Jump to content

A guitar design you hate, but everyone else loves


badpenguin

Recommended Posts

  • Members

For me, it's simple. I HATE the fender Strat. Now, before the pitch forks and torches come into your hands, allow me to explain. While I personally hate the strat, there are some great ones out there, and some great players of them. But for me, it was designed flawed.

Ok,  3 pickups, good... 3 knobs... Oh, ok, interesting... 1 master volume,  Good.  2 tone.... ok... tone for the neck, good. tone for the middle... really? Why? is there a strat player out there, who actually uses the middle pickup by itself? AND the tone for it? Then, uhh, wait, no tone for the bridge? Why not? Do people want their bridge pickup to sound bright and peircing, with no way to adjust it?

The three way switch. It took Fender over 20 years to realize that there may be a few people out there, who want to use more than one pickup at a time. But what about the neck and bridge combo? Surely that deserves to be heard?

Then there's the bridge. Play a chord. Use the trem, play the same chord again. No, not quite the same chord, is it? I know there have been upgrades, and it isn't as bad as it was, (unless you have a floyd, but then you don't have a strat anymore do you? You have a strat with a floyd.) but the entire concept was flawed from the get go.

There, I feel better now....

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

It's not too difficult to rewire a Strat to have tone 1 on the middle and tone 2 on the bridge (my preferred setup) or some other combinations. But yeah, I agree that the original design is a bit flawed in that regard.

 

I'm not really a fan of Rickenbackers, apparently. I like the sound, but I hated the neck on the 660 I played. I don't know if "everyone else loves" them though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 


kayd_mon wrote:

 

It's not too difficult to rewire a Strat to have tone 1 on the middle and tone 2 on the bridge (my preferred setup) or some other combinations. But yeah, I agree that the original design is a bit flawed in that regard.

 

 

 

I'm not really a fan of Rickenbackers, apparently. I like the sound, but I hated the neck on the 660 I played. I don't know if "everyone else loves" them though.

 

The 660 has a different neck than the 620, 330, and 360 models.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 


badpenguin wrote:

 

 

For me, it's simple. I HATE the fender Strat. Now, before the pitch forks and torches come into your hands, allow me to explain. While I personally hate the strat, there are some great ones out there, and some great players of them. But for me, it was designed flawed.

 

Ok,  3 pickups, good... 3 knobs... Oh, ok, interesting... 1 master volume,  Good.  2 tone.... ok... tone for the neck, good. tone for the middle... really? Why?
is there a strat player out there, who actually uses the middle pickup by itself?
AND the tone for it? Then, uhh, wait, no tone for the bridge? Why not? Do people want their bridge pickup to sound bright and peircing, with no way to adjust it?

 

There, I feel better now....

 

 Yeah, me.  I play on the middle alone about 70-80% of the time...can't stand the sound of the neck pup on a strat.  There was a thread around here a month or two ago, and there were quite a few folks out there who use the middle by itself. 

 

The controls on mine aren't what you indicate, either.  Mine has the neck on one tone control, the other does middle and bridge, and that's how it came stock.  I think about rewiring it sometimes for tone 1 doing neck and middle, tone 2 for the bridge, but frankly I'm too lazy.

 For me, it's the SG.  Same problematic neck joint as an LP, prone to neck dive, and I really don't get along with the neck carve.

 

 


 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 


badpenguin wrote:

 

 

For me, it's simple. I HATE the fender Strat. Now, before the pitch forks and torches come into your hands, allow me to explain. While I personally hate the strat, there are some great ones out there, and some great players of them. But for me, it was designed flawed.

 

Ok,  3 pickups, good... 3 knobs... Oh, ok, interesting... 1 master volume,  Good.  2 tone.... ok... tone for the neck, good. tone for the middle... Really? Why? is there a strat player out there, who actually uses the middle pickup by itself? AND the tone for it? Then, uhh, wait, no tone for the bridge? Why not? Do people want their bridge pickup to sound bright and peircing, with no way to adjust it?

 

The three way switch. It took Fender over 20 years to realize that there may be a few people out there, who want to use more than one pickup at a time. But what about the neck and bridge combo? Surely that deserves to be heard?

 

Then there's the bridge. Play a chord. Use the trem, play the same chord again. No, not quite the same chord, is it? I know there have been upgrades, and it isn't as bad as it was, (unless you have a floyd, but then you don't have a strat anymore do you? You have a strat with a floyd.) but the entire concept was flawed from the get go.

 

There, I feel better now....

