I've played strats for years, but I've always changed out the pickups to make it more versatile to all types of sounds for live playing. Now I want to get a vintage type strat for traditional sounds and leave it be. I really like the clean Hendrix tones and Mike McCready's early Pearl Jam/Temple of the Dog type tones. What type of strats should I look at for that great classic clean sound?

I've considered the 62 hot rod strat as well as the 62 vintage reissue. I'm open to anything though. What do you think?

I'd try the 62 Vintage, as far as I know Jimi used late L series Strats (circa 65) for his 1st 2 albums and the 62 was the first L series.Studio pix from that time reinforce that by showing him using small headstock Strats, also the tone is unmistakeable on songs such as The May This Be Love etc.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

I think the 62 reissue would be great too, but I'm wondering if the flatter radius/bigger frets would be better on the 62 hot rod. This pickups are about the same right?

I've also heard that the hot rod neck is really huge which would be a great thing. How big is the vintage reissue in comparison?

'57 RI neck is slightly leaner than the Clapton. The Fender 'soft-V' neck is a little fuller than the former two. The '57RI is not a 'vintage tone' Strat. You need to be in the neighborhood of something like the Fullerton. What we 'old guys' think of as vintage is '56, '57, era w/3-way switching.
(Buddy Holly's stuff is THE original Strat sound...a good reference tone.)

Look for a Showcase dealer who might have a more eclectic stock of Fender guitars you have shot at playing. Around here, a walk into Guitar Center or Sam Ash yields a wall full of MIM's and MIA's. With the small sampling of gear I own, I can't find anything 'new' on my occasional outings.

Next stop is likely Little Neck, NY.

Doc

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"Another day in paradise!"