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Having pared down to a few great jazz boxes but still owning an AXE FX 2 and a Kemper , which I use 1% of the capability of, I’m thinking about getting a good rock guitar solid body that will be able to use these amps more.
I’m thinking about the new Ed OBrien model Strat that has a Fernandes Sustainer.
What is rhe difference beteeen a tele and Strat ,? What are your preferences ?
I’ve never owned or played a Strat or Les Pail actually .
I was thinking about the Strat because it’s cheap too.
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01-04-2018 05:50 PM
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I read "Strat" rather than "Start", to which my answer would have been... "Exactly"
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Both of these models can be had for cheap, Classic vibe telecaster is awesome, and so many inexpensive Strats available, I'd try both
Bet you will get more tele recommendations but Strats are really addictive, really unique sound. Good luck!
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Teles are the best solid body guitar design ever created, and Strats are...I dunno...pointy-er?
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What is your budget? I have a Kiesel California Carved Top that is my go-to for pretty much any style. It does nearly everything except the strat twang.
For that reason I'm picking up a Nick Johnston Traditional strat made by Schecter. I chose that one because I've noticed that Fender doesnt really make strats for the more "shreddy" crowd. You have to purchase the Yngwie scalloped strat, or the Eric Johnson strat with the bigger frets and neck profile, both of which cost beyond $1k.
The Nick Johnston strat comes with the bigger frets, locking tuners, better neck profile, and (what I hope will be) a more stable bridge trem system. I receive the guitar on Friday tho, so I don't know how good it will be yet. I'll let you know.
BTW I bought it for $600 on the New Years sale.
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It is hard to choose between the two if it comes to rock music. Teles are obviously the choice for jazz and they do sound awesome on the neck pickup. For rock music, the Tele neck pickup might be considered to be a bit too mellow. On the other hand, the Strat bridge pickup is often a bit thin and trebly and does not sound good with distortion. The Tele bridge pickup is typically beefier.
For me, personally, after quite some searching, my favorite rock guitar is a Strat with somewhat hotter pickups (e.g. DiMarzio rail pickups, Fast Track, Cruiser and Chopper ... I know, silly names but really good and cheap pickups, noiseless too). Ergonomics are perfect on a Strat, you have a whammy bar to do silly things with, the neck pickup is warm and bassy, the bridge pickups cuts through and retains clarity, the in-between positions are glassy and sound great clean with some of the delay and chorus goodies.
That Ed O‘Brian Strat makes a good impression on me. Having said that - for Fender style guitars, to me, the real deal is Warmoth. One just gets exactly what one wants for a fairly fair price.
With all that said .... a Tele gets the job done for rock any day of the week :-) ... but for rock, I would also consider a Les Paul, which is, perhaps, is the quintessential rock guitar.
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On the subject of Les Pauls - the LP Deluxe would be a good guitar - mini humbuckers would get you kind of inbetween Tele twang and humbucker thickness.
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A strat was my go to guitar for so many years, for blues and roots music. Once I found teles, they always came first. The tele is simpler, but I've found you can get more different sounds with it than the 3 p/u equipped strat. The big difference is the tone knob, in my experience highly effective on teles, way less so on strats. But it's really a personal choice. What fits me best might not be that way for you.
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They play slightly differently. They feel slightly differently (a strat is comfier when worn standing). And their sound is quite a bit different to someone who knows them.
A tele, with its two pickups, has the broadest tonal range in any solid body that I know of. And when you distort it, the bridge pickup can be really, really mean. For three very classic tele OD tones, think “Stairway to heaven”, “Dogs” and “Down the line” played by Robben Ford. Added bonus: a tele gives you amazing classic blues (think Muddy), funky, country and jazz tones. In all of these applications, to me, it smokes the strat.
A strat gives you five shades of the same great sound, which are fantastic for a bunch of applications but appeal most to me in a blues-rock setting. Never entirely clean for me. A strat needs a bit of OD, or quite a good helping. The things Billy Gibbons does with a strat on “La Grange” and “Blue Jeans Blues” are just about the best examples of those strat sounds to me. One more quintessential strat record that could never have been cut on a tele is Jimi's Bold as Love. In some ways, a strat is bad to the bone, and badder than a tele (not in all ways tho… go back to that Robben record to convince yourself).
PS: I use my tele most of the time, but I don’t think I could cope without a strat in the house too. So the news is: you need both.