 

 

 

 

 

I'm sorry, I get you don't like strats but they are the perfect modding platform.  You can do anything with the switches, volume, tones you want.  It sounds to me like you have a really limited scope of what a strat can do.

Neck and bridge combo, simple to do.

You don't like strats because you don't know how to hook up the bridge to a tone knob?  Please.

My strats can stay in tune for days and I use the whammy.

If you have a soldering iron, try using it, not hard to change things.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 


badpenguin wrote:

 

 

For me, it's simple. I HATE the fender Strat. Now, before the pitch forks and torches come into your hands, allow me to explain. While I personally hate the strat, there are some great ones out there, and some great players of them. But for me, it was designed flawed.

 

Ok,  3 pickups, good... 3 knobs... Oh, ok, interesting... 1 master volume,  Good.  2 tone.... ok... tone for the neck, good. tone for the middle... really? Why? is there a strat player out there, who actually uses the middle pickup by itself? AND the tone for it? Then, uhh, wait, no tone for the bridge? Why not? Do people want their bridge pickup to sound bright and peircing, with no way to adjust it?

 

The three way switch. It took Fender over 20 years to realize that there may be a few people out there, who want to use more than one pickup at a time. But what about the neck and bridge combo? Surely that deserves to be heard?

 

Then there's the bridge. Play a chord. Use the trem, play the same chord again. No, not quite the same chord, is it? I know there have been upgrades, and it isn't as bad as it was, (unless you have a floyd, but then you don't have a strat anymore do you? You have a strat with a floyd.) but the entire concept was flawed from the get go.

 

There, I feel better now....

 

 

 

 

 

I'm with you. I HATE the place they put the volume knob on a strat. Too close to the strings. Easy to hit with your hand strumming. I'm not a fan of "string trees" either. I also hate maple fretboards. How they look when they age. Not a fan of a single coil at the bridge either.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

In terms of looks, I dislike anything pointier than an Explorer. That includes Flying V's and a lot of Dean and B.C. Rich guitars. Also hate the looks of guitars without headstocks. I used to hate the Firebird shape, but it's kind of grown on me.

 

Also, I like the sound of a strat in someone else's hands, but they never feel good to me, sonically or physically. Not sure why, but that body shape just feels big and clumsy to me.

 

I REALLY hate the feel of Rickenbackers, though; Pencil-thin necks with no taper to them, oversized bodies, plasticky finishes, yecch! I owned a 1989 330 for about 18 hours once, and sold it as soon as I could. Not my cup o' tea.

Edit: Also, lacquer on the fretboard. It feels sticky and unnatural to me and I HATE it!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

badpenguin wrote:

 

 

Then there's the bridge. Play a chord. Use the trem, play the same chord again. No, not quite the same chord, is it?

 

ha ha ,nicely put. i stopped using my trem and screwed it down and stuffed some wood in there to stop it moving. i only have two knobs on mine ,i took the one off nearest the pickup cause i tend to bang it .

          so i have one volume for all pickups and one tone for  all . i say all ,what i mean is i disconected the middle pickup and i have the remaining pickups  wired so that i can have neck and bridge together i can also  put them out of phase a  jimmy page or tele type sound....ish

 

 


 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

There's something about all the classic designs I don't like.  I hate the string pull behind the nut on Les Paul and SG guitars, you can never keep them in tune because of that angle.  I hate the 4 knob control system, it's annoying.  I only need one volume knob on my guitar if any.  I hate tone knobs altogether and never use them, but every classic design has tone knobs.  Les Paul necks are ok, there's a variety and one of them will fit me, but the upper fret access is **** and I don't like the 24.75 scale that much.  Plus the set neck means you basically throw the thing in the trash when your head stock inevitably breaks.

Telecasters have several obvious problems in the original design.  3 saddles, so **** intonation right there.  No body contours, the thing is uncomfortable.  Strats fix the saddle and countour problem, and then add in the tremelo issues and misplaced volume knob and get rid of my favorite tele sound: bridge & neck.  I hate tremelos.  Plus single coils make 60-cycle hum.  That's a big flaw, even though classic strat sounds are really nice.

So, a guitar that would make me happy has these features:  probably a bolt on with 2 pickups, hum cancelling in all positions, one volume knob placed off where you can't knock it on accident, strings that pull straight back behind the nut.  Top loading bridge with intonated saddles.  Deep cutaways on top and bottom bout for decent access.  The PRS McCarty fit most of those requirements, but I hate the bird inlays.  I also dislike flame maple, I prefer solid finishes.

