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I do! The best word to describe a Strat sound, to me.
Originally Posted by Boston Joe
I'm not a Strat guy, but in the right hands (and in the right situation) they can sound amazing. A hard tail Strat would be fine for jazz, though, I think. There's a good player here in Chicago named Brad Hubbal, he played Strats all through the 90's, but he's a tele guy now.
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11-10-2017 11:56 AM
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I have been a strat guy in the past. For a long time I played an old Gibson S-1*, which, believe it or not, sounded strattier than a lot of strats. When I could afford to, I picked up a real strat, and played the hell out of it when I was playing rock and fusion. It would still probably be my go-to guitar if I was doing a rock gig. Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
I actually bought my Tele from a "strat guy" who tried it out and just couldn't make friends with it. Once I discovered I could get decent jazz tones out of it, it became my go-to.
*My S-1's serial number made it a 1980 model, but according to things I've read they stopped making them in 1979. I figure it was the tail end of production that was built in '79 but didn't leave the shop till '80, so I choose to believe that it was the last one ever made. Unfortunately stolen along with the rest of my gear a few years back. Now, it would be starting to make the transition from "old" to "vintage."
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I have kept .11-gauge TI Swing flats on my Strat (with the neck pickup lowered to the body) since I purchased the guitar. This combination sounds outstanding for just about any kind of music.
As a jazz guitar, the Strat--set up this way--is great. I play it all the time.
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I have never actually owned a Fender Strat and am on my 3rd iteration of the partscaster Strat that I have. Before that I was a Tele guy. I have never liked the stock Strat tremolo because of its spongyness, so being a Tele guy a hardtail Strat was the only way for me. It has only been this year that I thought about a tremolo guitar and built a Steinberger copy from a kit. It's OK, but on a scale of 1 to 10, I would give the Steinberger copy a 1 and my Strat a 10. It takes a lot to get music out of a tremolo for me. I would rather use the other nuances that I always have used. I am a pretty basic player I think. No pick, no tremolo. Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
I should add that I am also a Tele guy, and a 12 string Jazzmaster guy, and an archtop guy, and a nylon string hybrid guy, and when I really want to turn people away, a steel string acoustic guy.Last edited by lammie200; 11-10-2017 at 05:32 PM.
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Strats are super comfortable and with the right PUPs and strings do a fine job as a jazz guitar. Like all solid body guitars, they will never have any acoustic crunch, but in modern jazz, that is often ok. I like to use flats, a humbucker in the neck position and block the whammy bar setup. I have also gotten a great jazz sound with 57/62 PUPs. I have never been able to get a good jazz tone with stock American Standard single coil PUPs.
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Good grief, how do all these touchy bass players survive working with pianists, if they can't tolerate playing with a guitarist who's almost always at least one octave higher if not two?
Strats work fine for jazz. I personally prefer hardtail Strats or solidly blocked trems (the springy sound doesn't appeal to me). My Strat is being used a lot lately, I built it from Warmoth parts nearly 30 years ago. The pickups are Seymour Duncans- a Quarter Pound in the neck position, JB in the middle and DD in the bridge (or maybe the other way around for those). The QP in the neck has a great tone for jazz- not as glassy as many Strat pickups and solid/beefy, not all that different from my Vintage Vibe CCs now that I think about it. Also, the Strat has a Warmoth 24 3/4" conversion neck.
I like the Strat as much as I like my Tele for jazz and it's a bit more comfortable.Last edited by Cunamara; 11-13-2017 at 10:36 PM. Reason: Fixing auto-correct foolishness
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Great word! I actually like ther springy feel that Strat has and I like percussive natures - as I said I dig electric piano. Must be the side effect of listening to jazz in '70s. Good point on pickups. Lonestar (HSS) Strat comes indeed with Texas Specials. Watched Tone Greaves YT vid on his setup and he is using Lace Sensors. I have a friend here in town that is a great luthier and absolutely dedicated to tone pursuit - I will discuss pickup options with him - I always had good luck following his recommendations. Originally Posted by Boston Joe
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"It’s the first guitar I’ve had where I can go from Wes to Roy Buchanan."
Jack Pearson: Music City Master | Guitar Player
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Good stuff! Originally Posted by p1p
"What guitar are you playing these days?
A $90 Fender Squier Bullet Stratocaster."
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Chris Standring got outstanding tone out of his standard Strat for many years, before settling for a Sadowsky archtop, used in his last two records.
The $ 90.00 Squier in the hands of Jack Pearson sounds like a million bucks, although I'm positive it's somehow been modded, most probably the p'ups.
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Quentin Warren (at 1:40):
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I have had a standard strat for over a dozen years and it's seen a lot of playing, including big band and doing pits. What can't you play with a strat? Lush tones plugged into my deluxe reverb. The feel of the neck is identical to my tele, but the tele gets played more because it's newer to me, and the honeymoon ain't over yet...
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I love my strat so much that I'll have Mojotone '59 clones installed, ordered a new neck from USACG, get ready for some modding and even get a paint job with nitro finish. Just a great all around guitar, it's the one that gets played no matter what.
This guy sure knows how to spread strat love:
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I could never get my brand new, setup by Gary Brawer, Fender Am. Std. Strat to stay in tune, until I locked down the tremelo block.
