Types Of Guitars. Part 3: Stratocasters

Alright, I've decided to write about the most common and versatile type of guitar, (particularly in Argentina) -- The Stratocaster! Have you noticed the high commonality of this kind of guitar? Here are a few reasons they are so common:

Stratocasters are generally the cheapest guitars to make. I mean, Les Pauls, SGs, Superstrats require a more complex set up.

In my opinion, the "Strat" is the most versatile guitar. Don’t get me wrong, I'm not saying it’s the best guitar but a good Stratocaster will sound at least acceptable, no matter what amp you plug into or what style of music you play.

It has the classical shape of an electric guitar. In most TV shows or movies, you'll see the “musician dude” playing a guitar of this style, not because of its sound but for its body's “cool shape.”

History

For those of you who want to read the full text, I'll recommend this website. The site has an overview of the interesting history of the Stratocaster. Anyway, here is a very short telling of it.

Back in 1953, the Telecaster was very popular, but Leo Fender's desire to dominate the global guitars market was still not accomplished. Therefore, he decided to design a new type of guitar, which would provide a different sound, more options and some extras for players to play with while using it. All of the new innovative feature came together and the Stratocaster was born. Designed for younger players, the Stratocaster wasn’t a “hit”, until Dick Dale started using them for his Surf music.

Its 3 single coils pickups and 5-way pickup selector (originally 3) provided many different sounds to choose from and the exclusive “whammy bar” was something really funny to play with. The double cutaway body meant easy access to higher frets, and made its body lighter. All advantages from the production line assembly, to the interchangeable parts helped Leo Fender make his dream come true. The world of guitars players were given a new weapon (axe) to choose from. Despite being over 40 years-old, the Stratocaster is still the most duplicated guitar of all time and is till this day, a favorite of many guitar players.

Now, On To The Description...

Stratocasters tend to be light guitars with its double cutaway body. The body is usually made from Alder, Ash and many more woods. It features, 3 single coils pickups, 1 volume and 2 tones controls, a 5-way pickup selector and a “whammy-bar” situated on the bridge. Now let's go into a little more specific about it.

The Neck. These guitars have almost always 22 frets, but sometime has only 21 frets. It's odd to find a 24-fret Stratocaster, because that’s usually typical of “Superstrats” and other Strat-Style guitars, such as Ibanez, Jacksons, BC Rich and the like. The types of wood that are commonly used in Stratocasters neck are, Maple, Alder, Ash, Rosewood, Ebony etc. etc. The necks are almost always bolted on to the body as opposed to SGs and Les Pauls set in style necks. This feature can equal much less sustain but can be an advantage because of the easier to replace bolt-on neck.

Pickups are traditionally 3 single coils, but some players, like Yngwie Malmsteen, use double-coil pickups in the bridge. I'm pretty sure all of you already know the advantages and disadvantages of a humbucker, so I won't speak to that. Pickup switching is very easy here:

Position 1: Bridge pickup. This position provides the brightest (trebly) sound, excellent for an arpeggio, funk or a bright lead sound.

Position 2: Bridge and middle pickup. This combination can add more crunch to your rhythm sound because of the use of two pickups. It is used commonly in ska, funk and rock.

Position 3: Middle pickup. Very balanced but not as bright. Many strat players decided that they didn’t like this position, so they disengaged it (Ex. Malmsteem and Ritchie Blackmore from Deep Purple)

Position 4: Middle and neck pickup, this is a “sad” sound, I mean graver. Stevie Ray Vaughn loved using this sound for blues, especially to add a bit more drive to his sound.

Position 5: Neck pickup, this is the least bright of all (very bassy), especially it you roll tone control to zero. This is "THE" sound for cleans. You can also get a really good sound this way with a bit of distortion. Very good for "sad" sounding solos.

Now for the Bridge/Tremolo system. Well playing with a whammy bar is really good fun but a great disadvantage is that it guitar tends to go cause the guitar to go out of tune when you use it too much. Eventually, the Floyd Rose locking systems was invented to solve this problem but I will speak about that when I write about “Super-Strats”.

