You think 22 frets is a lot??? Check out this guitar: 36 frets

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'07 Squier Affinity Sunburst Strat SE
Fender Frontman 25R
Boss DS-1 Distortion
Danelectro D-2 Fab Overdrive
Delta Lab Multi Effects

[/quote]
Ah yes! The Churchill Downs guitar.

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"Another day in paradise!"

I have a 2005 American Standard Stratocaster. It has 21 frets, but I'm not going to fret over it.

Many American-made Fender guitars (including several Artist and Custom Artist series such as the Eric Clapton signature model) feature 22 frets.

I have both 21 and 22 fret Strats and it doesn't matter much to me-that's why they invented bending.The only way that it would make a difference is if you were playing barre chords on the 18th or 19th fret and I doubt that many do that.

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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've heard it's rather difficult

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'07 Squier Affinity Sunburst Strat SE
Fender Frontman 25R
Boss DS-1 Distortion
Danelectro D-2 Fab Overdrive
Delta Lab Multi Effects

I very rarely ever use the last couple of frets and I'm a blues player mostly,so I wind up bending notes around the 15th or 17th and that's about as far as I go...to me the real high notes sound too thin.

I've been playing only 21-fret Fenders since I got my first one almost 42 years ago. The only time I ever missed not having a 22nd fret is when playing certain Santana tunes, which I used to do a lot of. Somehow I always managed to make do.

If you are the kind of player that frequently uses the extreme upper registers and would prefer a 22 fret
guitar then by all means use a 22 fret model. However, if you never get up that high then please don't discount
a guitar simply by the number of frets it has because it has no affect on you. There is nothing more useless
than valuing form over function. Let the cranky old geezers do that. Just use whatever works for you or
whatever pleases you. Traditions are important but they are not all-important.

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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.

I do like to play a bit of metallica, so the higher frets are handy.

It's ok saying 'bend to the 22nd fret', but i need the 22nd fret so i can bend to the 24th!

I think if i see the right guitar at the right price, i will just make do with however many frets it has

'Ol geezers,eh?? Er, ah, (chomp, chomp, chomp)..unlax a moment. Form over function happened when Fender swapped out a 21 fret board for a 22 on the original Clapton, and I am still sitting here waiting for an answer to my question as to "why'' while my Metamucil and Geritol take effect. Excuse me while I slip into a new pair of Depends.

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"Another day in paradise!"

I guess I fall into the old geezer category myself Doc!! I'm not cranky though!!!

Probably because you don't recycle your Depends.

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"Another day in paradise!"

I'm a geezer myself so I have the right to use that word.

I just laugh sometimes when I see people saying it's not a "real Strat" or it's an "abomination" or whatever just because it's not EXACTLY the same as the first Strat to ever come off the assembly line. Leo was constantly improving his models so what's wrong with continuing his tradition? Harley Davidsons don't leak oil any more and that's a good thing. Strats evolve too, it's just that not all of the Stat players evolve along with them. Kinda like how some bikers say a new 96 inch 6 speed ain't a real Harley. I laugh at them too.

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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.