PPS: If you get either, and don’t have a “normal” specimen already, leave the sustainer gizmos aside and go for the classics. A used Mexican would suit you well: Classic Series Model, or Classic Player if you don’t like a curvy fretboard. Used American Vintages would do even better.
PPPS: For teles, three-saddle bridges (brass for me thank you) are mandatory. Or not. Depending on your taste. YMMV. But for me they are.
PPPPS: great, now I am gas-ing for one more strat and one more tele. Thanks mate ;D
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at this point the term strat and tele are rather generic terms...a strat with 3 single coils sounds radically different from a double humbucker strat..same applies to teles...one of the first mods performed regularly on teles (late 60's-early 70's) was to switch out the (rather weak) tele neck pup for a humbucker or even mini humbucker..completely changed the beast
if you play thru the kemper and axe fx with some distortion settings you may want a humbucking pickup
cheersLast edited by neatomic; 01-04-2018 at 07:58 PM.
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See also the mid 2000's Gibson SG Special Faded. $350-450 all day long. Amazing platform for modding.
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Strats and Teles are both fine rock guitars. I’ve owned and played both for years. Tele has the edge because it’s got the mojo and ATTITUDE! I’d look for a used 90s Fender American Standard Tele (or Strat)... a decent one will run $600 to $800.
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Cool thanks. Wonder what the difference a pickup would make when using a Kemper or Axe FX-2?
I'm inclined to check out a Strat (because of the Sustainer and the whammy bar) --kind of embarrassed to admit I've never played one of these before (or a LP), but I only started playing guitar more or less right before I joined this site, as an adult. When I decided I wanted to learn to play jazz. So I had to start from scratch.
My inclination is still to put heavier strings on them-12-54ish, 13-56ish, like I would on an archtop. That's just what I've always been used to.
The EOB strat (to be released this month) has the following pickup config:
Seymour Duncan® JB Jr. humbucking bridge pickup, Texas Special single-coil Stratocaster middle pickup, Fernandes® Sustainer neck pickup.
My interest in a Sustainer comes from listening to Robert Fripp, actually. He also has a Les Paul like guitar for it (Fernandes), not a Fender. He just upgraded his rig to incorporate TWO Axe-Fx2s!
The funny thing is, the Kemper has a "Fripp" pre-set. Which sounds absolutely TERRIBLE on an archtop guitar.
I imagine I would use this guitar for recording to create orchestral soundscapes and long tones and weird atmospheric effects. (I finally got my home studio in order).
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lifelong fripp fan here...fernandes relationship developed because they were only company working with the sustainer...you might want to look into the e-bow handheld sustain device as well...and remember fripp was doing those wonderful sustaining lines with just an lp and distortion box early on..
i'd imagine kemper fripp pre set tries to emulate that..sans the sustainer
the longer fender 25.5 scale might be an issue too...not the same sustain
might want to check out something by prs...even the import se line has good bang for the buck...humbuckers and whammy...u could always add the sustainer
cheers
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FYI the sound the Kemper is going for is classic Fripp, pre-gadgets, i.e, Larks Tongues-Starless and Bible Black-Red era Fripp. Les Paul fuzz guitar basics.
Originally Posted by neatomic
lifelong fripp fan here...fernandes relationship developed because they were only company working with the sustainer...you might want to look into the e-bow handheld sustain device as well...and remember fripp was doing those wonderful sustaining lines with just an lp and distortion box early on..
i'd imagine kemper fripp pre set tries to emulate that..sans the sustainer
the longer fender 25.5 scale might be an issue too...not the same sustain
might want to check out something by prs...even the import se line has good bang for the buck...humbuckers and whammy...u could always add the sustainer
cheers
The funny thing is, he can't play many of these parts now, these days, because he tunes his guitar like a cello (in 5ths), so the other guy in King Crimson now, the singer-guitarist named Jakko Jaksyzyk, plays them.
Fripp was very impressed with his playng and asked him what gear he was using. Jakko said PRS into a Kemper with the "Classic Fripp" setting".
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Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
Can always split the difference and get a hardtail strat, but easier to just get a Tele to start with. Could get one of the Nashville Teles with the middle strat pickup added. These days if not going to get a Tele then I'd check out a JazzMaster Leo's take on a solid body with archtop string angles and floating whammy bar.
