Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: PPPMAT on August 17, 2010, 10:16:26 AM
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Interested in all your opinions guys - who makes the best modern production strat type guitar. The criteria is that it must be three single coils and 25.5' scale length and NOT a relic finish. Is it Suhr? Tom Anderson? or..........Fender? Price irrelevant, value for money irrelevant whats the best?
Maybe its someone else - I'm really getting down with my strat tones at the moment and would be interested to know of any views
Cheers
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Depends how you define "best" I think:
Most vintage accurate?
Most slick to play?
Most modern features?
etc etc
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Well, for me, it's me. :)
If not, I would say Fender. Custom Shop if necessary.
Posh, blingy Strats always look wrong to me.
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I'm with the top end Suhr or Fender Custom Shop stuff based on what I have played
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Since you've ruled out relics ( :( ), I would say Tom Anderson, purely because I like the look a bit more than Suhr.
Or Tyler, possibly.
This is all speculative, I haven't tried this high-end stuff and would be too embarrassed to go into a shop and ask to.
Alternatively, with some nice Warmoth (or similar) parts, some quality hardware and pickups, a bit of luck* and a pro setup, I genuinely don't see why a home-build bolt-on shouldn't be as good as a big-bucks one.
(* that you chose a body and neck which sound as good as they look!)
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Squier. The standard to be exact.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DM7cj680eSw (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DM7cj680eSw)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbT7WVrY700 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbT7WVrY700)
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Fender Custom Shop.
I've not tried many others though, it's just that I like the vintage shape. The relics from the CS are great to (most of them that is)
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Ok a bit of a wide ranging question. Ruling out relics is unfair, you can have them in a NOS finish anyway. I suppose I am concentrating on build quality and playability...........
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In that case there is no best when you get up to the top end brands - just "different".
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OK, if relics are back in, I would go for a Fender Custom Shop (Heavy) Relic every time (or a Bravewood!). Again this is based entirely on looks and general vibe, but they do have a vast number of different neck shapes, finishes etc. I don't want to start the relic debate all over again, but the idea of having a top-quality, highly playable guitar and not having to worry at all about "babying" it appeals to me enormously.
On the other hand, the NOS/Closet Classic Fenders don't appeal to me at all - the glossy finishes look like they'd feel a bit "sticky", and I'd have my age-old problem of being petrified of scratching the buggers.
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Who makes the best Strat?
Fender. For sheer MOJO.
Paddy
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Looks like Guitar Village have had some new stock in from the Custom Shop recently. And I can't afford any of it :(
Thye have some more of the white over sunburst, my current favourite relic :(
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They have some more of the white over sunburst, my current favourite relic :(
Yeah, I love that look too.
But £2.5K is enough to put me off and, I think, will continue to be!
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Interesting...........lots of love for the Fender custom shop stuff. They are great guitars no question. Ive tried many a custom shop strat but never really found one that 'fits'.
Never tried any of the more modern stuff like suhr and Tom Anderson and their respective classic ranges look pretty cool and are more or less the same price as a custom shop strat.
So it appears there is no definitive 'best' strat just different flavours.
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I've had some Fenders, tried some fantastic Suhrs, Tylers and Custom shop Fenders and ended up keeping one of the 4 G&L Legacys I've owned. It's the most comfortable Strat type I've ever played and it fits me. I'd still love a Tyler, there a beautiful burst in GuitarGuitar Birmingham that looks like the sea, a beautiful Turquiose sea that's moving BUT I wouldn't sell my G&L to get it I'd have to have it as well as. Yes I love my Legacy.
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Fender. No-one else makes strats, they just make copies.
Les Pauls or PRS type guitars or other top end guitars are the work of craftsmen - Strats are the design of a radio repair man with Henry Ford ideas about thrifty mechanised production and a staff of Mexican labourers. If you take away that from a strat you don't have a strat anymore, you have a posh top end guitar that looks like a strat.
So my vote is a strat from the Fender Mexican factory - the truest incarnation of the strat that exists. :D
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I agree with Elliot! and would not spend a fortune on some custom shop job, find something that plays nice and fit your favourite BKPs, or make something from the many parts suppliers and have fun doing it.
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I agree with Elliot! and would not spend a fortune on some custom shop job, find something that plays nice and fit your favourite BKPs, or make something from the many parts suppliers and have fun doing it.
I'm in the process of doing exactly that having come to the same conclusion but fantastic though my current MIM strat is it doesn't play as fluidly as any of the PRS's I own. I 'get' the mojo of a fender though and particularly the custom shop stuff but as I have said I've never been blown away by one. Probably just not played the right one..
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Best value is a partscaster.
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I'm in the process of doing exactly that having come to the same conclusion but fantastic though my current MIM strat is it doesn't play as fluidly as any of the PRS's I own.