Those who have a Stratocaster, might have felt a bit disappointed when they tried to change the guitar's tone control for the first time. Have you noticed that if you are using the bridge pickup position, the tones doesn’t change much? That’s because each tone control (remember there are 2 controls) works better in certain blade positions. The one that is higher, I mean, closer to the strings, works with the graver positions, and the one that’s in the bottom of the guitar works better for the traditional selection, so remember to try different combination to see what do you get.

Okay, Now Lets See… What's Next? Mmm, Sound!

As I said before, the Stratocaster is one of the most versatile guitars ever made! Just think about it Ritchie Blackmore, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Hendrix, Jeff Beck, Dick Dale and many, many more have used this guitar. Their styles, technique, and sound really vary from each other. You can see that you can play any kind of music type with it. Styles in which a Stratocaster tend to be better in, would be:

Blues (Eric Clapton, Eric Johnson, Jimi Hendrix)

Rock (I wont dare to write any names here, because then I would finish writing this article tomorrow morning)

Soft Heavy Metal (Blackmore or Rainbow)

Ska and Reggae (A Telecaster would be nice also)

Funk and R&B and so on.

Okay, if you like using lots of distortion maybe you should seek for a guitar with humbuckers but you never know! Yngwie Malmsteem (I'm already tired of writing his name) uses a lot of gain and he sounds awesome! The Stratocaster's sound is characteristically “thin” and bright but if you think a “fatter” sound would suit you better, go pick up a Les Paul, Super-Strat, SG or sell your soul to satan. Do whatever you want but don’t expect to sound like Slash in “November Rain” easily with it (Believe me, I tried to do this for months and as I didn’t succeed in this I had to buy a Superstrat :P)!

Almost Finished!

Anyway, this is an excellent guitar which should be at the very least be tried by anyone. It doesn’t matter which band you like or what you want to sound like, this is a guitar for anyone! Stratocaster could be yours!! It is an inexpensive guitar and if you can't afford a Fender, many others brands sell strat-style guitars. Some of them are really good, such as Squier *especially for beginners*, Yamaha, Essex and more.

"Fat" Strats

Companies like Fender also produce “Fat Strats”. A guitar which headstock is upside-down, and feature a 2 humbuckers combination instead of 3 single coils (Sometimes a S-S-H configuration). These guitars are better included under my “Superstrats” article, so I won't say anything about the topic.

So I hope you liked this one, the next one will be about Les Pauls, so if you'd like to know about them, wait until it is done...

Comments

[Bing]

A little ong but still good.

[rockbassguitar]

Cool

[TheJack]

You spelled Jimi Hendrix wrong the first time but right the second time...lol

[Mad Marius]

Pickups are traditionally 3 single coils, but some players, like Yngwie Malmsteen, use double-coil pickups in the bridge.

When did Yngwie use SSH strats? At all his concerts and in all his videos he uses SSS's.

Hell even his signature strat is SSS.

[lionheart0117]

Fat Strats have on humbucker.

[JaredF]

You spelled Jimi Hendrix wrong the first time but right the second time...lol

not funny, just stupid, common mistake

[El Bastarrdo]

quote: "In most TV shows or movies, you'll see the ?musician dude? playing a guitar of this style, not because of its sound but for its body's ?cool shape.?"

Doth thou insist upon dampening our doorstep with your ignorant rearness? Never denie the presence of Gibson SG in videographic euphorologies!

[Feeder_Fan_4eva]

i hate strats

[Cpt. Vanquisher]

^ is this a solo converstation, EL Bastarrdo??? (anyways, ist stupid)

Nice article. 4 stars

[slash89]

great article..

[rockinlewis]

shut up.

good article

[frusciante_5]

El Bastarrdo:
strat sucks
SG owns
[POSTED: 03 June 2005 - 13:42]|

El Bastarrdo:
Im Jimi Hendrix
[POSTED: 03 June 2005 - 13:43]|

El Bastarrdo:
no ur not
[POSTED: 03 June 2005 - 13:43]|

El Bastarrdo:
whats ur favorite color?
[POSTED: 03 June 2005 - 13:44]|

El Bastarrdo:
tits
[POSTED: 03 June 2005 - 13:45]|

El Bastarrdo:
yay mine too
[POSTED: 03 June 2005 - 13:45]|

El Bastarrdo:
in accordance with the prophesy
[POSTED: 03 June 2005 - 13:54]|

El Bastarrdo:
we need an epiphany of violence
[POSTED: 03 June 2005 - 13:57]|

El Bastarrdo:
a solution we can all abide by
[POSTED: 03 June 2005 - 13:57]

