Stratocaster or not

[kris]

Stratocaster with humbuckers/neck and bridge/- is it still Stratocaster?
The real Stratocaster has specific sound-3 singlecoil pickups and 5 positions swicht.
What do you think?

[icr]

Technically they call it the "Stratocaster HH" or the "Stratocaster HSH." I think they are real.

[John A.]

Stratocaster with humbuckers/neck and bridge/- is it still Stratocaster?
The real Stratocaster has specific sound-3 singlecoil pickups and 5 positions swicht.
What do you think?

Humbuckers with coil splitters are close enough for R&R

John

[Lobomov]

Yes it is ... Here is a picture of Iron Maiden's Dave Murray playing a his famous vintage 1957 stratocaster that he bought from Paul Kossoff from the band Free.

[Strbender]

I have an 1985 MIJ Contemporary Strat. It has HSS with a coil splitter so it's like having 4 pups, and it has the Fender/Kahler type III tremolo system that I keep in the locked position. It doesn't have a routed out back either. Believe it or not, it's not a bad sounding jazz guitar. Is it still a Strat? It could be why they included "Contemporary" in it's name. I like it enough to still own it after 35 years

[Northenlights]

You could call it a strat, a les paul or big mac with extra fries. Doesn't really matter as it still sounds the same.
To me, strat is first and foremost the neck single coil pickup, and second the second and forth position on the swith. As such, I wouldn't say that a HSH is a true strat since a humbucker doesn't sound anywhere near a strat neck single coil. An SSH, on the other hand, I'm ok with, as the second position will sound close enough to the trademark tone.
If that's desirable for jazz is another question.

[neatomic]

by all means



just sink that neck pup low

cheers

[Cunamara]

Hmmm. My Partscaster is an old Warmoth hardtail alder Strat body and new roasted maple Strat neck. Regular pickguard, 5 way switch, vintage style tuners from Gotoh. Painted black and beat to heck (the body is 30+ years old). So far so Stratty.

But the pickups are Bill Lawrence L280N (stacked Strat sized humbucker) in the neck position and L90s (dual rail Gibson sized humbuckers) in the middle and bridge. No coil splitters or taps. It's wired with a stacked 250/500k volume pot, 250K neck tone pot with .047 cap, concentric stacked 500K tone pots with .022 caps for the middle and bridge. It doesn't sound very Stratty, but then I didn't want it to sound very Stratty. I wanted fat, thick, darkish and smooth. Therefore I don't consider it a Strat.

I like the ergonomics but rarely like the sound I get with a Strat. I liked the sound of a '61 Strat I played; there is something different about the pickups of that year (e.g., Rory Gallagher). Otherwise I find Strats usually too thin and glassy. Other people often sound great with them, so it's something about me... There have been some good discussions about using Strats for jazz on the forum.

[Marcel_A]

What do you think?

Not much. It's a guitar. Fender has built all kinds of configurations.
To me there are three types of relevant configurations:

HH
SSS
SSH

What people call these configurations? I couldn't care less.

[kris]

Not much. It's a guitar. Fender has built all kinds of configurations.
To me there are three types of relevant configurations:

HH
SSS
SSH

What people call these configurations? I couldn't care less.

I use type nr 4:
3 Humbucers in single coil size each...like HHH=SSS

[Tal_175]

I think a clean Stratocaster has a very distinctive sound. More so than any other electric guitar Stratocaster has a signature sound IMO. It's not a good or a bad thing. In a way it makes Strat less versatile than a Tele or a Les paul. So a Strat without the Strat single coils is not a Strat. It's just an ergonomic Tele

PS I know people are now gonna say that the Tele bridge has a distinct sound too compared to a bridge humbucker. But for jazz we are talking about the neck pickup really.

[Lobomov]

PS I know people are now gonna say that the Tele bridge has a distinct sound too compared to a bridge humbucker. But for jazz we are talking about the neck pickup really.

Yes .. But it is the pup that is the distinctive feature or is it the String .. I say it's the springs that make a strat sound like the strat. To me a hardtail strat is just a comfortable tele

[Hammertone]

Hardtail strats have been around since '55, shortly after the Stratocaster was introduced in '54. They sound like strats, but without the tiny bit of reverb created by the springs in the mis-named strat "tremolo" bridge system. Both styles sound remarkably similar.

They're all just plank guitars to me.
OK for jazz use in a pinch if a real jazz guitar is not available, I suppose.

[vernon]

I agree with the OP that the three single coil pickups and combinations thereof give the Strat its distinctive tones. Humbuckers sound different and dissipate the characteristic Strat signature. And, yes, I am a bit of a purist. Ah-hem.

[Tal_175]

I hardtailed my strat. Removed the springs, carved a wood block that matches the tremolo cavity to eliminate the heavy metal block all together.

I think there is also a German company that sells "L" shaped wood pieces that completely fill the strat cavity. Same idea. It's a string through design now.

The difference in the sound must be too subtle to determine without a careful A/B test. But the tuning stability improvement and the weight difference is not so subtle

[gitman]

Stratocaster with humbuckers/neck and bridge/- is it still Stratocaster?
The real Stratocaster has specific sound-3 singlecoil pickups and 5 positions swicht.
What do you think?

When I think "Stratocaster" I picture/hear the classic original with 3 single coil pickups and a trem.
I grew up in the 70's with the sounds of Hendrix, Rory Gallagher, David Gilmore, Terje Rypdal, Ritchie Blackmore - among others of
course but these guys all defined the "Strat" sound for me. It changed when Eddie Van Halen dropped a humbucker into
a Strat-Style body and the "Kit-Guitar" was born - so many fine vintage Strats were butchered when guys hacked open their
guitars to follow suit....

[gitman]

I hardtailed my strat. Removed the springs, carved a wood block that matches the tremolo cavity to eliminate the heavy metal block all together.

I think there is also a German company that sells "L" shaped wood pieces that completely fill the strat cavity. Same idea. It's a string through design now.

The difference in the sound must be too subtle to determine without a careful A/B test. But the tuning stability improvement and the weight difference is not so subtle

I also blocked the trem on my Parts-caster - the guitar is more resonant now and the sustain has increased noticeably. For my purpose this is an improvement and I'll keep it
blocked. My "real" Strat , a Suhr Classic, is set up with a floating trem and I've learned to manage the idiosycracies of this format.

[patshep]

Why does this matter in any way?

[Lobomov]

Why does this matter in any way?

Cause it's the 10th month of lockdown for some of us and we're slowly going batshit?