USA Stratocasters of GFSA

Arno-West · 2012-01-02T20:14:49+00:00

Don't know if a thread like this already exists, if it does, my apologies. I tried this a while ago on FB, but that turned out to be a waste of keystrokes....

USA Stratocasters of GFSA

vic

Alder or Ash body ? Any preferences here...... and why ?

Sebber

Left to right:

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"Voodoo #1": 1997 MIA Fender Voodoo Hendrix Stratocaster (black w/maple fretboard)

Bought new in January 1998 in Soho Soundhouse, London for £899 (discounted from £1100). It has since been modified with Tusq nut, Graph Tech String Saver saddles, Seymour Duncan "Hot" Custom Staggered SSL-5 (Alnico V) in the bridge position and a pair of Alnico II Pro Staggered APS-1 units in the middle and neck positions.

This is THE guitar that literally transformed me from a dedicated Gibson Les Paul fanboy to a Fender Stratocaster fanatic! It's been my main axe ever since I've had it (it was my only electric guitar for about 5 years). It plays beautifully, I string it with D'Addario 11-52s (like all my electrics). It has been gigged many times over the years, in Europe and SA, so although it's in very good condition, for its age and the amount of punishment it's taken, it is now to showing some signs of wear and tear. I love this guitar more than life itself!

As far as I know these weren't ever imported here to SA, which, I think, makes this unique in SA... that is, until I got the following...

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"Voodoo #2": 1997 MIA Fender Voodoo Hendrix Stratocaster (sunburst w/rosewood fretboard)

No stand-alone picture of this beauty as yet.

- UPDATED WITH STAND-ALONE PIC -

Bought second-hand off eBay from a seller in the US for $2100 (plus shipping) in late October 2011 to take some of the strain off my black Voodoo #1, although the seller wasn't prepared to ship to SA so I got him to courier it to my father in the UK who brought it down here in mid-Dec... so I've only had this guitar in my possession for about 3 weeks. It's all stock (except for the Fender Hardshell Case it came with), but will undergo precisely the same mods that I made to my Voodoo #1 (Tusq nut, Graph Tech saddles, SD pickups) and I'm going to be replacing the 3-ply white-black-white scratchplate with a 3-ply black-white-black one, just to give it a bit of an SRV-kinda vibe.

I've only really got to know this guitar over the last couple of days since the day after my old man arrived with it we headed for the coast and I didn't take it with... amazingly, and given the rather nerve-wracking delay between paying for it and actually seeing it, it's virtually unplayed. There's a couple of very minor dings and scratches in the paintwork, but there's no sign whatsoever of any fretwear, nor pick-wear on the scratchplate and pickup covers, nor ANY corrosion on the pickup pole pieces, the bridge, the scratchplate screws, NOTHING! Compared to my Voodoo #1, which is in pretty good nick all things considering, this thing is virtually mint. Once modified to my required spec it will take over as my primary band/gigging instrument to take some of the strain off Voodoo #1 (which will ALWAYS be my Number 1).

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"Ash": 2011 Fender Custom Shop Custom Classic Stratocaster (translucent Honey Blonde over light-grained ash w/rosewood fretboard)

Bought new (again off eBay) in Jan 2011 for $1995 (plus shipping). I had actually been bidding for a Voodoo Hendrix Strat just like my Voodoo #2, it was the night of the U2 concert at Soccer City (which I got press-ganged into going to) and I spent the entire evening monitoring the auction on my cell phone… I was the top bidder until moments before the auction closed and suddenly, in about 10 minutes of frenetic competitive bidding, the price had gone north of $3000 and I gave up. It occurred to me that if I was going to drop that kind of money on a Strat I might as well look at Custom Shop options and found this, for sale on eBay, listed by a retailer in the US.

It’s all stock and still in mint condition, only gigged a handful of times. Again, I bought this in lieu of getting another Voodoo Strat, but my intention over the past couple of years has been to collect Voodoos specifically, I’ve also decided the only electrics I want are Stratocasters, which I will be collecting, generally, from now on.

My goal is to get at least one more Voodoo, in the remaining finish that I don’t as yet have (Olympic White w/maple fretboard, which will get a nice tortoise shell scratchplate and mods as per Voodoo #1 when I get it).

rikus

Wow Sebber, that Honey Blonde finish is stunning! It's gorgeous!!

I love translucent finishes, as is evidenced by my contribution to the thread, my 2011 Sienna Burst American Standard.

At the moment it is stock standard, but I am contemplating a few changes over the course of 2012 (locking tuners, kinman pickups and wiring changes and a new pickguard - still undecided between tortoise and aged pearloid).

AlanRatcliffe

Vic wrote: Alder or Ash body ? Any preferences here...... and why ?

Ash for me. 'Cos it sounds good. ? Scooped lower mids, a more complex midrange and wider dynamic range than alder.

Sebber

Vic wrote:
Alder or Ash body ? Any preferences here...... and why ?

Alder for me, for one reason: it's typically lighter (in weight) than ash... I'm a right-handed guitarist with a totally frigged-up (i.e. smashed in a sporting injury when I was 17) left shoulder. Any guitar slung over my left shoulder causes pain after a while, but heavier guitars cause the onset of the pain to happen much much sooner than lighter guitars.

AlanRatcliffe

Sebber wrote: Alder for me, for one reason: it's typically lighter (in weight) than ash... I'm a right-handed guitarist with a totally frigged-up (i.e. smashed in a sporting injury when I was 17) left shoulder. Any guitar slung over my left shoulder causes pain after a while, but heavier guitars cause the onset of the pain to happen much much sooner than lighter guitars.

