Recommendations wanted: Strat for guys who don't like playing strats

[mr quick]

Hello all,

I've been looking for the right strat for years and years. It's a useful tool to have in one's toolkit. However, I have only been able to find guitars that feel reasonably usable, as compared to the "this is it!"-factor that my ES had and has. I don't mind being an ES player, but I would like to have a strat that i really like, not which is just fine.

Of course, thousands of variations of the "strat"-style design exist. I have tried, among others, Fender USA strats (std, am pro, vintage instruments, vintera series, original), Fender MX strats (player, std, california, various), Suhr, James Tylers, Andersons, Ibanez (superstrats, AZ), and the list goes on and on. I am lucky enough that I work at a major instrument store, and I get to try everything that looks interesting that we get.

... However, another coworker and I are in charge of acoustics, so I don't really have a say of the electric guitar department and its stock at all. The guy who does, is more of a modern, metal kind of guy, which influences the stock significantly. This is not a big problem, as metal is undoubtedly the most popular genre/style in the area.

The point is that I doubt that my "perfect" strat-style guitar is going to suddenly pop up in our stock. That's why I want to ask you all, on this forum, if you have any recommendations for guitars to be on the lookout for.

The best strat I ever tried was a James Tyler Studio Elite. The chunky neck really helps.

Does a shorter scale "ruin" a strat? Does a "Gibson"-style strat exist readily available today? (Like the US-1)
I've been thinking about a partsocaster as well, although parts are harder to get here in EU and I have little experience with such endeavours.
Another option I've thought about, is seeing if our tech might be up for the challenge of building this guitar. Has anyone gone this route?
All input welcome!

[Little Jay]

I am not a Stratman either, but I found that with .011 or .012 flatwounds and a .1uf tone cap I like them a whole of a lot better!

I agree a Strat is a good thing to have in your arsenal if you do pop bands as well. My partscaster Squier with big headstock, Agathis body (with flame veneer) and Laurel fretboard is the best playing and sounding Strat out of the three I own (80ies Fernandes The Revival and a ‘91 Fender USA Std).

[mr. beaumont]

Man, a black pickguard on a sunburst strat looks so good...

Years ago, Fender made a guitar called the big apple strat...two full size humbuckers. They were cool guitars.

I'm pretty sure Warmoth sells conversion necks for teles and strats.

[Peter C]

Unless you want to get up to Ritchie Blackmore antics, as a Strat player of many years, I would say get a Tele. JMO.

[christianm77]

I always the Eric Clapton sig counted as this....

[mr quick]

Thanks for the input so far. The reason I want a strat in particular is because of its distinct characteristics. I don't need a tele right away, and I've had a much easier time finding Teles I liked!

W.r.t. strings, I use round and coated 10's on my ES anyway, so I don't know if fat flats might help on a strat? I'm open to trying it, though. I have a few sets laying around from back when I played flats.

I've thought about conversion necks, but it's such a drag getting things shipped from USA all the way to EU - especially these days!

[christianm77]

Jazz guitarist Phil Robson was playing a lace sensor era Clapton strat with flatwounds back in the 90s. He me lent me his guitar on a workshop once and I being a teen rocker was like - what are these crazy slidey strings I can’t bend???

[christianm77]

Flats on a trem bridge? More tension so you’d have to set it up right.

[John A.]

Hello all,

I've been looking for the right strat for years and years. It's a useful tool to have in one's toolkit. However, I have only been able to find guitars that feel reasonably usable, as compared to the "this is it!"-factor that my ES had and has. I don't mind being an ES player, but I would like to have a strat that i really like, not which is just fine.

Of course, thousands of variations of the "strat"-style design exist. I have tried, among others, Fender USA strats (std, am pro, vintage instruments, vintera series, original), Fender MX strats (player, std, california, various), Suhr, James Tylers, Andersons, Ibanez (superstrats, AZ), and the list goes on and on. I am lucky enough that I work at a major instrument store, and I get to try everything that looks interesting that we get.

... However, another coworker and I are in charge of acoustics, so I don't really have a say of the electric guitar department and its stock at all. The guy who does, is more of a modern, metal kind of guy, which influences the stock significantly. This is not a big problem, as metal is undoubtedly the most popular genre/style in the area.

The point is that I doubt that my "perfect" strat-style guitar is going to suddenly pop up in our stock. That's why I want to ask you all, on this forum, if you have any recommendations for guitars to be on the lookout for.