El Bastarrdo:
I must find a more suitable host body.
[POSTED: 03 June 2005 - 145]|

El Bastarrdo:
a solo conversation? cool can I join?
[POSTED: 03 June 2005 - 146]|

El Bastarrdo:
Ye but thats what YOU think
[POSTED: 03 June 2005 - 146]

Please stop being a nob, its irritating


i have a mexican strat, no disappointment with it whatsoever

[jeeba jaba]

Great article, very well written, and lots of great information.

[WilliamVN'R]

yeah strats are still cool! my first guitar was a strat and i loved it dearly! Only bad thing was when i used the bridge pickup the sound was never quite right, probly dropped it or sumthin and buggered it up! oh well...

[El Bastarrdo]

"PLease stop being a nob"

I completely agree, El Bastarrdo is so gay,he probably oWns a stratocaster!

[El Bastarrdo]

Nob: Nob was a town or village in ancient Israel. It was located in the vicinity of Jerusalem. It may have been located close to Bahurim, near Mount of Olives. It may also have been located more at north. Seemingly, it belonged to the Tribe of Benjamin, Jerusalem being at the border between Benjamin and Judah.

Man, I hate Jews!
baddest insult ever

[RoughDraft]

ahhh i have a strat knock off...i really want a fender delux telecaster instead

[Hosscat]

Hey El Bastarrdo, step away from the coke plate and calm down!!!

Love strats, love gibsons, article pretty ok too.

[doctor_rocker]

my first guitar was a squier strat.... pretty cheap but u can always replace the pickups with hotrails if u want a humbucker sound... 5 stars

[yelhsashley2004]

wow, you'd think a history section would contain the fact it was orignally called the broadcaster, and only changed just before the production started. never mind though

[vampwizzard]

lol the strat doesnt sound good for any type of music????

get the hell out of here

this article appears thrown together and opinionated.

[weezer713]

nice job..

[Scourge441]

wow, you'd think a history section would contain the fact it was orignally called the broadcaster, and only changed just before the production started. never mind though

I'm pretty sure that was the Telecaster, not the Strat.

Good article. 5 stars.

[GuitarN00b]

When did Yngwie use SSH strats? At all his concerts and in all his videos he uses SSS's.

Hell even his signature strat is SSS.

His strat used Dimarzio HS-3 in the bridge and Dimarzio YJMs in the mids and neck - these are all single coil-sized humbuckers

[The_Marshall_Gu]

Yngwie's pickups were "stacked", it had one coil on top, and one underneath, so it would fit into his strat.i might wanna mention that the single coils were half as thin as a standard, and then stacked on top of each other, not two full sized coils stacked.

[The_Marshall_Gu]

so it was a humbucekr in asense, just not what most people assume a traditional humbucker to look like.

[yelhsashley2004]

yeah, just looked it up, totally my fault. teles were broadcaster, would have sworn otherwise, but i looked it up just to make sure, which is good, because i could have come across as quite the fool

[GNRobsessed013]

Cpt. Vanquisher:
^ is this a solo converstation, EL Bastarrdo??? (anyways, ist stupid)

Nice article. 4 stars

Hahah what the *** withthe el bastarrdo dude, thgeyre cracking me up.

[TNfootballfan62]

I LOVE my stratocaster. Perfect for my favorite genre, the blues. Use the neck pickup, crank the mids and kick in some smooth overdrive....there is no better tone on earth. It's hard for me to rate this anything but 5 stars just b/c i love strats.

[KENZI]

can't wait for the les paul article. hope its as good as this one. well done 5*s

[kingthomas]

he forgot to include eric johnson in the article.

[SingingSabre]

Do I smell plagarism?

Other than that, nice informative article!

[ATHForce]

I was thinking of buying a new guitar and a Strat sounds nice. Right now i have a BC Rich Warlock, and I kinda miss not having a whammy bar. On average, how much does a Strat cost?

