Help me buy a Strat!!!

[PaulHurley]

Hey everyone,

I'm looking to buy a new guitar in the near future and have decided to buy a Strat.

I've got a budget of about €1,500.

Just wondering if there are any Strat models which are way better than other Strats in terms of tone, versatility, playability.

My style is a mixture of blues, rock and funk. A Strat with a real good whammy bar setup would be ideal.

Cheers for any tips.

Paul

[monquixote]

Are you looking to buy new or SH?

If SH I would say look into getting a G&L. They are truly superb guitars designed by Leo himself and go for a steal SH. You might also be able to get a SH Suhr or Anderson in your budget.

Other than that just play lots of things. Do you have any preference for maple/rosewood, fret size, radius, etc?

If you are a trem user I would seriously consider leaving some room in your budget for retrofitting a Blade Runner Super Vee. They are bloody fabulous things. They made my strat sound more resonant and you pretty much can't get the guitar to go out of tune.

[octatonic]

An Anderson classic will set you back £1200-1400 tops in the current market if buying used.

Amazing guitars- I love mine.

[crunchman]

If you want a real Fender then there is a huge range. Here are a few things to bear in mind.

Generally, the vintage style bridge with 6 screws is perceived to have better tone, definitely I would say that the best soundng Strats I've played have had the vintage style bridge. The modern style one might have slightly better tuning stability if you use the trem a lot, although the vintage one never bothered Jimi.

Whatever bridge you have, it will sound better with a steel block than with the cast zinc one that some models have come with. I think this would be more of an issue second hand, as most if not all of the new ones have done away with the zinc block.

I'd also say to go for vintage style pickups to get the best tone and dynamics. The hot ones like Texas Specials are a lot more middly, and lack detail and don't have much dynamics. The noiseless pickups (stacked humbuckers of some kind) that some of the modern style Fenders come with are lifeless. If you want proper single coil sound and dynamics then proper single coils are the way to go.

You need to think about neck radius as well. A lot of the vintage style ones (62 reissue etc.) have the vintage 7.25" radius. I quite like it but a lot of people don't. They would also have small frets which can be a deal breaker for some.

You'll need to work out which model in the range has the features you want.

Ultimately play a bunch. If you find one you like that has a modern style bridge and noiseless pickups then fine, but give me a vintage style one any day.

[bochetagrave]

The modern style one might have slightly better tuning stability if you use the trem a lot, although the vintage one never bothered Jimi.

Are you sure?

[axisus]

I'd look into an Eric Johnson strat personally. Everyone seems to think they are great players.

What do you mean by strat? Strat to me means 'Fender' - G&L and Anderson aren't strats to me! (Not saying they aren't better though!)

[Lixarto]

Are you sure?

Jimi was fine, it was his audiences that were bothered.

FWIW, with proper maintainence/lubrication a vintage 6-point bridge will stay in tune remarkably well.

Nice to see you on here again, Paul - best thing I can say is go and play as many as you can. Then buy one with a big headstock

[monquixote]

Generally, the vintage style bridge with 6 screws is perceived to have better tone, definitely I would say that the best soundng Strats I've played have had the vintage style bridge. The modern style one might have slightly better tuning stability if you use the trem a lot, although the vintage one never bothered Jimi.

Jimi's live recordings do tend to sound dodgy and out of tune after he uses the trem tho.
The Blade Runner is the future. Better tone than a 6 screw and better stability than a twin post.

I'd also say to go for vintage style pickups to get the best tone and dynamics. The hot ones like Texas Specials are a lot more middly, and lack detail and don't have much dynamics. The noiseless pickups (stacked humbuckers of some kind) that some of the modern style Fenders come with are lifeless. If you want proper single coil sound and dynamics then proper single coils are the way to go.

I agree with this. The neck on the US Deluxe is lovely, but the noiseless pickups are far too polite.
I only like Texas Specials with drive. They are too ice pick with cleans for me.

[meltedbuzzbox]

I think most things with a Fender name on the headstock will be very nice indeed within your price range.
You might even see some Custom Shop stuff if you are lucky.

I think you have to go play them all, try every possible one you can.

And if you can try an Ash bodied one, personally I think they sound better.

[Skipped]

I don't know much about Fender guitars (Wtf am I doing on this thread).
But I can't help but notice that second hand Fender Custom Shop guitars are just about within your budget (especially at the moment) and many of them seem to have one important departure from the fifties/sixties guitar they are based on - Board radius.
Best of both worlds maybe. This is a fantastic time to buy a guitar in that price range.......