The best strat I ever tried was a James Tyler Studio Elite. The chunky neck really helps.

Does a shorter scale "ruin" a strat? Does a "Gibson"-style strat exist readily available today? (Like the US-1)
I've been thinking about a partsocaster as well, although parts are harder to get here in EU and I have little experience with such endeavours.
Another option I've thought about, is seeing if our tech might be up for the challenge of building this guitar. Has anyone gone this route?
All input welcome!

If all you're looking for is 24" neck, but an otherwise standard Strat, I'd recommend a Squier CV and a conversion neck (Warmoth and USACG make 'em for sure; there are probably others, too). That's probably the easiest path. Or maybe something like this : Parallel Universe II Uptown Strat(R) | Electric Guitars (with an added out-of-phase switch to get the "in-between" sounds, if that's what you really want out of a strat). Yet another option (though probably hard to find) would be a Valley Arts strat-style guitar from the late 80s to early 90s. Those are short scale (IIRC, also 24 frets and slightly smaller bodies). I haven't tried a conversion neck strat, so I can't speak to the tonal differences from direct experience, but many people say the shorter scale length yields a slightly less scooped and more mid-rangey sound with less of the high end chime of a typical strat.

John

[Lobomov]

Seems you've tried most versions of strats ... You really need that trem, if not then how about a Nashville Tele?


Anyways my own strat is the Ritchie Kotzen strat. Chucky neck with d-shape. 12" radius and jumbo frets. Very ES like except for the scale length.

[jazzgtrl4]

How about a PRS Special Semi Hollow. bought one 8 months ago and its been main guitar for everything that is not jazz. put my strat and tele in the bag, havent been out since.

[ThatRhythmMan]

It might be helpful to know exactly what it is that you don’t like about a standard Strat. If you want a 12” radius and a chunky neck, you might like an Eric Johnson signature Strat. If it’s the trem bridge, there are hardtail Strats. Want a TOM-stop bar instead? I don’t remember Fender doing a Strat that way, but they’ve done Teles. There are S-type guitars by other makers with TOM bridges of course though.

[jads57]

Build or buy a used Partscaster! With all of the small companies like Musikraft, Warmoth, even All Parts you'll find exactly what you want.
Just make sure to measure or find the right neck pocket specs and bridge specs.

[ChrisN]

worth a look

[Bach5G]

I might be inclined to contact Musikraft or Warmoth and ask them if they can make you a Strat neck that is similar to the neck on your 335.

Then I’d order a Fender or Fender-licensed replacement body. Hardware to taste.

[paulkogut]

Steve Khan told me he had his Strat's nut/bridge set up with Gibson string spacing, upon advice from Bill Connors. That might be a factor in the Gibson 'feel' in addition to scale length. Best wishes for your instrument!

PK

[mr quick]

Thanks for input so far. I'll try and explain more what I'm looking for.

Jazz guitarist Phil Robson was playing a lace sensor era Clapton strat with flatwounds back in the 90s. He me lent me his guitar on a workshop once and I being a teen rocker was like - what are these crazy slidey strings I can’t bend???

My father has one such strat, the neck wasn't right for me.

How about a PRS Special Semi Hollow. bought one 8 months ago and its been main guitar for everything that is not jazz. put my strat and tele in the bag, havent been out since.

We stock those, but they don't really work for me- besides, I'm playing a Gibson ES with humbuckers.

It might be helpful to know exactly what it is that you don’t like about a standard Strat. If you want a 12” radius and a chunky neck, you might like an Eric Johnson signature Strat. If it’s the trem bridge, there are hardtail Strats. Want a TOM-stop bar instead? I don’t remember Fender doing a Strat that way, but they’ve done Teles. There are S-type guitars by other makers with TOM bridges of course though.

I don't know exactly what I don't like, it simply doesn't feel good in my hands. My suspicion is the scale length, although I'm not sure. I want a strat for what I think about when I think "strat" - Single coils (HSS or SSS) and a vibrato system.

Lobomov mentioned the Kotzen strat. I tried the Kotzen Tele when we had that, which is undoubtedly the finest Tele I ever played, and likely what I'd go for if I wanted to get a tele. If the strat is much the same, it's something to consider.

Thank you all for your input so far, I'm sorry I can't better put into words what it is that I don't like with strats. I'll dig out my Fender MX strat and see if I can analyze what I don't like

[Little Jay]

Flats on a trem bridge? More tension so you’d have to set it up right.

