A question to Fender Stratocaster owners.

[Blazer]

I guess we all know about it: you have to play your guitar for a certain amount of time or to perform some modifications before you go "Yeah, that's MY guitar" That magic moment when you feel you've nailed it; that special magical something that tells you your guitar is broken in properly. Let's share our experiences with what you had to do or when you found out "This is it."


My two strats. Above: my 2007 Mexican made 68 classic series "Voodoo" strat,
below: my 1989 Squier Korea strat "The veteran"

I owned "The veteran" since 1991 and she's been my main guitar eversince. I changed EVERYTHING on her except for the body, she has a Wilkinson Vibrato, pickups from a mid eighties Fender japan strat and a Chinese made Humbucker which I bought for a fiver at the Frankfurt musicfair. I have no idea why this cheap chinese pickup sounds as good as it does but it does. The output of the humbucker isn't really that high so it mixes perfectly with the singlecoils and it retains its true Strat sound, while also being able to handle heavy distortion. Somebody asked me why I didn't make a proper body for it, seeing that it has a plywood body and I told them "You don't get it, the body, that's what gives that guitar the MOJO."

My mexican strat was more or less bought on a hunch, they were put on a bargain sale by the Musicstore in Cologne and I went there to actually check out Gibsons and seeing as every other strat I owned besides "The Veteran" was eventually sold on, I had little confidence in getting myself another strat. Knowing that I wouldn't keep it. But when I went for broke and actually played one my mind went "We like this." So I went to the counter and told them that I wanted to buy one of those reversed headstock strats, the guy went: "Sure thing, hold on a minute." I walked over to the Fender stand wanting to point out which particullar one I wanted to buy, but before I had the chance, the guy walks into the storage room, retrieves a large cardboard box with the Fender logo on it and said "Here you go sir, your guitar, gigbag is included." Luckily, the one he got me was actually much nicer than the one I wanted to buy. With this one, changing the pickups in favor for Dimarzio's and changing the floppy one layer white pickguard, for a black three layer one did it for me. That's when that white Mexican strat truly became MY guitar.

[Axewielder]

All mine needed was a new non-ghey strap!

[markD]

well, my strat came with "mojo" built in. it was my grand father's guitar. he used to play in a country/western band. i got it from one of my cousins who got it after grandpa died. he found out i was a player and thought it would be better in my hands than his.

the guitar is 100% stock. the bridge is rusty and won't move. it smells like smoke. the knobs have junk form years of beers and smoke. it is dinged up bad, the neck is dented and worn down on the back. the frets are actually in pretty good shape - dented but decent. the switch is black from junk and sweat. thye single ply pickguard is bubbling in certain spots and burnt in others....the old nickel kluson tuners still work really well, and they are rusted too!!!

but man-o-man it is a killer player. sounds AWESOME too, regardless of what amp i play it through.

here is a picture of it in my living room. the black strat NEVER leaves the house.

[Ben...]

Here's a pic of my Mexican Strat that was also my first guitar. I bought it off of my big brother for 300 bucks. This picture of it with my DK2 was from before I did my mods. Apparently the colour is discontinued on Standards (Only available on the 60's Strat and some American Strats/Teles). Lake Placid Blue is what I think it is. What do you guys think? LPB is the only colour on any of Fender's charts that is remotely close to that colour and it was an available colour around '95-'96.

I've since added Vintage Noiseless pickups and creme coloured knobs to match the pickup covers.

Edit: Oh, and I'm probably buying another Strat after Christmas because I am probably going to get a ton of music store gift cards and I have a bass I'm selling. My whole family always gets me music related stuff. It's great!

[SEEGERMANY]

All in all it's just another brick in the wall.

[metalchurch79]

Ben, I think that is Lake Placid Blue as well.
As far as Strat's or Strat style guitars, here's the only one that I have in playable condition right now.
This is my Jake E. Lee mutt that I build this summer on my porch.
Here it is during the mock-up phase of the build:


Neck: (modded for a Floyd nut)

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After playing it for a couple months I had some low frets, so I had to use a Jackson KV Standard neck and paint it and re-logo it


This is right as I got it done, and it has the JB in it:

For some reason the JB just did not sound good at all to me..:think:
And finally this:
Reverse headstock and an EMG'81 with 18v mod and a mini toggle to go from 9v to 18v.

I have alot of time in building this and I really enjoy playing it. I know its not 100% correct to Jake's Charvel, but I didn't want it to be. I am planning on building a perfect replica possibly in the spring time.

[metalchurch79]

I'm such a dumbass I did not see this was for Fender Strats only. I'm so sorry for posting pictures of my guitar on here.
I tried to delete them, but I cant figure it out?:think:

[Joelski]

Some mighty fine axes in this thread!.

