Stratocasters for country?

[ye olde fretmonkey]

Any of you guys using a Strat for country gigs?

Just curious...

[JJ]

Well, not to disrespect anyone, but a strat in country music is one of my all time least favorite tones. I have heard some awesome players playing them & they still sound very cheesy to me....Just MHO of course.........

[danelectro]

but I'm not now because I don't own one but it doesn't matter what I have in my hands because I'll twang with it regardless. Some work better than others though one of my all time favorites to play country with was a Gibson SG, go figure.

[Lars]

Check out Stuart Smith.He plays a strat and he used to play with Rodney Crowell.
I'm not sure what he is doing now,but he sounded great with Rodney crowell.
Check out RC's "Diamonds and Dirt" from 1988 .
He is all over that album

Lars

[ye olde fretmonkey]

I'll have to look for that, Lars.

I hear a lot of more 'modern' country stuff that sounds to me like a Strat with a s/s amp and chorus. Not really a sound I dig too much.

I have an MIJ Squier Strat from the 80s that is a really sweet-playing guitar, but I can't warm up to the thing. Maybe a different set of p'ups might eventually sway me (it's a little anemic sounding), but I dunno.

[Rob Rent]

...I've never heard a better country sound....he was one of the best
...I remember reading an article in Vintage Guitar where the interviewer asked about his Tele...and Eddy said "I don't have one".....again...the sound is all in your hands....

[Twangster]

Ive found that the Strat is usable in both Country and Western but really shines in Western.

[Scotland]

Alongside my Tele of course but some songs I find, screams out for a Strat as much as others scream for a Tele. Listen to Brent, he gets some amazing country tones from his red Strat., as does Vince Gill.

[e-merlin]

The guitar player from Sawyer Brown uses one. I think he sounds fine.

[Ringo]

and Jazzmasters, Jaguars, Les Pauls, 335's, Gretches etc for country music.
In the 70's Don Williams guitar player was one of the first guys that I remember using a Strat, I liked his stuff a lot.
People use Teles for R&R, R&B, Blues, punk , so why not a Strat for country?

[nocasterbert]

why not a strat for country, it`s a very good guitar.
but i just like the looks and sound of the telecaster best.

[Michael]

... with C&W and Western Swing musicians in mind in the first place?

Originally Posted by Lars

Check out Stuart Smith.He plays a strat and he used to play with Rodney Crowell. I'm not sure what he is doing now,but he sounded great with Rodney crowell. Check out RC's "Diamonds and Dirt" from 1988 . He is all over that album

Yup, Steuart Smith would have been my first answer, too. :-) He's been my favorite "Telecaster player who actually plays a Strat" for almost 30 years now. ;-)

Oh, and lately he's been playing with an obscure little group called the "Eagles." (I think they're from California, and maybe made some records or sumpin'...) ;-) CS

[nedray]

I use my Am Deluxe Strat for early Eagles tunes when I'm too lazy or rushed to switch to the Tele. The middle pup with the treble wide open twangs pretty fine with a little snap in the picking attack. Of course those are SCN pups, but I think they sound pretty Stratty. The Strat pickup configuration is a little cramped for hybrid picking.

[stantheman]

Bill Carson who worked with and for Fender from way back was testing Strat Prototypes on country gigs probably as early as 1953. If I remember correctly many
thought that The Strat would be named "The Jimmy Bryant Model" as a response to Gibson's "Les Paul".
Going back to the 1970's I remember Jimmy playing a
very "strat-like" Guitar but sadly can't remember the brand name of it for the life of me...

[tweedman]

I can mention a couple of Country/Rockabilly players who uses/used Strats with great results.

1- Reggie Young
2- Carl Perkins-I saw him in 1978 playing a Strat plugged into a Twin Reverb.His tone and overall sound was great!And Carl Perkins did play some pure counrty songs in his performances.

I agree that it is more in the players hands than the type of guitar. Clint Strong sounded great behind Merle Haggard playing a Les Paul.

[ye olde fretmonkey]

Originally Posted by tweedman

I can mention a couple of Country/Rockabilly players who uses/used Strats with great results.

1- Reggie Young
2- Carl Perkins-I saw him in 1978 playing a Strat plugged into a Twin Reverb.His tone and overall sound was great!And Carl Perkins did play some pure counrty songs in his performances.

I agree that it is more in the players hands than the type of guitar. Clint Strong sounded great behind Merle Haggard playing a Les Paul.

And of course Ronnie Dawson always played a Strat, as did Roland Janes, I think...

[Just Joe]

I hit the vollume nob with my middle finnger
when i pluck the high E string

There not real good for d tune the E to D tunes
tend to get wash up
just Joe

But i do sometimes play a strat live for something diff

[esquirej]

Vince has been using a Strat for years. When I saw him live one night at the Ryman (years ago) he used one pretty much all night.

