Strats, why?

[tiktok]

When I think of David Gilmour or Ritchie Blackmore (or even the unleashed fury of Yngwie J. Malmsteen), think and quacky are not the adjectives that pop to mind first.

[chickenpicker]

Hank Marvin.


Say no more.

[tiktok]

Originally Posted by chickenpicker

Hank Marvin.


Say no more.

Hank is sorely underappreciated across the pond.

Speaking of which, I picked up a copy of the original Thunderbirds movie the other day, and during the dream sequence, the supermarianimation band in the club is The Shadows, complete with dreadful Burns guitar. They even do the Shadows Walk.

[mellecaster]

OOPs....must be MY mistake....I thought I was browsing Tele tech........does anybody EVER give any thought whatsoever where they post...HMMmmmm? :?

[charliebrown]

Originally Posted by JohnnyCrash

I hope this doesn't start a war...

I love Telecasters, and just about any Gibson model... I want to make sure I'm covering all of my bases tonally for the studio, so from time to time I have bought a Strat, only to sell it after being very disatisfied (gone through 4 or 5).

The music by guys who played Teles or Gibsons I enjoy, while those who play strats, even the great players, I never have enjoyed (OK except Jimi). I even dislike SRV's *tone* (I know it's almost blasphemy)... Clapton's tone of the Bluesbreakers album was awesome (Les Paul), but on the Layla sessions it was terrible (to me, again, no wars here).

Duck-clucky tones and whimpy "springy" sounds seem to be the Strat's only forte - something I do not like, want, or need.

Personal taste notwithstanding... there HAS TO BE SOME EXAMPLES OF A GREAT CLASSIC STRAT SOUND I HAVE MISSED. The guitar is legendary and a best-seller...

It may simply be an issue of taste, but I'm sure some of you guys could sway me... perhaps a *specific model* (I may have been buying the wrong Strats over the years).

You might give David Gilmour a listen; particularly his live stuff off of Delicate Sound of Thunder...a Strat with EMG pickups...wonderful clean and overdriven tones...hardly wimpy and great playing. I never tire of listening to him. My new Tele is a delight! I do love my Strat as well...even more after installing Lace Sensor pups, a blender pot and running a TBX as a master tone control....all the quack I could wish for and singing overdrive as well. Strats can be easily modded to sing as well as any Gibson out there.

[JohnnyCrash]

Whoops. I am approaching this from a Tele fan's viewpoint, but this IS the wrong forum to post this thread - SORRY ALL.

As far as the responses, some seem to have some anger in them ;)

I do NOT think Blackmore's tone is thin and whimpy...

TOP END
When it comes to straight out rocking... sorry maestrovert, but Les Pauls sound a little more chunky to me. Yes SOME of the higher harmonic content is just not there (listen to Angus' rich blossoming top end)... but the other flavors in HEAVY rocking is absent in my Teles.

The Strats that ARE heavy (thanks for the great examples guys), are *often* lacking the top end as well, if you notice (perhaps Gilmour the least). The added "squish" factor robs that for *most* of them.

To get the sound those Strat players get (compression and sustain), they have to dime the amp (usually the frontside/preamp, I prefer power amp soaking) or use effects. More sustain from the guitar itself just "sounds right" *to me*.

Not to take this thread to another subject (guitA vs guitB), but ACDC, GnR, and some of the sonic territory I'm aiming for just does not scream out for a Tele or Strat. I love Fenders, but different tools for different jobs.

THAT BEING SAID, I usually use my Gibsons (humbucker OR P90) and add a second track with my Telecaster on a nice chiming clean amp... the tracks sound huge, the high end complexity is there, and the "dark" meat of the Gibsons is there as well. I have never been satisfied with a Tele for any lead work OTHER THAN country, rockabilly, or the softer stuff... well, sometimes I do grab it :)

Shure SM57 for the Marshall/Gibson (Celestion V30s), and a nice large diaphragm condenser for the Tele/FenderAmp (Alnico speakers) combo - I've been nothing but happy.