Okay, this Strat is relatively new, but it's like a sore pecker: Ya can't beat it! :ROTF:



It's a 2008 60th Anniversary American Deluxe HSS (mouthfull!) For pickups, it has some kind of Fender hot humbucker and two samarium cobalt noiseless singles. The SCN's kick serious ass! The edges of the board are hand-rolled and contribute the most to the worn-in feel. It also has the S1 switching system for all kinds of pup combinations, locking Fender/Schaller tuners, the modern two point trem and a sweet satin finish on the neck. I backed into this one while auditioning my Genz Benz head, and after playing it twice I packed it home along with the amp. It seems that I never go looking for a particular guitar, rather a particular type of guitar always manages to find me. I've been adicted to this guitar set to middle/neck SC's through the class A setting of the Genz ever since I got them back in July; it just has a sweet tone that only a great Strat can get. Not to mention a very badass coat of paint called Montego Black...

[j2379]

well, my strat came with "mojo" built in. it was my grand father's guitar. he used to play in a country/western band. i got it from one of my cousins who got it after grandpa died. he found out i was a player and thought it would be better in my hands than his.

the guitar is 100% stock. the bridge is rusty and won't move. it smells like smoke. the knobs have junk form years of beers and smoke. it is dinged up bad, the neck is dented and worn down on the back. the frets are actually in pretty good shape - dented but decent. the switch is black from junk and sweat. thye single ply pickguard is bubbling in certain spots and burnt in others....the old nickel kluson tuners still work really well, and they are rusted too!!!

but man-o-man it is a killer player. sounds AWESOME too, regardless of what amp i play it through.

here is a picture of it in my living room. the black strat NEVER leaves the house.

wat year is that its almost perfect. i havent palyed many truely vintage strats but some of the few i played are just magic for certain things.

[toejam]

My 2001 USA Double Fat Strat Hardtail in Teal Green Metallic. I was never too big on single coils or Fender trems, so this guitar was perfect for me. It's got a Duncan Pearly Gates Plus (specifically made for Fender by Duncan, just more gain and a tiny bit brighter sounding than a regular PG) and a '59, with a super five-way switch to get the inner coils of the pickups on in the 2nd position, the top of the neck single coil in the 4th position, and your typical full humbuckers in positions 1, 3 and 5.
It is, acoustically, the loudest guitar I own and really sounds great. Though, I'm not too crazy about the 9.5" fingerboard radius (I prefer flatter, at least 12").

[sonicsamurai]

a 2007 american standard in olympic white. no upgrades. I love the clean sounds, and have used it for anything apart form extreme metal. I've always turned to it when writing, and have found it always seems to really enhance my creativity with chords. it's the guitar i've kept the longest out of any of them and it's always feels really good to play it when i haven't touched it for a while...something very comfortably familiar about it.

[AlexL]

Here's my Fender American Deluxe Ash Strat:





SCN pickups, two point trem, locking tuners, ash body, rolled edges on the fingerboard. Very easy to play.

I ordered it on a complete whim; I jam with some guys (guess you could call us a band...) and we do some tunes that really need a strat tone, so I bought it. I never played a strat that I liked, but special ordered this one in butterscotch blonde with my fingers crossed. Turns out it plays well, and looks really sharp.

Haven't done any customizing, short of grinding pencil lead into the nut slots to keep it in tune. That's making the nut a bit grey in color, but it really helps. This one is definitely a keeper, so it may get some changes down the road, but she's pretty near perfect right now. I'd like to try a LSR roller nut in it, but I'm concerned that migt affect the tone. Anyone have any experience on this sort of retrofit?


- E.

[markD]

wat year is that its almost perfect. i havent palyed many truely vintage strats but some of the few i played are just magic for certain things.

looks better in pictures. i'd say the condition is between fender's closet classic and heavy relic. grandpa took care of it, but it has its scars. as far as year, i am not too sure. i think it is pre-cbs, but i don't want to go take it too be looked at. i just play it in the living room, look at it, think about how well it plays then smile that i have it. the sentimental value outweighs the monetary value for sure.

as far as tone, this thing just screams the blues. truthfully, it feels kinda rickety and cheap, but the sound is awesome, especially the neck pickup!!

[JetFixxxer]

Here is my first Fender..I think I went the opposite.. I removed the mojo.. This was originally a 1995 Fender Squire series I removed the rosewood and installed a maple neck and removed the stock PUPS and installed Seymour Duncans. I will eventually install the original neck..



Then original neck went to a project body

This picture is old and have Dragonfire Active PUPS in it..
This has a GFS Rail in the middle and a Alinco HB from a Agile

I recently picked up a Strat with a Floyd Rose and I must say this it's a great playing and has a great feel to it.

MarkD - I would like to say that is awesome that you have your grandfathers guitar.. That's guitars mojo is priceless..

[Axeslinger]

Let's share our experiences with what you had to do or when you found out "This is it."


When I installed a HXH pickguard