Monday, March 27, 2017
The elusive Stratocaster tone search, or how a music store can look greedy
For years I have been looking for the “Strat” that is the perfect one. I have owned many over time and sadly ruined as few too. As I get older I understand what it is about a Fender Stratocaster that creates such magic, but who knew back in 1979 that taking a router to a common off the wall Strat to install the Eddy Van Halen hum bucker was a bad thing?
In my opinion you need to start with a body that is less than 4 lbs. It needs to be made from a solid one piece or even two piece laminate of Alder (or Ash) construction. Then you need a four bolt neck, preferably ¼ cut. I have always liked the Maple necks with larger gauge fret wire, but I am not opposed to Rosewood. Then comes the pick ups. This is where the jury is still out. After all so much depends on the amp too, but some where is that magic mix of old school vibe with new tech low noise.
Generally if the guitar just seems to sound great unplugged, right out of the case it’s a good start. The kind of spring and resonance that seems to vibrate through the body with endless sustain and life. If you’re a guitar player you know what I mean.
Over the years, especially after I moved out of my parents house I could no longer just simply buy guitars every pay cheque (and spend the balance on beer). I ended up in about 1983 with a “Made In Japan Squire”. Thankfully to this day I still have it. However it didn’t survive the Eddy era with out some “mods”.
I also have a newer USA made Strat that was suppose to be a keeper, but now I have my doubts.
Last, as far as Stratocasters go, I have the project relic.
Yes that’s right, the latest craze for a guy who doesn’t play much but wants that look of an original road worn, beat up guitar that hold the magical sounds of tone that only come from years of sweat an liquor living on crusty old carpeted bar room stages.
Having a collection of parts I decided to put them together to see what happened.
What you see here is a Squire neck, I think 1990’s vintage, MIJ and a body from March of 98 with the “universal” routing. This body surprised me when I sanded it down as it was not a cheap three piece laminate, but I think this ended up as a second as it had a knot between the pick up route and tail piece spring cavity that broke through. I looked for pick ups with enough crunch, but not over the edge distortion. I ended up with a set of “Mighty Might’s”, partly because I got them cheap. I added a mint green pick guard and soaked the knobs and pick up covers in a mixture of curry and cyan powders. Last I used a real Nitro cellulous finish to get that old Fender Sonic Blue color.
This body was beat to start with so I did not try to sand out all the dings. This just adds character. Now that it’s done tonight will be the first gig that this will see some action. I am not convinced that it really has the tone or sustain I am after, but it kind of looks cool!
So I go to L&M, the music store Fender dealer in town. I am working with a sales guy and thinking about trading my USA Strat to a custom shop model. In a search for a higher quality, possibly better sounding Strat, with some old school vintage much like the closet classics. The sales guy tells me that Fender is upping the selling prices 20%. So anything coming into the store will cost more. O.K., I understand price increases and had my eye on a guitar that has been on the wall for a few months now. I ask him to check on some details and that I would be back the next day. So I walk in the afternoon of the next day and see that the retail list prices of all EXISTING stock was increased by 20%. For example on of the guitars I was looking at went from $1620.00 to $2045.00 over night.
Turns out our friends at L&M decided to use this to increase margins on inventory that was purchased prior to the Fender increase. I protest to no avail; however the store manager offers to discount 50% of the increase. So; Thursday I could have bought this guitar for $1620.00, now next day it’s $2045.00 but because I was looking at this, I can now buy it at $1812.50.
Needless to say the quest continues, and probably the search will continue out of town.
In my opinion you need to start with a body that is less than 4 lbs. It needs to be made from a solid one piece or even two piece laminate of Alder (or Ash) construction. Then you need a four bolt neck, preferably ¼ cut. I have always liked the Maple necks with larger gauge fret wire, but I am not opposed to Rosewood. Then comes the pick ups. This is where the jury is still out. After all so much depends on the amp too, but some where is that magic mix of old school vibe with new tech low noise.
Generally if the guitar just seems to sound great unplugged, right out of the case it’s a good start. The kind of spring and resonance that seems to vibrate through the body with endless sustain and life. If you’re a guitar player you know what I mean.
Over the years, especially after I moved out of my parents house I could no longer just simply buy guitars every pay cheque (and spend the balance on beer). I ended up in about 1983 with a “Made In Japan Squire”. Thankfully to this day I still have it. However it didn’t survive the Eddy era with out some “mods”.
I also have a newer USA made Strat that was suppose to be a keeper, but now I have my doubts.
Last, as far as Stratocasters go, I have the project relic.
Yes that’s right, the latest craze for a guy who doesn’t play much but wants that look of an original road worn, beat up guitar that hold the magical sounds of tone that only come from years of sweat an liquor living on crusty old carpeted bar room stages.
Having a collection of parts I decided to put them together to see what happened.
What you see here is a Squire neck, I think 1990’s vintage, MIJ and a body from March of 98 with the “universal” routing. This body surprised me when I sanded it down as it was not a cheap three piece laminate, but I think this ended up as a second as it had a knot between the pick up route and tail piece spring cavity that broke through. I looked for pick ups with enough crunch, but not over the edge distortion. I ended up with a set of “Mighty Might’s”, partly because I got them cheap. I added a mint green pick guard and soaked the knobs and pick up covers in a mixture of curry and cyan powders. Last I used a real Nitro cellulous finish to get that old Fender Sonic Blue color.
This body was beat to start with so I did not try to sand out all the dings. This just adds character. Now that it’s done tonight will be the first gig that this will see some action. I am not convinced that it really has the tone or sustain I am after, but it kind of looks cool!
So I go to L&M, the music store Fender dealer in town. I am working with a sales guy and thinking about trading my USA Strat to a custom shop model. In a search for a higher quality, possibly better sounding Strat, with some old school vintage much like the closet classics. The sales guy tells me that Fender is upping the selling prices 20%. So anything coming into the store will cost more. O.K., I understand price increases and had my eye on a guitar that has been on the wall for a few months now. I ask him to check on some details and that I would be back the next day. So I walk in the afternoon of the next day and see that the retail list prices of all EXISTING stock was increased by 20%. For example on of the guitars I was looking at went from $1620.00 to $2045.00 over night.
Turns out our friends at L&M decided to use this to increase margins on inventory that was purchased prior to the Fender increase. I protest to no avail; however the store manager offers to discount 50% of the increase. So; Thursday I could have bought this guitar for $1620.00, now next day it’s $2045.00 but because I was looking at this, I can now buy it at $1812.50.
Needless to say the quest continues, and probably the search will continue out of town.
