Warren
So, I went to Marshall Music to pick up some spare bits...oops.
Checking out the Strat section, it was lurvve at first sight! I'd never seen a Sienna Burst Strat in the flesh before, and I thought I was more partial to solid-colour Strat bodies...but holy shit! Oh and I've always liked rosewood 'boards, but now I'm officially a maple dude. 8) Wonderfully slick neck, nice and chunky.
The ash body looks amazing, and it sounds absolutely wonderful too!
Sticker price was R23k, got discount down to R15k, which I think is a decent enough price for a new Strat.
aubs1
Congrats Warren, that is awesome! And welcome to the world of Maple boards..... ? I love 'em.....
You gotta bring that babe over sometime and now stick it in a Marshall, dude!
Wizard
Looks really beautiful.
Love the burst colours & the wood grain & the contrast with the maple neck & ...
Warren
Aubs1 wrote
Congrats Warren, that is awesome! And welcome to the world of Maple boards..... ? I love 'em.....
You gotta bring that babe over sometime and now stick it in a Marshall, dude!
Thanks Aubs!
Actually, I blame you! I blame you for getting me even THINKING about maple boards as an OPTION! Damnit! ? It was the Candy Strat that did it...
Yes, I think this would sound marvelous through the Marshall...only one way to find out! ? Actually I had it plugged into a Fender Deluxe at Marshall Music, and before I realised what was happening it was closing time... ?
Warren
Wizard wrote
Looks really beautiful.
Love the burst colours & the wood grain & the contrast with the maple neck & ...
Cheers Wizard, it's a great looking thing in the flesh indeed!
Squonk
Good Stuff Warren
A bargain at 15K
What a thing of beauty
Rowen-M
Congrats. That's one good looking strat.
Blues-Brother
Yes, she is a beaut. I've got the sienna burst with rosewood board
But yeah, Strat + DR = :applause: :dance: ?arty:
aubs1
Warren wrote
Actually, I blame you! I blame you for getting me even THINKING about maple boards as an OPTION! Damnit! ? It was the Candy Strat that did it...
I will take that blame with pride ...... ? Now I don't have to worry about my Candy Strat again when you come visit ....... ?
AlanRatcliffe
Congrats Warren! Yeah, the sienna bursts have to be seen to be appreciated properly. And yeah - once you go maple and ash there's no real going back. ?
rikus
Stunning! Photos don't do the finish justice.
Enjoy!
Reinhard
Looks sweet Warren, congrats!
shaunf
I'm not a Strat guy, but that one would turn me.....
Congrats! Lovely guitar!
racman
Stunning Strat Warren - congrats!
Keira-WitherKay
congrats Warren, fabulous buy.........
like allan mentioned maple adds something that once you hear it and of course like it (admittidly it is personal, some just don't) you'll never go back ?......
and nice to gave an ash body ................only question is how's the weight ? i've seen some ash bodies from fenders that weigh a ton but i believe that with ash bodies the lighter the ash body the better the tone.....
so happy happy happy NGD ,,,,,,,,,,,,enjoy and this is a beauty
deefstes
Holy crap! That is exactly the guitar I've been eyeing for some time now. In fact, I'm sure I must have mentioned it the other day at Aubs so may I take a bit of the blame for this one as well?
Jeepers dude, I'm jealous now. First of all, I'd love to see it in the flesh (and hear her sing). Secondly, if I am going to the States in May, I'm going to find it very hard not to grab me this very same guitar.
How's the neck radius and fret size compared to your other strat? Pickups? C'mon, I'm very curious now.
andrewjbryson
Ja Nee Kyk, dis a vreeslike mooi Kitaar.
Can you give us some specs? Pickups?
aubs1
Andrew J Bryson wrote
Can you give us some specs? Pickups?
@ Deefstes and AJB ......... Here is a link, re: specs.........:
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/StratAMMSSB/
@ Warren, I forgot to ask ........ what was the "off the shelf", "out of the box" set up like? Acceptable? Good? Do you need to do more tweaks?
Jack-Flash-Jr
A beauty indeed... enjoy! Let me add my +1 to all the maple comments.
Warren
Thanks again for all the kind comments guys. 8)
@Keira
The weight seems pretty "normal" to me, to be honest. In fact, psychologically the guitar feels slinkier than my other Strat, which is probably partly because of the neck. Weight-wise they feel quite similar, I've certainly not noticed any heaviness like I do with my Epi around my neck.
@Deeftes and AJB
Pickups are American Standard Single Coils, and I think they sound really good. They're not as hot as the City Limits in my other Strat, so they have slightly less "scream" under drive, but they have great clarity. I can't seem to see any info on how they're wound, but to my noobish ears they sound somewhere between some more "Vintage" and "Texas Special" type tone. Sounds glorious through a Fender Deluxe, but have not plugged it into my amp at home yet (Night Train).
The bridge is great and I might actually use my trem arm on this guitar. I'm not sure exactly what makes it different to my other Strat (might be number of springs, for one thing) but it's a bit more sensitive so I can even add some shimmer just by wobbling the bridge directly with my palm.
The finish is poly, but it seems very thin: the wood grain is really clear and visible.
The tone pots are wired differently to my other Strat, with the second tone pot controlling both the middle and bridge pickups together. Volume knob works a treat to clean up overdrive, so I'm definitely going to be incorporating more of that sort of thing into my playing (or trying to). I'm very pleased that there is a tone control for the bridge (some other Strats don't have it).
The neck is nice and fat, like I prefer, but not quite as chunky as my other Strat. I think I might have found exactly the right sort of neck profile for me. 8)
Otherwise, it's just a Strat, but a nice one!
The new hard-cases they ship with are brilliant, as well. Also includes a regular Fender strap, polishing cloth, instrument cable etc. Not a huge deal, but rounds out the overall package very neatly IMO.
@Aubs
Setup out of the box was very average, TBH.
The guitar came fitted with 9s, and I played it for nearly an hour before deciding, in-store. It certainly felt good in my hands, action at the nut was perfect but higher up the neck it wasn't as good. The frets are smaller than what I'm used to, and the maple is slippery compared to rosewood so it still felt easy to play, but not perfect.
Took it home last night and played some more, and decided that I can't really get on with 9s on a Strat, so it's back this morning for swap to 10s and to have the action completely sorted out (credit to Marshall for offering to do this for me, without me having to insist).
I'll be recording a few clips through my amp over the weekend (which will also be my first experiment with mic'ing a cab both close and far-field (the right term?)) so I'll try to do something that properly represents how great this guitar sounds. At this point, I can't really see that there's anything that needs changing. With my Highway One, the pickup swap and the saddle upgrades were good decisions that visibly improved those aspects of the guitar, but everything on this guitar looks, sounds and feels spot-on.