Alder is pretty consistent and will usually weigh in at 4lbs for a body. Swamp ash ranges both heavier and lighter, between 3 and 5 lbs. You also get special orthopedic straps like this.

Sebber

Alan Ratcliffe wrote:
Sebber wrote: Alder for me, for one reason: it's typically lighter (in weight) than ash... I'm a right-handed guitarist with a totally frigged-up (i.e. smashed in a sporting injury when I was 17) left shoulder. Any guitar slung over my left shoulder causes pain after a while, but heavier guitars cause the onset of the pain to happen much much sooner than lighter guitars.
Alder is pretty consistent and will usually weigh in at 4lbs for a body. Swamp ash ranges both heavier and lighter, between 3 and 5 lbs. You also get special orthopedic straps like this.

I have played a couple of very light ash strats and teles in the past, but on the whole my experience with ash bodies is they tend to be heavier than alder... not that I've weighed them so there's nothing scientific about it, just a perception from my side that over time formed an opinion.

I did, years ago, look at orthopedic and different configuration guitar straps but I decided to lump it: for one, they all looked odd (I'm superficial like that when it comes to how things look), and none of them came with awesome designs, like this (the Levy's Strap I have on Voodoo #2):

- or this (the Levy's Strap I have on Voodoo #1):

In the end I put up with the pain, no pain no gain and all that, and I'm able to handle a 45 mins to an hour long set without too much pain... it's playing for spells longer than that without a break that's when it really gets unbearable. Another factor: single-cutaway or double-cut instruments that don't have the Strat's extended top horn tend to wear my shoulder down much quicker too, which is one of the reasons I recently offloaded my last Gibson Les Paul. I've still got a Fender Tele, which I'll probably keep forever, but for me Strats (and Strat-style instruments) are the most comfortable guitars to play because the strap button on the extended top horn just eases the load on the shoulder.

Sebber

On the subject of Levy's straps (and sorry to thread-jack here), does anyone know of any stores in or around Joburg that's carrying decent stock of Levy's at the moment?

blues_addict

My USA strat is probably the yougest at the moment, 2011 - bought in November.

vic

Alan Ratcliffe wrote:
Vic wrote: Alder or Ash body ? Any preferences here...... and why ?
Ash for me. 'Cos it sounds good. ? Scooped lower mids, a more complex midrange and wider dynamic range than alder.

This is exactly what I'm after. My custom deluxe does not quite have that....granted it has a maple neck, but I suspect it has an alder body.

vic

This Strat must have a strange and interesting history... ???

Sebber

Vic wrote: This is exactly what I'm after. My custom deluxe does not quite have that....granted it has a maple neck, but I suspect it has an alder body.

If it has a solid (i.e. non translucent/transparent) finish it's almost likely to be alder... unless it was originally ash bodied and refinished.

Sebber

Vic wrote:

This Strat must have a strange and interesting history... ???

Oh the humanity!!!

And what on earth are they doing to that fairy to the left of the Strat-light-stand-travesty-thing? That fairy looks like she's being tortured on some kind of cheap, chintzy, interior deco rack!

Hammeron

Sebber, nice bro, love the pale one.
So you looking at around 50 grand spent, give or take a K?
Respect.

Nicholas-L

Sebber wrote:
Vic wrote:

This Strat must have a strange and interesting history... ???

Oh the humanity!!!

And what on earth are they doing to that fairy to the left of the Strat-light-stand-travesty-thing? That fairy looks like she's being tortured on some kind of cheap, chintzy, interior deco rack!

I nearly rolled out of my chair laughing. I'd love to have one of those Strat-lights in my house.... maybe a few

GaryMac

Well I showed the wife the pictures of the "Lampocaster" and told her if I couldn't sell the American Special Stratocaster that I have for sale on the forum here:-

http://www.guitarforum.co.za/index.php?action=classifieds;sa=view;id=214

That I could make a lamp out of it.
She says the problem is that all of the furniture in our lounge is dark wood and my Strat has a maple board :-[ :-[ :-[

Bummer.

GaryMac

Warning: this post doubles as a not so subtle attempt at selling the aforesaid mentioned Stratocaster ?

Sean

GaryMac wrote: Warning: this post doubles as a not so subtle attempt at selling the aforesaid mention Startocaster ?

I appreciate these little...er subtle ? punts, it reminds me to check the classifieds every now and then :-[

Norman86

Vic wrote:

This Strat must have a strange and interesting history... ???

Dont worry, they get made like that ?
So afaik, no real strats are harmed in the making of those lamps!

deefstes

Donovan Banks wrote: but if you REALLY want American...

I wonder if they make this one in Mexico as well?

YUCK! YUCK!!!

And not just the paint job, what's with that pickup config? ???

Norman86

Wayne Kramer signature strat ?

http://www.fender.com/en-US/products/waynekramer/models.php?prodNo=013455

Fender introduces a replica of the starred-and-striped Stratocaster guitar that infamous MC5 guitarist and Detroit proto-punk Wayne Kramer used back in the late 1960s and early 1970s to kick out the jams and kill hate. It bears his distinctive U.S. flag finish, with a red-and-white striped body and white-stars-on-blue-background pickguard and headstock.

Special features include a roaring Seymour Duncan® ’59 humbucking middle pickup and a commemorative neck plate engraved with “This Tool Kills Hate.” Other features include an alder body, lacquer body finish, maple neck with C shape and large ’70s-style headstock, 21-fret rosewood fingerboard with 7.25” radius and vintage-style frets, vintage-style single-coil Stratocaster neck and bridge pickups, American Vintage hard-tail string-through-body bridge, Fender/Schaller® vintage-style “F” tuners and chrome hardware. Deluxe gig bag included.