Best Strat for Jimi?

[CrazyNinja8730]

Maybe gettin' a new guitar soon. I like the way strats feel and sound. Are the reissue type Fenders any good?

[Brandon]

The only fenders that I recommend are the Custom Shop Fenders.

I think a lot of people will agree with me in saying that Fender is just not putting the QUALITY into their guitars like they used to (strangely similar to marshall! ), but the custom shop, of course because they're all hand made by expert guitar craftsman, gets the job done correctly.

Certainly you do NOT want to go with a mexican made reissue (50s 60s 70s reissue series are all POOP as far as I'm concerned). Years ago I bought one of those mexican made pieces of trash and the guitar had tons of minor techincal flaws in the neck, bridge, body etc. Since then I don't even LOOK at anything non american made! Could just be me though. I hear japanese made are a bit better, and of course american made is even better, but from what I've heard the american made ones are still ehhhhhhh a little shaky.

If I were you and I had a pocket full of cash ($2k-$4k), I would:

1. buy a custom shop 67/68/69 replica/relic strat with alder body (and make sure it's the reverse handedness of you ie. if you're a righty get a lefty and change out the nut. To me it has a significant effect on tone). Well worth it IMHO, and make sure to get rosewood if you're into earlier hendrix and maple if you're into later hendrix.

If I had less cash (under $1k)

2. Put one together yourself buying neck and body from http://www.warmoth.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; (vintage strat style body 6 point tremolo, neck with vintage 7.25 radius specs) and then buy the rest of the hardware, pickups etc. to fill it in. I hear Warmoth makes the best neck and bodies around. I'm sure there are other companies that do well too.

Actually these are the two things I'm deciding between right now myself

For me though and my experience, unless you're buying from a trusted online source like warmoth, it's always best to go to a guitar store and play on all of them YOURSELF, and buy the one you love the most.

[Roe]

warmoth and the others dont offer the right rosewood neck. they only do slab boards, not veneer

[CrazyNinja8730]

Okay, looks promising . I like the woodstock strat the best. I need all the info I can get on it please.

[Brandon]

Okay, looks promising . I like the woodstock strat the best. I need all the info I can get on it please

Well sir I have done my research

68' American standard strat.
olympic white finish - PROBABLY nitrocellulose finish (as discussed by me and ydna http://forum.metroamp.com/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=33129" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) but could be polyester
Alder body (probably 1 piece high quality alder)
Maple cap fretboard with 7.25 radius neck.
Heal truss rod adjustment.
low output pickups - 69 CS pickups are great. I own the Lindy Fralin Woodstock pickups with the bassplate which are great too but a little more $$.
3 piece w/b/w pickguard.

I haven't seen a 68' made by the CS anywhere lately, but a 69' would be exactly the same IMHO, I believe even a 70' too. I think 71' is when they changed things i.e. ash body, different fender logo, bullet truss rod instead of heal truss rod. Basically you DON'T want a 71' or up.

Sometimes the CS does some weird things to those guitars too, for instance I've seen them put in maple cap fretboards with the grain vertical instead of the standard horizontal, which is a lot "harder" and changes the sound a lot, so if you go down to your local guitar shop to play on some, make sure you're playing on, you know like a NOS 69' strat, or relic if you prefer that.

Basically what I myself am going to do is either buy a 69 CS strat, or I'm going to buy a warmoth body with vintage specs, and then buy a 69' Fender strat neck to stick on it. But with that you run the risk of the neck and body not fitting together in exact harmony. I'm sure the guys at the custom shop, if a neck doesn't fit right on a body quite right, they have a 1,001 different backups to choose from to find a good fit!

warmoth and the others dont offer the right rosewood neck. they only do slab boards, not veneer

Good to know

[peter25]

I have a '69 CS strat which sounds good with the 69 pu's... Just not too Hendrixy imo. Someone described the sound of the 69's as if they have wolves in them and I totally agree. They howl... hm if that makes any sense to you. They sound awesome for clean sounds, but when you add fuzz or od they start their howling, which can be cool for some stuff or a bit annoying for other purposes. I also feel there is more in the guitar then the pu's can bring out of. I just ordered Don Mare pu's to replace the 69's. I hope the Don Mare's can make the guitar shine a bit more. Oh the 69's are also pretty bright sounding pu's. Clean great. Don't get me wrong they can handle OD and Fuzzez, but I want the howling factor coming from my amp and not from my guitar...

