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Post subject: Best Strat you've ever owned - only one!
Posted: Sun Mar 25, 2018 12:47 pm
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I started playing in '64 and I've owned many throughout the years. I think my "best"
was a '57 that I traded around 1973. I've never found a neck and tone with playability
and sounds of that one that I let get away.

I currently have three Strats that are all configured differently and at times come close
but just don't have the sound and feel of that '57.

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Post subject: Re: Best Strat you've ever owned - only one!
Posted: Sun Mar 25, 2018 1:19 pm
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I absolutely loved my '78 Antigua, and I've been kicking myself for 35 years for letting it get away, but honestly, my '17 American Special edges it out by a nose, simply because of the neck finish. I briefly owned a '79 Anniversary. Absolutely hated it, and I knew I couldn't fix it without destroying the value. The owner of LaMirada Music agreed to reverse my trade deal, took it back, and gave my '78 back to me.

I have other maple necks with the satin finish, but for some reason, every now and then I'll go for a bend around the 12th on this AmSpec and I just get this "ohhhh ya....." feeling.

So the best one I've ever owned out of 3 is my new American Special.

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Post subject: Re: Best Strat you've ever owned - only one!
Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2018 7:27 am
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Wow....I would say my 81 Siena burst....love the sound and the neck also it's no boat anchor at 7.5 pounds...what's not to love!


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Post subject: Re: Best Strat you've ever owned - only one!
Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2018 9:47 am
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I've owned too many Strats to count.
Some were pretty memorable but if I am honest with myself I don't think I have bonded with any Strat the same way I have with my Partsocaster.
It has taken over the role of my number one and I don't expect anything will ever usurp that position.

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Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.


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Post subject: Re: Best Strat you've ever owned - only one!
Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2018 10:46 am
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BMW-KTM wrote:
I've owned too many Strats to count.
Some were pretty memorable but if I am honest with myself I don't think I have bonded with any Strat the same way I have with my Partsocaster.
It has taken over the role of my number one and I don't expect anything will ever usurp that position.


Did you build it yourself? What are the specs?

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Post subject: Re: Best Strat you've ever owned - only one!
Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2018 1:00 pm
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My American Original.

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Last edited by Blue Notes on Wed Apr 04, 2018 7:38 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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Post subject: Re: Best Strat you've ever owned - only one!
Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2018 4:54 pm
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Here is my baby, she doesn't get out of the house much... 8)

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Post subject: Re: Best Strat you've ever owned - only one!
Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2018 4:55 pm
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Yes, Mike.
I built it myself.
I had posted a build thread but that was before Photobucket blew up in our faces so all the links are dead.
That thread is still listed in the Strat section.

It is this one:

Image

Since that pic was taken the Road King was sold and the pups were swapped out.
It's a 2004 AD neck with a Warmoth honeycomb chambered ash body with a cocobolo top.
In that pic the pups are all Vineham, a custom winder in Newfoundland.
None of those pups are in it anymore.
I now have a zebra Dimarzio Super Distortion in the bridge and a zebra Dimarzio Humbucker From Hell at the neck with a cream Dimarzio Area silent single in the middle.

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Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.


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Post subject: Re: Best Strat you've ever owned - only one!
Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2018 5:34 pm
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Looks great, Matt!


As does Blue Note's and Omar's. (Is that a Pro Jr Omar?)

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Post subject: Re: Best Strat you've ever owned - only one!
Posted: Tue Mar 27, 2018 12:03 am
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My CAR American Pro with rosewood board. It plays and sounds better than any other Strat I've ever owned. I like it more than any CS one I've tried.


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Post subject: Re: Best Strat you've ever owned - only one!
Posted: Tue Mar 27, 2018 5:11 am
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This one:
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My 2012 MIM Strat "Sally". No other guitar before, or after it has ever felt or sounded quite the same. Love this one.
Only mod's I've done are changed the single string tree to double American string trees, and I hard-tailed it. I use Pure Nickel .11's (so I guess I did file the nut grooves slightly to accommodate them as well).