[jlrich]

It all depends on what you play not what you play it with and what tone you're looking for. Strats were very common during the eighties country music scene. When the traditional music became more popular then the Teles started making a comeback (in the mainstream).

Steuart Smith is also touring with Don Henley while Don's soloing.

[stantheman]

Eldon Shamblin - Bob Wills & The Texas Playboys; they
made some records 8)

[scotabilly]

I seem to recall Pete Anderson playing some nice old Strats with Dwight Yoakum over the years.

[bri]

is just amazing for country (and anything else). It's the first Strat I ever heard that has a bridge pup that really kicks butt without being tinny and cheesy sounding.
Brian

[Paul in Colorado]

I have a Strat-type guitar that is a hardtail with brass saddles. The bridge pickup is a JB Trembucker with a coil tap and the neck pickup is a P-90. I can get some serious twang out of that axe. It's also good for the quasi-jazz I sometimes play. I use Carvin mini Tele knobs and I don't accidentally hit the knob as much as I do with stock Strat knobs.

[Mur]

The guitar player from Sawyer Brown uses one.

If you're talkin' about Duncan Cameron (who recently split from Sawyer Brown) ..years ago he played an early 50's Tele thru a deluxe tweed ..sounded awesome.

[Bill Hullett]

Strats are nice for some things ...I agree....and like someone said Reggie Young played some landmark country Strat sounds....If you had to use one all the time the downfall is that the back pup sounds VERY thin because in a stock configureation it has no tone control....
On the Lindy Fralin websight they offer up what I feel is the best Strat set up I've seen....they rewire it to where all pups have one master tone and volume and then they have a pot that blends certain pups depending on where the selector switch is....it uses no extra routes....can be wired up in about 30 minutes and provides you with EVERY combination of pups available (even 1 & 3 or 1, 2 & 3) Now with that setup you could play a Strat all night......................................BUT I WOULDN'T

Bill Hullett

[CountryShawn]

Well, the way I figure it, if we all used the same guitars, same amps and same stomp boxes- it would all sound pretty monotonous in a hurry.

Without variety there can be no differentiation.

Cheers,

Shawn

[olewichita]

that's the wiring i've been using for strats for years... inspired by roland janes ( and reggie young )... if you wondered why jimmie vaughans strats always sound so sweet other than through his god given talent it's because he's had the tone wired to his bridge pick-up for years...

anyway... i think strats are great for country too... and much more suitable for rockabilly than teles... come to think of it i have hundreds of pictures of 50s rockabilly artists and bands and you see way, way, way more strats than teles... but at the time that surely had to do with the modernistic appeal too...

for teles james burton, roy buchanan, kenny paulsen, carl adams, fred carter ( all from the hawkins cousins camp... ) and a couple of other rockabilly cats come to mind ( al hopson at sun... ) but compared to the amount of strat players really very few... another guitar you see a lot on old 50s pictures are gibson 225s... players that played on a lot of rockabilly records that used strats are roland janes, hall harries, eddie bush, roy lanham etc... later,

tj

[T Prior]

with anything posted above..

I do bring a Strat to gigs now and then with the only issue for me being the comfort of my right hand with that dang middle PUP on the Strat.

The Strat can be a tad bright but that can be overcome. My first inclination is to think that many primary Tele players probably have a slight discomfort with the Strats bridge PUP arrangement. I know I do at first..

but I still play one and love to use the Tremelo arm for sustain of chords during chord passages..adding a slight R+B flavor to a Country tune is not a bad thing...

Oh, and the neck PUP tone is not to be discounted either..

but when it comes home, it sits behind the 52RI in the pecking order..

t

[Aaron Schiff]

I find a Strat easier to "get in and out of" than a Tele when I am doubling on steel and guitar. Other people I've seen who play pedal steel very often will use a Strat for the same reason. It's a little difficult to get in and out of a guitar while seated behind a 40 to 50 pound contraption with 20 strings and 8 pedals. I've given some thought to having belly and forearm cuts made on my Tele for that reason and to decrease the weight some.

[rockycreeker]

I mean this is the Telecaster Discussion page and I do love the twang of Teles but my main guitar is a Strat with those dreaded EMG pickups and I feel that I get a decent twang on the bridge pickup - plus the other advantages of a Strat. I am so used to that guitar that I even though I still own others (including a Tele) the Strat remains my go-to guitar for just about everything.

It tickles me when great guitarists take guitars that are not considered "the best for the job" by all of us armchair quarterbacks and play the heck out of em. Case in point - Stuart Smith with Rodney Crowell - nobody told him he couldn't play country on a Strat and he got a great sound. Another example, though not a Strat is Buddy Miller who takes those off the wall Italian guitars (Wandre?) and gets great signature sounds out of them that sound like no-one else.

Dan Toler, formerly of the ABB and Gregg Allman fame - now plays with Dickey Betts and Great Southern, plays a Strat with those terrible, sterile, dreaded, hated Lace Sensor pickups and sounds great. I think it's funny.