Yet, my Yamaha Pacifica 012 stays perfectly in tune even when not locked down.
The Yamaha sells for about a sixth the price of the Fender.
I get a perfectly good (to me) jazz tone from the Yamaha using a Lil 59.
The Yamaha has a thicker high end. The Fender sounds better in the midrange.
I use the Yamaha partly because the neck is smaller in every dimension and partly because I prefer the larger radius.
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Set neck Hollow Body Strat with just a block under the Stoptail TuneOmatic Bridge in H- S- H with switches.
And an Angled Headstock for proper down pressure on the Nut ...and Jescar Fretwire.
Would be really cool .
Fender won't do it - they don't need to because they are supported by Baby Boomers who think everything was better in the 50's and 60's lol.
I think the Marchione Semi Hollow 25.5" scale is probably the Ultimate Strat Archtop.
I wish more Builders were cognizant of what 25.5 " scale can do and STOP copying Strats without some improvement or use different 'takes' .
And also the idea that IF the Resonance is built into the Guitar itself ( including a lower primary resonant frequency ,often )
there is less enhancement need in the Signal Chain.
Imagine a Martin D 28 a half inch thick with piezos all over it...but you have to play it through really big 4- 12 Cabinets LOUD to get the low resonance it lacks.
There's Hendrix , SRV, Eric Johnson, Gilmour etc .
'What about the beautiful transparent sounds like Knophler, Chris Rea etc etc.?"
Those are cool - but it' s easier to 'thin out'
a phatt Guitar IMO than to really fatten up
a thin sounding Guitar.
Despite the Rant - I have heard even Jazzers and obviously many great Rock and Fusion Players use Strats..
EJ, Doug Henning ( Strat wit PAFs ) and
dozens of others - with Hendrix and EJ covering the widest range Strat Tones at the Top.
And I like a lot of the Great Tones I have heard from Strats ...but they keep making the same Guitar over and over and then repeating it again over and over ...again...lol.Last edited by Robertkoa; 11-15-2017 at 11:11 AM.
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That wouldn't be a strat. It would be a strat-shaped guitar, but it basically swaps out everything that mnakes a strat a strat. But if that's what you want, you can build it yourself from Warmoth parts. (Except for the set neck part). Originally Posted by Robertkoa
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Any Guitar I can' build' myself I don't want. Originally Posted by Boston Joe
Lol.
I have an excellent non Fender Superstrat now with properly blocked Trem.
Deep and loud unplugged and only weighs about 11 or 12 pounds ...
Loud unplugged like a 335 but a bit deeper..
What I want you as you mentioned would not be considered Strat it's a long scale
Archtop or Thinline.
But I might get a 24.75 " scale Thinline or Archtop.
It's almost 2020...so trying to move forward.Last edited by Robertkoa; 11-15-2017 at 09:01 PM.
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An HSS Strat is an incredibly versatile workhorse. Glad it’s working out for you.
Maybe give P90s in a hollow body or semi a try.
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My old PRS HB-I was more or less that, except for the pickup configuration. It was a tremendous guitar. I miss it. Originally Posted by Robertkoa
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I am not 100% sure if Bireli used Strat on his Standard album (can't find the info anywhere but I recall reading some piece lamenting his departure from straigh and narrow Django second coming path) but I was listening to it a bit last night and despite some brilliant phrases you hear him struggling a bit with it - some "choked" notes, certain "flatness" in expression.
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I think the issue of choked notes is an important one. I can hear that with my Strat copy. Oddly enough, it seems intermittent and may have something to do with the amplifier. More likely, it has to do with how hard I'm picking. Also, that the action is set as low as I've ever seen anybody use, and the strings are light (an accommodation to arthritis). I don't know if the choking is the guitar, the setup, or my technique combined with unrealistic expectations. Originally Posted by woland
My D'Angelico 2009 EXDC isn't much better in the upper registers, so I can't use the D or G strings around the 15th fret -- which is not a problem on the Yamaha Strat copy.
My old L5S didn't have the problem, as far as I recall, but was set up with heavier strings and higher action.
It just underscores how difficult it is to select a guitar. At the risk of belaboring the point, you can't be sure until you've set it up properly, maybe changed strings and pickup, and played it for a while in whatever situations you need it for.
It doesn't surprise me that people are posting videos of all kinds of guitars sounding great.
I recently heard a player whose name you would know play a standard on my Yamaha cheapie through a 12 watt Crate amp ($99 new, I think) -- and sound like himself. I think his $16k Benedetto sounds better, but not by as much as I would have thought.
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Bireli has been playing a Yamaha Pacifica a lot lately. Not the most expensive guitar in the world, but it sounds ok.
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A Strat could work depending on your style, and by that I mean, the guitar tends to influence how you play because of it's design. Like in the Jack Pearson example above, I hear elements of rock guitar, bends & such. Compared to, say, an acoustic archtop with no cutaway, you'd might be more inclined to play rhythm chords ala' Freddie Green.
I had an Ibanez Blazer, a Strat copy, for a few years. I found the pickups to be too hot, and I didn't like the strings so close to the body.
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