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.[/quote]

I felt the same thing when i installed mine... Couldn't swear it wasn't the new set of strings though... I'd be interested to try too.
I was poking around the internet about the subject and came across something that said a good way to tell the difference between a good steel block and a cast zinc one is with a magnet. I stuck one from the fridge to the block in my guitar first (Callaham) and then got the stock one out of the closet (stock highway one) and it stuck to that too. Maybe the stock one isn't as low quality as i thought... Hell I dunno. Bedtime, gotta get up early, be interested to read peoples thoughts on the matter tommorrow. Thanks for the input.
Just a thought, the Callaham saddles are well worth the 40 bucks. Nothing to with tone exactly. Last year when I bought my first highway 1, one of the bridge saddles stripped out at the intonation screw. The high E saddle actually. I ordered the Callahams. They are stamped better (tighter bends) and drilled and tapped tighter, no slop. Screws were loose and sloppy in the stock fender saddles... Good night.

Great Topic ............ .......Makes me want to pull my strats apart and swap electrics and bridges ............ They definitely feel like the sustain/Vibration/ wood is different to play . Would be great to have the time to tinker huh

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How much is reality and how much is BS? Let me state my answer in pictorial form:

Reason I say is most if not all people can't tell what guitar is being used until they see or are told. For example, Hendrix's Little Wing. I and probably many others thought it was a strat, when it was actually one of the tracks where Jimi used his painted Flying V. Unless I'm wrong and everybody was like "Yep, that's a humbucker, sounds like a V body due to resonance."

That being said, modifications do make a difference in strats. Saddles, bridge metal, pickups, etc... all have a legitimate claim in that they alter and perhaps and improve the perceived "tone" of the instrument. Personally I feel most of it is just BS meant to sell product, as some people will spend more money modifying their instrument when they could of just bought a new freaking amp with the $500+ they spent on bridge blocks, saddles, tuners, and custom wound pups and really heard a change in tone. >_>

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I traded my car in for a microphone.

Well as an old geezer who played quite a few "vintage" Strats,when they weren't considered vintage,there were good ones,excellent ones and superior ones,and they were all stock Strats,most people didn't change everything back then like for instance pickups,because there were no "Boutique" pickup makers to speak of,if you replaced something it was usually the name brand replacement like Fender or Gibson.
After saying that,I think like the original poster said,today's Strats,if made to the same specs as Leo's with quality parts,sound every bit as good and in a blindfold test,I'm sure I couldn't tell much of a difference between say a 1957 original Strat and a well made 1957 RI,what I would be able to tell is that one might sound better than the other but I would not be able to pick the original I don't think....but I'm not Eric Johnson.
I'm happy with my modern made Strats.

I'd like to see / hear someone do the test.
Take 2 strats
1 with the mods we're talking about (machined steel trem block, saddles, tuners etc.) MIA
1 straight up factory MIM strat

Play guitar 1 through any given amp.

Pull the pick guard with pups from guitar 1, install in guitar 2.

Play same song, same player, same amp and same amp settings on guitar 2 with the pups / pick guard from guitar 1.

I'd be willing to bet 90% of us couldn't tell the difference. The 10% who cold pick out some differences in tone couldn't tell you which was which.

In fact, I'd take it a step farther.
Take a Masterbuilt Custom Shop strat and a Squirer
Play the Masterbuilt,
pull the pick guard
install on the Squirer (i know hole spacing, just drive new screws, it's for the test right)
play the same amp and settings
I'd be willing bet the same percentages as MIM vs. MIA.

Most of the tone is in the fingers
The rest of it is in the pups, amp, and connections between the 2
There is a little from the body wood etc, but in a blind test, I'm willing to bet the differences are so minor, the overwhelming majority of us wouldn't know the difference.

In the test, I'd be equally willing to bet some percentage of us would guess the Squirer was the best tone and obviously had all the goodies on it.

Just my not so humble opinion.

Jeff

My belief is that the TONE is sum of all parts (from musos' fingers to amp/PA speaker(s)). Everything can be "upgraded" and tweaked. My good tone is not your good tone and your good tone is not somebody else good tone and that is what only musos nit pick. I buy parts manly because they fail or are such a poor quality that reliability is an issue and I don't carry 10 guitars on me but only 1 and it has to function the best possible way.

Pickups, which I must admit, are the ones that I "fell" for. They are all giving a better results until the novelty wears off and then they are just different than the previous ones.

This TONE is all important because most of us are playing for ourselves in our basements/music rooms/studios. As soon as we go out and play for others be it 5 people or 40,000 it all does not mean anything. People are all looking to have a great time and don't give a rat's of your (insert gear name here\tone). Just turn up, enjoy and don't feckit oop and everything is going to be OK.


my .02 Indian rupees

To take it a step farther,fendermandan,how many times have you played in public and made mistakes and thought,well tonight I had an off night and sounded like crap....only to have people come up and tell you how they loved your playing and that you sounded great?
I'm sure we all have,and likewise there are times when we think we sound great and nobody notices,we are usually too critical for our own good.... we all need to do what Duane Allman said,"just rock on and have yourself a good time".

I was playing a set in a bluegrass setting. Playing through the most craptastic house system I've ever heard. On the verge of feedback the whole time. Playing an acoustic on the verge of feedback just isn't a cool thing. Mix was horrible, speakers were even worse.

The sound system was so bad that it was a distraction to me, I just couldn't concentrate on what I was doing for thinking this sounds like S%$^&t.

After I had people come up saying how good my Martin sounded and how much they enjoyed it.

Go figure.

Amen to that!

It did happen in the past, had a crappy night (in my head) and people tell me I nailed Hendrix tone, go figure. When I mentioned f-ups, I did not mean playing errors, meant more people not showing up on the gig night or being boozed up beyond usability, stopping mid song, that kind of stuff.

Hehe, I remember one time having friends come up and tell me how awesome my tone was one night, and how I nailed some really cool sounds, but I had been playing with a blown speaker in my cabinet, and it was driving me crazy.

The fact of the matter is, you can adjust your sound more by rotating the knobs on your guitar/amp/effects than you can by almost all the mods people do.

Really out of the many many mods I have done to different guitars the only 'necessary' ones were replacing low quality or broken parts. All the others were tinkering.

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

SOLID!

TTSC is well on the way to setting a new forum record for the number of single word posts. I think he/she('s) tryna get the post count up fast to earn a pick.

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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.

He/She is just SOLID!!!

Now that's solid!!

Just kidding TTSC! My single word is "Congratulations"

Dig.

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You dig?