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Post subject: American specs on instruments make the difference for me.
Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2014 12:07 pm
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While I know the Squiers these days are really well made and practically all budget guitars are much better than say the 70's offered up. The American specs (Nut width, Bridge width and spacing) to name a few are the bees knees for me. I just cannot get along with Affinity Squiers (I've had 2) or some other models with really narrow nuts and bridges. Hagstroms for example. The American spec is 1/8" inch wider overall on the bridge and over a Affinity Squier the width of the nut is 40.6 mm instead of 43mm on the American. One of my strats is a Mexican deluxe but it has American Fender dimensions. Bridge and nut. I have stubby small fingers and I can see narrow nuts working for others with tiny hands. I had 3 mexi-strats a while back and struggled with finger spacing while chording. I managed to sell all 3 to same buyer and bought a American special Strat. I went into it not thinking about spacing just the usual struggle with fingers flubbing and muting and hoping I could improve. (I play with fingers not a pick. My bass playing keeps a hard fingertip for clarity in picking. Best of both worlds and besides who knows better than a finger bassist where his fingers are.) Well improvement came quickly as I struggle less with the less tight confines of the strings. Not so many wrong strings plucked or muted strings in chords. Much better. Frankly, I'd like a really wide nut like a classical acoustic on a special strat. I'd like that. 44 or 45 mm. Anyone ever experience a special wide neck nut on electric and thoughts?

Heres a video of us having fun on Texada Island at a 6 hour Texadapalooza jam. Just so you know I'm not a casual player I play Bass, Drums and Guitar in this video besides the singing. I'm the guy with the fedora in the plaid shirt. I setup the sound and organize events all the time. In short, I play way more than I talk. http://youtu.be/utXfsTGcTBQ

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Post subject: Re: American specs on instruments make the difference for me
Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2014 11:32 am
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Nice clip! Sounds good.

I'm the opposite. I started my Fender journey on a MIM Strat, and then upgraded to a MIA Strat. I used that MIA Strat for a few years, but never felt entirely comfortable playing it. I then changed to another MIA Strat, and after about 8 years with that guitar I finally gave up and went back to a MIM Strat. For me, that slightly smaller nut width is easier to play than the American nut width.


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Post subject: Re: American specs on instruments make the difference for me
Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2014 4:21 pm
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I agree, the American Special's neck is great if you have stubby fingertips. I also have a MIA standard tele and the neck on that is a little thinner so often end up using my Strat for any chords or fingerpicking and my Tele for a bit of lead (I know it's normally the other way around). It's just turned out that way mainly because of the neck shape, not the sound. There are so many effects available anyway -to a certain extent it doesn't matter too much! I actually don't mind using the Tele as a lead guitar. I just find my fingers are a little bit too wide to say play "Blackbird" without accidently fingering other strings on the Tele but barre chords etc are ok. The MIA Special Strat's neck is a great all-rounder guitar. For me anyway. I've read a few people aren't too happy with the Texas Special pickups but I've also read that some people love them....I guess I'd be one of the people that loves them!
:mrgreen:

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Post subject: Re: American specs on instruments make the difference for me
Posted: Sun Oct 12, 2014 11:47 am
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My hands are pretty big (XL glove is tight), to the point that playing a slightly smaller neck does require extra effort. However, I met a guy once who really had mammoth hands. They were seriously about the same size as a tier of bananas. My hand looked like a child's hand when I shook his hand. I don't think he could play a guitar unless it was built for him. Maybe a natural bass player? He was a big guy, 6'7" 250lbs, but his hands were disproportionally large even for him. I'm not sure how he fit them through his shirt sleeves. Super nice guy though, a little scary, but nice.

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Post subject: Re: American specs on instruments make the difference for me
Posted: Sun Oct 12, 2014 2:42 pm
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My hands are big too - probably more XXL size than banana clusters, but still, the narrow nutted Fenders can be hard to play. But we do what we have to do, and if I can't do a three-finger A chord, I'll do a partial barre with pinky on the fifth fret. i still wish that Fender had some of their "vintage" models with a vintage wide nut too. They don't - you get to pick between modern normal and narrow these days, even on the "vintage" reissues that had wider nuts.


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Post subject: Re: American specs on instruments make the difference for me
Posted: Mon Oct 13, 2014 9:18 am
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Enjoyed the vid. Really enjoyed the lead guitarist's playing with the black strat. That is some great tone with the deluxe reverb.


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Post subject: Re: American specs on instruments make the difference for me
Posted: Mon Oct 13, 2014 10:11 am
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I want American specs, but it doesn't have to be made in the U.S.


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Post subject: Re: American specs on instruments make the difference for me
Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2014 1:33 pm
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ForFoxSake wrote:
While I know the Squiers these days are really well made and practically all budget guitars are much better than say the 70's offered up. The American specs (Nut width, Bridge width and spacing) to name a few are the bees knees for me. I just cannot get along with Affinity Squiers (I've had 2) or some other models with really narrow nuts and bridges. Hagstroms for example. The American spec is 1/8" inch wider overall on the bridge and over a Affinity Squier the width of the nut is 40.6 mm instead of 43mm on the American. One of my strats is a Mexican deluxe but it has American Fender dimensions. Bridge and nut. I have stubby small fingers and I can see narrow nuts working for others with tiny hands. I had 3 mexi-strats a while back and struggled with finger spacing while chording. I managed to sell all 3 to same buyer and bought a American special Strat. I went into it not thinking about spacing just the usual struggle with fingers flubbing and muting and hoping I could improve. (I play with fingers not a pick. My bass playing keeps a hard fingertip for clarity in picking. Best of both worlds and besides who knows better than a finger bassist where his fingers are.) Well improvement came quickly as I struggle less with the less tight confines of the strings. Not so many wrong strings plucked or muted strings in chords. Much better. Frankly, I'd like a really wide nut like a classical acoustic on a special strat. I'd like that. 44 or 45 mm. Anyone ever experience a special wide neck nut on electric and thoughts?

Heres a video of us having fun on Texada Island at a 6 hour Texadapalooza jam. Just so you know I'm not a casual player I play Bass, Drums and Guitar in this video besides the singing. I'm the guy with the fedora in the plaid shirt. I setup the sound and organize events all the time. In short, I play way more than I talk. http://youtu.be/utXfsTGcTBQ


Good work Dennis:


I like the sound of most of the MIM Fender guitars/bass guitars that I have had the opportunity to play. Owning an American made Fender would be nice though :D

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Post subject: Re: American specs on instruments make the difference for me
Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2014 3:01 pm
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My very 1st Fender, was a Bronco which my folks bought me way back around 1973. The neck on that was nice and thin which is the way that I like them, due to the fact that my hands aren't that huge. Other than that, when I was playing electric, I was always partial to a good sounding MIM Standard Strat . Nothing against the MIA models, but to me, the MIM standards were just more comfortable for me to play and IMO, the pups had more bite to them as well. My 2 Fender Acoustics while not MIA , are well built and have necks on them that are extremely comfortable for me.


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Post subject: Re: American specs on instruments make the difference for me
Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2014 3:24 pm
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Yes, I just about cannot handle the MIM width and more. Even though I have small hands, I love a fat neck and wide fingerboard. But then compared to my classical guitars the MIA neck is narrow.

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