How many strats before you give up?

Strat54

HAL9000 said:

CountryDave said:

...The thing that I can never get right is the bridge pickup.  I've tried replacement pickups, over wound, really over wound, humbucking single coil sized and full buckers.  Of all I found humbuckers the most to my taste, but could never get that punch I was looking for.

^This. I like the middle and neck positions on a Strat (paricularly the middle) but find the bridge a bit thin and weedy. My Strat has been upgraded with Oil City StoneTones with a baseplate on the bridge unit. This has helped massively but I'd still like more of that Telecaster 'punch'. Unfortunately I  suspect it's a case of 'you can't get there from here'. I think possibly a hardtail Strat might be the way to go - I saw Robert Cray a few years ago now and his (hardtail) Strat definitely had more 'thump' to it than is normal for a Strat.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b214/tremolo74/nashcaster3.jpg

CountryDave

Strat54 said:

HAL9000 said:

CountryDave said:

...The thing that I can never get right is the bridge pickup.  I've tried replacement pickups, over wound, really over wound, humbucking single coil sized and full buckers.  Of all I found humbuckers the most to my taste, but could never get that punch I was looking for.

^This. I like the middle and neck positions on a Strat (paricularly the middle) but find the bridge a bit thin and weedy. My Strat has been upgraded with Oil City StoneTones with a baseplate on the bridge unit. This has helped massively but I'd still like more of that Telecaster 'punch'. Unfortunately I  suspect it's a case of 'you can't get there from here'. I think possibly a hardtail Strat might be the way to go - I saw Robert Cray a few years ago now and his (hardtail) Strat definitely had more 'thump' to it than is normal for a Strat.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b214/tremolo74/nashcaster3.jpg

That's it. Nailed it. 
I'd have that, stick a middle pickup in it and bingo. 
I think I've found my next partscaster. 

It's even moved that bloody volume control. 

HAL9000

CountryDave said:

Strat54 said:

HAL9000 said:

CountryDave said:

...The thing that I can never get right is the bridge pickup.  I've tried replacement pickups, over wound, really over wound, humbucking single coil sized and full buckers.  Of all I found humbuckers the most to my taste, but could never get that punch I was looking for.

^This. I like the middle and neck positions on a Strat (paricularly the middle) but find the bridge a bit thin and weedy. My Strat has been upgraded with Oil City StoneTones with a baseplate on the bridge unit. This has helped massively but I'd still like more of that Telecaster 'punch'. Unfortunately I  suspect it's a case of 'you can't get there from here'. I think possibly a hardtail Strat might be the way to go - I saw Robert Cray a few years ago now and his (hardtail) Strat definitely had more 'thump' to it than is normal for a Strat.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b214/tremolo74/nashcaster3.jpg

That's it. Nailed it. 
I'd have that, stick a middle pickup in it and bingo. 
I think I've found my next partscaster. 

It's even moved that bloody volume control. 

Ooooh nice. Agree with @CountryDave - I'd have that with a middle pickup. I'd want the second tone control though.

paulnb57

I had that "hate the Strat bridge pickup" thing for years and discounted them favouring Teles I tried allsorts and gave up, but recently I tried again with a eureka moment, that being, "it's not compulsory to use the bridge pickup," so with some exeptions I just don't use it....I really like all the other pickup mixes...
I have considered rewiring through a four way, so that with the switch in the "bridge" position it would be bridge and middle, standard from there on up......not tried it yet though....
However what has worked for me is Fat 50's with a BK Sinner with plate at the bridge, "Standard" Single coils with a Fat 50 at the bridge, rewiring the tone controls so that the neck and bridge have a tone and the middle has none, although I don't use the neck tone control......works for me and I now have three Strats and love them all.....

Roysterdoyster

I love strats,I doubt if I'd have anything else.If you're thinking going up a level to say CS,I did an experiment the other night with my strat (CS) and a mates (not a USA standard) but a MIA of some sort with a large headstock. Not sure the exact model. But anyway,in terms of sounds,I'm sad to admit the sound/tone wasn't hugely different and the more effects that went on,the less that difference was.However, the difference in the feel/playability of them was quite astonishing. The CS was miles ahead. Incomparable really. I would had always said that sort of stuff about feel etc was bollox,but it's not. True story. Get the CS!

ICBM

paulnb57 said:

I have considered rewiring through a four way, so that with the switch in the "bridge" position it would be bridge and middle, standard from there on up......not tried it yet though....

No reason that won't work, although you'll also need to rewire the tone controls depending on what you want to work in which position, since the two switch poles both have to be used for pickup selection.

I've done a few for customers with a three-way switch to give bridge+middle, middle+neck and neck. If you never use the other two sounds, why have them (accidentally) available?

The easiest way to give the normal tone control operation is to use two separate caps, so the tone controls are independent, and connect them directly to the middle pickup and the neck pickup.

thomasw88

I've had a bundle of strats over the years.   But now have 2, and that will probably do me..

got an old tokai springy sound from around 1980 and an levinson blade texas pro.     You need to wire the bridge pickup to a tone pot and get a nice beefy pickup in the bridge.  sounds great.  The tokai was the only guitar I wished I hadn't sold, and then it turned up on ebay a few years after I'd sold it so I bought it again.


saying that I mostly use the neck pickup (currently BK Irish tours I think in one and some bulldog texas floods in the other).