I guess this post is in the wrong place, so thanks guys... I've decided against a Strat, for myself. I do still like my Strat players, like we all do.

[jeflar]

This is my first post - I'm a newbie to the forum. I'm also a newbie to the Tele. I've been playing for 34 years, the first 20 of which I was a Gibson guy: SG, Les Paul, Firebird...then 10 years ago I moved into a Strat phase. I have five Strats today. But 2 months ago, I decided to start liking Tele's. I own two now - a Deluxe Nashville and an Aerodyne. So I guess that qualifies me to compare Strats to Teles, even to LP's. It all comes down to the music type or style, or sometimes down to the song, or even down to the tone needed for the solo. Different tools yeild different results. Different guitars allow us to express different moods. Variety is the spice of life. Why Strats? Because they're there!

Check out Scott Henderson's tones on the Vital Tech Tones material. He uses a Suhr "Strat" with I forget what type of pickups, but the tones are pure Strat.

My Strats include an American Deluxe, a Roadhouse Strat (Texas Special pups), an '89 American Standard, a MIM Deluxe, and a MIM '70's RI. I wouldn't part with either of them because they all have their own character, tone, and niche.

[starless]

Originally Posted by moonshiner

Steve Howe from Yes was also a strat guy... though he used lots of things, I have seen him mostly on strats... (Don't look very often... )

I own a 74 Strat... it's not a ducky strat... It doesn't quack.. Mostly because of the pickups and addition electronics...

Quackless Strat

Find a strat that feels right and then experiment with the pickups and electronics until it produces a sound that you enjoy.. if not... Don't use one...

Not so much on the Steve Howe thing... he used a Strat on the Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe album, but the VAST majority of all the other material he has done has been a Gibson ES-175 as well as various other Gibsons (LP Jr, 355, etc), and occasionally a Tele.

[Daddydex]

There are a lot of good strat players mentioned in this thread but as far as good strat tone goes I think of Ronnie Earl and Robert Cray. Simple and clean. That is when the strat shines.

Dan

[Stuco]

If you don't like them then don't buy anymore. Why try to have people convince you to like something?

[Tim Armstrong]

Note that this thread is several years old! Johnny's even bought a Strat since this thread died!

Cheers, Tim

[GhostofJohnToad]

How 'bout

- Buddy Holly
- Dick Dale
- John Frusciante
- Frank Zappa
- Tom Morello

Like any of those guys' "sound"? Just a couple more for wood in the fire.

Of course my strat is my least played guitar...

[Stuco]

Originally Posted by Tim Armstrong

Note that this thread is several years old! Johnny's even bought a Strat since this thread died!

Cheers, Tim

Somebody must have really been digging to find this one.

[boris bubbanov]

Uh-oh. Does this mean I might own a PRS 2 years from now?
And will that mean I got tired of watching people wince when I flubbed a phrase on a Tele or Strat? Better go back and practice some more.


Bubbanov

[tdowns]

It seems that a lot of influences expressed in this post are non-country music. In the 80s, Reggie Young was dominating the country airwaves with his strat solos. I never considered buying a Strat at that time, but I sure as heck slapped a middle pickup in my Tele, so I could copy those solos closer. I love that Reggie Young quack. My favorite is Hag's "Stay Here and Drink".

The PROBLEM is that you can't get a Tele sound out of a Strat, so I would never gig with it, because the Tele sound is...well...the sound I like. You can get a decent quack out of a Tele with a middle pickup. But it is hard to get the part I like best about a Strat...which is the middle and neck together. I have never wanted to put a Strat pickup in the neck of the Tele so I could have that combination in a Tele.

I keep a Strat around for studio work when necessary, but have never gigged with one.

Also, the stuff I play has no need for a tremolo bar, so that is just something else to degrade tuning stability.

If I played a different genre and had different up-bringing, would I perhaps consider a Strat as a main axe. Can't answer that.

Being attracted to a Telecaster is from a youth about the same impact as watching the deacons wife in church when you are pubescent. What you think looks cool just sticks with you!!