[sweet_flower]

very informative. i dont really like the sound of a strat but a great article. ***..

[gabaj]

Well you said some stuff that wasn't really correct. For example, many strats have 21 frets, fewer have 22 and I don't think any have 24. Secondly, the trmolo was not seen for the first time on a Fender. Also, the Fat strat has an H-S-S. Its the double Fat strat that has an H-H pickup set, and it doesn't have a reversed headstock.

[Vinura]

great article

[Klistrad]

Really good, but when you named blues artist, you should name Stevie Ray Vaughan.. :P

[DisplacedLogic]

Alright all the fellow guitar junkies out there. Your nearby musiciansfriend will easily clear all your troubles. Most Mexi-Strats ($375ish) have 21 frets, in fact, I haven't seen a Mexi-Strat that hasn't had but 21 frets. 22 frets is seen on the American-Strat. Just thought I could clear that up.

Who forgot about Shepard?

[LatinRoller89]

el bastarrdo es un pendejo

[J3ZZA]

Nob: Nob was a town or village in ancient Israel. It was located in the vicinity of Jerusalem. It may have been located close to Bahurim, near Mount of Olives. It may also have been located more at north. Seemingly, it belonged to the Tribe of Benjamin, Jerusalem being at the border between Benjamin and Judah.

I wonder what search engine you used to find that El bastarrdo

[skillsmcrobot]

bro, you failed to write an unbiased piece.

[Clarkinator]

ATHForce:
I was thinking of buying a new guitar and a Strat sounds nice. Right now i have a BC Rich Warlock, and I kinda miss not having a whammy bar. On average, how much does a Strat cost?

I have an American Made Strat, cost me 600 bucks, Japanese ones are a bit cheaper, and mexican ones are even cheaper than that (from what I've seen, could vary). Also you can get a Squire for like 200, but I'd recommend a foreign made Strat over a Squire anyday

[SickMetal]

Nice article

[TimmyEatWorld]

i likevthe steat siund, i wanna try a fat strat and see how i like that

[black_sabbath85]

overall good informative article
but strats.....im never going to think of buying one!

LES PAUL RULES!!

[cantshreddave]

someone might have mentioned this, but im sure blackmore was the guitarist in rainbow, so why mention him twice?

good article though

i also heard that blackmore took out his middle pick up and messed around with the fingerboard so he could play faster, as did malmsteem

[cantshreddave]

anyway my opinion on the strat

versatile but unreliable ie. will sound great but can just as easily sound crap thats why people like me (slash apparently is one) dont play one (well live in slash's case) cos we cant be ***ed mucking round with everything to make it sound good

[lead_guitar5]

henry from los lonely boys plays a strat and he sounds great live and on the album. so if it's good enough for henry,jimi,and malmsteen it's good enough for me. i'm probably going to try to get a mexican strat. anyway,good article

[vantage4]

stevie ray vaughan used to mess around with the pickup selector and the tone knobs in the middle of solos. he'd be playing with a cool, mellow sound and then all of a sudden switch to the bridge pickup and turn a knob and start rippin. so maybe you and slash just don't have the magic touch

[johash]

^^^ exactly

[TWP man]

Seriously, do you people honestly have nothing better to do than talk shit about others? I'm sorry, but that is so, so annoying. Nice article, too.

[ktkline7]

strats are great. i have a telecaster and a fender strat, and even though they r alike i must say i like my strat better.

[mith]

at the risk of repeating the previous posts, i must agree that strats are awesome. i own a mexican strat and love it like a druggy loves crack. i noticed what Comet said in the article about the tone knobs effecting the pickup setting differently. i assumed that that that was the reason for two tone knobs - for greater versatility of sound. between the pickups and tone knobs i can get exactly the sound i want.

[lsw444]

I always play my strat at home - you can just pick it up and play it without plugging in so easily. I can get great tones out of it.
Saying that, I plugged in my Les Paul at school today and played infront of everyone at a very loud volume, very distorted, and just let rip and it felt amazing.

[WilliamVN'R]

I used my strat at a small gig and i couldn't complain, they're great for playin long gigs too as they are sooo.. light compared to my epiphone les paul!!!

