” has no meaning that can be legally enforced in law. 

The quality of these tops is too good and too consistent for it to be a thick slab. It’s like a PRS SE - beautiful figure, but it’s basically a piece of paper. And they can cut 30 to 40 off a top billet that would otherwise do only one or two guitars. 

Also, the fact that it’s a flat top and the existence of binding seem to serve this theory.

Would be happy to be proven wrong. I might just buy one. They are starting to reduce the prices on them. 

guitars4you

https://www.gak.co.uk/en/fender-limited-edition-american-deluxe-mahogany-hss-stratocaster-hss-sunburst/111218

this version available as well from a couple of years ago

Fez

guitars4you said:

https://www.gak.co.uk/en/fender-limited-edition-american-deluxe-mahogany-hss-stratocaster-hss-sunburst/111218

this version available as well from a couple of years ago

Sounds Great had one of those a couple of years ago apart from the push button thing it was really nice.

Whitecat

robgilmo said:

Mahogany is gorgeous, flamed even nicer, why put a maple cap on it? My guess is its Sepele or some other cheap bland form of Mahogany substitute. 

They are pretty ultra-specific about what kind of mahogany it is, and it’s pretty much the holy grail of mahoganies as far as guitars go. 

Whitecat

You’d think that they’d mention the maple at least once in a blog post with an interview with the wood buyer for these instruments. Almost like they’re avoiding talking about it. 

https://www.fender.com/articles/namm-2017/see-the-new-2017-limited-edition-exotic-collection

Interesting note at the end though about the necks. Li’l extra mojo there?

WezV

Whitecat said:

robgilmo said:

Mahogany is gorgeous, flamed even nicer, why put a maple cap on it? My guess is its Sepele or some other cheap bland form of Mahogany substitute. 

They are pretty ultra-specific about what kind of mahogany it is, and it’s pretty much the holy grail of mahoganies as far as guitars go. 

And you can clearly see it’s not Sapelli 

ToneControl

my oldest strat is one built from custom ESP parts in the early 80s
The body was sold as mahogany, from Charlie Chandlers. The guy who bought all the parts paid over £500 for all the parts in 1983, so I would assume it was all cost-no-object
Some luthiers have said it might be sapele, I'm not sure how to tell the difference

Anyway: it's darker and more meaty sounding than most strats. I once had a Kinman set of pickups in it that I hand-picked, that later became the woodstock set (i.e. over-wound). They were too dark for it, I had to take them off.
Since then it's had an EMG DG20 set on it (ultra clean EMG SAs with active EQ), which work very well indeed

robgilmo

WezV said:

Whitecat said:

robgilmo said:

Mahogany is gorgeous, flamed even nicer, why put a maple cap on it? My guess is its Sepele or some other cheap bland form of Mahogany substitute. 

They are pretty ultra-specific about what kind of mahogany it is, and it’s pretty much the holy grail of mahoganies as far as guitars go. 

And you can clearly see it’s not Sapelli 

Reclaimed can mean a lot of things, reclaimed from what? Is it heartwood or sap wood? And why is it hidden under a maple veneer?

Philly_Q

I think the maple top (cap, veneer or whatever it is) looks gaudy.  Nothing wrong with the look of plain mahogany IMO.

WezV

robgilmo said:

WezV said:

Whitecat said:

robgilmo said:

Mahogany is gorgeous, flamed even nicer, why put a maple cap on it? My guess is its Sepele or some other cheap bland form of Mahogany substitute. 

They are pretty ultra-specific about what kind of mahogany it is, and it’s pretty much the holy grail of mahoganies as far as guitars go. 

And you can clearly see it’s not Sapelli 

Reclaimed can mean a lot of things, reclaimed from what? Is it heartwood or sap wood? And why is it hidden under a maple veneer?

It’s not hidden on the back and you can see it’s pale with consistent grain.  Looks exactly like what they claim it is.

Danny1969

My Superstrat is a Mahogany body with a maple cap, I asked for the maple cap because I wanted a Les Paul type guitar in a Strat shape.