Jalapeno

octatonic said:

I've played the same Strat for the last 6 years, except it was made by Tom Anderson and not Fender.

This, only it's more like 12yrs.

I still have my 90s Lace Sensors Strat - doesn't get much play though.

Hick81

The position of middle pup is annoying, and the sound from the bridge. 

For those thinking Partscaster you need not waste your time, Fender have already introduced a model that addresses these problems...

https://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/product/161116304111007-634620--fender-custom-shop-limited-edition-robbie-robertson-last?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIuY7ymsCR2wIVg7HtCh0zJgG4EAQYASABEgKnV_D_BwE

Roysterdoyster

Hick81 said:

The position of middle pup is annoying, and the sound from the bridge. 

For those thinking Partscaster you need not waste your time, Fender have already introduced a model that addresses these problems...

https://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/product/161116304111007-634620--fender-custom-shop-limited-edition-robbie-robertson-last?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIuY7ymsCR2wIVg7HtCh0zJgG4EAQYASABEgKnV_D_BwE

Bargain!

Hick81

Roysterdoyster said:

Hick81 said:

The position of middle pup is annoying, and the sound from the bridge. 

For those thinking Partscaster you need not waste your time, Fender have already introduced a model that addresses these problems...

https://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/product/161116304111007-634620--fender-custom-shop-limited-edition-robbie-robertson-last?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIuY7ymsCR2wIVg7HtCh0zJgG4EAQYASABEgKnV_D_BwE

Bargain!

I’ll take 2, then I’ve got a back up for when I’m giggling at least once every 4 months. It’s justified

stimpsonslostson

Not strats for me... It's SGs I've had at least 8 from Vintage, Epiphone, ESP and Gibson.
I love the way they look & sound, but inevitably after a few months I get the nagging feeling that everything is 2" to the left of where I want it to be & sell it. Only to buy another 6 months down the line.

I've also kept a record of what I've bought & sold plus prices for the last 3 years. I'm £500 up, but that's more luck than good judgement! 

Fez

I bought my first strat in 1976 I still have and five more so I guess you can call me a strat player. I think getting a good sound out of strats depends on a lot of things but the amplifier can make a huge difference. To me el34 & 6L6 based amps sound better for strats but only in a very general sense as the architecture of the amp will make a difference.

gibsongretschfan

Only ever bought one strat. USA Standard when I was 15, changed the pickups a couple of times. Has had Texas Specials for about 10 years.

Only ever bought one tele and one LP and one 335 and still have all of them

TTBZ

Im always on the strat/fender merry go round as well. I actually got some tones I was pretty happy with using BG Pickups v60s in my old strat. I needed the bridge pickup wired to a tone though. It's more the feel I don't really get on with. The body/cutaways feelfreally long compared to the Gibsons I'm used to. And the scale length/unfinished/unbound necks feel so alien to me.

Love the sounds others get from them and Hendrix has some of my favourite tones of all time but can never get that tone to work for the music I play. Although the out of phase ones are awful and if I put singlecoils back in my strat it'll have a 3 way switch so I don't accidentally switch to 2 or 4 by accident. Mines currently just got a bridge humbucker with a single volume and it sounds great. Suspect I'd be better off with a tele tbh.

jeztone2

vasselmeyer said:

I like the idea of Stratocasters but never got on with them. There are three things wrong with them:

The bridge pickup is weedy and way too spiky

The middle pickup is in the wrong place for the way I play

They feel delicate (to me), yes I know they're really quite hard to smash up, but that's how they feel to me)

Some of my favourite guitarists are Strat players. I LOVE the sound Jeff Healey gets and I am a massive fan of SRV and Gary Moore (when he plays Strats) but to me they're wrong. I'm still not sure I won't get another one though. I've had three so far.

Yep, I'm the same as you. I own a Strat and gigged it in my last band. But only in the rougher venues where there was a chance of damage to my PRS. 

DrJazzTap

I think I've had about five strats in total. I love the Hendrix/SRV clean sound but I just don't really click with them. 
I've owned a jap squier, jap tokai, strat plus, american special and a burns marquee. I've currently got two strats a partsacaster modelled on a american vintage 59 and a us standard with a one piece rw neck. Keeping both of them as they just scratch my strat itch. I did try a 69 heavy relic custom shop which sounded incredible but was nearly three grand.

robgilmo

I love the sound that they make, I love how they look, but just like Vesselmeyer they are too fragile, they just dont look real, like a toy guitar. The middle pickup kept getting hit by my plec, I couldn't dampen the strings with my picking hand cos there was no room left for anything else, they just feel like they are too small. 

robgilmo

Oh, and it only took one for me to find this out,.

Strat54

J.D.Simo showing us that the Strat bridge pickup isn't really so weedy after all. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1EgQYFaOwM