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Post subject: Re: Best Strat you've ever owned - only one!
Posted: Tue Mar 27, 2018 1:00 pm
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My babe.

She's either a highly modified '99 MIM Classic'50s, or a partsocaster. Depending on your definition.

I've owned 2 other Fender Strats (a '75 I bought new in '76, and a MIM Fender Squier Series I bought new sometime in the '90s), 2 partsocasters (one assembled from parts so it was never a complete guitar before I screwed it together, the other one I bought and don't know its history), and a late '70s/early '80s Japanese copy with a plexiglas body.

Played quite a few others.
----------------
In 2000 I was Stratless (origin of "strayedstrater" -- I briefly strayed away).

Went shopping with a list of models that fit my tastes/budget. Went to 6 stores in NC, tried about a dozen. Didn't really want a sunburst but this one had a really distinctive thick tone (even unplugged).

One of the Ping vintage tuners stripped, so the first mod was Fender/Gotoh AVRI tuners.

Tried to relic it. Dissatisfied so stripped it. Gave it a coat of shellac intending it just to be the basecoat, but liked it so much I left it like that.

The neck kept running out of truss rod threads. So 5 years later after adding the 4th washer decided to retire it. Much trepidation about changing the tone, but I got an AllParts fat V and TruOiled it. Yay, still distinctively thick tone, but with a little more snap and definition.

AllParts steel block. Do-it-yourself no-load tone pot. Astron oil&paper .047 cap. Replaced the 5way switch with a 3way. Maple veneered pickguard (also TruOiled). Cut the nut myself. Lengthened the slots in the saddles, and trimmed the height screws. One brass saddle for the low E to get a little more intonation range. '80s Gibson/Schaller PosiLok oval/diamond strap buttons.

The pic shows it with modified '60s Gibson reflector knobs. It currently has ancient clear radio knobs (look exactly like old Fender skirted amp knobs -- snowman 8's! -- but yellowed clear and push-on instead of setscrews).

Many pickups over the years. Quarter Pound, Little'59, and Stelly are in a drawer awaiting new homes.

It currently has the stock neck pickup, Fender CS'68 Reverse Stagger middle, and DiMarzio Red Velvet in the bridge.

Before the relic mistake, I had put a moto/pearloid pickguard on it. That's also in the drawer with the pickups waiting for a new home.

The best Strat I ever played was a beat up '59 at Guitar Trader in Red Bank NJ back in '73. But they wanted $500 and I only had $350. (So I bought a Les Paul Goldtop Deluxe instead.)

Memory is a tricky thing, but I think my babe is about as good as that '59.

Rory Gallagher had his unburst. But this is my "calling card".


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Post subject: Re: Best Strat you've ever owned - only one!
Posted: Tue Mar 27, 2018 6:01 pm
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Sorry Bro. You know I cut my teeth on a '58 of blessed memory and made a lot of music with it. Times have changed and technology has evolved but of the six Strats I have in the herd and have played seriously its both of these. Each has its own special sonic and physical pluses and I really can't choose.


'88/9 Clapton

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'08 Gimour

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Post subject: Re: Best Strat you've ever owned - only one!
Posted: Tue Mar 27, 2018 7:01 pm
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If you don't want the Gilmour, I'll be more than happy to drive to Jupiter, visit the kids, then stop by PB to adopt it and give it a good home. :D

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Post subject: Re: Best Strat you've ever owned - only one!
Posted: Tue Mar 27, 2018 7:46 pm
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CB91710 wrote:
If you don't want the Gilmour, I'll be more than happy to drive to Jupiter, visit the kids, then stop by PB to adopt it and give it a good home. :D


Well, there's three more here which you might care to purchase, but the Clapton, it's grandfather, and the Gilmour are keepers.

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