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Post subject: Re: Test drove the new Stratocaster Elite
Posted: Sun May 15, 2016 2:11 pm
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bipbip wrote:
Given that this guitar comes with serious electronics set up for an sss configuration, how would something like a single-sized humbucker perform on it? I have had some trouble getting a good sound from a bridge humbucker in a strat, so thats the main focus of my concerns. Thanks already for any helpful answers:)

A couple of days ago I saw someone in the US selling a HSS loaded pickguard for the Deluxe Plus on Ebay - I'm not sure how often something like that would come up, or if it's still available, but I did wonder if that would be an easy way to convert the SSS model I've bought to HSS. (However, it was something of a passing thought, as I think the range offered by the SSS + cards will be enough for me. I'll carry on grabbing a Gibson when nothing but a humbucker will do). But it might be something interesting to you. However, you need to bear in mind that the guitar comes with 3 cards that are for SSS configuration - if you swap to HSS I expect you'd need to get the HSS cards for proper functionality.

If possible, try out an SSS Deluxe Plus with the stacker or super stacker cards installed. Don't rely on YouTube reviews: I saw one where a 'humbucker setting' was being demonstrated - but with a card that does no more than alter the way the tone controls function! Not good.


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Post subject: Re: Test drove the new Stratocaster Elite
Posted: Sun May 15, 2016 5:05 pm
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bipbip wrote:
hello forum, I am all into this topic lately, as I will hopefully get a strat soon. I see some endorsement of the Deluxe plus, but my interest lies in the hss models and I think that changes things a bit: for me it is the Shawbucker and alternating 250/500k volume pot that gives the Elite the upper hand over the Deluxe plus.


I do want to point out that the American Elite Shawbucker does not have the 250/500k volume pot; it has a straight 250k volume pot. Only the American Standard Shawbucker has the 250/500k volume pot.

I suppose Fender hasn't figured out how to fit the S-1 switch into the double volume pot.


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Post subject: Re: Test drove the new Stratocaster Elite
Posted: Sun May 15, 2016 10:39 pm
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John C wrote:
bipbip wrote:
hello forum, I am all into this topic lately, as I will hopefully get a strat soon. I see some endorsement of the Deluxe plus, but my interest lies in the hss models and I think that changes things a bit: for me it is the Shawbucker and alternating 250/500k volume pot that gives the Elite the upper hand over the Deluxe plus.


I do want to point out that the American Elite Shawbucker does not have the 250/500k volume pot; it has a straight 250k volume pot. Only the American Standard Shawbucker has the 250/500k volume pot.

I suppose Fender hasn't figured out how to fit the S-1 switch into the double volume pot.

Thanks I obviously missed that point, need to study this s-1 switch. American standard is also an option for me.

How do you think about the shawbucker on the standard and the elite, as against the twin head on the deluxe plus, if anyone tried both? Is the shawbucker a worthy choice? No Shawbucker Deluxes are available to me by the way.
I will order this from abroad. I believe in picking the right guitar by trying, but that is not an option for me at this point where I am located.


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Post subject: Re: Test drove the new Stratocaster Elite
Posted: Sun May 15, 2016 10:54 pm
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Bigsby wrote:
bipbip wrote:
Given that this guitar comes with serious electronics set up for an sss configuration, how would something like a single-sized humbucker perform on it? I have had some trouble getting a good sound from a bridge humbucker in a strat, so thats the main focus of my concerns. Thanks already for any helpful answers:)

A couple of days ago I saw someone in the US selling a HSS loaded pickguard for the Deluxe Plus on Ebay - I'm not sure how often something like that would come up, or if it's still available, but I did wonder if that would be an easy way to convert the SSS model I've bought to HSS. (However, it was something of a passing thought, as I think the range offered by the SSS + cards will be enough for me. I'll carry on grabbing a Gibson when nothing but a humbucker will do). But it might be something interesting to you. However, you need to bear in mind that the guitar comes with 3 cards that are for SSS configuration - if you swap to HSS I expect you'd need to get the HSS cards for proper functionality.

If possible, try out an SSS Deluxe Plus with the stacker or super stacker cards installed. Don't rely on YouTube reviews: I saw one where a 'humbucker setting' was being demonstrated - but with a card that does no more than alter the way the tone controls function! Not good.

