Metropoulos Forum

Okay, after three months, I really hate my new USA Strat. This settles the Gibson vs. Fender war in my mind, in my humble opinion, but YMMV.



winnard

I bought a '76 tri-burst strat online, sight unseen from some guy in Montreal that turned out to be a real lemon. He really lied about the condition. Frets were junk, pup coils were toast. After a Carruthers refret, custom Fralin rewound pups and Callaham hardware, the thing has turned into a demon. I've never had a guitar with such resonance. I was playing it acoustically on the phone tonight and a friend asked if I was playing it through an amp it was so loud and clear.

You might want to dump it and go for something older, maybe a Smith. I've had some axes from the CBS era but never anything that played like this before.

Is it just a standard strat or something of a higher caliber?

winnard wrote:Okay, after three months, I really hate my new USA Strat. This settles the Gibson vs. Fender war in my mind, in my humble opinion, but YMMV.



winnard

I learned my "Strat" lesson long ago........Gibson forever!

Allen

You sissies ..........I go back and forth between my Strats and my Gibsons a couple of times a year. I was almost back to a Strat place in my head, until my JTM45/100 clone was done....that pulled me back to Electric Gibby-land for now.

So winnard, what exactly are you hating about yours?

Flames1950 wrote:You sissies ..........I go back and forth between my Strats and my Gibsons a couple of times a year. I was almost back to a Strat place in my head, until my JTM45/100 clone was done....that pulled me back to Electric Gibby-land for now.

So winnard, what exactly are you hating about yours?

It sounds dull, no soul at all, no matter what pickup selection I use it on.
My favorite setting is the middle/bridge, I can somewhat get that Blackfoot sound on 'Highway Song' but it's not as sweet. Since I put the RS Guitarworks pots and caps in my Les Paul, I can roll back the volume knobs and get a better sounding clean than the Strat puts out, a tone with some balls.



winnard

I'm actually in an opposite position. I find my strats to be lively and open. I like the on-baord reverb provided by the springs around the back. I dig the whammy set up to give me that tiny wiggle once I get it set up right (No dive bombing here).

My LP feels clunky, thick and flabby. Like you said...Lifeless. I still think it's a damn sight better lookin' though.

Winnard,

Sounds like either you just have a bad strat or you're simply not a strat player. I'm sticking up for strats here!

Mike

I use both. I feel like gibsons are easier. To play and to get a great marshall tone out of. Strats fight more tonewise. I like that about them. They feel cheap. They sound more in your face.

bluefuzzguitar wrote:Winnard,

Sounds like either you just have a bad strat or you're simply not a strat player. I'm sticking up for strats here!

Mike

I had a MIM Strat a couple of years ago that was actually pretty darn good. I'm going to have to do some pickup mods to this one. I'll probably build a whole pick guard with different pups in it, and I'm open for suggestions.


winnard

winnard wrote:It sounds dull, no soul at all, no matter what pickup selection I use it on.

winnard wrote:I had a MIM Strat a couple of years ago that was actually pretty darn good. I'm going to have to do some pickup mods to this one. I'll probably build a whole pick guard with different pups in it, and I'm open for suggestions.

I wholeheartedly recommend: http://fralinpickups.com/stratstyle.asp

Go through the different models down the left side of the page. Start with the neck only, if you want, and see what a difference it makes for only $75. If you do, I predict you'll replace the other two as well. Vintage Hots are great. I typically go 5% or so overwound, but if you're mostly into clarity and high end response you could go stock or 5% under.

BashCoder wrote:I typically go 5% or so overwound, but if you're mostly into clarity and high end response you could go stock or 5% under.

Thats exactly the route I went. I typicaly dial in my marshall more for getting a great Paul sound and think of the Strat tone second. It wasnt always that way but it is now. Strats are harder to get a good sound with though I think. But the way I dial in the sound for the Paul leaves it a tad muddy for the strat since I basically 90% of the time always use the bridge with Pauls and Neck with strats. I think most people do. Anyway I wanted the strat sound to be a bit cleaner (so it wasnt as stringy sounding or tubby) and a lot more present in the high end. Thats perfect for the Fralin underwound. If your anything similar I expect youll love it. I do want to try Van Zandts tho. With a really hard ACDCish crunch with a Paul, the strat sound is clear, smooth and very responsive to dynamics where it can go from clean to very driven. Tahts where I like it.

You're right, for sure.

Interestingly, last week I picked up an Epiphone SG (cool vintage burst quilt top!). The stock buckers were just OK, so I upgraded to Fralins, with 8K in the neck and 9K in the bridge. Holy CRAP!! The thing's a monster now, especially the neck PU into my JTM45. It has so much mojo, I even put a Bigsby on it. I paid about $500 for the guitar and $250 for the Fralins.

I did the same thing with a Mexican Tele last fall -- now one of my favorite axes. Spent about $400 on the guitar and $200 on the Fralins.

winnard wrote:Okay, after three months, I really hate my new USA Strat. This settles the Gibson vs. Fender war in my mind, in my humble opinion, but YMMV.



winnard

They've always been hit or miss with me. I'm sort of in the same boat as you. I have gotten rid of all Fender gear though. Gibson's and Marshall's all the way.

Don't get me wrong, I love the Strat sound, but I've never found one with a neck that feels so beefy and has really nice high-narrow frets. I'd proabably have to get a custom neck made for me for one to ever work out for me.

Country Boy Shane wrote:Don't get me wrong, I love the Strat sound, but I've never found one with a neck that feels so beefy and has really nice high-narrow frets. I'd proabably have to get a custom neck made for me for one to ever work out for me.

I had to