Surely your MIM Strat just needs a really good setup then????
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I'm in the process of doing exactly that having come to the same conclusion but fantastic though my current MIM strat is it doesn't play as fluidly as any of the PRS's I own.
Surely your MIM Strat just needs a really good setup then????
It has a really good setup but there is only so much you can do with a vintage radius and nut width. I really like the neck but maybe a flatter radius might be in order........
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Taller frets is a cheaper and easier option - it'll transform it for £100 or so...
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i think the highway 1s are the best price/quality/philosophy price point.
but for the best of the best, bravewood or fender custom shop relic IMHO
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I love Fender custom shop strats, beautifully put together & & look good enough to eat, however the next strat I get is going to be the Hot Rod Vintage 62. It has everything I want in a strat, 9.5" radius, medium/jumbo frets Thin Skin Nitro finish etc. etc. & it deosn't cost half as much as some of the Custom Shop jobs....damn, my gas is strating up again
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Fender strats, usa are absolutely fine in terms of sound, build quality and price, they will do anything a strat's mean't to do.i've not tried a mim, but it seems they're pretty much the same quality wise. the only custom shop
i've tried was jerry donahue tele and whilst lovely it wouldn't have extracted 2k from me and even jerry donahue
used to say the jap ones where as good! my common sense tells me the same is true for strats,obviously it will
be made from higher spec materiels but that extra few percent in 'quality' doubles or more the price.go figure.
the best made strat i've had was one of the original law suit 'levinson' blade.perfect.
But the best sounding one, my current 1989 strat plus with irish tours..... about 800 quid inc pups!
Immaculate cond. second hand usa strats are one of the best value objects available in the whole world, easily found for about 500quid then customised with bkp's of your choice gives you a guitar as good as anything ever needed.(for well less than a grand!)
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Well, for me, it's me. :)
WINNER!!!!
Aftermarket parts are sooooo much better than Fender stuff these days really!!
I'm talking about 3 areas that Fender production is terrible at:
1) Wood quality. Almost anyone can pick out a better piece of tone wood than Fender can, speaking of recent and current production guitars. I really think Fender hired Helen Keller for this position.
2) CNC machining. Fender takes all kinds of toolpath shortcuts that result in poor neck pockets (large tool overcut in corners) misaligned bridges, etc.
3) Assembly and set-up. If you can't take apart a Fender production Strat and re-assemble it and set it up MUCH better than the condition you found it in hanging in the music store, somebody ought to take away all your screwdrivers!
Speaking from experience, USA Custom Guitars vs Fender production is virtually no contest.
Tommy will pick out whatever you want weight and grain on a body, and his neck pockets fit perfect every time, no overcut BS like new Fenders.
I also think that USACG builds the best neck, but then again most places can build a better neck than current Fender production necks.
YOU can build a better Strat than Fender, no need to pay boutique prices to a custom builder.
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Copperhead speaks truth. It really is not difficult to build a superb Strat and then tinker with it until you have it exactly the way you want it.
Don't believe the hype.
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I just got back from Brighton where i visited GAK and tried loads of strats.. gilmour, custom shop relics, am standards etc For me none of them were as nice playing or good sounding as my Kotzen. I wasn't a ran of the relics, even on the £2799 gilmour strat, it just looked fake.
The new am standard felt better than my 2005 guitar, mainly because of the thicker neck
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Looks like Guitar Village have had some new stock in from the Custom Shop recently. And I can't afford any of it :(
Thye have some more of the white over sunburst, my current favourite relic :(
Never really been a Fender kinda guy but just recently bought an American Deluxe from there & can't put the damn thing down! :D
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v305/Bucketbot/Guitars/Strat1.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v305/Bucketbot/Guitars/Strat2.jpg)
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Wow - I like that. As said on Martin's thread I don't normally like natural strats - I'm getting to like them now!
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Wow - I like that. As said on Martin's thread I don't normally like natural strats - I'm getting to like them now!
Managed to beat em down to £1000 too!
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Most remarkable "special" feel I ever experienced was a James Tyler Classic. I don't know how he does it, but his guitars fall in your hand and feel like they'd been there for years. On top of that the craftmanship and components are top drawer. So James get's the crown from me.
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Most remarkable "special" feel I ever experienced was a James Tyler Classic. I don't know how he does it, but his guitars fall in your hand and feel like they'd been there for years. On top of that the craftmanship and components are top drawer. So James get's the crown from me.
They scallop the edges of the fretboard, that's probably one contributing factor 8) I'll probably end up buying a Tyler some day. They don't come around here too often though..
