My journey into playing the electric guitar started with a recurring dream, one that I had off and on for at least twenty years. I don't remember all of the particulars, but the main part of the dream had me standing on a stage in large arena, in front of a large crowd, and I was playing a Strat in three colour sunburst.
Through those twenty odd years, I had only played acoustic, but like yourself, I listened to, and admired many Strat players. Hendrix, or course and Trower, Robbie Robertson, Albert King, Stevie Ray Vaughn, and many others. During that time, I had never so much as held one, let alone played one.
Fast forward to the year I turned 50 (12 years ago) and my wife has harping on me about what I wanted for the "Big Day". I could think of nothing. It was an unimportant date to me. Let's have a party! No, that was not enough. So, I told her about the dream. I had to pick it out she had no clue, and I was barely ahead of her in that regard. I only knew what they looked like, and what store I'd probably go to to buy it.
Sure enough, the store I went to had one, or maybe a few, but I knew if I was to get one, it would be made in the USA. I ended up with a Deluxe that eventually had to be returned to being defective - which was just as well as I hated the silent PU's and the skinny neck - which I then swapped for 2011 Custom Shop Deluxe, an entirely different beast. My love of it is mostly sentimental, but I continue to play it almost daily. If I had to choose between it and my CS R9, I'd have to got with the Strat as my wife got me on that glorious path.
Given that I'm a play - at - home player, the volume doesn't get cranked that much. As a result, I then to play mostly in the neck PU as I find the bridge PU to be thin, and PUs on mine are Master Designed from the Custom Shop. What's not to like? It's a piece of functional art, it plays fantastic and it sounds incredible. It's iconic. In a perfect world, we'd al have a CS Strat, a CS Tele, a CS R9, a CS ES335 and a CS Martin. How beautiful would that be?
