Strats

[Bradock PI]

American - Deluxe Ash (rare earth pickups) ? Deluxe Alder? Standard Alder? Standard Ash just in the standard bodied ones there is too much choice - but what are the tonal differences between the Ash and the Alder I havn't got time now to go musing at my local store and is there much real difference between deluxe and standard other than price?

Also is there more lub here for Strat or Tele?

[Ian Price]

Not sure about the different woods etc but I would guess that there is more love for the tele on this forum than the strat. I could be wrong though.

[TheIronBeast]

When I bought my first Strat (Mexican Deluxe) I was stuck deciding whether to buy the standard or pay that bit extra for the deluxe. I asked the guy in the store and he said that the deluxe has upgraded hardware, tuners, better pickguard etc. So I decided to buy the Deluxe. That was about a year and a half ago and I haven't been let down buy the guitar at all. Really great guitar.

I'm not an expert on woods so I'll leave that part of the question to someone who knows more.

[MDV]

Strat >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>tele

But on the woods, alder is a bit warmer and has a softer sort of quacky attack, ash has a chimier tone and is generally brighter and tighter.

Remember at all times however that the neck is the biggest part of the sound. Especially with lazy bolt ons and trems.

[Jonny]

better pickguard

A better pickguard? What's the difference between a deluxe pickguard and a normal one?

[MDV]

better pickguard

A better pickguard? What's the difference between a deluxe pickguard and a normal one?

The deluxe pickguard has TEH TOANEZ!

[gwEm]

http://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=13863.0

hard ash, maple board, slowhands = great tone!

[AndyR]

I go for alder body, rosewood board for that slightly warmer "woody" tone on strats.
One day I might go for an ash and maple board example (especially if the body looked cute - I always wanted a natural ash bodied strat, for looks, when I was younger :D), and I'd be hoping for a brighter, more transparent tone...

But this tone thing might just be preconceptions - over the last year of internetting, I've finally cottoned on that each lump of wood is a different organic thing from another, and, for example, if you got a particularly "bright" sounding lump of alder, it might be brighter than a "dull" sounding hard ash... And there are so many other factors involved...

So I wouldn't rule out anything :lol:

On Strat v Tele love: there's a lot of tele love on here at the moment - I've helped increase it, I guess, but I'm sure much of it's in reaction to Roo's excellently engineered "reverse marketing campaign" for his mates at Fender :lol:

Personally I'm a strat-man, probably always will be, but I've finally figured out what teles are all about tonally and playing-wise in the last year.

At the moment I have more teles than strats, but if all my guitars disappeared, the first guitar I'd buy would be a 62-style strat, rosewood board with vintage radius, alder body (sunburst or fiesta red)... I could live without one of these, but life wouldn't seem quite so good :D

EDIT: I've just realised, you've broken the "can we have a tele warning in the thread title" rule... Roo will come in here in good faith to talk about strats... and discover that you've cleverly led people into talking about teles again :lol:

[The Mexican Pornstar]

I have to throw this in here... but i bought a Squier Deluxe Strat recently and its way better than any Fender strat ive played or owned.  Considering i paid just about £200 i would say that is a damn good bargain.
If you dont mind not having the badge then i would recommend going for the Squier any day. 
I mean other than paying a fortune for something like a deluxe or an artist series that is. 

[Prawnik]

The best Strat designs are those made before 1981 or so. This has been proven by authoritative sources.* :P

What this means is that your choices are limited:

Alder vs. ash body. AndyR is right each lump of wood is different, but to speak of generalities: Alder gives you a bit more mids at the expense of some chime. From 1954 to around 1956, all Strats were ash. After that, only natural and blonde Strats were ash. Around 1967 you start seeing bodies made of northern ash, which is heavy and gives a bright, less complex tone with lots of sustain.

In all years you have a choice between trem and hardtail models. In mid/late 1971 Fender went to a one-piece cast trem, which most consider inferior, but I have placed some outstanding guitars that had a one-piece cast trem. All tremolo Strats should have a 6-bolt vintage-style trem.