I think I came upon that video you refer to, the guy sounded totally single-coil with the supposed humbucker setting, I didn't rely on that to infer anything really. I will have to rely on utube videos quite a bit, I will be ordering the guitar from abroad. I am just speculating it is unlikely that one gets a great humbucker tone simply by stacking two single coils in serial connection.


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Post subject: Re: Test drove the new Stratocaster Elite
Posted: Mon May 16, 2016 4:08 am
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bipbip wrote:
I am just speculating it is unlikely that one gets a great humbucker tone simply by stacking two single coils in serial connection.

OK then, where is the stock Strat with three (3) killer Stacked Humbuckers, single size, Like Dimarzio HS-2 alnico 5 @ 14.97 Kohm...each of them with split capabilities. Eh what?
Hey, I might just do this lol. Anyone tried this? I need a wiring diagram with 3 push/pull pots.

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Post subject: Re: Test drove the new Stratocaster Elite
Posted: Mon May 16, 2016 5:06 am
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Johnny Soniq wrote:
bipbip wrote:
I am just speculating it is unlikely that one gets a great humbucker tone simply by stacking two single coils in serial connection.

OK then, where is the stock Strat with three (3) killer Stacked Humbuckers, single size, Like Dimarzio HS-2 alnico 5 @ 14.97 Kohm...each of them with split capabilities. Eh what?
Hey, I might just do this lol. Anyone tried this? I need a wiring diagram with 3 push/pull pots.

happy to see you are having fun...


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Post subject: Re: Test drove the new Stratocaster Elite
Posted: Mon May 16, 2016 8:36 am
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bipbip wrote:
Johnny Soniq wrote:
bipbip wrote:
I am just speculating it is unlikely that one gets a great humbucker tone simply by stacking two single coils in serial connection.

OK then, where is the stock Strat with three (3) killer Stacked Humbuckers, single size, Like Dimarzio HS-2 alnico 5 @ 14.97 Kohm...each of them with split capabilities. Eh what?
Hey, I might just do this lol. Anyone tried this? I need a wiring diagram with 3 push/pull pots.

happy to see you are having fun...

Hey biphip, seriously, you just got me thinking, wasn't trying to mess with what you said. I'm not one of these condescending sarcastic know-it-alls that spam forums, like some dudes here. And yes, guitars are for having some serious fun. I don't place them on an a sacred pedestal and guard them against molestation. They are replaceable and changeable in any way I want. I'm only on this planet once (I hope) and I don't take for granted that what is available has to be THE standard. And as we see by the varied directions of Fender, and others, the standards are spreading wider and are less defined. Modern people want more choice, and makes what I do more interesting lol.

You have a point, and I've got that setup...2 separate singles switched into series, don't sound like a great humbucker... and they can't be near the same result, as ONE stacked single sized humbucker specifically designed to be also split, with a good single coil tone. That last bit I'd like to take further, with what others have already found works, and with my own sinister experiments down in the lab.
Anyway, that's my attempt at staying in the topic ballpark, in a world awash with Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, it could have been worse :)

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Post subject: Re: Test drove the new Stratocaster Elite
Posted: Mon May 16, 2016 9:25 am
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I don't desire to get overly involved with the technical side of things ... I'd get an sss strat if I had another pro level humbucker guitar. I don't love Strats with humbuckers, it is a compromise. I'd really like to know, for one thing, how the deluxe plus with the twin head compares with the Elite with the Shawbucker.


Last edited by bipbip on Sun May 29, 2016 6:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Post subject: Re: Test drove the new Stratocaster Elite
Posted: Sun May 29, 2016 4:59 pm
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I am somewhat simplistic in my thinking but the Stratocaster has been made since 1954 and has a tremendous reputation as one of the most popular guitars ever made. Why you would want to mess with that success is rather amazing. Putting all the new modern gadgets on a classic guitar seems to make it a lot less classic to me. If you want to put all this whiz bang tech on a guitar Fender Corp. has many other names they can put those gizmos on. Dance with who brung ya. Keep the classic guitars you built your reputation on that is what people bought them for all these years to begin with.