[jensan90]

la la n time

[nirvana4lf]

El Bastarrdo:
Nob: Nob was a town or village in ancient Israel. It was located in the vicinity of Jerusalem. It may have been located close to Bahurim, near Mount of Olives. It may also have been located more at north. Seemingly, it belonged to the Tribe of Benjamin, Jerusalem being at the border between Benjamin and Judah.

Man, I hate Jews!
baddest insult eve

go *** yourself coke boy.

[CharlesMathon]

Strats are gay guitars nowadays commonly used by punk/emo and gay bands. I prefer Ibanez or les pauls or gibsons.

[justgivemetruth]

yea strats are okay...fender strats, i like. anything else is generally a piece of shit. by the way...strats are not light guitars

[chilipepper24]

these are all great articles, keep up the good work! i'm undecisive about buying my first electric, i'm deciding between probably an SG or a strat, so these were really helpful. you should do one about ibanezes, i'm curious about those.

[ICPmushroomKNOT]

My First guitar was a strat and I still use it. I even spend most of my money customizing it to look more high tech.

[cryan2]

nice article!

[vantage4]

Strats are gay guitars nowadays commonly used by punk/emo and gay bands. I prefer Ibanez or les pauls or gibsons.
[

hey man, it's not who uses a guitar that's important, it's what it sounds like that matters. but if you like les pauls better, that's cool too, everybody likes something different.

[orcutt989]

To SingingSabre, he gave a direct link to where he got the article from. So it isnt plagiarism. Nice try at being an asshole, though.

[flyboy959]

Strats are gay and used by punk/emo bands and gay bands? Call my band gay/punk/emo to my face and i'll beat the living shit out of ya!
NOTE: "i prefer ibanez or les pauls or gibsons" LES PAULS ARE GIBSONS MORON!

[stratguy08]

charles mathon your a loser,

i own 2 strats and a 2 gibson l.p's and i would play my strats over anything,

if u knew anything about how to play you might agree.

by the way most gay emo bands use ibanez and companies like that...no offense to the guitars...the music sucks... blues all the way

[Punkrocka]

hey, just one correction dudes and dudettes... not knockin anyone but 'Fat Strat" means it has a humbucker in the bridge position. Similarily, "Double Fat Strat" has a humbucker in the bridge and neck... no middle single coil though.... and hey, El Bastarrdo, you should fuk off or something... we all hate you. By the way, i have an 89 strat with a maple neck/fretboard, good article dude.

[Punkrocka]

hey, i agree with flyboy959...
Charles Mathonyou're a fukhead and you've just lost any ounce of respect that anyone may have had for you by commenting about how you prefer ibanez,les pauls and gibsons -i hope you can figure out that i'm slightly making fun of you. You're a cuntard.
I have an Ibanez RG, gibson les paul, and a strat- they all have their own special uses and sweet spots so go sit on your thumb and spin or something and stop knocking everyone. it's people like you who ruin a good conversation, article, and the rest of the world in general... we need an arrogance extermination.

[zaccy]

El Bastarrdo:
"PLease stop being a nob"

I completely agree, El Bastarrdo is so gay,he probably oWns a stratocaster!

whats wrong with fender strats? i hate it how all these brands like ashton n all copy the strat. its so gay.

[homeboy]

If you want a really light guitar, try a gibson sg.
they weigh about half as much as a strat or a telecaster.

oh... article was fantastic.

[homeboy]

and they are a really fun to play.....heil Gibson!

[TNfootballfan62]

CharlesMathon: I can't really comment on Emo bands since i dont listen to them, but i can't flip through guitar world without seeing a punk/emo band holding a Les Paul, i think you may be misinformed.

stratguy08: I agree, blues all the way!!!

hombey: Half as much as a strat? I find it hard to believe that SG's weigh about 3 pounds.

[Mr_Die_Easy]

Must make love to my strat.....

Now for the Bridge/Tremolo system. Well playing with a whammy bar is really good fun but a great disadvantage is that it guitar tends to go cause the guitar to go out of tune when you use it too much.

