I am absolutely in love with the looks of the white 62 vintage reissue. If there is one "vintage" Strat that I would love owning that would be a 62 and I have recently come across a relatively good deal on a reissue, so thinking of taknig the plunge.

A few questions:

1. Coming from a 12'' fretboard radius (Les Paul) and a 9.5'' (American Deluxe Strat), would the 7.25'' feel really awkward for string bending?

2. Coming from SCN single coils, would the vintage pick ups feel noisy?

3. Coming from a satin finished neck on the Deluxe, would the 62's nitro feel sticky?

Many thanks in advance

For me the answer would be yes to all 3.

Yep, the answer to all three is "yes, but if you really, really want to buy a guitar because it looks so cool, you'll get used to it eventually."

I'm wondering if dealing with the differences like you listed might be a good thing.. During gigs with his band, my guitar teacher switches between a '74 Am Std Strat (way, way road-worn, a thing of beauty in a roadworn way), his PRS, and one or two acoustic guitars.. I'm guessing there's quite a bit of differences, similar to what you mentioned above, for him to deal with..

Switching around is only an issue if you only stick to one (or one kind,) of guitar. Once you switch a little, it becomes old hat.

I did a long stretch only playing my Strat, and I had a heck of a time playing my buddies les Paul. But then i started to play my acoustic more, and after I got used to swapping, I had no trouble adjusting to other guitars.

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I'm not an expert, but I play one on the internet.

Or you could go with the 62 hotrod and avoid the radius issue. The satin backed neck can be sticky but it wears in after time.
Myself i've never noticed much difference in neck radius's. Though all my guitars are 9.5" its not planned that way. I still get to play 7.25"s every now and again. If your prepared to have a realistic string height you'll never notice any bending troubles and will notice chording comfort.

The pickups will either suit your setup or not. The hum of sc's isnt so bad, i just dont notice it going from my tele to scn equipped strats and viceversa. Whether that be live or practice. Martians statement that 'you dont hear the hum when you play' is 100% true. We all know you can (and should) lower your volume or hit a kill switch inbetween songs.

What it really boils down to is that a deluxe and a 62RI though similar in appearance are very different instruments, as different as a LP and a deluxe in a lot of respects. Dont pick it up expecting it to be a guitar it isnt. Try it with an open mind as to its faults. They have become desirable aspects of the strat for many players.

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No no and no

I just picked up the same guitar you are considering. They are vintage beautiful for sure. I was surprised at how easy mine is to play but upon inspection the frets are actually closer to 9.5.

The non-satin neck is not sticky at all. Accumulation of sweat buildup over days may make it a bit sticky but all you got to do is clean it with polish.

Single-coils will hum. Some players that bothers. Others it doesn't. I would recommend the Dimarzio vertical humbuckers. They're great in Strats.

From my experience with the greater radius of 7.25, you will probably have to set the guitar up with a higher action than what you normally play, that is if you usually have your action low to begin with. This will help with buzzing and specially the high E fretting out when you bend. Going to a Fender from a Gibson has a steeper learning curve, than going to a Gibson from a Fender. They say if you can play a Fender, you can play anything. Like driving a stick shift to an automatic transmission.

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http://www.youtube.com/user/gmlasam

Switching instruments is a good thing! When playing gigs I'm constantly switching between my Tele (25.5" scale, 9.5" radius), and my Gretsch (24.56" scale, ~12" radius). While the Tele is, on paper, the harder guitar to play, I really enjoy playing them both. Complacency is never good; I don't want to be able to play only Strats or only Gibsons...

Don't let a guitar's specs ruin it for you. If you like it, buy it. You WILL get used to it and love it more every day![/i]

Thanks guys

I was really concerned - particularly about not feeling comfortable with bending on the 7.25'' radius fretboard. But your advices are encouraging - I think I'll take the plunge... It's one hell of a looker of a guitar. I'm just captivated. I'll post some pictures when I get it.

Hahaha! For me the answer to all three would be no!

Which just goes to show, we can only decide these things for ourselves...

Good luck with the new axe, tremolo arm.

Cheers - C

I think players are making too big a deal over stuff like this and have blown it all of proportion just like the whole 60 cycle hum issue in general.

Maybe I'm fortunate or something but I have never found it difficult to adjust from say, a Stratocaster (or whatever) to a Les Paul (or whatever). As any brand or model of guitar should be approached as its own separate entity, the same can be said even among a 'flock' of the SAME brand AND model. To have a confident command over a specific guitar other than the one one favors and is used to, to me any way, only takes a few minutes of playing before one settles into that specific instrument and once this is achieved, the experience of how it happens shall always be there. Granted, said given player will always radically favor one particular instrument over the other for a vast variety of reasons but I just can't fathom why so many consider this being some kind of monumental feat. YMMV.

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You dig?

I recently bought an Am. Vintage '57 Reissue Strat.
It came with the same pickups as the '62. The killer sound makes you forget about the hum.
About the "sticky" neck: I did something very scary , I "wore down" the back of the neck a little bit with 000 grade wire wool. Just the area you play, mind the curves of the head en body joint. It's not like a satin finish, but it feels a lot smoother.
If you don't sweat a lot just try it as it is, maybe it's ok for you.
You need to be a little crazy to wear down a perfectly new strat.