X-rated Bob wrote
Care to talk a little about the tonal differences between the 3 strats? The differences the wood, the PUPs etc make?
interestingly enough, we did a strat shoot out last week with 4 strats.
used a fender super champ - and kept settings the same, for all 4 guitars.
my mate brought his Classic 60's
i had the Classic 50's
the Wine standard strat
and then the 3 tone which, although a 2005 model, I have replaced almost everything on it with genuine fender replacement parts, plus a pick up change to a set of Tex Mex pick ups.
not surprisingly the Classic 60 and Classic 50 sound pretty much identical as they are pretty much the same guitar, with the same pick ups in both, just his is a rosewood neck.
tone from both was very sharp on the high end, and thin on the low end. very suited to the rock n roll music of the period I'd say.
when pushed into an overdriven blues test, the thin low end was most noticeable, having to play with the tone controls to get it more creamy, instead of the high end shrill attack.
they have the smaller 7.25' radius which does take getting used to, but once you get that figured out, its very comfortable. the 50's has the soft V neck profile which you immediately notice is different from "other" guitars.
next up we did strat 3 = the 3 tone with the Tex Mex pick ups.. i have got to say, that if there was a "winner' out of this group, it was this one. But winner only to the extent of the music that was being played to test all of them.
a much more balanced tone between high and low ends, with distinct differences on the selector switch between pick ups to really give you any sound you looking for from a strat.
for the blues test, this strat actually physically gave me goose bumps hearing it being played with feeling. whilst it had such a huge warm and creamy tone, you could still tell each note apart.
The standard Wine strat sort of came out as being the in the middle of the guitars tested. The tone from the standard Mexican pickups was really good, not as large a difference as on the Tex Mex pick ups, but certainly more than good enough to not make me want to do any pick ups changes on it. It can more than hold its own for any purpose. It really has that typical Fender twang sound that is quite recognizable.
So- 4 (or 3) very different guitars with very different tones and feels… which makes it very easy to understand how, like with eating peanuts, you cant just stop at one..!
