Me ol' Strat is just the most versatile guitar I own Terje. I pretty much only play at church and have to cover a LOT of tones and styles. The venerable, old and possibly boring (I'll grant you that dig...) Strat gets it done. Oh yeah, my main axe is not a classic Strat configuration. It has a humbucker in the bridge position. A bit more THUNK when I need it...
I was VERY surprised a few years ago, when I needed to cover a LOT of ground in a theatre setting. My tools? Firebird + '82 Marshall 2x12 combo + dirt box for lead boost. With the amp dialed in @ medium crunch The Firebird could do it all with a few twists of the volume & tone knobs. I had no idea that guitar cold cover all thoses bases. My point is that you can step outside the standard choises and still get the job done. I even got compliments for my sound, something that hasn’t happened too often
EDIT: I also brought my POD 2.0 but in the end it was only used for tuning
If all you’ve palyed in the Strat category was one ‘off the shelf’ I might agree with you - have you ever played one that was set-up and tweeked by someone that knew what he was doing? The sounds are secondary to the feel of the guitar. IMHO.
D - shut up about n already! This is still the n forum.
If all you've palyed in the Strat category was one 'off the shelf' I might agree with you - have you ever played one that was set-up and tweeked by someone that knew what he was doing? The sounds are secondary to the feel of the guitar. IMHO.
I've put my mitts on a few pre-CBS Fenders, a Tele & couple of Strats owned by friends of mine with no setup issues. They were good guitars I s'pose, they just didn't speak to ME.
That said, I've never stumbled across an LP I REALLY liked either but I still want an R4 or R6, depending on what decent P90 LP I might find first...
N works for me, so I’ll stick to it. I’ve neither the time nor inclination to start faffing about learning new tricks on new software with a new price tag…
Maybe one day, when I’ve got more time…and life’s a little slower…and I can pick up on the tiny, tiny, miniscule things that I don’t even know about yet!..
N rocks!!
(flaming…bring it on…N really does rock!) Man, I’m starting to sound like the disney channel way too much…
Sorry D - shut up was a little crash - that is one hard headed boy was my point.
You still have a lot of help to give n users - some folks prefer n and want it to work and want to know how to best use it. You can help do that without mentioning R every time - can’tcha?
Terje didn’t like my Tele either, and it’s got a real Gibson middle 60’s humbucker in it. Strings too low, and we won’t mention how gunky the strings were, but that’s not the underlying reason he didn’t like it because the strings were too low. Did I mention the strings were too low for him? (all my guitars were that way actially)
I go down to the buzz and then crank ‘em up enough to where I have to fight it jus’ a tad… Also, most Fender necks will fret out on you with big bends if the action is too low. Cause of the tight fretboard radius Fender favors. I played an OLD Tele once that I coulda SWORE the neck was ROUND!
Seen a couple at Gruhn’s in NashVegas but they looked like they would disintegrate if you pulled 'em down off the wall… Soooo… me no touchy…
I tell you, I was really digging the FLAT fretboard on that Ibanez SZ I wound up giving my son. It took a bit of getting use to, but I was beginning to really like it. I think it was like a 15" radius or something? Aren’t most Strats these days a 12" radius? This Gretsch is just a bit “rounder” than I really like… but otherwise very sweet.
One of the two Mosrites I’ve picked up was so flimsy that I know the body was bending instead of the strings and neck. Wouldn’t stay in tune no matter what. But the other one was a log that had strings so fat they wouldn’t bind period. Two extremes. Hard to believe they were the same brand. The looked similar but the years were far apart so no telling what they were. I know little about Mosrite except Iron Butterfly and The Ramones.
The best playing guitar I have EVER lain hands on? A '63 Gibson ES-335 “Block neck”. A really good bud of mine from high school owns it. Beautiful guitar… he still has it. All original and everything. It has the slim neck profile but instead of “dot” inlays, it has the block inlays… Man… what a sweet axe… It’s almost effortless to play with no buzzes, fretting out or other wonky stuff. Maybe he’ll give it to me for Christmas or something…
D
PS He is unsure of the year… but from what I have learned it’s a '63 or there-abouts model.
I heard a guy blowing through a Blue mist colored Firebird one time… it had the mini buckers installed. His tone was KILLER… lead and rhythm. (Course his gagillion dollar Boogie probably helped a bit…)
Poppa: Yeah, too low is possible. I like a bit of ‘resistance’ from the guitar. Up the action a little bit & throw on 011-049 strings. The Firebird may also get 010-052. I can have a heavy right hand so if I use picks thicker than .73 or maybe .88, strings start so fly everywhere.
Tim: Your Gretsch should have a 12" neck radius I think. I believe ancient Fenders were 7,5" while my 6120 is 9.something which I REALLY like. To quote Bon Scott it was Love At First Feel Minihums are cool IMO with more bite than regular full size buckers. Those in the know don’t think too highly of the RI minis, they go to places like Jason Lollar and get them wound like the originals were done in the 60’ies. I’d like to try that too some day
