Comparing everything to a Fender Stratocaster

[davedederer]

The Stratocaster IS the one do-everything guitar. When I try out new or different guitars, I always compare them with a decent stock strat.

Of course, there's no such thing as a "jazz" sound, but you can get a very nice, sweet, round tone from the neck pickup on a strat, esp. if you experiment with strings (yes, flatwounds are great on solid-body guitars...more fundamental and not so much distracting information if you just want to hear the note as cleanly as possible) and this sound will be great for traditional jazz single note soloing and comping in any context.

I don't want to come off like too much of a jerk, but I've been through the ringer on this. I have been a Fender endorsee and an Epiphone endorsee. Both of those companies gave me lots of guitars. I've played every guitar under the sun -- most of them on stage in front of a crowd -- and the strat is really the gold standard for versatility.

A word of warning on archtops: the reality is that if the volume starts to creep up...as it inevitably does...you will struggle to control feedback. This is more true of carved-top, deep-body models but is still very true of deep-body laminated guitars (e.g., ES-175). I've owned a number of archtops and played them in all sorts of contexts and in the end I often find myself reaching for my strat (or wishing I had brought it instead of the archtop).

I will say that IMO the one other guitar that is incredibly versatile and that I would consider as my first option if I stopped playing a strat IS a hollow-body guitar -- a Gretsch 6120 or similar Gretsch model. That model has brought us everything from great jazz tones to the best rockabilly sounds to country to possibly the greatest rock guitar sound ever -- Pete Townshend played a 6120 through a Bandmaster on the Who's Next album and most of the Who's records for the next 20 years. Though I'll note that he's played a strat onstage for years and has gone on record as saying the strat is the ultimate and greatest electric guitar, period!

[davedederer]

The Stratocaster IS the one do-everything guitar. When I try out new or different guitars, I always compare them with a decent stock strat.

Of course, there's no such thing as a "jazz" sound, but you can get a very nice, sweet, round tone from the neck pickup on a strat, esp. if you experiment with strings (yes, flatwounds are great on solid-body guitars...more fundamental and not so much distracting information if you just want to hear the note as cleanly as possible) and this sound will be great for traditional jazz single note soloing and comping in any context.

I don't want to come off like too much of a jerk, but I've been through the ringer on this. I have been a Fender endorsee and an Epiphone endorsee. Both of those companies gave me lots of guitars. I've played every guitar under the sun -- most of them on stage in front of a crowd -- and the strat is really the gold standard for versatility.

A word of warning on archtops: the reality is that if the volume starts to creep up...as it inevitably does...you will struggle to control feedback. This is more true of carved-top, deep-body models but is still very true of deep-body laminated guitars (e.g., ES-175). I've owned a number of archtops and played them in all sorts of contexts and in the end I often find myself reaching for my strat (or wishing I had brought it instead of the archtop).

I will say that IMO the one other guitar that is incredibly versatile and that I would consider as my first option if I stopped playing a strat IS a hollow-body guitar -- a Gretsch 6120 or similar Gretsch model. That model has brought us everything from great jazz tones to the best rockabilly sounds to country to possibly the greatest rock guitar sound ever -- Pete Townshend played a 6120 through a Bandmaster on the Who's Next album and most of the Who's records for the next 20 years. Though I'll note that he's played a strat onstage for years and has gone on record as saying the strat is the ultimate and greatest electric guitar, period!

[ChrisDowning]

I have played almost every type of electric over the years and although I would like the best all round guitar to be something other than a Stratocaster, I agree with Dave that it's probably the standard by which other electrics are measured. And don't forget there are lots of chnages you can make to alter the sound - string guages, flatwounds and rounds, single coils vs humbucker vs P90s vs CCs, and all sorts of circuit changes which are easy in this guitar because everything is mounted on the scratchplate.

And I also agree with some of the points about flat tops - if you get one of the smaller body ones and mix the piezo with a magnetic sound hole pu, you can get another good basic sound that is pro level without spending more than about $1200 new. Again you can mix all sorts of strings into the recipe - I've a Takamine I have just loaded with gypsy strings - a very interesting tone and plays and sounds different to std 13-56s.

[Greentone]

For over 40 years, I have never been without a Stratocaster. I play every kind of music on it. Although I generally play jazz on a carved archtop, I regularly play jazz on a Strat.

[Guitarbean25]

When playing electric in a group setting, I never have a problem getting a good warm jazz sound on a strat with the neck pickup...or a tele...or a LP...or a semihollow...it all easily sounds warmer than Grant Green...

This made me giggle