Goodbye, Stratocaster

[ldp54002]

I have a weird, love/hate relationship with Strats. Back in 1998, I bought my first Fender, which was a MIM Deluxe Fat Strat. I had fallen in love with the big CBS headstock and wanted one for myself. For almost a decade, that was pretty much the only guitar I played. I bought my first offset (a Jaguar) in 2008, which lured me away from the Strat and put me on the path that I'm still on today.

In the 15ish years since, I've had a few Stratocasters float in and out of my life, including vintage examples. In every case, I liked them during the honeymoon phase, and then gradually played them less and less and ended up selling them. That said, I have two Strats right now (seen here), and I am happy with them. One has sentimental value (it has the neck from my first Strat on it), and the other is a lovely MIJ late 60s that has an extremely comfortable neck. I don't think I'll be getting rid of either, but I don't foresee ever buying another one either.

If anything, I seem to be falling hard for Telecasters. I never liked them in my youth, and I didn't own one until three years ago. Now I'm in the process of building one!

[Chippertheripper]

I’ve always hated strats, but like the way they sounded in certain situations. I’m on attempt 3 which seems to be sticking, but it’s mostly a “toy” for me, and not something I actually count on to be used live or at practice or possibly even in the studio.
It’s kind of a rat, but it’s just for fun.

[ThePearDream]

I've had at least a dozen Strats, but have zero now (except the body from my first guitar, which doesn't have a neck ATM). I like the pickups. 54 style Strat pickups are a favorite. I've found that Nashville Tele style wiring is a great alternative. If I lower the middle pickup to be out of the way, it's much less quacky in those 2+4 positions. The control area is what kills me though, especially that volume knob that I'm always hitting. The vibratos always seem like a lot more work to set up compared to a Jazzmaster too.

I find myself wanting to have just one nice Strat though. I'm thinking about doing a 69 style build. I've even been considering doing it as a hardtail, which was inconceivable to me a few years ago.

At least Strats are easy to sell when you get tired of them.

[welshywelsh]

I really struggle with the placement of the volume knob, the way I play, my hand always hits it. Moving my hand forward felt weird, especially with a middle pickup in the way.

Maybe it's just me!

[JVG]

Every 6 months there is a thread here pouring shit on strats - I guess it’s kind of an OSG tradition. (Although I know that wasn’t the intention of the initial post ).

Anyway, I love them and can’t get enough. If my house burns down and I have time to save one guitar, it will be a strat.

(Middle pickup on its own is the secret weapon of the strat - with some drive or gain it gives a unique sound that no other Fender can produce)

[sunburster]

Although I said I sold my strat "recently", it was actually four months ago. I guess I made this thread now because I wasn't sure if I would miss the strat when it was gone, but four months on and I haven't missed it at all (in fact, oddly enough I feel "relief" that I no longer own it!), so it's clear I made the right decision.

I also sold my Jazzmaster (in an effort to get down to 2 guitars because I will move to a different country later this year and I don't want to ship the guitars by sea), but I miss that one and will buy another in the future, I'm sure.

[Chippertheripper]

I really struggle with the placement of the volume knob, the way I play, my hand always hits it. Moving my hand forward felt weird, especially with a middle pickup in the way.

Maybe it's just me!

Nope.
Not just you at all.
In its normal configuration, it turns most players into neck strummers which is one of my biggest pet peeves.

[R_T_Hermit]

I really struggle with the placement of the volume knob, the way I play, my hand always hits it. Moving my hand forward felt weird, especially with a middle pickup in the way.

Maybe it's just me!

Nope.
Not just you at all.
In its normal configuration, it turns most players into neck strummers which is one of my biggest pet peeves.

This condition can be all but negated. On my Strats I pry the volume knob off, place a garden-variety O-ring around the shaft, and shove the knob back down. It takes a thumb and at least one finger to turn the knob now, but no more pinkie finger volume fiasco. Had to figure that out because I do play ‘the cowboy way’ with the edge of my hand atop the bridge. Just saying.

[seenoevil II]

My first electric was a 90s Squier strat that's still kicking around somewhere. I used it for a three piece I fronted in the early 2010s. Glassy Big Star tones, middle pickup with drive. The neck pickup. Positions 2 and 4 are an acquired taste but something you need access to if you want the full color pallet of 20th century sonic cliché. I used to record stingers and parody songs for podcasts and that strat got dragged out quite a few times.

The plan was a parts build a strat that I finished myself in a metallic paint. Just never happened. Then, that trio broke up.

Further, every strat I played in a store just sucked somehow. They were too heavy while also being too delicate (usially strung in .009s).