You can fix that with a roller nut. The problem lies in when the strings pop back in tuning. The strings get traped at the nut. With a roller nut the strings back and fowand on the nut smoothy when using the whammy bar.

http://www.guitarpartsresource.com/NS1.jpg

[GAC1989]

wow, you'd think a history section would contain the fact it was orignally called the broadcaster, and only changed just before the production started. never mind though

tht was the telecaster! cool article! the AXL strat is a good beginners guitar. the problem with all strats is their boring lol

[psykopoo]

strats suck ass

[psykopoo]

most versatile guitar is my Cort X2

[Goshdangit88]

I want a fat strat.

[askurmoran]

personallyi dont like strats cus of their sound but the shape is alright but i preffer the shape of most Ibanez guitars like a GIO 7-string

[Zosorocker1]

Ur all noobs in need of some good pownage

[morello_man]

i love strats...personally if you play rock you should swap your bridge pickup to a seymour duncac strat sized humbucker immediately. I got the hot rail and coupled with the two other pickups it's a great working combination. It gives you the benfit of the single coil cleans and the fat les paul style distortion. I have played a strat for years and I can't knock it for any style I've played - blues, jazz, rock, funk, metal (w/Seymour Duncan Hot Rails)...anything really

[Strat_Monkey]

An article about Strats where you didn't mention Tom Morello OR John Frusciante? Shame on you!

I was under the impression that one tone knob (presumably the one nearer the strings) controlled the neck pickup's tone, the lower one controlled the Middle pickup, and the neck pickup didn't have a variable tone, but I may be wrong.

And I think the new(ish) Strats with S-1 Switching are probably the most versatile guitars out there.

[Gilmour_Rocks]

Strats are great, My dad ha the eric clapton signature model, It goes off when you turn up the 25 db boost , the body is timeless, it looked right for its time in the 50's and it still looks right fors the 00's, whereas the Les Paul (still an awesome guitar) has that classic look, not the timeless look of the strat.

[irockoutloud!]

i have a strat and so far it rocks and its awsome!

[Kartman]

CharlesMathon:
Strats are gay guitars nowadays commonly used by punk/emo and gay bands. I prefer Ibanez or les pauls or gibsons.

Strats own, bro. Dude, I don't know of to many Emo bands that use strats. I think Simple Plan uses teles, which is a slap in the face to fender. C'mon, man! Jimi, Yngwie, Kurt, Myself, and alot of sweet bands use strats.

[Kartman]

Oh yeah. I own a lefty standard strat in suburst, with a Seymour Duncan JB in the bridge and a Seymour Duncan Vintage Staggered in the bridge and a creme white pearl pickguard. It's been so customized, it sounds alot better than any American strat I've ever played. But thats just my opinion.

[therockdawg1138]

I've got a lefty strat and it's sweet.

[tremonti_man922]

Fender sucks ass! Play PRS guitars. Now thats a real instrument!

[Kartman]

Hey man. It's all opinion.

[Rick_James bitc]

strats are awesome, mine squier sucks but fenders are great

[cookadam]

ESP's are the best and strats suck ass

[homeboy]

hombey: Half as much as a strat? I find it hard to believe that SG's weigh about 3 pounds.

- in response -
your right, but what i was doing there is called exageration. sometimes people use it when talking about a fish they caught one day or how hot this one girl was. i know that an sg in fact does not weigh half as much as a strat or a tele, but it is a lot lighter than either of those guitars.
sorry for the {misunderstanding}- hope thats spelled right.

[homeboy]

heil gibson(sg)!
(which in fact is not half the weight of a strat or a tele)
-satisfied?-

[Slashfan#1]

vantage4:
stevie ray vaughan used to mess around with the pickup selector and the tone knobs in the middle of solos. he'd be playing with a cool, mellow sound and then all of a sudden switch to the bridge pickup and turn a knob and start rippin. so maybe you and slash just don't have the magic touch.

Fu*k you I guess Page aint got the touch either right, your so fool of shit.

[irockoutloud!]

Strats still rock

[classicrockdude]

i agree with irockoutloud

[irockoutloud!]

i love strats

[classicrockdude]

strats are cool

[irockoutloud!]

i agree with classicrockdude

[irockoutloud!]

i really love strats

[irockoutloud!]

could you marry a strat?