I had no problems. Not a floating bridge, just flat to the body, I use 5 springs and a piece of foam between the springs and the springcavity cover. I only had to tighten the trussrod a little bit.

[Gitfiddler]

There are tons of Strat-type guitars available these days. My favorite is G&L. Their custom shop turns out amazing instruments with many available options.

After scoring a custom shop S-500 on the used market a couple of years ago, my search for the perfect 'Strat' for my taste ended.

[mr quick]

Update: I got old my old California strat - I've been playing it for some 11 years, but its neck was changed a few years ago because the truss rod in the original broke.
I've had the guitar set up and the frets rounded and levelled by my usual tech for the last years, but when I took it out now, after having had it stashed away for probably close to a year, I could instantly tell it wasn't to be. Gave it back to my dad right away.

the neck is much more slim than what I usually like (it's a standard mx rw neck now) but that didn't feel like much of a problem. I think the problem could possibly be spacing and scale length mainly.

[Lobomov]

Lobomov mentioned the Kotzen strat. I tried the Kotzen Tele when we had that, which is undoubtedly the finest Tele I ever played, and likely what I'd go for if I wanted to get a tele. If the strat is much the same, it's something to consider.

The Strat neck while still chunky is a size smaller than the Tele neck. But yeah .. same ball park of instrument.

[Flat]

I play an old Tokai ST-80 Springy Sound, which I like a lot. But I saw this video recently about a couple of players with signature models from Ibanez that looked pretty interesting.

[starjasmine]

I've never been comfortable with a Strat neck, myself, and I do love a good Gibson neck.

Here's the rub: the only thing that sounds quite like a Strat ... is a Strat. This is not a HUGE problem for me, as I feel that the Strat sound is a "nice to have" sound, but not my 'go to' sound.

I also have to clarify that clean tone is what separates the real Strats from the wannabes. The Marshall stack cranked to 11 is going to sound about the same with a "real" Strat or a non-Fender "superstrat".

So my inability to play a Strat comfortably, coupled with not really finding "that" clean sound in any other guitar, amounts for me to a bit of inconvenience, and a tradeoff, but not a catastrophe.

I have a Charvel Model 6 "superstrat" that approximates a Strat tone pretty well *for my purposes* but would probably not satisfy a diehard Strat lover. Its neck is almost the width of a classical guitar, and the action feels more "Gibsony" than "Fendery" which is great for me, since I don't dig the Fendery feel. It has humbucker in the tail and single coil neck/middle pickups, individual microswitches to control each, and (this is cool) active electronics with continuously variable mid boost/cut. Neck through sustain for days, comfy to play, and I upgraded the trem to a Kahler that I love (in tune after dive bombs? you bet!) All in all, a super-nice guitar, great for those pop gigs that require a single-coil sound, but not.... REALLY .... the Strat sound. Close. But not quite.

You might also check out a Parker Fly. Again, lots of options for sculpting tone and combining PUPs (including the cool ability to blend piezo with mag), great neck that intones better than any I've ever played, and a feel that is somewhere between Gibson and Fender. Which makes it playable but not super comfortable *for me.* I do like the neck on that guitar, but it takes a bit of getting used to. Bottom line: another super cool guitar that can come close to the classic Strat tone, but ... not... a... Strat.

I'm willing to come down on the "comfortable neck" side of the comfortable-for-me-neck vs. nailing-the-classic-Strat-tone side of the tradeoff, but not everyone would make that trade.

Haven't played one but maybe a Sadowsky would be your cup of tea? And +1 on the idea of a Valley Arts strat. You can hear those on the late-80s Larry Carlton discs before he went acoustic.

My own experiment with upgrading a Squier was disastrous. The one thing I didn't do (and probably should have) was to swap the neck. I played a zillion Squier strats, picked the best one, then put EMG active electronics and a top of the line trem into it, had it professionally set up... and it still just didn't feel that good. So I ditched it, kept shopping, and wound up with the Charvel.

[Eck]

Was the YouTube piece called PRS killed the strat. Which was about a John Mayer cooperated thing that was sooo good. And Paul Davids has a piece called 10 things I hate about a Strat, which in the end concludes with him still loving it.


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[archtopeddy]

If they happen to come through your shop, be sure to look at any Nash or Danocaster. Also, an Eric Johnson strat. They may not be your cup of tea but doesn't hurt to check 'em out.