superstrats

[tellthatmick]

following on from this thread: [cheers for help on that one guys,kudos]

http://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10500

while i'm aware of what a superstrat is, i'm semi-ashamed to say that i have absolutely no experience with superstrats. at 15/16 i used to own a  :oops: tom delonge sig strat :oops:, which i guess is a fat strat, and that is my only strat-esque experience.

so people, seriously, educate me! i literally have no idea where to start looking.

[TwilightOdyssey]

I nixed that other thread to keep this thread coherent and bandwidth abuse to a minimum.

[Stevepage]

a superstrat?

Look at Jackson Soloists
Ibanez RG's
BC Rich Gunslingers
Kramer Barretta's

[indysmith]

your best bet is probably to go out to your local music store and check out some Jacksons, Ibanezs, Charvels, ESPs, etc. and see what you like; i.e. how fat you like your necks, what body woods you like, what fretboard woods you like, what pickup configuration you like.
Come back and tell us if you actually enjoyed playing superstrats, and if so what you liked about the ones you tried.

[TwilightOdyssey]

You can also put together a superstrat VERY easily!

All you need is a strat that's routed for a humbucker in the bridge! Some of my superstrats that were parts builds:

[sambo]

Didn't realise Teles were classed as Strats....   :roll:  

Anyway, I would echo what Steve said.

Particularly look at Ibanez and Jackson.

If you're on more of a budget find a good Ibanez RG and you should be set.

[Stevepage]

Still love the look of that Tele Ben. Very Savatage!

[Stevepage]

Usually a super strat involves the following features

double locking tremolo
thin necks
big frets
2 octave neck
small neck heel for easy access to the higher frets
high output humbuckers
strat shaped but with deeper cutaways
flashy finishes (particularly on 80's super strats)

[Crazy_Joe]

Didn't realise Teles were classed as Strats....   :roll:  

lmao

[noodleplugerine]

ESP - The KING of Superstrats imo.

I'd MUCH rather have an M series than an RG. Hell, I have an RG, and I can tell you, I'd much rather have an M series :P

[jt]

:D I`m sure TO will correct some of this as we go along but there's always a dozen or so different versions of these stories floating around & i`m sure they vary from country to country.

Super Strats came about primarily because Strats were regarded as easier to modify than Gibsons were. Strats have easier access to the upper frets due to the double cutaway body shape. You could swap out the single coil Pick Up at the bridge & stick in a Humbucker. They also had trem systems fitted were Gibsons tended if they had any trem system at all to be fitted with the Bigsby system. Once you "modded" your Strat you could get a wider variety of sounds out of it than you could out of a LP. Then when EVH came along blazing a path of guitar fire all from his Super strat every body wanted one ! Eddies Strat i think was fitted with a Wayne Charvel made neck [looked like a normal Start neck ] an original Floyd Rose tremolo & a old Gibson humbucker pick up from a Gibbo 335. [ Legend says he re-wound the pickup coil when he did this i`m not sure TO will probably now ! ] he then did a custom paint job on the body. He refers to this guitar as "Frankenstein" This became the blueprint for this type of instrument.

As all the previous replies have stated most modern guitar manufacturers now make ready made versions of the super Strat. Ibanez, Esp, Charvel, Kramer, Hamer & even Fender. Personnaly i think every guitar collection should have one !

 :D  8)

[_tom_]

Proper superstrats imo are regular strats which have just been hotrodded. This was my parts strat, but its getting a white pg and probably going to a single volume around xmas time :)



and this is how itl look with a white pg

[noodleplugerine]

Proper superstrats imo are regular strats which have just been hotrodded.

For me that's exactly NOT a superstrat - That's a strat with a humbucker.

Super strats should definetly have an altered body shape imo.

[FELINEGUITARS]

I'm with JT on this one
To me a superstrat was a strat or similar double cutaway guitar that had either been hotrodded or was like that straight from the factory.

However the term wasn't really in common usage till the mid 80s onwards and by this time Charvel/Jackson, Kramer, Hamer, BC Rich, and a number of other companies were making them by the bucketload.

Ibanez were there to some extent with their Roadstar series but it wasnt till after they teamed up with Steve Vai in 87/88  that the whole Jem/RG thing happened  (and the Jem was copied from Vai's Jackson soloists although given a few strat like features too. The RG body shape is a Jackson soloist shape with a deeper cutaway, just like Steve used to modify his)

To me it means one of these guitars that were a cut above a regular strat performance-wise. And stranger than that the only company whose product didn't get called that was Fender - partly because they were seen as traditional, & partly because of all the upheavals Fender went through during the mid 80s it meant that they came to the party late with their own versions.

These days when i hear it I assume that folks mean a generic Jackson, Charvel,  Ibanez or similar guitar and itcan be neck through or bolt on, often with a Floyd or other locking trem and with a mix of Humbuckers and single-coils, but not necessarily.

It is a strat type guitar that can cover most musical styles - great if you are in a covers/function band or whatever.

[jt]

I'm with JT on this one
To me a superstrat was a strat or similar double cutaway guitar that had either been hotrodded or was like that straight from the factory.


Ibanez were there to some extent with their Roadstar series but it wasnt till after they teamed up with Steve Vai in 87/88  that the whole Jem/RG thing happened  (and the Jem was copied from Vai's Jackson soloists although given a few strat like features too. The RG body shape is a Jackson soloist shape with a deeper cutaway, just like Steve used to modify his)

.

 :D  8) I never new that about the RG range. Thats quite interesting.

 :D  8)