[Xplorer]

https://www.musikraft.com/store.php?pg1-cid52.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

single acting truss rod, heel adjustment, maple,

1969 Slider's left handed ( voodoo ) pickups, low inductance. some other slider's pickups are perfect too. old was caps from slider's for the tone pots, musical. don't adjust the pickups too high. best replicas.

i like the pure nickel fender light gauge strings, tuned quite low.

old bridge or two point tremolo bridge : i don't hear much difference, but i prefer the two points, and the wilkinson roller nut
( my early jeff beck strats are perfect for hendrix too , and never out of tune, perfect tone )

at some point, you can get a hendrix tone with the true marshall, and about any strat, depends of the way you play. but thoses preferences, and a comfortable strat, a player, will be better.

[Xplorer]

nice bodies too i think : https://www.musikraft.com/store.php?pg1-cid48.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[basile865]

Don't order from Musikraft. Been there done that. They make decent stuff but I had fitment issues with the body I ordered and was missing finish on the neck in a few spots - to which they never responded emails. I've had friends who have ordered from different custom companies with troubles as well - it really seems that Warmoth makes the most reliable consistent parts from other repair shops I've talked to.

If I had to build again I'd without a doubt use warmoth. But truly I like fender the best. Its a matter of going to the shop and trying every strat until you find one that speaks to you. That wont always happen, it can take time but you will find one that is just comfortable, strong and sounds good. I think most of them can benefit from pickups but other then that they can be pretty solid depending on which model you're looking at.

Custom shop stuff is incredible for the most part if you can swing the cash, but I think the american stuff makes a great base to upgrade slowly. My american standard has been refret, bone nut, and 69 custom shop pickups and I've had a hard time finding a better playing, sounding strat, even playing much more expensive models. Really its every bit as good as custom shop models. The whole poly vs. nitro thing I have trouble hearing any difference. It really boils down to clean playability, not so heavy that it sounds dull, and quality pickups/bridge.

Ebay has a store I think called reliable fender which basically dismantles fender guitars and sells them off part by part. That could be a great route to try.

But don't drive yourself crazy - you can get a dog even if it looks amazing and has all the nitro, custom pickups, flame maple, etc etc etc (all the bells and whistles). And you can find a strangely great sounding one that is a mexican standard (although I'll admit its not as common). You can't control how good it will sound when you build from scratch necessarily - the best way to find the one is keep playing all the ones you can get your hands on and then tweak it to your needs if need be. thats my opinion anyway for whatever its worth

[basile865]

at some point, you can get a hendrix tone with the true marshall, and about any strat, depends of the way you play. but thoses preferences, and a comfortable strat, a player, will be better.

+10000000

[Xplorer]

i didn't try musikraft, too bad, it looked nice.
anyway, i play original parts, and i'm lucky to have nice parts. this early base ball bat jeff beck 91 neck is truely an work of art, but rare ; )

i recently discovered that my first strat, bought when i was 15, for about 50 $, with no brand on it, had a veeery good maple neck, single cut heel truss rod control.

you've got to do like the greats, have several guitars, change parts, discover why some soundgood, what combinations are great ....
i allways modify my strats. but i don't modify some parts that are perfect.

i looove strats !!!

yeah, reliable fender sells some nice parts sometimes. bought several stuffs from them.
for the bodys, i love te white and surf green jeff beck bodys, very nice.

nitro and poly ... well, nitrocellulosic isn't cellulosic ... much better.

my 1969 telecaster ( keith ) is amazing. the guy changed it unfortunately, so it's not original ... but it's even better !!! a real player. for the body, the acrylic satin finish on the stripped body is really good, best vibrations, and also, it smells gooood ; )

for the playability, i use a special fiber that makes the back of the neck smooth, a little bit like satin, and it's perfect.

a steel bridge block could perhaps help for the nice vibrations the nut is very important. bone . but my wilkinson is great too.

my vibrato is floating, so the tune of the strings can be bend up or down.
three parrallel and spaced springs in the back.
perfect strat

[Brandon]

George said that Nash guitars are even better than CS, and he's picky as shit.

He had one at the amp show, it was pretty sweet:

http://www.nashguitars.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Brandon]

Ooooooh shit and here you go, they make a 68 hendrix replica.

http://www.nashguitars.com/s_guitars.html#" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Xplorer]

yeah, not the right neck for the white strat from nash.
i really prefer, for myself, to choose my parts by myself.

[Brandon]

Interesting to note that Nash uses Van Zandt pickups on their hendrix strat.

Anybody know anything about these pickups or have any experience with them?