Stratocasters: Why You Gotta Be Like That?
- Thread starter la szum
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I think Eric Johnson had his ‘Virginia’ strat shaved down to a 12 inch radius? I read that somewhere recently. Would certainly help with his crazy fast runs back in the day.
Yep, med/jumbo. He does it to most of his Strats. It’s funny, when that gets discussed in articles they generally say “Eric started doing this in the 70’s and early 80’s when 50’s Strats could be found for around $250 and modifying them wasn’t a taboo” I’m quite certain that EJ doesn’t have an issue selling any of his Strats, regardless of the mods.
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I think the thing I dig the most about an SSS Strat is that you have to dig in and make it work for you ’cuz it’s certainly not going to do it on it’s own. It’s like banging a lazy sexual partner, you’re still going to have a good time but you gotta put some extra effort into it. Even if you have the more modern appointments like a flatter radius and bigger frets, you’re only going to get so much out of single coils unless it’s a really high output one.
My first good guitar was a ‘95 MIM Strat and I was so stoked to get it, I had only been playing for 2 years but it was quite obvious I wasn’t going to quit, so my dad got me a candy apple red Strat with a maple neck (do I need to say why?) and that was the first big leap my playing took because I played the sh*t out of that thing. It was 3 years later that I got the JEM and I remember going back to play the Strat and absolutely HATING the way it sounded. It felt so uncomfortable to me, the knob was too close, the whammy bar just made it go out of tune, it only had 21 frets. I still have it, but it sat in the case for a good 20 years, entirely unplayed.
2 years ago or so I found a Classic 50’s Strat on FB Marketplace for $300 and immediately started fighting with the radius, the frets were worn just enough that I had to jack the action up to clear them when bending. I was just happy to have a Strat again (my MIM Strat has been in pieces for a few years due to me botching 2 fretjobs on it and giving up before I ruined the neck) even though I wasn’t particularly digging the tones I was getting from it, even after pickup changes. I don’t care how many people argue against it, but I strongly feel that thick poly finishes prevent guitars from sounding as good as they can.
When I ordered my Gilmour Strat’s neck and body, I did it thinking it’d be more of a novelty guitar and still under the impression that I’m just not a player who can make a Strat sound good, but the second I had that thing put together, I plugged it in and these were the first notes that were ever played on it-
Within about 10 minutes after that, building some new presets and exploring the tones in it I was in love. I actually had those EMG’s in the Classic 50’s Strat for about 6 months before that and never once got that thing to sound anywhere close to how they sound in the Gilmour Strat. It was like a whole new world of the big, Strat neck pickup, the mid-scooped 2/4 positions and sweet Gilmour tones. I had the neck made with a 12” radius and med/jumbo frets (thanks EJ) and it plays like a dream. I know @la szum and @TSJMajesty read about 1,000 PM’s from me expressing my love for that guitar in the last 7 months. I remember apologizing for it at one point.
I knew I wanted to put together an EJ-inspired Strat and was going to piece it together slowly, waiting to find the right body with a grain I really enjoyed looking at, I had a Solar baritone in the shopping cart on the Solar site when I took a quick peak on Reverb and found my Old Man Strat, the second I saw that body I went “Shiiiiiiiiiit, I can’t say no to this.” and I’m glad I didn’t. It does the vintage tones thing so damn well and it plays amazing, even though the neck practically ruined my enjoyment of thinner necks. I still love my metal guitars, but there’s something so damn satisfying about playing a basic Strat. Some nights I’m sitting on my couch just listening to the notes come out the speakers and man, they’re such a treat to hear.
I’m going to bring the two inner Strats to my tech to get new frets installed. My original MIM Strat is the black one below; I stripped the finish entirely off, including the neck, sprayed it black and sprayed the neck with tinted nitro, put a vintage Fender logo on it with the Gotoh vintage-style locking tuners. I’ll probably do something fun with these, a Sustainer or synth pickup, something aside from an SSS thing as I have those bases covered.
(I know the lighting sucks, but I literally have no regular lights in my apartment and keep it vampire-safe 24 hours a day)
My first good guitar was a ‘95 MIM Strat and I was so stoked to get it, I had only been playing for 2 years but it was quite obvious I wasn’t going to quit, so my dad got me a candy apple red Strat with a maple neck (do I need to say why?