-Zaned
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Fender makes beautifull strats, but you have to select carefully. A lot of Fenders, even CS, don't do it for me and the quality/features/price is out of balance. The cheaper Eric Johnson-strat, which has a great quartersawn neck, is the better choice. I think Suhr-guitars give the most bang for the bucks. Even the Pro Series are highquality and they have the Buzz Feiten-system. I myself play an Patrick Eggle-made swampash/maple neck/ebony fingerboard MXG-strat with Crawler/Irish Tours. Bought it for 750 euro and can compete with some Suhr-guitars. When woods and playability are good, upgrading is easy and not too expensive. I invested in Sperzels and a Fender-rollerbridge for better tuningstability. So, somewhere between 800 and 1500 euro you can find your ultimate strat. Above that you pay the brandname and I often wonder why I don't hear the extra 2000-3000 euro's?
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Most remarkable "special" feel I ever experienced was a James Tyler Classic. I don't know how he does it, but his guitars fall in your hand and feel like they'd been there for years. On top of that the craftmanship and components are top drawer. So James get's the crown from me.
... but don't you find their headstocks really ugly..?
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his guitars fall in your hand and feel like they'd been there for years.
So its not a Strat then - because the feel of a Strat is something you have to fight with to bring under your command - :)
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Quote from: hunter on August 20, 2010, 09:10:33 PM
Most remarkable "special" feel I ever experienced was a James Tyler Classic. I don't know how he does it, but his guitars fall in your hand and feel like they'd been there for years. On top of that the craftmanship and components are top drawer. So James get's the crown from me.
The headstock is. yes different.... But the multicoloured 'smear' bodies are badass.
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Well I 'may' have found the answer in a PRS 305. I have looked and looked and looked at the upper end strats and fender just do not make one that suits what I want. Amazing I know but they don't - the main issue is the necks are just too big for me on the guitars that I like (like the custom deluxe).
I am also unsure on 2 point trems - opinion is divided as to whether it affects tone.......Also the Tom Andersons have stainless steel frets which I have found to be a bit bright for me.
The 305 ticks pretty much all the boxes, its Alder, its maple and rosewood, it has a 6 point trem that works, it has excellent build and in the anniversary colours looks great. Also the single coils are overwound and beefy.
The DOwnsides, you CANNOT swap pickups and whilst not being overly blingy for a PRS its still a bit 'jewellery'.
Also it represents pretty good value in my eyes - it is considerably cheaper than a custom shop relic, its a set neck and built to top drawer standards
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So have you bought one yet? :P
PRS have a special offer of a "£250 Care Package" which runs out at the end of this month.
http://www.headlinemusic.co.uk/news.aspx (http://www.headlinemusic.co.uk/news.aspx)
(3rd item on that page)
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Well, for me, it's me. :)
If not, I would say Fender. Custom Shop if necessary.
Posh, blingy Strats always look wrong to me.
I'd agree with this, just drop a BKP set in a US strat and there's nothing to beat it.
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Yes :D total gamble, ive never played one but ordered one in sapphire smokeburst (blue) from Peach. I trust John there totally and if its not right then it can go back. I get the free care package and uber showoff white case!
By coincidence its reviewed in guitarist and sounds exactly what I want - a strat but super playable and meaty. Didn't realise that they are limited to 305 of them so quite pleased. I really wanted something other than a PRS to be honest but there you go.
Ill let you know how it stacks up against my roadworn strat (with irish tours and steel block etc). Might sound an unfair comparison but that guitar stacks up against any of the fender CS stuff (in tone not build)
Should get it next week
Matt
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Hope you like it! :D
(I'm also pondering a PRS purchase while the care package offer lasts - might as well take advantage of it - but I'm having big trouble deciding what to buy!)
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SVL (Simon Law) guitars.
http://svlguitars.com/gallery/sixtyone
Matt Schofields been using them recently. They looked gorgeous when I saw him at the 100 club a few months back.
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Hope you like it! :D
(I'm also pondering a PRS purchase while the care package offer lasts - might as well take advantage of it - but I'm having big trouble deciding what to buy!)
Well, the choices are endless............I like some of the anniversary models, and my interest is piqued in the narrowfield humbuckers which seem to sound great. I have a soft sot for the 57/08 pickups too which are very vintage PAF sounding. SC245 is a great guitar, customs are great (particularly the 22) they are all great
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Hope you like it! :D
(I'm also pondering a PRS purchase while the care package offer lasts - might as well take advantage of it - but I'm having big trouble deciding what to buy!)
Well, the choices are endless............I like some of the anniversary models, and my interest is piqued in the narrowfield humbuckers which seem to sound great. I have a soft sot for the 57/08 pickups too which are very vintage PAF sounding. SC245 is a great guitar, customs are great (particularly the 22) they are all great
I'm not after anything with a maple top.... which makes things a little simpler.