 

So I'll probably never be happy until I buy something custom.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members


badpenguin
wrote
:

For

me
,
it's
simple
.
I
HATE
the
fender
Strat
.
Now
,
before
the
pitch
forks
and
torches
come
into
your
hands
,
allow
me
to
explain
.
While
I
personally
hate
the
strat
,
there
are
some
great
ones
out
there
,
and
some
great
players
of
them
.
But
for
me
,
it
was
designed
flawed
.

No pitchforks or torches but please allow me to help you understand some of the design ideas behind the instrument.


badpenguin
wrote
:

Ok

,  
3
pickups
,
good
...
3
knobs
...
Oh
,
ok
,
interesting
...
1
master
volume
Good
.  
2
tone
....
ok
...
tone
for
the
neck
,
good
.
tone
for
the
middle
...
really
?
Why
?
is
there
a
strat
player
out
there
,
who
actually
uses
the
middle
pickup
by
itself
?
AND
the
tone
for
it
?
Then
,
uhh
,
wait
,
no
tone
for
the
bridge
?
Why
not
?
Do
people
want
their
bridge
pickup
to
sound
bright
and
peircing
,
with
no
way
to
adjust
it
?

You have to look at the nearly sixty year old Stratocaster in context. It is the younger brother of the Telecaster (some tele players call it the younger sister) and it was meant as an upgrade.

Do you play a tele?

The tone control on the tele is very effective and can have an effect on the volume of the guitar. The tele has only one tone control and, with modern tele wiring, is always active. The "improvement" for the strat was to have "preset" tone controls for two of the pickups and leave the bridge (lead) pickup wide open for lead. The idea was to turn the tone down on whichever pickup was going to be used for rhythm. If you chose the middle for rhythm the "new and exciting" stratocaster gave you the option of switching to either the bridge or neck for solos.

At the time, only a few people were involved in deciding how a strat was going to be configured but after millions of players used it like a beta test, more ideas were born

On my strats I use a "super switch" which allows me to configure each of the five positions any way I want. I set it up so one tone control works on the positions one and five and the other tone control is for positions two, three and four. There are no positions where both tone controls are engaged at the same time. I decided on this configuration twenty years after I bought my first strat.


badpenguin
wrote
:

The

three
way
switch
.
It
took
Fender
over
20
years
to
realize
that
there
may
be
a
few
people
out
there
,
who
want
to
use
more
than
one
pickup
at
a
time
.
But
what
about
the
neck
and
bridge
combo
?
Surely
that
deserves
to
be
heard
?

Yes the guitar was not designed to use more than one pickup at a time. In other words, the "quack" was not a product of the design but a sound that the strat came up with all by itself. Because of the nature of the blade switch that happened to be used in the original production of the guitar, several players stumbled on and popularized the in between sound we all know and love ;)

The super switch allows me to configure my guitars with the middle position switching on the bridge and neck pickups. I can also get all three pickups on at once by jamming the switch in between positions three and four or positions two and three. Again, it took me twenty years to figure this out. Leo probably went from original design concept to full production in one or two years.


badpenguin
wrote
:

Then

there's
the
 
bridge
.
Play
a
chord
.
Use
the
trem
,
play
the
same
chord
again
.
No
,
not
quite
the
same
chord
,
is
it
?
I
know
there
have
been
upgrades
,
and
it
isn't
as
bad
as
it
was
, (
unless
you
have
a
floyd
,
but
then
you
don't
have
a
strat
anymore
do
you
?
You
have
a
strat
with
a
floyd
.)
but
the
entire
concept
was
flawed
from
the
get
go
.

The original strat trem can be setup to maintain tuning stability and there are many places online where you can get detailed instructions on how to do it. Paul Reed Smith's upgrade to the strat trem is basically locking tuners and a graphite nut. He was able to identify the problem areas and do something about it.

After spending a lot of time with strats, I like the original trem. It allows me to set it up so that pulling up all the way raises the fist string by a semi-tone, the second by a full tone, the third by a tone and a half and the forth by a full tone. This is significant because if I play a standard D chord and pull all the way up it gives me a different inversion of the C chord. I have been able to use this in musical context quite effectively.


 
badpenguin 
wrote
:

There

,
I
feel
better
now
....

 I'm glad I was able to help :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 


Knutsaq wrote:

 

 

Telecasters.  The look good and play nice, but I just can't stand the way they sound, no matter what I do to them. 

 

I put Kinman pickups and a modern bridge in mine for a widely increased tone palette.  

I'm confident you would like the some of the sounds that are currently available in the guitar.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...