From 1954 to 1959 you got a one-piece maple neck. Maple neck guitars sound quite bright. Whoever said that the neck is a big part of the tone equation is right.

From 1959 to 1962 you got a two-piece maple neck with a rosewood slab board. These are warmer than the earlier model.

From 1962 to 1981 or so you got a two-piece maple neck with a veneer rosewood board. These are slightly brighter than the slab boards, but nowhere near as bright as the one-piece maple necks.

From 1966 to 1969 a maple veneer board was an option. Sound was the one-piece maple neck all over again.

From 1969 to 1981 Fender again offered a one-piece maple neck.

Around the same time Fender introduced the one-piece trem, Fender also introduced the "bullet" trussrod and three-bolt neck. Most don't like them but I do not specifically have a problem with them.

Beginning somewhere around 1959, it was possible to order Fender necks in narrower ("A") or wider ("C" and "D") nut widths. These are very rare, and you see a LOT more "A" necks than "C" or "D". Still, probably 99% of Strats are the standard "B" width. Most of the Strats I build feature "C" or "D" necks, because I seem to get more that big, ballsy Strat tone I crave froma  guitar with a fat, wide neck. This may be voodoo.

Unfortunately, Fender gets many of these details wrong when they foist reissues on the public.

I won't go into a discussion of custom colors, caps and pots and whatnot here.

*radio talk show hosts.

[Prawnik]

I have to throw this in here... but i bought a Squier Deluxe Strat recently and its way better than any Fender strat ive played or owned.  Considering i paid just about £200 i would say that is a damn good bargain.
If you dont mind not having the badge then i would recommend going for the Squier any day. 
I mean other than paying a fortune for something like a deluxe or an artist series that is. 

It happens more often than you think, and a good setup can go a long ways to making a guitar "better".

I have a Japanese Squier that I have put up against pre-CBS Fenders.

[TheIronBeast]

better pickguard

A better pickguard? What's the difference between a deluxe pickguard and a normal one?

Maybe "better" was the wrong word to use. The pickguard that came with my deluxe Strat was a pearl one as opposed to the plain ones that you get with a standard Strat. I guess I meant to say it was a more upgraded pickguard to the standard

[Philly Q]

The best Strat designs are those made before 1981 or so. This has been proven by authoritative sources.* :P

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*radio talk show hosts.

I'm glad you put that bit in.  I thought you were brutally dismissing approximately 50% of Strat history at a single stroke. 


It is interesting, though, that for most of those first 27 years you could basically buy "A Stratocaster" with maybe a choice of maple or rosewood board, maybe a hardtail bridge..... there were no signature models, no reissues, no import models, no Custom Shop (as far as I know).

Whereas now there must be, I don't know, 100 or more different Strat models on the market?

[Prawnik]

The best Strat designs are those made before 1981 or so. This has been proven by authoritative sources.* :P

----------------------

*radio talk show hosts.

I'm glad you put that bit in.  I thought you were brutally dismissing approximately 50% of Strat history at a single stroke. 


It is interesting, though, that for most of those first 27 years you could basically buy "A Stratocaster" with maybe a choice of maple or rosewood board, maybe a hardtail bridge..... there were no signature models, no reissues, no import models, no Custom Shop (as far as I know).

Whereas now there must be, I don't know, 100 or more different Strat models on the market?

Yeah, besides trying to make a funny, part of my point was that most of the hundreds of Strat models now out there look back to one or two pretty basic things.

But when those basic guitars were being made, the buyer didn't have a choice. Wanted to buy a Strat with a rosewood slab board or a factory humbucker in 1970?

Not. Going. To. Happen. Yo.

[badgermark]

I've grown to like strats a lot more since getting my Squier vintage modified. Indian made and a cedar body and it's my favorite guitar to pick up and play. Such a nice feel and tone to it, i don't ever play to modify it past a set of strap locks.