[nvosmeier]

Try a good strat with a maple neck w/ fat '54s or '57/'62 or the CS '69s pickups in it. It will sould great and should play great. I love the maple neck, set up with low action on any fender. I have found IMO that the pickups in a lot of MIM still sound okay, but leave a little something to be desired for me. (Please don't kill me, I like MIM guitars)

The best reason to play a Strat for me, is the ease of play, followed by the belly cut contour, which I need for comfort. #1 reason is that I love their sound! I love all my Gibsons and Fenders. But, I need a Gretsch!!!

YMMV.

[markophonic]

Dick Dale

[JohnnyCrash]

Wow, a TWO YEAR OLD THREAD resurrection.

Still HATE Strats, but I've got one I like and can make all the sounds I don't really like, and some I do:











Thanks, but this thread is the walking dead... old news.

[messhead]

Iron Maiden and Motorhead. Two great examples of how strats don't just pop and quack.

[Stuco]

I had a squier just like that one once upon a time.

[tdowns]

...

[Sleph]

I'm with you on this one JC...I've often wondered if I wasn't a freak of nature...but as much as I like all the great strat players, I've often stoped listening to the song ang just listened to the guitar tone and wondered..."why?"

Love Clapton, but watch him do a big string bend on a Strat and the sound just drops off....SRV...his best tone (IMHO) was with that white strat that had 3 Danelectro pups...Knopfler is a favourite he gets a lot of that flutey tone happening because he's a fingerpicker but sounded best using his Schecters (again just MO)

[Tim Armstrong]

Originally Posted by JohnnyCrash

Thanks, but this thread is the walking dead... old news.

I tried to tell them Johnny, but I guess the topic is too interesting to die!

Cheers, Tim (who likes Strat sounds okay, but can't deal with the controls! )

[eryque]

Sometimes you pick up a guitar and it's so fun to play that you just want to kee making music with it. The tone will be inspiring, and you'll either play stuff you didn't know was in you or immediately unlock sounds that you couldn't quite get before.

When that happens, you get it.

Until that happens, everything else is irrelavent.

[ryokan]

Great Strat sounds:

Ron Asheton of the Stooges, on Fun House (the entire album is a Strat)

Richard Thompson -- his earlier music, from the late 60's thru the 80's

Michael Karoli of Can -- played a Strat on all of Can's albums -- beautiful stuff


Strats are cool sounding guitars, and i love them when OTHER people play 'em. But I'm in the same boat as JohnnyCrash -- i just don't cotton to them.

[Robsocal]

Try listening to Jerry Garcia's crisp, bell-like, tones on the Grateful Dead's Europe '72 LP. Very country crisp guitar with clean, clean, tone. Jerry didn't usually play a Strat, but he did during the Dead's tour of Europe in 1972. I understand it was a gift from Graham Nash, and Jerry named it "Alligator."

The other great Strat tone for me is David Gilmour's on the Pink Floyd material. Beautifully round and sweet, but still clean somehow. Crash, neither of these guys got the wimpy sounds you perceived in other players. For what it's worth, I agree with you with respect to Clapton. He never sounded as hot since he put down the SG and the 335 he used when with Cream.

I recently played a partcaster Strat, with Fralin pickups (either the "Real '54's" or the Hot Vintage). The pickups made all the difference to my ear. They were growly and biting in a '50's way. It was one of the few Starts I have ever coveted. I like the stock Tele pickups much more than the ones they put in Strats. If I bought a standard Strat, I'd swap the pus immediately.

[RomanS]

The only tones that make me want a Strat are those of Chris Isaak's guitar players (JC Wilsey, and Hershel Yatovitz for his later stuff) - but since I hate the look of those thingies, I guess I'll just have to build a Tele with 3 Strat pickups and a tremolo one of these days...

[Ramblin Ray]

You must listen to early Buddy Guy, especially "A Man and The Blues". It's such a beautiful unadorned Strat in Tweed Bassman tone---what a Strat is all about, in my opinion. The cover of that album is something else. I sat in the Cafe-a go-go in N.Y.C. in the late '60's with my nose about 2 feet from that guitar.

