Help me buy a Strat!!!

[DrBob]

The best compromise I've found is have the two-point trem with vintage style saddles - looks more pleasing to the eye to me, and has a marginal effect on tone, not better or worse than the block saddles, just slightly different.
I also can't help but think Jimi wouldn't have given two-poos about the tonal difference of a two point trem when placed into a cranked Marshall and Fuzz Face.

Much as I do get as caught up as the next man (the next man around here anyway) in the eternal quest for improved tone I do sometimes wonder if we notice the irony having one to all this effort to get the very best sound available only to then plug the guitar in a box that says "distortion" on it and then into a amp that we're deliberately driving so hard as to make it "break up"...

[DrBob]

Necks on JB Strats aint baseball bat types anymore...Fender learned that keeping it huge was keeping sales down..so they changed it and thus the guitars future sales!

If I was you and had that kind of money to splurge I'd look no further than a mint but used USA Deluxe with the compound radius board. Nice!

Just to further clarify the point on jB Strats. There are Mk1 & MkII versions.

The Mk 1 which featured 4 Lace Sensor Gold pickups (2 together at the bridge to ) and a Wilkinson Roller nut,did when first launched in 91 feature a Hooj baseball bat of a neck but From what I've read elsewhere this only lasted until mid 92 when it was made skinnier although still a nice comfortable chunky C shape. I had a 96 and the neck whilst bigger than the stock USA Standards of the era was by no means massive.

The MkII ( no sure when they changed it) features 3 Fender 'Hot Noiseless' single coils with visible pole pieces and an LSR roller nut has a neck that whilst still a comfy hand filling profile is probably 'normal' enough to not alienate anyone

[ianpdq]

Try a Mex Classic Player as well If you get a chance it could save you some money

[BigLicks67]

I have an American Standard and an Eric Johnson and they are both excellent guitars.
The USA has a standard c shape neck and with a rosewood board I don't think you'd be far off a Jeff Beck strat for a lot less money.
The EJ strat is vintage style with a soft V neck and a 12 inch radius, it's also super light. On the downside the neck can get a bit sticky and there is more noise from the pickups than from the modern strats.

[mark123]

Try a Mex Classic Player as well If you get a chance it could save you some money

this ^^^^^
sh e bay £370 get yarself something else with money left over amp,fx , gibson , anything

[mjpwall]

By the way, has anyone ever played a Billy Corgan signature Strat? Looks and sounds good from all the reviews I've seen.

I have one and love it. Just a coupe of points, 1. no trem, personally I love the fixed bridge but for many a Strat just have to have a trem and 2. it uses buckers, while again to my ears it still sounds very straty fo want of a better term particularly on the "in between settings" it does drive harder than a strat with single coils. But to me it offers some great strat sounds with a bit more balls.



These videos are me with the BC Strat this first one is pretty rocky, gives an idea of the driven tones.

The next video uses less drive and may give an impression of the more vintage tones on offer. I've nothing with pure clean tones I can share.

[mjpwall]

As mentioned in previous post, some more vintage style tones.

[timmyo]

I have one and love it. Just a coupe of points, 1. no trem, personally I love the fixed bridge but for many a Strat just have to have a trem and 2. it uses buckers, while again to my ears it still sounds very straty fo want of a better term particularly on the "in between settings" it does drive harder than a strat with single coils. But to me it offers some great strat sounds with a bit more balls.



These videos are me with the BC Strat this first one is pretty rocky, gives an idea of the driven tones.

The next video uses less drive and may give an impression of the more vintage tones on offer. I've nothing with pure clean tones I can share.

Good vid

[Fretwired]

Cheers for all the tips guys! I'm going to try out as many Strats as I can before making a choice.

This is really important .. I've played literally hundreds of Strats and bought about 20 over the years. I've also found that buying second-hand can be a good idea .. the guitar is played in and any faults have been fixed.

[monquixote]

These videos are me with the BC Strat this first one is pretty rocky, gives an idea of the driven tones.

Great vid!

And I'm not even a Rory G fan.