Strat...strange situation

[ggalen]

Paul,

Thanks. As far as being "better", you are just looking at 2 years of 3-hours a day diligent practice on motor skills and memorizing the fretboard, nothing more. You've got the time, you can do it as well if you put in the hours. Have fun with it. It's very relaxing with the right mindset and no hurry or self judgment..

My main point is that with electric guitars, so much of the "sound" is the effects unit settings (a huge influence), your fingers and technique, the specific pickups which are easily replaceable, the amp, and then the type of speakers in the amp.

I mean, in the video, I was getting several difference sounds depending on how I "pinched" the strings adding a harmonic with a second finger, and where I plucked the string along it's length far or near the bridge.

If you have the budget, you'll get nicer hardware on an American Strat, but the "sound" will be the same on a Standard. That surprised me.

I still remember the quote I read on an Internet guitar forum:

"You can buy a Standard Strat made in Mexico by talented Mexican craftsmen, or you can pay $800 more for an American Strat made in Los Angeles by talented Mexican craftsmen."

Good luck in whatever you end up buying. Fenders are a really good value as long as you stay away from non-music related features like special "aged" finishes and looks...those get pricey and don't do a thing for the sound that you could notice, in my opinion.

[mojobone]

Finishes can make a difference. (not talking here about those semi-ridiculous "road-worn" finishes, which are okay if you don't mind paying extra for that look) Most cheaper guitars have polyester coatings that are cured with UV light, it's a faster process that usually uses fewer, thicker coats than the lacquer finishes you find on quality vintage instruments. Doesn't really affect the tone so much, at least for the first twenty years or so, but lacquer finishes age nicer and are easier to repair, should you get a ding in the paint. If you just want the best-sounding, best-playing stock Strat, you're probably wanting the Eric Johnson model. It has dozens of small tone tweaks that really add up, including a lovely lacquer finish. Fender makes some more expensive guitars, but they don't make a better-sounding one.

[eeoo]

Hi Paul,

Lucky you! Not too many things funner than shopping for a new guitar. The things I would look for in strats and teles? To me the finish makes a big difference with the way the guitar resonates, even acoustically you can feel the difference. Traditionally nitro-cellulose finishes were the finest as they can be applied very thinly. I don't know if they still use this process cuz it's very toxic both for the person applying it and for the environment. I have tried guitars with a poly-urethane finish that felt terrible, just strangled by a thick coat of tone killer. Get the best finish possible, would be worth doing some research on the lataest and greatest.
I also don't like too much finish on my necks as I find it "grabby".
+1 on the G&l's, they are beautiful instruments and all made in USA I believe (could be wrong about that), just don't happen to say Fender on them...
eo

[mojobone]

If your finish is polyester, you needn't despair; polyester finishes can also be applied in multiple thin coats, all it takes is some thinner and a little more time. The better guitar makers do this, and some of the cheaper import brands don't. Thick, gloppy poly finishes can choke the tone out of a guitar, but it usually doesn't make that much difference on a solidbody, if a guitar is a dog or a dud, it's more likely down to poorly chosen/cured body/neck tonewoods or a poor neck pocket fit/angle.

The G&L "Tribute" line of guitars is made (and made very well) in Korea.

[ggalen]

My strong suspicion is that in a solid body guitar, any effect of a finish on the final sound would be so small as to by unnoticeable once the effects settings, EQ, playing style and amp have had their "say".

I strongly suspect that the effects of finishes and rosewood vs maple necks affecting the sound is in the same realm as the Monster cables debate among audio enthusiasts!

No disrespect meant here to any of the other fine posters who have their own opinions on the matter.

But I am just a real skeptic when it comes to these wood and finish debates on a solid body guitar.

[jdhogg]

feaker

I play my es355 through a twin.

If you are going on a trip to a music shop, take your es355 and plug that sucker into a real vox or fender or hiwatt or orange......

It would be fun to get a rondo strat/tele and then slap in your perfect pickups and then take that to a shop and see how it compares to the fenders.
ggalens point is valid but you mention money is not a concern.

One of my teles is a jap 62 red with white binding. When I bought it I tried every tele in the shop including all the very expensive usa ones and there was no difference to my ears. This is not always the case as my friend picked up a cheap fender squier strat and it sounds crap. I think you can get very lucky by trying out all the cheaper fenders and picking a winner out. There is a lot of inconsistency with guitars coming off a production line.

The laquer can make a difference. Lennon sanded his casino and gary moore sanded his les paul. As for guitar cable..it is purely a function of low capacitance cable being better, but that does not have to cost loads.

Saying that dont make it complicated. Go to the store and try loads out and pick the winner(s)....if you "save" loads you can buy a twin for the es355.

As someone else mentioned. Great electric guitars sound better than crap ones even when they are unplugged. Its hard to explain....they just "ping more".
Maybe this is caused by (as mojo mentioned) the joints being on the money.
I use this as a shortcut so I dont try out ALL the guitars in the shop.

[eeoo]

Yeah, I guess I'm a "feel" player and plugging a great guitar straight into a great amp all those details come out. If you have a big effects chain or are plugging into some kind of pod device I suspect the quality of the instrument isn't as important. eo.

[jdhogg]

ggalen

I once ordered two usa strats.They were on a massive sale! Exactly the same....bar one had a rosewood neck and the other a maple.

There was a difference. The rosewood one was darker. So I kept the maple one and stuck in the kinmans and now have my perfect country strat sound.
I sold the other one (for a profit) to pay for the kinmans.

[mojobone]

Picking up the theme, here, you do get a little more snap from a maple neck, rosewood is warmer, Brazilian rosewood sounds better than Honduran, Indian or African. (if you can find it) I prefer a slab rosewood Strat neck to the later-sixties "round-laminated' ones.

It all makes a certain amount of sense, when you consider that an electric guitar's output signal is very, very weak and it gets amplified by many orders of magnitude-so every small detail does make a difference; a small difference, but many small differences can add up to a pretty big one. Even tiny little things like leaving the tremolo cavity unpainted (a feature of the Eric Johnson model and no other model I'm aware of-it happened on some vintage Fenders, but mainly by accident) can have a beneficial effect when playing at arena volume. The diameter of the magnet wire in the pickups can make a huge difference. Here's something that's easy to try on a Gibson-style guitar; replace the stock steel bridge for an aluminum or brass tune-o-matic and prepare to be shocked. (maybe try this on that dog of a 335, you might change your mind about trading it)

Personally, I believe feel is more important than sound, (when it comes to Fender-type axes) because you can make adjustments to the sound by swapping out hardware, pickups and electronics. Many of fender's high-end models (like the EJ) have rolled edges on the fingerboards, so they feel llike a broken-in, twenty-years played axe.

[jfraizer]

I just saw that there is a show on tonight called the Stat Pack. It is on at 6pm on Paladia. Celebrating 50 years of the Fender Strat. Should be good.