[irockoutloud!]

i would

[irockoutloud!]

les pauls are pretty cool

[classicrockdude]

my strat is my life

[classicrockdude]

irockoutloud get on msn

[irockoutloud!]

i cant it wont let me

[classicrockdude]

try again

[irockoutloud!]

i dont even no who you are.....y wont you go away!classisrockdude


by the way the article was great good job i love strats

[irockoutloud!]

ive tried 5 times!

[irockoutloud!]

it just wont get in

[irockoutloud!]

i mean on

[irockoutloud!]

could it be cause i haven't downloaded the new version? classicrd

[classicrockdude]

download it it only takes a minute

[sphereagram]

fender sucks
buy a schecter or esp
or something that isn't crap

[classicrockdude]

i was just messin around earlier i would prefer a les paul, sg , or ibanez

[irockoutloud!]

classicrockdude sucks

[RedlightningYes]

actually the Fender Stratocaster is over 50 years old not Forty, secondly My stratocaster has Twenty not 21 Not 22 which is another model now no longer in production called a mini strat Third Not all Fat strats have a reverse headstock generally there is also which u forgot to mention telecaster and stratocaster deluxes,

[Dark_Sanity]

I learned how to play on my friends Mexican strat, they have a good clean sound. I'd rather play a warlock because they are more comfortable (to me at least) to play, have a better distorted sound, and have 24 frets. That is if you can find a warlock that doesn't suck. But for clean sounds a strat with a little chorus on it sounds very good.

[buckethead101]

I don't like fender strats because they're too overrated. If I succeed, I'll buy Fender Jazzmaster or Telecasters, Ibanez axes, Jacksons, BC Rich or maybe ESPs.

[guitarcaw]

or sell your soul to satan

i would try this but i already did to play decently

[FrogOfSweden]

would you please write about Fender/Squire Sub-Sonics?

[GetLostInIt776]

actually strats got their first big break when Buddy Holly used one on the Ed Sullivan show...

[Metallica420]

Fender has the most boring guitars man while they're good in terms of sound they lack very much in look man.I would way rather have a B.C. Rich or an ESP or Peavey man.
Peace

[cantshreddave]

also an article on the strat with no mention of dave gilmour


tutututtutututututut :P:P:P

[Mispeled]

not bad, 4 stars

[Mispeled]

I find it interesting that just about every article ends up with 3 stars, no matter how good or bad it is...

[punk_metal]

im sick of fenders..i hate them...the sound izs kool.....but they look like boring old crap...go with ibanez, esp, prs, B.C Rich!!!

[kurt_was_killed]

^^^ i agree. you see em everywhere. and of course, the god-aweful copies. i say go out and by a jackson soloist, or b.c. rich warlock (acrylic series). or if ur a rich bastard, you can always buy a real les paul.

[Android0818]

i got my epiphone les paul. the strat looks cool, and clapton uses one so it must be a great guitar, but id never trade anything for my les

[fenderplaya015]

Who can disagree with a guitar that was played by clapton, hendrix, malmstein and jeff beck. it is easily the most versitile guitar and you get a lot for your money.

[GodoftheHammer]

"they mostly have 22 frets" uh no, all normal strats have 21 frets. Just like every other fender.

[Vinura]

i think you need to learn how to count...

[axeslinger01]

its 22

[mid46531]

might have been useful to mention that a strat has a longer neck (therefore longer overall string length) than a Gibson SG etc, which makes it considerably softer on the fingers and easier to bend i believe, just a distinction i thought was worth mentioning

[revilo]

yeah im thinking about buying a strat, and i got a noobish question: do they make standard strats in usa if so how much do they cost in CAD

[ThatAsianDude]

strats ARE the best guitars on earth. nuf said

[revilo]

yeah, m thinking of buying a strat and i was wondering if they make standard strats in the usa or ir those are all the american series.
anyways if someone could tell me hoew they cost that would be a great help.

[whoisthisguy]

schecters are gay
fenders are the original
if u hate srtats u hate what most guitars are based on today (ie. schecters)

good article
u forgot stevie ray vaughn