Fender Guitars...

I can't get excited over Fender or Gibson guitars honestly. They're okay and nice of course... I just prefer less common guitars.

 

This is what other Stratocasters dream about:

 

I love Dave Gilmour's playing and I love Fender guitars, but a black strat with black pickguard and maple neck is about as ugly as they get.

 

What a...I don't know, magician?

 

My first good guitar was a '72 Thinline Telecaster. A friend of mine with an inheritance bought it along with a Les Paul Custom - he didn't care for the Tele, so sold it to me virtually brand new for I think, $175. I played that guitar in various bands and always thought I wanted a Gibson instead for some reason. It was of course, a fine guitar. I foolishly sold it in the 1980's for $600. Now I have a couple Telecasters made in China / Indonesia and they are just fine. Still, I miss that original '72!

 

That's sad, mayne...

 

Beware overzealous refretters! Start at 1:45:

 

A Chinese Telecaster????? How could Fender stoop so low?
The paint is probably full of lead

 

For players with long fingernails?

 

I've got a really pretty late 80s Japanese Stratocaster repro of an early 70s Strat with a blue flower design and a big headstock. I've had it since the early 90s and got it really cheap at the time, it's a really attractive looking guitar with the flowers looking like mottled foil under the lacquer and scratch plate. I've tried other guitars and although some of them are great fun to play - I had an SG for a while as a second guitar and it played great - for recording and feel I can't beat the Fender. I find it really versatile and can get a lot of different tones out of it. After nearly 30 years it feels so natural to play even with it's chips and missing lacquer and dinks and donks. I've also got a Fender Sonoran Electro-Acoustic, a Squire Classic Vibe 60s Precission bass and an old Fender Acoustic which was the first I owned. I'm a definite fan of their guitars and although I'll never be wealthy enough to collect them I use them daily and have never had a reason to complain.

 

Whoah! When did Yngwie turn into Blackie Lawless!?

Maybe a couple of years ago I went into a guitar shop I had never been to before and they had an Yngwie model, scalloped frets and all. To be honest I was a little nervous to play it as I had never played a scalloped neck before. Lo and behold, I picked it up and there was really no difference. I just played with a touch that just a tax lighter from my normal fretting. I can certainly see the allure.

 

I had one. I found it best for tapping, because you never touch the wood, but I can play faster on a regular thin neck guitar.

 

Sarcasm? Just to say, the cheap Telecasters are fine. Not heavy enough to be covered in lead.

 

Here's me at a studio session with my Strat. I'm no cheap-o, but this is a Mexican Strat, thus not my choice of color...BUT the smart guitar buyer/player knows, you might have to audition two-dozen or more Strats, it doesn't matter the country of origin to find the one that fits YOU. Guitars are like that. This one blows my 1968 Strat away. This Mexican job has pep when you need it, it revves up when you want it to, and for clean, it sounds like playing bells. It's not about lucky me. One just has to dedicate themselves to the hunt.

 

Similar to Beck, Richard Lloyd and Robert Quine also know how to push a Strat to its limits. Their lead work on Matthew Sweet's album Girlfriend (and elsewhere) absolutely kills.

 

The strat is the most perfect guitar in my opinion...5 way pick up selecter switch, floating trem, looks great, etc

 

While I do like the classic guitars, I also find odd ball guitars intriguing. If I was wealthy, there's no way I'd own 30+ same thing, I'd fill out my collection with guitars like this:

 

Would agree with you on that. I put a humbucker in the bridge on am 93 special edition (sacrilegious?)
Great guitars, soooo versatile.

I have a 2012 am standard tele as well.

 

That's no Diablo...

This is a Diablo.


(Driskill. Not mine)

 

Darrn!

 

If I recall correctly, Stevie ray Vaughn scalloped his neck on "lenny" his guitar, Its possible Dan Earlwine of how to make your guitar sound great may have helped, I'm not sure but I think so.......

 

Oh, it's the white hardware and pups that makes it look a little off-kilter. If it was all black with the maple neck?

Still, I would love to play it as-is. Just like I take my Gilmour, as-is. Smooth!

 

No no- gotta keep that single coil bridge to get that great bridge/middle Robert cray ping sound... that pick up setting is the single most unique part of the strat sound to me

 

I own a 2011 ash deluxe strat. Tobacco burst, maple fingerboard. It's fantastic. Thinking about swapping the pickups to some low output Bareknuckles or Lollars one day, but for now it's the perfect strat for me.