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Post subject: Re: Which non-Fenders best imitate the Strat sound?
Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2018 3:33 am
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strayedstrater wrote:
Rockhill wrote:
Japan handmade Tokai ST and AST series are worth testing. Finishing and quality are nearest to Fender am. products.


But they aren't inexpensive. Depending on your nation's exchange rate vs the Yen and Dollar, and your nation's import taxes and duties, they may be less expensive than Fender guitars. But in the US they cost a lot more than Mexican Fenders.

And in some countries you can walk into a store and try them before you buy. Not in the US.

Japanese stores that are Fender dealers won't even ship brand new Tokais to the US. Only used ones.

They're wonderful guitars. Stevie Ray Vaughan was an endorser, and the Strat on the Texas Flood album cover was a Tokai (the Tokai headstock logo in the photo was removed in the painting).

But not the inexpensive alternative to Fender that the original poster is looking for.


That´s true. Here in Finland (Northern Europe) Yen/Euro rate were such low when I bought my new AST 70.
From those days rate has risen, but still Tokai with about same specs is 100 - 200 euros cheaper than Mexican Strat. here in Finland.
I´m sorry to hear that playing before buying is so difficult in US. Before I bought my newest guitar Fender Strat. Am. Professional, I played 20 different Starts. and another models too in store. Salesperson just ran demo guitars for me. I was very attracted to Strat. American Pro, but they haven´t got the new one in stock, just demo guitars. I left my number and in few days they called me. They had a new shipment of guitars. I went to the shop an I got one piece straight from the factory box, demo played and bought it.

SRV is one of my idols, got all albums and trying to sound like him.


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Post subject: Re: Which non-Fenders best imitate the Strat sound?
Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2018 6:48 pm
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Location: Canada
Jericho-79 wrote:
Which non-Fender models can best mimic the bright, cutting tone of a traditional Fender Strat?

However, I don't know which one is able to deliver the Fender Strat's signature sound.

Which non-Fender companies offer the finest Fender Strat copies?
I tend to agree with most of what the others here have said. If you want that Fender sound you’ll find it even with a chosen Squire as earlier mentioned.

First I will say copies can run from good to bad. It’s like a painting. While a copy may appear to be the same it usually has flaws (in the reproduction sense) that can be found or, at the very least, experts can tell the difference; but, sometimes it doesn’t take an expert. Stratocaster IMHO is a work of art. Even if a work of art is closely reproduced or improved by another it will no longer be an original. You might need a side by side original comparison. With guitars which specific original will be the example to reproduce? Does that specific guitar original have identical qualities throughout the model and vintage? Maybe, that doesn’t matter and the example will be a one-off.

Something needs to be said about vintage. Vintage relates more to the year manufactured and the vibe than what guitar was used when a performance live or recorded happened. You might be hearing a 50s Strat today, and a 60s Strat in the 70s, 80s, and so on and so on. That recording may not be the guitar you see on stage, or the player for that matter.

Traditional and signature sound? I have mentioned before on this Forum, after a lifetime of hearing a variety of Strats from the 50s onwards, I don’t believe that it is as simple as picking one traditional or signature Strat. Even amongst a generation of Strats they differ from manual and machine pup windings to electronics, and a whole lot more to be brief. Today, with technology, guitars can be made one after another to have the same playability, tone and response. This wasn’t always the case, and it isn’t always preferable or possible. Some manufacturers brag that their guitars sound the same or similar, while others claim their customers prefer a difference.

Let’s say you have a basket of apples. All of them different. Let’s say they are different colours. Do they taste the same? Nope. Is one better than the other or more representative of apples? Nope! If you want a specific taste you have one choice. In the end they are all apples, they are all the same within a group, but different outside that group, and qualities even amongst apples within a group can vary. Some are excellent and some are downright rotten.

The Strat is like those apples. Similar qualities - but with a difference. To compare Fender Strats will put one in a comparison of apples to apples, while comparing the wannabes is comparing apples to oranges. If one wants an orange so be it. Some like apples and oranges, but it’s good to know the difference.

The best one can do IMHO is to choose your work of art Strat regardless of price and know that it will be THE one for you, unless you find a different one which is the point I present here. Of course, if you buy a Fender you can be sure it will sound like a Fender in the tradition it was and is.

FSB

Fan, “Hey dude! That sounds like a Strat!”

Fender owner, “That’s ‘cause it is a Strat!”


YMMV

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Hello, big guitar. Meet my little fingers.


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Post subject: Re: Which non-Fenders best imitate the Strat sound?
Posted: Sat Mar 10, 2018 7:42 am
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Fender Japan make some great Strats .Classic Vibes are equally great .My choice would ,other than a USA , be a used Classic Player MIM strat .Fine guitars and a real strat made by Fender using the same ethnic group of people that built the great early ones.


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