Let's have out with it: the Stratocaster is seriously over-exposed

vic

I will gig with a 335 anytime... but I tell you this..... I HATE TELES >☹ (stir stir stir)

ZarK

singemonkey wrote: Sure Aubs. But that's not the issue. Why do 90% of live performers in SA play them? Strats have a very particular sound. A Telecaster can sound like just about anything. But a Strat always sounds like a Strat. I can pick them out on record more reliably than any other type of electric. So these Strat players end up having very similar sounds.

Sure a clean or crunchy Strat has a very recognisable inherent tone but the beauty of them is all the non-traditional/non-vintage tones they can also produce with as little as an amp- and/or pup change... I like mine stock but they can easily produce quality hard rock and metal tones with the right pups as well... With the right fx setup my stock standard can even emulate the lead tones of an Ibanez JS... Everything but a one-trick-pony imho...

ZarK

Tokai SA wrote: lol, what is it with you and USA?

A Strats the easiest guitar in the world to build, the Mexicans, Chinese, Koreans and Japanese build Strats just as well as any USA Strat.
MIA guitars are just a psychology thing, not reality.

My US model sounds, responds and most importantly feels significantly better to me than the MIM and MIJ models I've owned and played. Nothing to do with whats printed on the headstock, promise... I do like some of the MIJ models as well and the MIM's also offer great value-for-money imo...

vic

IceCreamMan wrote:
Aubs1 wrote:
Vic wrote: The Strat is the "flavour of the decade" I guess.
Jimi and Stevie is to blame !! ?
There you go !!!!!
I bet deep inside most guys who plays the guitar, would love to own a Strat, especially a US Strat..... the ones who say they don't are just in denial, they need therapy .... ?
very long decade that

OK...21st century ?

Chabenda

Acoustic Guitar Player = Tele/Strat Player

Hammond B3 Player = Les Paul/SG Player

? :roflmao:

Bob-Dubery

Vic wrote:
The Strat is the "flavour of the decade" I guess.

During most of the 60's (post-Marvin) no respectable band was seen with one ? 'cause back then the Gretsch-,Rick-, (ala Beatles and Stones) and Gibson-look were hot.

Jimi and Stevie is to blame !! ?

Nah! Buddy Holly, Hank Marvin and Buddy Guy.

ZarK

I'm staying 4 hours drive from my Strat at the mo... My PRS is here to keep me company but sheesh, this thread is making me miss her right now... :'(

epictring

Vic wrote: I will gig with a 335 anytime... but I tell you this..... I HATE TELES >☹ (stir stir stir)

I HATE STRATS

ok, maybe not hate..

Sebber

Nearly a year ago I decided, after about 26 years of playing, that I only want to play Strats. Do I care if every guy and his dog plays Strats out live? Not in the slightest, the Strat is the most copied electric guitar design in history: you'd probably find that there's more Strats and Strat copies out there than all of Gibson's, Gretsch's and Rickenbacker's models and their copies put together.

I couldn't get on with Les Pauls (even though I lusted after Les Pauls for years in my teens), never liked Teles over much, although I had one for around 5-6 years (same with my old Les Paul). For me, Strats just feel and sound right. The weight and balance is, for me, perfect, not least since I've got a totally messed up left shoulder (I'm right-handed) so strapped-on comfort is essential to me. Also, I don't like really slick playing instruments, I want something that gives a little resistance and needs you to dig in more to squeeze out that bit of extra expression. I also don't like humbuckers over much, I like Fender-style single-coils, and three of them on the Strat with in-between sounds on a 5-way switch gives me all the tones I could ask for: I don't shred or play metal, so the 3 pickup Strat covers all the bases for me.

To my tastes and playing style, the Strat is and will likely always be, the perfect electric guitar. There is NOTHING I don't like about them!

Psean

Tokai SA wrote:
singemonkey wrote: Why do 90% of live performers in SA play them?
I think they play them because they're light and comfortable, and they look sexy.
Many guitarists tell me they can't gig with a Les Paul because it's too heavy, :? ?, and they won't gig with a 335 because it's for "old" guys, not young rocking dudes. ?

Not exactly a young guy anymore but:

aubs1

epictring wrote:
Vic wrote: I will gig with a 335 anytime... but I tell you this..... I HATE TELES >☹ (stir stir stir)
I HATE STRATS

ok, maybe not hate..

I love this thread ..... and my Strats and my Tele ...... ?

Sebber

Ya, Strat haters are just like EMOs who hate something for no more reason that just because it's popular... ?

giggsy

Will read this at a later stage (internet down for two days...) but +1 for the original post - I think one of my first posts here was something along the lines of "Is it just me... or am I the only one who doesnt like strats"

Squonk

Amazing Thread this - I like all guitars, just some more than others.

Any unwanted strats in my direction please. Getting close to the Apple vs the rest debate.

Jack-Flash-Jr

Just basically tagging so I can follow along ?

In terms of my experience, started at 13 with a bad Strat copy, haven't had anything similar since. I think out of the ordinary guitars (LPs are not in this category except in SA) are a personality projection. We all know Singemonkey is f%%£&$g nuts, but that is certainly more fun (I've noticed his flair dips when he swaps out the LP for the Pacifica).

Sean

singemonkey wrote: So I've been doing a bunch of gigs in the better part of the last 2 years. All have been in the Western Cape, so maybe things are different elsewhere.

That incredibly well known guitar, the Les Paul, I've seen played by precisely four other gigging musicians besides me

This is pretty incredible. You've seen only 4 other LP's in 2 years of gigging? What's happening to all the LP's being sold down there? So I have a question I'd like to ask the guys gigging regularly in the Joburg/Pretoria and Durban regions: Do you see the same thing? Is this a regional thing? Because really, I would never have thought the disparity between LP's and Strats would have been so big.

vic

Sean wrote:
singemonkey wrote: So I've been doing a bunch of gigs in the better part of the last 2 years. All have been in the Western Cape, so maybe things are different elsewhere.

That incredibly well known guitar, the Les Paul, I've seen played by precisely four other gigging musicians besides me
This is pretty incredible. You've seen only 4 other LP's in 2 years of gigging? What's happening to all the LP's being sold down there? So I have a question I'd like to ask the guys gigging regularly in the Joburg/Pretoria and Durban regions: Do you see the same thing? Is this a regional thing? Because really, I would never have thought the disparity between LP's and Strats would have been so big.

Well here you see two Les Pauls.... ?

singemonkey

Sean wrote: This is pretty incredible. You've seen only 4 other LP's in 2 years of gigging? What's happening to all the LP's being sold down there?

Being left at home while the Strat is having all the fun? Bought only by non-gigging players?

Nitebob

Not playing strats, simply because a lot of other people do, is like saying I'll have a fondue because everybody else is braaing....doesn't make a braai any less fun, or a fondue any more fun...

Maybe I should take cover...

singemonkey

Nitebob wrote: Not playing strats, simply because a lot of other people do, is like saying I'll have a fondue because everybody else is braaing....doesn't make a braai any less fun, or a fondue any more fun...

Maybe I should take cover...

Or is it more like saying I won't have a fondue because everyone else seems to be braaing... I better do likewise?