[marc sosnoff]

i think listening to strats is not so important you may like someones strat tone but you could never get that yourself everyone has to find the own tone

strats are sexy looking all the curves and the layout i love the chime they make also i have tried so many time to love strats but i cant make one my perfect guitar the curves actually dont fit how i hold the guitar
and even though i love that chimey tone it doesnt work for my tone

the tele is comfortable to my body and gives me the tone i like for my playing i found playing a strat i need to use more power from the amp
to get the strat to project or cut thru the mix i always seem to be in a battle with the guitar when i play a strat

so i give up and just love the tele heaven guitar heaven

[elmerbumpkin]

I don't really like any modern blues (guitar) music, but one reason I can accept the Strat sound is Dave Alvin playing with the Knitters. A second reason would be Tom Verlaine.

[pgrace245]

My first electric was a strat. My dad bought it for me. I'm more of a country guitar fan and at that time I listened to a lot of Wade Hayes. Not long after I was headed for the guitar shop and traded in that strat for a used 95 MIM Tele Special in blonde. Got married had kids, needed money and sold that tele. Biggest regret. Though I don't care for strats I can understand why people like them. I really hate Tele's with the tummy cut - but thats just me. To each his own.

[Arby]

I heard it on good authority that Hendrix played the Strat live because of the availability and the double cutaway, but all his recordings were actually played on a Watkins Rapier, with the truss rod removed to reduce the weight.

[tazzboy]

I like the Stratocaster because of Buddy Holly

[kludge]

Someone already mentioned Richard Thompson, but I'll pile on there. Check out his tone from any 1970s album. It's all twang and bite.

Of course, these days he plays those Ferringtons with a Broadcaster bridge pickup, Strat middle, and a P90 neck. Single-coil heaven!

[TWANGNUT]

Thread resurrections...COOL! I'll go huntin' this weekend and see what I cant get started back up! Oh, by the way, Strats are good for trading!

[JohnnyCrash]

Jeez.

TWO YEARS OLD, and somebody dug this zombie back up.

Please - let this go again.

[tazzboy]

It's alive, It's ALIVE, IT'S ALIVE.

[kp8]

hehe... we should have like a whole week where new threads are not allowed and you can only reply to 3 year old threads... heck we just talk bout the same stuff over and over anyway :) ... haha

Not a huge strat person myself as i hate that vol knob being where it is, but after years of owning and HATING my 1971 les paul it was a Mexican strat got me back to the instrument.

As reported before i had a HEAVY LP that i hated playing. It was like a boat anchor, tough on my back standing and really a$$ heavy sitting. It constantly felt like it was sliding off my lap onto the floor. I hated this thing and found it physically very uncomfortable to play. I hesitated selling it cause it sounded killer and everyone said that i would regret it (i didn't, and still don't: good riddance). Finally i told them all to go to h e double hockey sticks, sold it, paid off some back rent and bought a Mexican strat that made me fall in love with the guitar all over again. I just love a Fender neck, and well, the Strat was so light, so well balanced. It practically jumped up on my lap ... It was a pleasure to have in my hands.

The best thing about the stratocaster is how comfy and balanced it is sitting in your lap or even hanging on a strap. A more cozy guitar has yet to be invented. A good strat is a miracle of proportion, comfort and balance. It makes you want to pick it up and play.


-kp--

[SixStringSlinger]

You may want to listen to Tom Morello (Rage Against the Machine/Audioslave) and John Frusciante (Red Hot Chili Peppers/solo). Tom Morello uses Strats pretty often (though he also uses a Tele and a Les Paul, among others) and Frusciante uses his 2 Strats almost exclusively. I suggested these two guys because they get a variety of tones from their Strats, everything from "traditional' (stereotype?) sounds to good heavy, muscular tones and just plain sonic strangeness.

[sneakyjapan]

"...some people see strats and ask why.....I see strats and ask...why not?"
Think J.F. Kennedy said that didn`t he?