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I don't want to pontificate. I have, however, owned Strats, Les Pauls, and Telecasters. For almost all of my adult life I have had all three on hand. They are popular for good reasons--they are exceptionally good at generating a broad variety of useful tones.
All three, of course, are great too for generating very recognizable tones. Introduction to "Sweet Home Alabama," or most Hendrix tunes--think Stratocaster. "Stairway to Heaven," "Funk 49," and most of the Top-40 tunes recorded by the Wrecking Crew--think Telecaster. "Money for Nothing" (Dire Straits), most late Led Zeppelin--think Les Paul.
I don't currently own a Les Paul, but I still own a Strat and a Tele. If I could only own one, however, it would be a Telecaster. I consider it THE most universally useful electric guitar ever produced.
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What about a Yamaha Pacifica? Cheap, and it's good enough for Bireli Lagrene.
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It's not the 1950s anymore, there are lots of different and desirable solidbody guitars besides strats, teles and LPs.
A strat is perhaps the last guitar I'd consider if I wanted to sound even a bit like Fripp...
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You wanna rock? PRS. I retired my beloved mid-'60s ES-345 (with Patent-sticker Pups) the day I got my first Custom 24. Its perfect balance, tonal versatility (10 distinct tones without turning a knob), killer pups, rock-solid feel, perfect neck (25" scale, flawless fretwork) and stunning looks made the "transfer of power" seamless. Plugged into any of my amps it sounded (and continues to sound, currently sporting 12-52 Chromes) wonderful. No effects needed (though a little reverb never hurts). I expect if you plug one of these into a Kemper, loved ones may have to bring you food and water to keep you from wasting away while you obsessively cycle through every possible tone. Mine sounds great through all my Fenders, from the Vibro Champ (black) to the Vibroverb (brown) to the Deluxes (tweed and DRRI); the Plexi half-stack - fuggetaboutit!. The AI Corus III: velvet at any volume. Etc, etc.
Yes, I'm bragging. But I'm not lyin!
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If you can afford 2 solid body guitars, get a strat and a Les Paul. If you can only afford one, get a Tele. I have 4 strats, 2 Les Pauls and only one Tele, and it still gets played just a bit more than any of the others and can definitely fake the heavier tones of a Les Paul better than a strat. And, you could get a "Nashville" tele (with a middle pickup) and get 90% of the strat tones, as well. Teles are just an amazingly simple but effective use of wood and steel. Some kind of divine intervention was going on, when Leo dreamed it up!
I haven't bought a MIJ or Mexican Fender, but they are supposed to be awfully close to american made quality and you can upgrade the electronics later. So, maybe a mexican strat AND tele for around $1K total? Good Les Pauls are a bit more spendy and a little harder to mod, other than pickups.
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Tastes great ... less filling Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
Assuming stock configurations, the neck and bridge pick-up tones can be be very similar. The rest is pretty different: a strat can't duplicate a tele's combined pup sound; a tele can't duplicate the in-between or middle pup sounds of a Strat. I think strats are as close as one get to perfection ergonomically, and I like whammy bars.
John
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Recently I got my self a "Charvel Desolation DC1 FR". Pretty nice for playing, tuned it once when it came from shop and haven't looked back for months (FR is for Floyd Rose, locking nut), did not even change the factory strings.
For you, going through FX, Kemper, and all, the sound of it's active PUs will be even more irrelevant than it is for me. On my main YT channel 3 of the last 4 clips were made with it as main guitar. On one you can even see me playing it.
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This thread has basically come down to tele vs. strat, but for me a rock guitar has humbuckers.
The Les Paul is a fine guitar, but if you want bang for the buck there is nothing that quite matches a used SG standard. You get all the nice stuff like proper Gibson nitro and a bound neck, but they usually go cheaper than a used us std strat or tele. At least around these part.
Maybe not as full sounding as a Les Paul, but they definately have their charm and their weight is a lot more friendly.
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Okay, how about Cort T and S style guitars?
Ash body, maple neck and importantly a humbucker bridge pickup.
The Manson/Muse inspired T style gives a lot of bang for bucks over Squire Vintage Vibes....
Classic TC < Cort Guitars and Basses Official Website specs... (check them out).
Interview with Hugh Manson Regarding the MS Series < Cort Guitars and Basses Official Website Manson (luthier) interview.
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