I've been giving a lot of thought lately to what factors in a Stratoacaster create excellent tone vs mediocre or poor tone. Yeah, yeah I know... it's in your fingers and has a lot to do with your amp and everything in between but I'm talking about Stratocaster construction and what is real and what is a bunch of voo-doo and folklore...
Just curious what people think.
It is my opinion that any significant digression from Leo's original design makes a strat sound less and less like a Strat... Having said that I wonder how many people could pass a “blind taste test” if they were asked to tell the difference between a real 54 Strat and a faithfully constructed replica made out of top notch aftermarket parts...
I read recently about a “blind taste test” done in Europe where a few of the worlds top violin virtuosos were asked to identify a Stradivarius as compared to a modern violin of good quality and none of them could do it repeatedly or consistently. The violins were all played behind a curtain.
Bill Callaham swears by cryogenically frozen electronics and although I have never heard them compared in real life I have to say I have my doubts... Yngwie says 70's headstocks produce more sustain. Sounds far fetched to me. Fat necks have more tone. Older instruments sound better with age because the wood matures... I'll bet most of us couldn't tell identify the difference between a machined bridge block and a pot metal one for the life of us if both guitars had the exact same pickups installed. Just sayin...
Is there anyone out there who could tell me the difference between a five piece mexican body and a three piece USA body by the sense of hearing alone? There are people who contend the a three piece body produces better tone... I don”t know if it's true but I'd rather have a three piece myself...
not tryin to ruffle anyone's feathers. Just pondering what is real vs. what is B.S.
Anyway, enough philosophy for one night, I should be practicing for my gig on Saturday instead of screwing around on the internet. Ha ha.

I dont but i look forward to seeing the answers to this thread....

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in my quest for tone, im coming to realize that one of the main factor in tone is a great tube amp. my hr 57 sounds different on my friends marshall jvm 410 4x12 clean, and overdriven
than it does on my 2x12 hotrod deville.

pickups second.

pedals, third.

but all this is noise without fingers.

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"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present."

oogway, kungfu panda 2008

Sure. Gotcha, but i'm talking about just the Stratocaster itself... thanks for your input too.

I think you're right about most of the stuff. However, this no BS and is fact; I can tell the difference between the machined steel block from the cast zinc composite block, in my guitar. I can also tell the difference between a Tung Sol 12AX7 vs a JJ 12AX7 in my 5e3, as well as the difference in pickups from hot pickups like the Texas Specials vs the original vintage style pickups. If you were to do a double blind test with these in my guitar and amp, keeping the same settings on the 5e3 I will pass. If you run them through my Carvin it would be much more difficult to tell; these are my facts. For acoustic guitars, I can tell the difference between solid rosewood and mahogany and a piezo pickup vs mic.

I think this is BS and couldn't tell the difference between: piece body vs 3 piece, fat neck vs thin, alder vs ash, nitro finish vs poly finish on a electric guitar, cast tuners vs cased tuners, bone nut vs graphite, Sovetek 5y3 vs other 5y3, Sovetek 12AX7W vs GT12AX7, Sovetek EL84 vs JJ EL84. Again this to me is BS.

Yeah, I could pass up double blind with pickups through my own amp easy. Totally confident about that... Haven't done enough experimenting with tubes to know if i could tell the difference between them though.

I guess it is a lot of BS and folklore as you say.

Look at the Strat and Tele- these guitars are not made from high grade select timbers, there are no special resins and neck joints... no hand carved or arched tops or angled headstocks either.

Screws, bolts, and lotsa plastic. thats not very tone conventional to say, a D'aquisto arch top design.

There are nuances that are minor- like the difference between a rosewood vs maple or ebony neck that are noticable. whether or not there are 'dead spots' on the neck and the magnetic pull from pickups. Woods can make a difference acoustically- not a great deal plugged in however.

If you want to talk tone, maybe acoustic guitars- martins vs gibsons.. french violins vs german ones vs chinese violins..

for guitars like ours that loose a lot of tone from the bolted neck joint, they are best enjoyed plugged in.

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There are so many dynamics involved in creating the tone of a guitar that it's practically impossible to say what things are responsible for difference in tone.I have 4 Strats and even though the tone of each one is unmistakabley Strat each one has a unique voice of its own.On another forum just a while back a guy made the ridiculous statement that if blindfolded he could tell the difference between Strats with rosewood or maple necks, I blame Eric Johnson for all this lol.

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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.

For what it's worth, I respecfully disagree with there being no audible difference between a "pot metal" bridge block and one of machined steel or brass. I recently installed a brass block from GFS in my '08 MiM Standard. The increase in sustain, acoustic volume and WARMTH is incredible--making the "before" guitar sound like it was stuffed with cotton.

Just my $0.02

Well, don't get me wrong guys. There is a big difference is sound and character between lets say a les Paul and a Strat... most of us could pick that out listening to the radio. I'm talking strat for strat. A proper strat has a characteristic strat sound even if it's a squire... What i'm getting at is what makes one sound better than another (besides just swapping pickups, that just makes them sound different from one another, not necessarily better...). A measurable difference if you will...

Don't take this the wrong way... I have a Callaham block in both my strats... But, do you really think you could pass a blind taste test? So to speak...

I can tell the difference from my ultra with ebony and my deluxe with rosewood, the difference being the ebony is noticably bright sounding as it is very dense wood vs porous rosewood that's warm. That is, unplugged- and they being MY guitars, as I know what they sound like as I play 'em. Plugged in- its anyones guess really. I wouldnt be so sure on anyone elses guitars, however.

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I used to own one of the American Standards before they became the American Series Stratocasters. It sounded really good to me at the time, but that guitar has gone the way of the dodo and I now own an '09 American Standard. Things in common: Delta Tone circuit, alder body. Things not in common: rosewood neck vs. maple neck, standard tuning machines vs. staggered tuning machines, flat pole pieces vs. staggered pole pieces, machined steel bridge saddles vs. stamped steel saddles. As far as I'm concerned, the older strat was missing something when compared to the newer version. I'm much more in awe of the way the new one can nail the tones you can hear on just about any famous strat player's recordings with a little intuitive adjustment. I want to say that the bridge saddles make the biggest difference, because I replaced the pickups with Texas Specials and still wasn't as satisfied with the guitar as I am with the new one. Either way, it's great to have a strat once again.

Don't take this the wrong way... I have a Callaham block in both my strats... But, do you really think you could pass a blind taste test? So to speak...[/quote]


Well, I can say for sure that I heard (and FELT) the difference in mine. The thing fairly VIBRATES when strumming a chord, and sustains forever.

As for telling the difference between two "strange" guitars, I don't know--But I'd be interested to try.

I'd say the average guitarist would not be able to tell the difference. If you set up the guitars the same way, in term of electronics in the guitar. Pickups, pot, wiring, bridge and nut. and then judged only on body and neck woods. Definitly not consistantly. I'd venture to say even if the only common components where the electronics they couldn't be consistant. Things are way different when you are forced to use only one sense to identify something.

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the vacuum store is a lot like the guitar store. but they do not attract the same clientele as the guitar store, cause if they did, the vacuum store would be loaded with a bunch of broke guys who just wanted to run the new vacuums.