Why oh why is it so difficult to find a decently priced, HSS, hardtail guitar??

[Philly Q]

Yeah, I'm just thinking of the way they affect the guitar's (acoustic) tone and sustain.  Performance-wise, I'm sure the Floyd delivers the goods.  If you like that sort of thing. 

The best mod I ever made to a strat was fitting heavy brass saddles. I couldn't believe the amount of improvement, I might hunt some down and fit them to my strats now.

Have you tried Graph Tech saddles?  I wouldn't say they suit every Strat, but they soften the attack a little, make notes less "plinky".  They seem to make string bending a little easier too.

[Andrew W]

Yeah, the more I think about it, the more I'm leaning towards that.

Either that or just going "Ah, $%&# it" and put Piledrivers in a Mexi-Tele!

I did that a few years back, it sounds pretty tasty to me:

Pics of the little brute.

[Loomer]

That is indeed very nice. I'm really leaning towards buying that Peavey Reactor I posted earlier, and doing some modding on that.

[Twinfan]

Here you go mate - buy this and mod it!

http://www.guitars4you.co.uk/used-fender-robert-cray-strat-+++490

[Loomer]

Oh me oh my! Just a bit over my budget I'm afraid :(

I'm saving up, so let's see what pops up in the next few months!

[Philly Q]

Here you go mate - buy this and mod it!

http://www.guitars4you.co.uk/used-fender-robert-cray-strat-+++490

I'm sure that was listed as "reserved" or something the other day... the buyer must have dropped out.

I've got a Robert Cray Strat - made me realise how good MIM Fenders can be!  :D

[Loomer]

I tried a Billy Corgan strat a few years back. Liked that one a lot! Too bad they're hard to come by used these days :/

[juansolo]

Here you go mate - buy this and mod it!

http://www.guitars4you.co.uk/used-fender-robert-cray-strat-+++490

Ooooh, I like that....

[Loomer]

Fender '51?

http://www.fender.com/en-GB/products/pawnshop/models.php?prodNo=02660

- Pray Fender release at least ONE bloody hardtail strat this next year?

I think there's very little chance of that.  Since they discontinued the hardtail models in the American Series, the only hardtail Strats in the whole range are the Robert Cray models (MIM and Custom Shop), unless I'm forgetting something.

The "original" Squier version of that one has actually come up for sale, for real cheap, quite close to me. Considering that one very much, since I know it's gone on to become a real cult guitar.

[Madsakre]

[Madsakre]

http://www.4sound.dk/shop/elektriske-guitarer/fender/51-pawn-shop-stratocaster-mn-blonde.html

[herbychimp]

Hi, this is a situation that I found myself in about 18ths ago. After some research I found a Billy Corgan hard-tail strat. After reading the review in Guitarist I almost bought one new but found one on ebay, pristine condition and about 6mths old. Got it for £500 which was pretty reasonable. I hated all the Dimarzios apart from the Chopper in the mid position so replaced the awful s/c sized hum in the bridge with a Holydiver. May eventually change this again to a Crawler / IT / IT combo. Worth checking these out for a genuine strat possibility. I do like the Charvel WC6, apart from the colour that is