Let’s talk strats (Pro vs Ultra vs ?)

[Cirrus]

Teles (traditional ones ) don't have bent steel saddles? They are three barrel ones in steel or brass.

Mexican Thinline Teles with 2x Wide Range Humbuckers around then came with 6 saddle bridges, and they were blocks. I'm saying I put them on my strat, and put the bent steel ones on the Tele (I did highlight this when I sold it...)


Re; tone, I think it's mostly in the neck though others disagree. I know someone who has built a few partscasters and thinks that the tone usually follows the neck, and I know swapping from Rosewood to old Maple on mine made it sound like a different guitar -real change in the low end feel and the upper mids became a lot smoother/ less harsh with overdrive.

 

[fretworn]

Nice but no better than a lot of other builders for a lot less money. I’ve fitted a few sets and I have a set of pafs . The Throbak 101s sound better to me, in fact Lollar imperials are as good and half the price.

One of my best friends was a winder at Lollar. They are just down the road a bit.

I still like my Ron Ellis

 

[Whizzinby]

You could do something like this. Sorry can't find a pic without the "fret protector". Mahogany, Black Limba Top, Mahogany Neck, Ebony fretboard.

Suhr also makes a more traditional line Classic series IIRC, either SSH or SSS

View attachment 6603


ETA: Found one.
View attachment 6605

I’d love to try a Suhr but it’s impossible to find any local to demo. I have a hard time coughing up that kinda dough, having never held one at any point in my life. (Despite having done that very thing with amps and other gear)

 

[TubeStack]

I like my guitars a little more vintage-y than many around here, and I love my Wildwood 'Thin Skin' AV Strat. It does have a 9.5 radius and taller frets.

I would like to get a more modern super Strat/HSS, at some point, but I'm a bit of a nitro snob so options are pricier/less mainstream and I don't know if I want to spend that much. For me, Strats are an awesome second guitar, but it's always an LP for #1.

I haven't looked into newer Pros or Ultras that much, mainly because of the nitro thing. But I had one from the first run of American Pros and it was a great playing guitar, although it had a pretty prominent dead spot at 7th fret of the D string and I didn't like the pickups. (I love the stock pickups in my AV.)

I think the Friedman super strats are really nice, very pricey, but I had one of the Teles and it was a KILLER guitar. Need to be okay with relic'ing, though.

 

[mavrick102000]

I’d love to try a Suhr but it’s impossible to find any local to demo. I have a hard time coughing up that kinda dough, having never held one at any point in my life. (Despite having done that very thing with amps and other gear)

I completely get that. I'd only recommend purchasing one from someone that has at least a 14 day return policy - no questions asked. Which is what I did on that guitar. No one around me had one to try.

Way back in '08-09 timeframe I had a Fender Buddy Guy strat, that had Fat50's in in (SSS), once I replaced the deep V neck with a Fender modern C it was good for what a SSS strat is good for, but the overall package on the Suhr is a completely different ballgame ($$ as well).

But with the other recommendations an Ibanez AZ might scratch the itch, I've thought about several models more than once even with my Suhr. The neck profiles are different though, definitely not in the Wizard or thinner Ibby neck category, but not in the 50's LP baseball bat either just a little more meat than a Fender Modern C shape.

 

[Eagle]

One of my best friends was a winder at Lollar. They are just down the road a bit.

I still like my Ron Ellis

I like them too but I don't think the hype is remotely justified. I do acknowledge it's not Ron's fault.

 

[Cirrus]

I like them too but I don't think the hype is remotely justified. I do acknowledge it's not Ron's fault.

It just seems to happen with these relatively small pickup winders. The same's happened with Bare Knuckle here in the UK - once moderately priced, they've been hyped up to ludicrous prices - a set of covered Stormy Mondays is £330! I had some a year ago, alongside Gibson Burstbuckers, Dimarzio PAFs, SD A2 Pros... they're nice pickups but there's no magic there.

 

[Sascha Franck]

My take would be that if you wanted the best HSS strat there is, it's pretty likely a Suhr. All the things worth being kept traditional checked, modernized where it's a great idea. Their noiseless single coil system is so much better than anything else on the market, it's almost bizarre nobody else does it that way (yeah, there's the Illitch, but it's only as good as Suhr's previous generation).
But they're tough to try out and should you not be happy with the features of any stocked model, waiting time is endless. Needless to say, they're quite expensive as well (too expensive for me, unfortunately).

