I try to like my Strats again...

[tap4154]

but it just fades after a few hours.

I tend to flat-pick and fingerpick over the neck p'up, and the covered Tele p'up is SO nice, compared to a Strat pup (especially with staggered poles).

And I hate the middle p'up getting in the way, and even the p'up mounting screws, and it's just too dam* soft feeling, with all the contours.

Back into the closet Ms Strat, until my next attempt to re-love you.

[Andy Summers]

You sound like me...I just cant seem to bond with a Strat...and I do take it as my loss..

[smsuryan]

ive owned several strats but wind up selling them...i keep thinking ill fall in love with one and i just havent...yet...i still keep hoping lol...im sure ill get another eventually
i mean hendrix ,clapton, eric johnson and a zillion other greats love em so why cant i ...
oh well....guess ill stick with my tele...

[drb1346]

I've had a MIM Strat since 2005. Played it one night, then into the closet it went. Haven't touched it yet and I'll sell it this summer. (Thanks for starting this thread, I'd forgotten all about it!)

[RevMike]

I used to feel the same way. I finally got a couple that I love. First is a Squier Deluxe in Daphne blue. I went in to buy a MIM Standard, but this one blew them all way....at I got it for less than $200.

The other is a Blacktop. Rediculously good guitar. I haven't had it long, but I can see this becoming one of my main guitars.

[Justinvs]

I'm just the opposite. It's hard for me to find a Strat I don't like. One of the few guitars that always seems to fit my hands. Tele's come close, but I find I have to fight them a little harder to sound good on, which is part of the reason I love playing them. They challenge me. But a Strat, they just feel right.

Justin

[94bamf]

I feel that way about Les Pauls, they just don't fit me, feel or sound wise. Strat on the other hand is made for me. Everything feels right when I have a Strat in my hands..

[Mike Eskimo]

Got a 1990 MIM Standard Strat for less than free off of CL (sold the crap that came w/ it for $50 more than I paid and still have the Strat).

Great utility instrument to have around. Has the dual-ceramic magnet pickups so it's not uber-Stratty sounding.

Did a gig with a '70 SG on Saturday and I couldn't get it back in the case fast enough I was so terrified of breaking it.

Did another afternoon gig at the same place just yesterday w/ the MIM Strat and in between sets I just laid it on the floor

That's the beauty of a Strat - especially a cheap one !

[superchicken_VI]

I have a 3tsb Highway One that I love. I don't think I've ever played a bad Strat. Even the Bullet starter pack Strats were fine. I love the feel and smell and sound of my HwyOne. The only guitars I don't gel with are guitars with 2 volume knobs.

[TG]

I can't gig a strat since the knobs and things are just in the wrong place for the way I like to play...and although I like listening to the tone of a strat when someone else plays it I find that when I'm playing it the sound always seems too thin and breathy.
If I try to mod the thing with new pickups or pickguard layout or whatever, I soon realize that I'm trying to turn it into a telecaster. It's happened a few times about 6 or 7 years ago. They got sold/traded.

However...I do now own a nice little stock CV60s Squier strat.
It's just for sofa noodling...and for looking nice in the corner.
If I mentally accept that it's just for that and don't think that I should be using it for gigging, then I'm OK with keeping it.

[tap4154]

If I try to mod the thing with new pickups or pickguard layout or whatever, I soon realize that I'm trying to turn it into a telecaster.

I've modded both of my Strats to have the neck/bridge option, because that's my favorite tone on the Tele. Seems that I just got too used to the Tele controls and p'up layout, tones, simplicity and feel. Not about to sell either Strat though.

[E5RSY]

I love Strats. But, they have two flaws, in my opinion.

1) Drop a more authoritative bridge p'up in it, and 2) mod it to get bridge and neck together, and then 3) you just may have the perfect solidbody electric guitar.

Scott

[paratus]

I am not a Strat guru by any stretch, I have an American Standard. I don't like the neck, seems much too small for me, and I never cared for the volume and tone knobs.

That said, I do love the quack and the wiggle stick. Can anybody point me to a Strat with a beefier neck or do I just need to buy a new neck?

[SacDAve]

I like Strats as with any guitar you just have to find the right one for you. I like the layout of the knobs on a Strat, the volume is positioned for doing pinky grabs while playing. There also more pickup combinations choices then add a mini switch to throw in the bridge pickup you get all three or neck and bridge it pretty versatile. I still like Tele's the fact is you just need a couple of each.

[Jack FFR1846]

The answer....at least for me....was to build a strat that I would like. After a couple dozen that I've bought, many of which I've modified and sold, my latest was as customized as I could get. I refinished (down to bare wood) a Jimmie Vaughan body. Now, the thing I thought I'd like the most on the Jimmie...the soft V neck...I hated. So I spent months painting the body and used a standard mim neck. This, I leveled the frets on and rolled the fingerboard edges, using a tru oil over the sanded back. I then customized some texas specials. I pushed in/out the poles to have them follow the radius of the fretboard. I just got this together and finished over the weekend and auditioned it against my Music Man Albert Lee (that usually sends all my strats packing) and a single coil tele and hum tele thinline. The strat is staying. The bridge position is so close to a tele sound that it's amazing. Not exactly the same, but close. The neck position is way clearer than my tele (I'm big on very, very clean, clear, low noise sound).

So as much as I've never been a Strat (or Fender, for that matter) Fanboi, this one works.

[Mike Eskimo]

Now, the thing I thought I'd like the most on the Jimmie...the soft V neck...I hated. So I spent months painting the body and used a standard mim neck.

And the Jimmie Vaughan neck is where...?

[tap4154]

Originally Posted by paratus

I am not a Strat guru by any stretch, I have an American Standard. I don't like the neck, seems much too small for me, and I never cared for the volume and tone knobs.

That said, I do love the quack and the wiggle stick. Can anybody point me to a Strat with a beefier neck or do I just need to buy a new neck?

See if Jack (above) still has the Jimmie Vaughan neck he hated, and buy it!

[brookdalebill]

I have a nice strat, but it's my least played guitar.
I keep it as a "vaccination" against buying another one.
Weird, I know.
My favorite guys use them often, but to me, they are
"everybody else's guitar".
I guess I've heard too many over the last 40 years.

[Swampash&Tweed]

Thats why I built a Tele /Strat .

[bowman]

I do like Strats. There's something about them that makes me think they are the ultimate guitar for me. Probably the necks, which I really love - as long as the Strat is a good one, I feel like they are capable of playing anything. I have two: an American Std that I bought new in '89, and a Lone Star that I got last year. That's a long time between Strat purchases, but there were many other guitars in between!