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Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2007 1:58 pm
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Hi folks - newbie here but I might have something to offer - my opinion if nothing else. Let me qualify my opinion with this, I have over 30 guitars of many different breeds. I love tone. I started studying about different pickups, position, height, boutique stuff -thanks to the net, it's all out there to find and try. Much easier than 40 years ago when Hendrix, SRV, Clapton were trying to figure things out. So do it! The greatest guitarists over the years didn't play off the shelf. They found their own sound by playing with different wiring schems, amp types, pickups, pots, effects. Don't model or emulate unless you need to to cover other people's work - that's fine though -you have to do that to make a living at times, but find your tone. Spend the bucks it takes to find your tone that YOU like. Everything is resalable if you take care of it.
Buy a good guitar that has great action, stays tuned, looks like you want it to look, then customize. Change pickups, pots, amps, peddals, frets if you have to. That's what your idols did - that's why they are legends. Be yourself. Have fun. Do what works for you.


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Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2007 1:58 pm
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I know what you mean man...I'm actually making my own humbucker at the moment for my home made budget-strat (something to play while I'm saving up).

Thanks for the input everyone, especially ProfessorStrat. I read through your post and I have a question or two. I've been playing an acoustic for about 2 years now, but I'd still call myself a beginner. By that I mean that I don't know all of the "technical stuff" about playing the guitar (although I do have some playing experience). Personally I'd go for a lower action guitar (lower string tension) as long as the strings don't buzz. I see what you're saying about frets and bending...I can't play any blues yet, but I still prefer bending over Trem. arm use (even though they do sound different). Even though I said that I'm a beginner, by next year I'll probably be close to pro as I'm a quick learner (right now I'm teaching myself and to be honest I've learned more in a week than I've learned from my previous teacher in a year), so I'm really looking forward to a strat.
I wanted to come back to the bit where you said stuff about HSS strats, and I was wondering if I could get similar tone out of a guitar like the 57 hot rod since it has a hot bridge pickup. I was "heavily" considering the HSS Am. deluxe as my final choise and it's price as my target, but I just don't want to have something that everyone else does. For some reason, in my eyes it's just too ordinary.
For the last few weeks I've been remaking my Encore (don't ask) Strat-style guitar, to improve the piece of crap that the guitar is and to train myself at redoing the electronics and making my own pickups, so if you have any suggestions on a great strat with just not the right pickups that need replacing, please post it here. (I know I'll probably get a different impression when I play the actual guitar, but for now I'm just trying to see which guitars have the best specs- reviews so I can narrow down my search).
Oh and one more thing, does the fretboard wood make any tonal differences (same for the nut, ie: Roller-nut or bone, etc.)
Thanks for all your help. It'll be of great use to me when it comes to buying my guitar. :)


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Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2007 2:23 pm
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The harder the wood on the fret board the longer it will last. Ebony beats Rose wood like scissors over paper. Won't affect your tone enough for the human ear to detect.
The harder the wood the heavier, the harder the wood the better the sustain.
Think about hiting a 2x4 with a hammer, then hit a piece of steel the same size as a 2x4 and listen to it ring (sustain!!)
Same with guitars. Also affects the harmonics, timbre, etc. because it vibrates at a higher freq. So most guitar woods are somewhere in the middle between weighs too much, or sounds too thin. Compromise is the solution.
Add a piezo and sustain forever.
I added piezos to my strat and play with it on much of the time. it creates a sustain that you can't get with a plain single. I use a THD bivalve with a THD Hot Plate, push the power tubes to beautiful harmonic distortion and sustain and keep the stage volume low. Sounds great with my 64 vibrolux too (with the Hot Plate).
With that set up you can take a stock strat or Showmaster and they will do things you haven't heard a strat do before.
As I said earlier, I have over 30 guitars, and a couple of my favorites are Korean models - I love my Showmaster - thin neck - set neck, not a bolt on and some really hot stock pickups. I took it to PLECK, and it plays like a $2500 guitar with the best o f strat sounds and Hummer sounds.
Don't get hung up on American models. You may prefer something not made in this country. Personally, I like them all.


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Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2007 2:31 pm
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Sorry to sound like a noob, but what are piezos?


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Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2007 2:47 pm
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It /they are acoustic pickups that are built in to the saddles of your strat. They would need to be wired into your electronics, a small micro switch to turn it on, mix it with other pickups or totally off. A small volume knob or lose one of you tone switches.
It is absolutley amazing what they add to your sound with a srat.
Take a look at Parker guitars. They all have them built in.
There are companies such as Graph Tech that sell the Piezo saddles and give you a wireing diagram. I wouldn't do it myself, but a good G-tech can easily do it for you. You would be amazed!


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Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2007 9:36 am
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I visited 4 shops yesterday and all of them only had HWY 1 and American strats. =/
..So I didn't even get to try out a single guitar from my "list".


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