Personally, while I have been looking at some Ibanez Premium (cheaper than the Prestiges but IMO pretty much as good) at first, I ended up with a very affordable indonesian Schecter Nick Johnston. Yes, I changed the vibrato (but I'm a complete vibrato nut) and I also slapped 2 Fender Noiseless into the neck and middle position. These are older noiselss pickups and they're not sounding like single coils (which I like for driven tones, for cleans it's rather so-so-ish). Might get a newer set one day. However, if I wasn't using it for live, I would've kept the single coils.
Anyhow, I'm quite satisfied with that guitar and it's pretty much my #1 these days.

Fwiw, the Yamaha Pacifica 612 II are surprisingly great HSS strats, too. They don't look too much like a strat, though - but IMO it's for good ressons, ergonomically they're excellent.

 

[Cirrus]

About strat pickups - I think there's no option that doesn't involve a compromise somewhere.

The big revelation for me has been when I tried higher wind singles to thicken things up, and thought the tone went to shit. Vintage wind singles have resonant frequencies up at like 5 or 6kHz, which is actually high enough to be above the icepick, ear-hurting upper mids that kill at high volume. When I tried going above around 5.5 - 6kohm winds, I found that while they had more output, they hurt my ears more become the resonant frequency dropped down into that more sensitive 4kHz-ish range, and they sounded congested because they didn't have the air above that which I want from a strat.

In the bridge, I found a firebird mini humbucker bridge (different than a regular mini humbucker, firebirds have dual coils wound directly around bar magnets, more like tele neck single) works really well with single coils in mid and neck. Even position 2 twanged like it should.

 

[wharf rat]

I recently bought an American Pro II on the heels of a EBMM Cutlass sale. Not sure how I feel about how it lives up to the price tag. $1699 street is a lot to ask for, especially when you can get some of the other ones that have been mentioned for not much more on the used market.

 

[JerEvil]

I’d love to try a Suhr but it’s impossible to find any local to demo. I have a hard time coughing up that kinda dough, having never held one at any point in my life. (Despite having done that very thing with amps and other gear)

I’ve oddly not loved one I’ve ever tried.

 

[paisleywookiee]

Nice but no better than a lot of other builders for a lot less money. I’ve fitted a few sets and I have a set of pafs . The Throbak 101s sound better to me, in fact Lollar imperials are as good and half the price.

Holy fuck. $375 for one pickup? That dude that F off. That’s some serious snake oil shit going on there. And yeah I’m sure the Lollar is every bit as good. I’ve played a couple guitars with those, and they’re outstanding pickups.

 

[Eagle]

Holy f**k. $375 for one pickup? That dude that F off. That’s some serious snake oil s**t going on there. And yeah I’m sure the Lollar is every bit as good. I’ve played a couple guitars with those, and they’re outstanding pickups.

The Throbak is a slightly different voice. I prefer it but the Lollar is better value. Have you seen Ron Ellis paf pricing?

 

[JiveTurkey]

I love my Strat. It takes a LOT to pull me away from V's historically; but the Strat has done that for a long run as of now. I think the idea is to just find one with the specs you dig and try to get one in front of you. Tweak if needed beyond that and

 

[paisleywookiee]

The Throbak is a slightly different voice. I prefer it but the Lollar is better value. Have you seen Ron Ellis paf pricing?

Yeah, it's hilarious. I'm sure he's a swell guy who makes a nice pickup. But at a certain point, there are diminishing returns. Far be it from me to tell people what to buy and what not to though.

 

[spawnofthesith]

Yeah, it's hilarious. I'm sure he's a swell guy who makes a nice pickup. But at a certain point, there are diminishing returns. Far be it from me to tell people what to buy and what not to though.

Why not cash in when the masses are lapping up YT videos stating that the pickup is the only important tone factor in an electric guitar

 

[fretworn]

 

[paisleywookiee]

Why not cash in when the masses are lapping up YT videos stating that the pickup is the only important tone factor in an electric guitar

Glen Fricker says it doesn’t matter, so……

 

[Eagle]

Yeah, it's hilarious. I'm sure he's a swell guy who makes a nice pickup. But at a certain point, there are diminishing returns. Far be it from me to tell people what to buy and what not to though.

In fairness to Throbak their price is down to vintage accuracy. They use an old Gibson winding machine and get all the parts custom built by the original suppliers where possible. It adds a lot of cost but they look far more authentic.

 

[fretworn]

In fairness to Throbak their price is down to vintage accuracy. They use an old Gibson winding machine and get all the parts custom built by the original suppliers where possible. It adds a lot of cost but they look far more authentic.

And to be fair Ron Ellis does something no other pick up maker, would ever do… He ships happily, magnet stock back to the vendors, who can’t deliver consistently.

Think about that for a minute…