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Post subject: Re: Test drove the new Stratocaster Elite
Posted: Mon May 30, 2016 7:49 am
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mustanggt7 wrote:
I am somewhat simplistic in my thinking but the Stratocaster has been made since 1954 and has a tremendous reputation as one of the most popular guitars ever made. Why you would want to mess with that success is rather amazing.

In reality, the Strat has been in a state of constant change and evolution since 1954. The idea of creating a 'repro' Strat only took hold decades later. Refusing to pioneer, develop and innovate takes you far away from the spirit that first created the Strat.

Thankfully the guitar buying public of 1954 didn't feel like this, or we'd all be playing, at best, the thoroughly radical & utterly futuristic Les Paul - itself a shocking departure from more traditional and highly successful guitars.

Isn't it enough that Fender already make an extensive catalogue of historic reproductions? Why should they not also innovate with a small proportion of their instruments? What is so offensive about using the Stratocaster name for an instrument that is not rigidly locked into the 1950s by every detail of its design, specification and construction.?


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Post subject: Re: Test drove the new Stratocaster Elite
Posted: Mon May 30, 2016 9:56 am
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Bigsby wrote:
In reality, the Strat has been in a state of constant change and evolution since 1954. The idea of creating a 'repro' Strat only took hold decades later. Refusing to pioneer, develop and innovate takes you far away from the spirit that first created the Strat.

Yes, but mostly, the innovation has been backwards compatible. You can generally match any body and neck or pickguard - you may have to drill extra holes, but the base design is the same, and generally fits and works.

The Elite breaks with this, and to me, it has a taste of deliberate incompatibility and consumerism - I fear that in some Fender MBA's mind, you're not supposed to change parts, but buy a new guitar.


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Post subject: Re: Test drove the new Stratocaster Elite
Posted: Mon May 30, 2016 1:45 pm
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arth1 wrote:
I fear that in some Fender MBA's mind, you're not supposed to change parts, but buy a new guitar.

I'm not sure I really get this, are you saying the Elite's neck is not replaceable? Isn't it still a 'parts' guitar?

One way to look at this is that the Elite is more authentically like a '54 Strat - which lacked backwards compatibility! :)


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Post subject: Re: Test drove the new Stratocaster Elite
Posted: Mon May 30, 2016 5:12 pm
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Bigsby wrote:
arth1 wrote:
I fear that in some Fender MBA's mind, you're not supposed to change parts, but buy a new guitar.

I'm not sure I really get this, are you saying the Elite's neck is not replaceable? Isn't it still a 'parts' guitar?

One way to look at this is that the Elite is more authentically like a '54 Strat - which lacked backwards compatibility! :)


The Elite neck is only directly replaceable by another Elite neck, which is only available as a warranty item from Fender (or from an ebay parts house like Stratosphere who disassembles guitars for parts). So yes, it is like going back to 1954 in that sense.


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Post subject: Re: Test drove the new Stratocaster Elite
Posted: Mon May 30, 2016 5:36 pm
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Bigsby, let me see if I can clarify what I said. The conversation at that point was about putting cards in it and buying extra cards etc. my intent by my remarks was, in my opinion, it is a mistake to change a classic into a everyman type of instrument. Fender Corp. has other names that aren't as classic as a Strat or Tele that might benefit the younger folk who have grown up in a computerized world who dig that stuff way more than an old fart like me who has a love/hate relationship with these damn things. :lol:


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Post subject: Re: Test drove the new Stratocaster Elite
Posted: Tue May 31, 2016 2:02 am
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mustanggt7 wrote:
Fender Corp. has other names that aren't as classic as a Strat or Tele that might benefit the younger folk who have grown up in a computerized world who dig that stuff way more than an old fart like me who has a love/hate relationship with these damn things. :lol:

I think you have to look at it from Fender's point of view: Owning the Stratocaster name is one of their greatest assets, they'd be shooting themselves in the foot if they marketed a 'strat clone' with a different name. I'm not sure why it's even an issue as long as Fender are continuing to produce a stream of 1950's replicas for people who don't like progress. Why can't we all bask in the glory of the Strat, whether it's traditional or modern, new or vintage, reliced or pristine, etc.?


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