) and that was the first big leap my playing took because I played the sh*t out of that thing. It was 3 years later that I got the JEM and I remember going back to play the Strat and absolutely HATING the way it sounded. It felt so uncomfortable to me, the knob was too close, the whammy bar just made it go out of tune, it only had 21 frets. I still have it, but it sat in the case for a good 20 years, entirely unplayed. 2 years ago or so I found a Classic 50’s Strat on FB Marketplace for $300 and immediately started fighting with the radius, the frets were worn just enough that I had to jack the action up to clear them when bending. I was just happy to have a Strat again (my MIM Strat has been in pieces for a few years due to me botching 2 fretjobs on it and giving up before I ruined the neck) even though I wasn’t particularly digging the tones I was getting from it, even after pickup changes. I don’t care how many people argue against it, but I strongly feel that thick poly finishes prevent guitars from sounding as good as they can.
When I ordered my Gilmour Strat’s neck and body, I did it thinking it’d be more of a novelty guitar and still under the impression that I’m just not a player who can make a Strat sound good, but the second I had that thing put together, I plugged it in and these were the first notes that were ever played on it-
Within about 10 minutes after that, building some new presets and exploring the tones in it I was in love. I actually had those EMG’s in the Classic 50’s Strat for about 6 months before that and never once got that thing to sound anywhere close to how they sound in the Gilmour Strat. It was like a whole new world of the big, Strat neck pickup, the mid-scooped 2/4 positions and sweet Gilmour tones. I had the neck made with a 12” radius and med/jumbo frets (thanks EJ) and it plays like a dream. I know @la szum and @TSJMajesty read about 1,000 PM’s from me expressing my love for that guitar in the last 7 months. I remember apologizing for it at one point.
I knew I wanted to put together an EJ-inspired Strat and was going to piece it together slowly, waiting to find the right body with a grain I really enjoyed looking at, I had a Solar baritone in the shopping cart on the Solar site when I took a quick peak on Reverb and found my Old Man Strat, the second I saw that body I went “Shiiiiiiiiiit, I can’t say no to this.” and I’m glad I didn’t. It does the vintage tones thing so damn well and it plays amazing, even though the neck practically ruined my enjoyment of thinner necks. I still love my metal guitars, but there’s something so damn satisfying about playing a basic Strat. Some nights I’m sitting on my couch just listening to the notes come out the speakers and man, they’re such a treat to hear.
I’m going to bring the two inner Strats to my tech to get new frets installed. My original MIM Strat is the black one below; I stripped the finish entirely off, including the neck, sprayed it black and sprayed the neck with tinted nitro, put a vintage Fender logo on it with the Gotoh vintage-style locking tuners. I’ll probably do something fun with these, a Sustainer or synth pickup, something aside from an SSS thing as I have those bases covered.
(I know the lighting sucks, but I literally have no regular lights in my apartment and keep it vampire-safe 24 hours a day)
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Yep, med/jumbo. He does it to most of his Strats. It’s funny, when that gets discussed in articles they generally say “Eric started doing this in the 70’s and early 80’s when 50’s Strats could be found for around $250 and modifying them wasn’t a taboo” I’m quite certain that EJ doesn’t have an issue selling any of his Strats, regardless of the mods.
I owned an EJ Sig Strat for about 3 years. It was going to be the Strat that led me to
playing Strats more. It didn't work.
More a confession of my preferences and limitations than any observation about the
guitar. It was great.... but still not something I ended up reaching for a lot.
Cue 2022 and Dave is here doing the same stupid shit.
SwirlyMaple
Shredder
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Wheew that's a beauty!
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I owned an EJ Sig Strat for about 3 years. It was going to be the Strat that led me to
playing Strats more. It didn't work.
More a confession of my preferences and limitations than any observation about the
guitar. It was great.... but still not something I ended up reaching for a lot.
Cue 2022 and Dave is here doing the same stupid s**t.
I only played a couple EJ Strats, I rarely see them in stores. Each one had a really sticky neck, which isn't a fun feeling. That nitro should feel like glass when it leaves the factory. I honestly thought for a good while that nitro was just sticky and every nitro finish was like that until I finally played one that felt like glass. I'm anxious to play one again because I remember it having a beefier neck that I didn't dig at the time, but we know how I feel about 'em now!