This might be some kind of blasphemy, but to me they are still the defaut electric guitar with everything else being a kind of diversion. Which is odd because it's such an idiosyncratic design whose elements are hard to cherry pick into other models. It's very wholistic.

My wish: a strat with a jag style bank of 3-way switches. Parallel-off-series. That way I can get neck/bridge at once but also make "humbuckers" out of any combination of pickups.

[Chippertheripper]

I really struggle with the placement of the volume knob, the way I play, my hand always hits it. Moving my hand forward felt weird, especially with a middle pickup in the way.

Maybe it's just me!

Nope.
Not just you at all.
In its normal configuration, it turns most players into neck strummers which is one of my biggest pet peeves.

This condition can be all but negated. On my Strats I pry the volume knob off, place a garden-variety O-ring around the shaft, and shove the knob back down. It takes a thumb and at least one finger to turn the knob now, but no more pinkie finger volume fiasco. Had to figure that out because I do play ‘the cowboy way’ with the edge of my hand atop the bridge. Just saying.

I just opted for a master tone/volume 2 knob pickguard and left that first spot blank.
It’s not perfect, but it’s better.
I’ll prob just get another, volume only pg and move it down a little bit further, split the difference between those knobs.

[Ximru]

Same here with the volume pot. I actually came to the site to see if any one had any experience with replacing the volume pot with a horizontal jazzmaster rhythm volume pot in the same space. Something I'm going to try on an inexpensive squire strat, new pick guard and humbuckers.(as soon as they arrive)
This affinity is just too "icepicky" all around. I think it would be nice to do swells and such with my palm or finger, with out it being too much in my way. Any thoughts on this?

[Ceylon]

I had one of those Japanese Contemporary Strats with a proprietary Kahler floating/locking tremolo for my second guitar. I would give a lot to have that back. The screw threads of one of the fine tuners stripped because the metal was of poor quality and I had it re-drilled and tapped for chunkier Floyd fine tuners to fix it. But I could never get over a slightly anxiety that it might fuck out again, and I wanted to fund a Jazzmaster, so I sold it.

No strat I've had since has been as good or suited me as well. A G&L S-500 was almost right. But every strat comes up just not feeling like something I really want to keep. They're great, just not me.

But that old, white Contemporary stratocaster, damn would I love to have that back.

[Axolotl]

I sold my 88 Am Std Strat a few weeks ago. It was my better strat and I've had it for about 12 years or so. Great guitar, but it had been collecting dust for many years. Strats are great but of the many Fender models I have the one I bond the least with. A couple of years ago got me a G&L Legacy and while it was fine, I gladly traded it for a vintage Yamaha samurai SGV. After playing a JM/Jag, the strat body feels just not as comfortable. The strat trem is a joke compared to its offset counterpart. I dig much better the hard tail feel of a telecaster than a strat trem anyways.

What I do like on a strat are the quacking positions and the middle pickup though.

So that has left me with a low end frankenstrat composed by a great looking IBM Squier (vista? IIRC) with a Squier Mascis JM neck. I've barely played it since I put it together . And I have a Casio (yup., Fuji-Gen made, 1988) midi superstrat which is great (both as a midi controller and a guitar) but that also gets little love. Guess I'm all about my offsets and Teles after all.

[MKR]

I was reading through this thread yesterday and i was reflecting on my relationship with the stratocaster.

I like many learned how to play on a strat. early 90s squier bullet was my first guitar. And while i have many gripes with some of the unique strat features, there's a familiarity and comfort with it despite the gripes.

My negatives:
volume knob placement. i get around this with a grolsch beer bottle rubber seal that i place under the knob. You can hit it and rest your hand on the knob all you like and it won't change the volume.
switch placement: i hate this. sometimes i will hit the switch on accident.
Trem arm placement: I also find this awkward specifically where it attaches into the bridge.

Basically all of my gripes stem from the fact that i like to keep my strumming hand on the bridge when i play. I can play closer to the neck, but playing at the bridge is more comfortable for me. But even with that said you can still do this with a stratocaster. I can manage.

Now the positives:
It sounds good. Sure maybe other guitars sound better in certain pick up configurations, but the strat sounds great in general.
It has a trem! Yeah it has one that works well. Tuning is spot on with it. Lots of guitars don't have trems, so i'll take one with a trem over a hard tail any time. This is why i will always prefer a stratocaster to a telecaster.
the body and design is very comfortable to play.

that's basically it for me. the stratocaster is a great guitar despite the negatives. For me it's the ultimate Fender guitar and represents what Fender guitars do so well.