[pepeteus]

What a great player. I really love his playing on Crowell's albums. I haven't heard all Rodney's albums, but the one I've listened the most and like the best is "Keys to the Highway" from 1989. That's an excellent album. Not a bad song on it and Steuart plays some incredible licks on many songs.

Ok, here's the question: Are you guys saing that he's playing just strats with Crowell?!? For example, I hear some great tele tones in "Keys to the Highway". I could be deaf too. :o Of course there could be some other guy playing tele in that album.

[Loco]

when Fender intoduced the Stratocaster way back in '54 it was aimed specifically at the Country musician? Rock 'n roll was just around the corner and the blues... hadn't exactly caught on.

Originally Posted by pepeteus

Are you guys saying that he's playing just strats with Crowell?!? For example, I hear some great tele tones in "Keys to the Highway". I could be deaf too. Of course there could be some other guy playing tele in that album.

Yup, AFAIK, that's all Steuart, and all Strat. He's been playing that same 60s Strat for as long as I've known him (which is coming up on 30 years). Is it possible that he borrowed a Tele for some of the album? Sure, but I doubt it. He's just a great player and gets all the tone he needs out of that Strat.

Btw, I believe Steuart bought that particular guitar from one of our TDPRI brethren, BobbyC, who used to play in a band with him way back when... but I haven't seen him here on the board for awhile. Bob – are you out there, buddy? ;-) CS

[pepeteus]

Originally Posted by Chris S.

Yup, AFAIK, that's all Steuart, and all Strat. He's been playing that same 60s Strat for as long as I've known him (which is coming up on 30 years). Is it possible that he borrowed a Tele for some of the album? Sure, but I doubt it. He's just a great player and gets all the tone he needs out of that Strat.

Chris, thanks for your info. I won't argue with you. I don't doubt about him getting all those tones with a strat. That just adds to my respect for Steuart. It don't matter to me how the sounds are created. They are great nevertheless! :)

My copy of that record is a re-released CD in 2000 and it don't have any credits written in it. But I found the credits with the Google. It says that all electric guitars are played by Steuart. Rodney himself plays acoustic. Credits mention Vince Gill but only for background vocals.

Guess I have to listen that album again.

[Rob DiStefano]

IMO, of course, Strats can do any kinda music real well, specially C&W ... don't think so? - well, then you just ain't lookin' and listenin' around enuf, Strats are out there in the country lineup and in use by some mighty fine 'n' tasty pickers. It helps a heap to have a good 'n' twangy bridge pup (there are plenty to choose from) but more than likely a decent balance of the 3 engines is in order. YMMV, but it shouldn't. 8)

[NancyK]

Originally Posted by Chris S.

Yup, AFAIK, that's all Steuart, and all Strat. He's been playing that same 60s Strat for as long as I've known him (which is coming up on 30 years). Is it possible that he borrowed a Tele for some of the album? Sure, but I doubt it. He's just a great player and gets all the tone he needs out of that Strat.

Btw, I believe Steuart bought that particular guitar from one of our TDPRI brethren, BobbyC, who used to play in a band with him way back when... but I haven't seen him here on the board for awhile. Bob – are you out there, buddy? ;-) CS

I've got a video somewhere I taped off TNN of Steuart playing with Rodney (outdoors somewhere). He was using a white maple neck strat on that (rather than the sunburst strat with the big headstock). He plays the hell out of that thing, really tears it up. He does a ballad and really does a great job with the tremelo arm. Also on the live version of Steve's Boogie by Eric Johnson from ACL, great country sound from a strat.

For a pretty good country tone from a strat you can add a push/pull put for one of the tone knobs and wire it you can get the bridge-neck combination. It gets a good twang but doesn't have the brittleness of the strat bridge PU on its own. I've found this to work really well on some guitars and so so on others. My strat with Fralins sounds great with this mod.

[ye olde fretmonkey]

Alright, OK, yh'all talked me into it. I'll try the Strat for a gig again soon. :)

[Blazer]

Originally Posted by Chris S.

Yup, Steuart Smith would have been my first answer, too. :-) He's been my favorite "Telecaster player who actually plays a Strat" for almost 30 years now. ;-)

Oh, and lately he's been playing with an obscure little group called the "Eagles." (I think they're from California, and maybe made some records or sumpin'...) ;-) CS

Ah so he's the one who took Don Felder's place.

I read in an interview with Tim B Shmitt that Felder had left the band and i went "Oh boy they'd better get somebody good to replace him." glad to know they did.

[fezz parka]

Originally Posted by Bill Hullett

On the Lindy Fralin websight they offer up what I feel is the best Strat set up I've seen....they rewire it to where all pups have one master tone and volume and then they have a pot that blends certain pups depending on where the selector switch is...

Right on Bill! The blender pot really gives you that neck/bridge combo. I removed the volume kit from the drawing and wired the tone pot like the LP 50's mod. The tone knob becomes a master tone for all three pickups. It works really well.