I REALLY want to try one of the Virginia sigs, if I could get a sassafras body somewhere I'd just make my own.
Eagle
Rock Star
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You won’t tell it from ash.
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But I'd be able to tell other people I can and it's so different that it's 100% contributing to the vast differences in tones that are in reality, 99% the same.
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Yup. And forget about it if your hands even perspire a little. Some of those are so bad your hand
will make squeaking noises moving up and down the neck.
You should check out a Kotzen neck profile sometime. It's like a Fender that got sidetracked to
Kalamazoo in the 50s. There is a Kotzen Strat that I would love to check out someday. Kind of rare
here Stateside, though.
metropolis_4
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Thankfully I've never had problems with nitro gloss necks being sticky for me.
EJ Strats are my favorites. I had two that were my main gigging guitars for a long time. I went through a downsizing phase last year and sold them and have regretted it ever since. The 2005 I had is the best sounding Strat I've ever played and it must have weight under 7lbs.
EJ Strats are my favorites. I had two that were my main gigging guitars for a long time. I went through a downsizing phase last year and sold them and have regretted it ever since. The 2005 I had is the best sounding Strat I've ever played and it must have weight under 7lbs.
shanesiegle
Roadie
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The first few times I tried a strat (a year at a time) I always felt the same way. In the last few years I have grown to appeciate them and can actually play faster than on my PRS. I will say though I much prefer a bridge humbucker for the most part though so two of my three strats are setup as hss right now.
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I’d love to have a few different Strats made out of the same woods just so I can compare the weights, I don’t really buy into the whole weight thing too much and my two current Strats are a good reason why, they both sound killer and definitely don’t weigh the same, but they’re also different woods. It’d be more of a curiosity than anything related to achieving ‘ma tone’.
I think the next Strat I put together will be HSS. There was a ‘79 that popped up this morning locally that was previously beat to sh*t and then put back to it’s original specs for around $1995, that would have been PERFECT for a Floyd Rose and a Humbucker! I never used to dig the CBS-era headstocks until I saw Joe Holmes playing one and I immediately fell in love with that look, especially if it’s got a Floyd and a humbucker in the bridge.
And I’d have to say the speed thing was something that really surprised me. I think because, in recent years, my only Strat experience was with a 7.25” radius and due to needing the action jacked up so high, it definitely limited my ability to play faster on it, but anything above a 10” radius I’m good to go with.
metropolis_4
Rock Star
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Yeah, I wasn’t saying it sounded good because it was really light. It sounded amazing, and it just happened to be really light which was a nice bonus
I’m not really sure how weight impacts tone. Seems like it depends on lots of other factors. I’ve had heavy guitars that sound amazing and light guitars that sound amazing
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For sure. My curiosity is only piqued due to the meme it’s become on that other forum. There was one guy who flipped out about a guitar being off by 7oz or something small like that and making this huge hassle for the seller on Reverb, so it’s more of a novelty test than anything. I don’t get into a lot of the esoteric tone chasing stuff, it really just seems like an avenue to waste time and get nothing done mentality.
metropolis_4
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Yeah, guys over there get crazy about weight. I’m glad I don’t have to worry about that stuff. I’ve never even weighed any of my guitars.
So much of that stuff only matters if you’re sitting alone at home analyzing the tone - especially with solid body electric guitars. Once you’re playing in the mix with a band forget about it.
I got this new neck for my Strat and something about it makes the guitar sound dead acoustically. It killed the tone of the guitar when I’m playing at home. But I had to bring it to some shows and didn’t have time to swap the neck. Once I was playing with the band I didn’t even notice. It sounded great in the mix.
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Yeah, these hang ups blow my mind. “I just want to play but I can’t focus on playing with these huge issues!”
I’ve ran into it before, for sure, but they also made me far less picky about things when taking in the big picture. The craziest I probably went was refinishing my MIM Strat because the 1/8” coat of poly it had on it and it sounded like it was just a dead sounding guitar. That was about 4-5 years ago and it’s still in pieces because my terrible “fret job(s)” so I have no way of knowing if I actually resolved the issue or not, I just know that knocking on the body now lets out a nice resonant sound instead of a muted thud. I’m anxious to hear if it sounds any better when I put it back together, but I’m not expecting anything mind blowing.